GM 4.3 No start in the snow/now rain

OnyxSSS

OnyxSSS

Forum Member
Hi. my van is down and I am looking for the best way to figure out what is broken. 2001 astro AWD 4.3

Coil is a year old. I can pull the wire to the cap and get shocked. Can a coil be weak?

Sprayed starter fluid and no fire.

Plugs/wires/cap are old...afraid that if I start thorwing parts at it I'll be $500 in the hole and still not have a good idea of what is broken

I pulled the Crank position sensor yesterday before I got rained out, it was intact, did not look like the rec ring hit it or anything, it had a oragne o-ring.

I am going to trouble shoot the other ignition parts, need to make a LED test light?? and now the battery is dead, so I need to charge it first :(
Van has been great, in my 5 years with it I think the only repair was a fuel pump.
thanks
 
Very common problem is the coil/coil wire to fail on top of the usual cap/wires etc.

If you pull the cowl over off and in the dark you can see it arc almost everytime. sometimes if its running ok mist it with water and see. Even if its new I wouldnt assume its good.
 
I am gonna check the cap wire first...it seemed like it did not 'click' onto the cap...
thanks guys, I need this thing to run till 300K...dont really want it to but gotta love GM
 
My neighbor has an older Astro that for years he has always had issues of it not running when it's moist out. It parks outside and alot of the time he covers the front with a tarp. I've talked to him about it because I myself have a 4.3 s10 that has never given me any type issues. He said he's replaced damn near anything he could and it still does it on occasion. Hopefully yours just needs a "normal" replacing to get it back going strong. Oh, btw, my s10 has 283k on it (I think the replacement engine I put in it at 217k had more than mine by the way it smokes though, lol. I've owned it since 196k, but my step father bought it new in 94. I love that little truck!
 
^Agree, if you get a shock from the coil wire, throw a cap and rotor on it and I bet it will start. Switch the wires over me at a time though, so you don't mix them up.
 
started right up as the humidity dropped. shit.
gonna put a cap/rotor on it fo sure.

does the coil get grounded to the engine? I had a spare to check and its dangling :) and when it touches the metal support rod it shows a slight arc? If i replace the coil does it need to e grounded? those mounting bolts are PITA to get the old one out.
I love this van
 
It will have a ground. Not exactly sure where it will ground on that model but, usually they are close. Is the van running when you touch the wire to the support rod? How about when it isn't running. Maybe try grounding the wire when it won't start and see what happens.

OnyxSSS said:
started right up as the humidity dropped. shit.
gonna put a cap/rotor on it fo sure.

does the coil get grounded to the engine? I had a spare to check and its dangling :) and when it touches the metal support rod it shows a slight arc? If i replace the coil does it need to e grounded? those mounting bolts are PITA to get the old one out.
I love this van
Click to expand...
 
it does it when its running.
Replaced the cap/rotor...f'n GM and this plastic distributor. I wanted to snap a pic of the cap, it was green with corrosion.
cracked the hold down screw bosses, but I said f it and its running and I know when its dead next time I will have to replace the distributor. I should have reused the fasteners b/c they did not have the heap of thread lock like the new ones that came with the parts had.
 
During super humid/high moisture days, I have replaced a few cap/rotors in the 4.3 and even V8 vans with the horizontal facing spark plug wire connectors due to crank/no start condition.
 
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