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1997 chevy astrovan, the bane to my existence.

princessprincess Regular
edited May 2011 in Man Cave
My van is being a suborn piece of shit. It has been raining for a few days straight here and it will not start in the morning. It will turn over, and the fuel pump does kick on, and I am getting a spark. From what I have read, besides that I should immediately take it to the junkyard and get a new car, is that this happens alot. I don't really understand why it does this, and if their is anything I can do to prevent it.
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  • RogueEagle91RogueEagle91 Regular
    edited April 2011
    I don't know about your particular model, but I've heard of instances of water making its way into distributor caps after it rains. Possibly try having someone pull your throttle cable as you try to start it. As far as prevention, check your vacuum seals and try to keep it somewhere covered overnight.
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  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited April 2011
    Does it have a distributor or is it on coil packs?
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  • princessprincess Regular
    edited May 2011
    RogueEagle91 wrote: »
    I don't know about your particular model, but I've heard of instances of water making its way into distributor caps after it rains. Possibly try having someone pull your throttle cable as you try to start it. As far as prevention, check your vacuum seals and try to keep it somewhere covered overnight.

    You are correct. It has an old shitty crab distributor cap. Not much I can do but cover it up when it rains hard. Thanks for the advice.
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  • RogueEagle91RogueEagle91 Regular
    edited May 2011
    princess wrote: »
    You are correct. It has an old shitty crab distributor cap. Not much I can do but cover it up when it rains hard. Thanks for the advice.

    Buy yourself a new one and talk to the folks at the auto parts store about making sure it's got a good water seal. Shouldn't run you too much, and it'll make things easier for you in the long run.
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  • TheGreenDoctorTheGreenDoctor Regular
    edited May 2011
    RogueEagle91 wrote: »
    Buy yourself a new one and talk to the folks at the auto parts store about making sure it's got a good water seal. Shouldn't run you too much, and it'll make things easier for you in the long run.

    This. I have a 78 Ford Mustang II, and I had been having problems for a couple months. I had some time to do some maintenance, and I replaced several things, including the cap and rotor, which were the last items on the list to do, and it made a serious improvement. The fucker pulls like a bat out of hell, kicks out sideways like a demon, and it starts in a half a second vs a half a minute of cranking.
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  • RogueEagle91RogueEagle91 Regular
    edited May 2011
    TheGreenDoctor wrote: »
    This. I have a 78 Ford Mustang II, and I had been having problems for a couple months. I had some time to do some maintenance, and I replaced several things, including the cap and rotor, which were the last items on the list to do, and it made a serious improvement. The fucker pulls like a bat out of hell, kicks out sideways like a demon, and it starts in a half a second vs a half a minute of cranking.

    I actually need to do that to my jeep. I have to install a new harmonic balancer and check my timing, so I may as well replace the cap while I'm at it.
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