GOT a van!

[movietvet]

One place to look is at the air snorkel that attaches at the TBI. Anywhere along that can be not attached properly.

 

[Spareparts]

Out running around today and ran across a set of these wheels off a C20 1/2 ton Chevy truck. Paid $150. Now need tires.
I did not think to take a pic but here is a shot of a new one.

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[Chefman43223]

You got a solid deal for the condition of it. Not familiar with vans here, a suggestion to be made is if it has a inline fuel filter on the frame rail or near the carb swap those out. Happy Driving!

 

[Spareparts]

Dont worry. All the usual maintenance stuff will be done.
Been raining and cold here so have not done a thing yet.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

You got a solid deal for the condition of it. Not familiar with vans here, a suggestion to be made is if it has a inline fuel filter on the frame rail or near the carb swap those out. Happy Driving!

There is a fuel filter, mounted on the plastic tank shield at the front of it. Unlike the trucks, the lines are plastic and tend to come off fairly easily because they do not rust.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Out running around today and ran across a set of these wheels off a C20 1/2 ton Chevy truck. Paid $150. Now need tires.
I did not think to take a pic but here is a shot of a new one.

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Funny, the 1987 G20 has the same wheels. The ones on it are Enkei from the late 80s.

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[L31MaxExpress]

Im not condemning the spider or any part yet.
#1 is getting it vin inspected and put in my name this morning.
#2 is getting the heater to work properly. It's winter and i need defrost!
#3 is the WOT problem.

Forgot to mention before i left Kalispell MT i filled it up. after driving at mostly 70mph for 188 miles i filled up again and it took 9.5 gallons.
Solid 19 MPG. Not to bad for an old van with 280K.

Anyone know where a second battery can be installed?

That is a good sign the engine is not overly tired as that is what my 97 always managed as well. 18-19 mpg running 70-80 mph. It did extremely well on fuel even after the 4L85E and 3.73 gears went into it. I have seen 20.6 mpg on a trip with the 383 in it. They love cool or cold weather at highway speeds. Fuel mileage will drop off a bit in hot weather because the OE air intake sucks, the IATs will sky rocket and the PCM will remove up to 8-10* of ignition timing. In hot weather the clutch fan will engage even at 70 mph to keep the van cool and the ac will eat on some fuel as well.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Never thought it was o2 sensors.
Thinking Vacuum or FP. Won't be able to get to it till Sunday.

Vacuum leak, Fuel Pressure or a Dirty/Bad MAF. You atleast have some kind of vacuum leak in my experience because of the ac/heater distribution problem. I do find your issue a bit odd, when my 97 loses vacuum to the HVAC controls it defaults to defrost.

I actually fixed a bad drivability problem once on an 01-02 van that was a fleet unit. Someone forgot to put an air cleaner back in the box. The 01-02 air box causes the MAF to far under report the airflow when the filter is missing. I have not run across that issue on the 96-2000 design air box, but I have never run one without the filter in it either. So long story short, check to make sure it has an air filter in the box.

 

[Spareparts]

Was under it today as the weather was a little better.
Found the loose steering problem.
The drag link is loose on one end at the linkage assembly. Not the joint but loose in the taper part. Tried to tighten it more but no matter how much prying or pressure I put on it the nut would not turn and tighten. Hope the Linkage assembly is not wallowed out. New drag link ordered.
Wheel bearings were slightly loose but appeared to have plenty of grease so adjusted them.
As far as I got today. Cold and damp out so gave up.

Also ordered a new fuel filter.
My wheels are ok shape and ill need to polish them up but they should look ok, missing center caps though. Not my favorite style but for $150 I can deal with them.

There is an air filter in it for sure and pretty clean also.

The heater issue i messed with the other day and there is vacuum to all of it and it is switching modes. It will not switch totally.
If say i turn it to defrost i can hear the valves/doors working and it will switch slightly but not totally. No matter what position the switch is at air comes out the dash vents always and a little out the defrost or floor depending on switch position.
I could not find any vacuum leaks in the system.
I think it has weak vacuum or sh*t has fallen down the defrost vent no allowing it to switch all the way.

 

[Spareparts]

I think i definitely have a fuel pressure problem. it was 29F out this morning. Took a few tries before it would start this morning but once started ran fine the rest of the day.
I hooked a scanner up and was watching fuel trims.
STFT around 2% positive to 2% negative. LTFT is running around 15% positive once up to temp. Both banks are reading almost the exact same.
O2 sensors seem to be switching fine and reading normal.
I dont think a vacuum leak would make the fuel trims high so evenly on both banks, but a faulty MAS could i think.
I did check from the air box to the MAS and it's all hooked up correctly.
I do not have any codes yet after clearing the original 2 but i have not done another WOT test.
Spose the next step is to hook up a fuel pressure gauge this weekend and start narrowing the issue down.