Another Crazy Question .....

[kb426]

After reading all this, I can tell you with certainty what won't be in my drive. This sounds real painful.

[wayne petty]

kb... you have to understand...     we are just talking about the ones that are broken and in for repair....

not the millions of them ... parked in driveways awaiting the tow trucks from the wrecking yard.. that were to sick to trade in at cash for clunkers..

when they work good.. they run great... when assembled wrong...  problems stick their ugly heads up  and drive owners crazy...

guess what.. the astro is gone.. a 95 windstar 3.8 has taken its place..

WHY ME.....   oh yea... head gaskets..  probably a timing cover gasket also...  this van was so cared for.. the 8 MM spark plug wires are about 12 MM.. where they are OIL soaked...


i am so glad i own my own valve grinding set...   its a stone on a power drill and a tube of lapping compound...    multiple angle valve jobs anybody...  what ever angle comes out between the two faces..


i gave up waiting for the machine shop to surface the heads.. come back in two days ..  one shop has a belt surfacer.. 10 minutes and i am done..    looked at HF.. could not find anything large enough to do it my self...  beats dragging them down the sidewalk behind my skate board.. with a bag of sand on top..

not really... except for the belt surfacer.. i still dress it down with my diamond file carefully afterwards.. and i have a WWII vintage sioux portable set..    and for those who have machines that take flat cotton belts... use a carefully selected micro v fan belt.. work great...  stay centered just fine...

[UGLY OLDS]

kb....
 While I complain about the goofy thing , it IS  a perfect vehicle for my wife ... All wheel drive ..Power everything ..Dutch doors & a lift gate to make grocery loading easier ...Lots of seats....
More importantly ...You sit about a foot higher than the traffic around you ..EXCELLENT visibility ....Nice strong solid frame in case ya manage to hit something .. ..( Yep ..She's checked out that part over the years too...Both ends ... :cry: )  
The neatest part for me ... I HAVE THE TITLE  :!:   If I have to put some bucks in from time to time ..Well, its better than making payments ....
 Like Wayne said , the down side is that they are IMPOSSIBLE to work on ...They put so many things in such a little space you have to be a magician to change parts ......  Now, like a lot of the cars from that era, the plastic stuff is going bad ...Pop a panel to change a switch, the "ears" break off & you need to get creative to complete the repair ..
 They are, dollar for dollar, prolly the best vehicle of their type in that class .. Ford  & Chrysler never made anything close to compare ....The Aerostar & Windstar are more like the Chrysler "Mini-Vans" ...  At least the Astro  is a TRUCK....  My buddy , ( MUCH braver than me I might add), used to tow his car trailer with his Astro ..Loaded  :!:  That always made me nervous ....Not enough brakes for me ..He made a couple of round trips to Calif ...Loaded both ways ...

 I will survive this round of penance .. Get the thing going again ..Make Mom happy ..Get back to working on something enjoyable ......  



Bob.............

[wayne petty]

oh.. astro van humor...

i was standing in the local autozone...

it was crowded...

a Korean man was standing nearby.. i looked in his hand..

he had one spark plug... a AC CR43ts... and six gm exhaust flange studs with the little hex on the end...

i said to him... as i had pointed other people to stuff they needed in the store. that the exhaust studs for his 4.3 astro van are down the isle behind him... but the spark plugs for it will be behind the counter...

at that point his jaw dropped open and he was looking into his open hand...   one spark plug and six studs...  he ask how i knew he had an astro van... i said.. i am a mechanic .. i have to know what parts fit what car...    he looked again at his hand full of parts...

i just love a great practical joke...  i was totally guessing as the astro vans are one of the few applications that use the CR43TS spark plugs..
i also know .. that the koreans in town.. love astro vans...


CR43 TS spark plugs are slightly different..   the side electrode and center electrode are almost twice as thick as normal spark plugs..

kinda like the champion F10YC spark plugs..   if you have ever run across one of those... something that you can put in and forget for 50,000 miles..  or double that..    the CR also come in several heat ranges...   43, 43, 44 or 45...

[taxpyer]

kb,,,,,,,,,, I agree with Ugly.   The vans are cool just a pain to work on. :cry:  On the upside,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a guy can now justify an overhead crane to lift the body clear of the clip in order to work on it........  Thats what some shops are doing up my way.  Faster cheaper and easier. There is a marketing angle here...............  Unfortunately not for me. :(D)  I plan to drive mine into the ground. My overhaul cost me about $3000 by the time the cuts on my hands quit bleeding.  Trouble is my van is only worth about $2000 but the overhaul would've been twice the cost if I hadn't done it myself.  Obviously I like my van.

[UGLY OLDS]

taxpyer
 One of the main issues I am having with this "repair" is the way some of the work done in the past has been completed...  
I,m sure Frank or any of the other folks that have seen my Olds will agree, I'm pretty anal about the way mechanical things are supposed to go together....
 
 Because of my back issues, all the work on my Astro up until now has been done by a shop that I trusted without question...Close friends for almost 20 years ...
After finding the injector installed wrong , the fan shroud installed with 2 bolts instead of the 6 that are required, wiring laying around the engine , heater control vacuum lines pinched by the engine cover ,etc.etc..   It makes the repair just that much more work.. For every issue I find , I have to fix 3 to make things "correct" to my standards...

 Good thing Frank & Frank have provided this place to vent .... :?   Otherwise I probably would have been upset ....        


Bob .........

[UGLY OLDS]

Hey Kid's ....If anybody wants to see what we have been  going through with these injectors , try the link below ... Excellent photos & a very good explanation of what happens to these things ...
You will not belive some of the photos ....

  http://www.automotiveforums.com/t473110-discuss4_3_cpi_injector_replacement_pictures.html

This one's even better .....It's movie  :!:  

Bob .....