The_Lobbster
Well-Known Member
This thread will be a bit of a "build" of the Astro I picked up to tow my Samurai. In the past, I've owned a 2nd gen 24 valve dodge 6 speed, a 2008 2500 Duramax, a 2007 Suburban, so you may ask, why on earth would you choose an Astro then? The reason? I don't know. My parent's had an Astro I drove in high school, and wanted another, because you can haul 7 grown adults somewhatish comfortably. I really wanted an express van, but the Astro square body style kept calling my name, and I couldn't find an express cheap enough.
What I ended up finding was an '02 Astro on Copart. Ended up paying more than I should've. Said it "runs and drives", which, was true. I knew there would be issues, but, I couldn't get the van to go over 10-15mph. I checked the shifting, and verified it wasn't stuck in 2nd, so I started to suspect the cat was clogged. I also noticed the coolant was low. I managed to contact the previous owner, and found out that he had replaced the spider injector at some point, which are known to leak, and can cause a cat death pretty quick. Seeing the coolant loss too, instantly made me think intake gaskets as well, excess coolant burning can do some damage as well.
So I chopped the y pipe out, and this is what I found. The upstream cat blew apart and blocked downstream. Strangely, I never had any codes except for a mass airflow fault, which could also be caused by a clogged exhaust, which is why I took the sawzall to it.
What I ended up finding was an '02 Astro on Copart. Ended up paying more than I should've. Said it "runs and drives", which, was true. I knew there would be issues, but, I couldn't get the van to go over 10-15mph. I checked the shifting, and verified it wasn't stuck in 2nd, so I started to suspect the cat was clogged. I also noticed the coolant was low. I managed to contact the previous owner, and found out that he had replaced the spider injector at some point, which are known to leak, and can cause a cat death pretty quick. Seeing the coolant loss too, instantly made me think intake gaskets as well, excess coolant burning can do some damage as well.
So I chopped the y pipe out, and this is what I found. The upstream cat blew apart and blocked downstream. Strangely, I never had any codes except for a mass airflow fault, which could also be caused by a clogged exhaust, which is why I took the sawzall to it.