1997 Chevrolet Astro Custom from North America - Comments

I bought a used 1998 Astro cargo van with 130,000 in April, 2003. Its been a great truck so far, it now has 141,000 miles. I had a aftermarket transmission valve body put in because was banging into second gear. I also bought a new Ford E250 in 2002 and the transmission went at 26,000 miles so I don't think it matters what make domestic vehicle you buy... they don't compare to some of the imports.

We currently own a 2000 Astro AWD, which has been problem-free for 69000 miles. If you follow the maintenance guide in the back of the owner's manual, you will find that the vehicle (especially the transmission) will last longer.

Proof: Our last Astro was an '89 with 315000 miles. 315000 miles!! It never went through a transmisson or fuel system etc., just normal maintenance items. It did burn a lot of oil, but the 4.3 is an awesome engine. (350 V8 minus 2 cylinders). Believe it or not we took it to Aspen from Michigan with 280000 on it, without any hassles.

And before that, guess what? We had an 85 Astro with 299000 miles on it, and it was carbureted. The only thing to happen to it was rebuild of the carb and NORMAL MAINTENANCE.

Moral: Follow the owner's manual maintenance guide and you will have a lot less problems.

Russ rkuhn_50@hotmail.com

Hello

I own a 1997 AWD Safari. I purchased it for my wife and two daughters. I have been extremely happy with the major things like transmission, engine, rear end, transfer case, etc. Living in Michigan you never know how much snow mother nature will bring. I have driven down roads with 2+ feet of snow. The AWD is awesome! My complaints are- leaking engine oil cooler lines, on the 3rd pass. side rear door handle, 2 dr. side window motors, all temp control knobs have cracked, vacuum line for heater controls melted, typical mini van rattles, wind noise through drivers side door seals. Other than that I have been very happy with this van. 88K miles and going.

1997 Chevrolet Astro Van.

Have an intermittent electrical problem, when the fault occurs, you lose all of instrument panel gages, including speedometer and odometer and instrument panel lighting.

When the fault is present, the turn signals are inoperative.

The headlights work either in low-beam, and high beam, and the brake lights work.

The emergency, or 4-way flashers are inoperative

while ignition switch is *on*. With ignition switch *off*,

flashers operation is returned.

The radio works, but display is inoperative, however, display will return with the headlight switch *on*.

The overhead heading and outside air temperature display in overhead also not function along with, but overhead map lights work OK.

Don't know if this was a coincidence, but, one occasion, the

instrumental panel gages/lights returned to normal when the parking brake was released.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know via

email at koolbreeze@prodigy.net.

Thanks...John.

I purchased my 98' Astro Van in 2000, and have had problems with the wiper controller, rear door handle 3 times, fuel injector clogging - (MTBE caused) but repaired under warranty at 89,000 miles by the dealer, a noisy fuel pump - high pitch squeal, slight automatic transmission jitter - been there for a long time, and it is hard on front tires. Astro is not perfect... but I'm satisfied with the performance thus far. Good 4.3 engine, good gas mileage, no air conditioning or electrical problems at all. One more point...I've seen a lot of Astro cargo vans with 300,000 plus miles. Happy motoring!

Front End:

I have a 1997 Astro Van with 140,000 km on the odometer. I bought the van new from the factory with the heavy duty suspension. The only parts of the front suspension that had to be replaced were the De Carbon gas shocks-one was leaking. I replaced both front De Carbons with Monroe Reflex truck shocks at 69,000 km and have had no more difficulty with the front end. The De Carbons are standard on Astros with the HD suspension. The van is still running (at 140, 000 km) with the rear De Carbons and they are fine. I have the chassis lubed every 5,000 kms (3000 miles) as per factory requirements. I have never had a front end alignment on the Astro.

As others have said follow the factory maintenance requirements.

AC blowing out defrost and bottom vents only:

This happened to me after 134,000 kms (7+ years) and a vacuum hose was the culprit. It had become brittle and developed a leak. I had it replaced for less than $ 100 canadian. In my estimation this was regular wear and tear (after 7 cold -down to 41 below-winters) and relatively cheaply repaired. The ac/air/heat blows out of all vents, now.

I think the key to durability is regular maintenance with top quality products.

There are thousands of old, commercial Astros out there, still completing their appointed rounds. Just look around any city in North America. They are reliable and durable, but like any mechanical device require regular maintenance.

I have checked into Toyota, Honda, Dodge and Ford. Research will tell you that all these vehicles have problem patterns.

No one vehicle is perfect, however some are more perfect than others. I believe the Astro falls into this category.