Cars - 96 Astro/Safari - any good? Opinions Please!

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96 Astro/Safari - any good? Opinions Please!

I am thinking about buying a used GM Safari Van. Model year is 1996,
and it has about 180,000 kms.

I don't know a thing about these vans. Is there any known problems?
(other than the gas guzzling 4.3l engine!)

Anything I should look out for?

Are these vans hard to work on resulting in higher priced repair
bills? Did not look like much room under the hood to me. Then again,
if they rarely breaks, perhaps this is not an issue.

All advice and opinions greatly appreciated.

Thanks

96 Astro/Safari - any good? Opinions Please!

NewMan wrote:
> I am thinking about buying a used GM Safari Van. Model year is 1996,
> and it has about 180,000 kms.
>
> I don't know a thing about these vans. Is there any known problems?
> (other than the gas guzzling 4.3l engine!)
>
> Anything I should look out for?
>
> Are these vans hard to work on resulting in higher priced repair
> bills? Did not look like much room under the hood to me. Then again,
> if they rarely breaks, perhaps this is not an issue.

Good vans. They don't guzzle gas any worse than other comparable-sized
vans and SUVs, and the Chevy 4.3L is a tough engine that's been built
for a long time, which makes parts cheap and easily found. Given
decent maintenance, they should need nothing more than normal
replacement items (alternator, waterpump, fuel pump, shocks, etc) until
the miles get really high. If you want a body-on-frame RWD midsized
van, definitely the best choice.

Harry

96 Astro/Safari - any good? Opinions Please!

I owned an '89 and a '92 - both with 4.3 and loaded with options including
A/C

Both went well over 200,000 miles.

As a matter of fact the '92 is STILL running for another owner.

Maintenance was no more difficult than most other vehicles.

I did my own routine maintenance.

I would suggest a "routine maintenance" fuel pump change at 100K. Both my
vans needed one at around 125K-130K - as did my current GMC S-15 pickup
with the 4.3.

It is just "normal" GM maintenance.

Both vans did around 20-21 mpg and "lost" one mpg to A/C - which I figured
cost me around 25-cents per hour travelling down the highway in the late
'90s.

My current pickup will do up to 23 mpg on summer fuel, with a similar
one-mpg loss for A/C, but even if it was twice the '90s cost - 50
cents-per-hour - I feel the A/C/ is well worth it....a couple of bucks to
be comfortable during a four-hour trip.

96 Astro/Safari - any good? Opinions Please!

I talked with my shop on the fuel pump issue. You are quite correct,
the Safari / Astro has issues with the fuel pumps. They change them
ALL THE TIME.

Worse than that... If the van is 1996 or older, then this is a minimum
$500 repair. If the van is 1997 or newer - then you can only replace
the "fule pump module" which is a "GM Only" part with NO aftermarket.
The part alone is $1200 - and they are no more reliable than the
earlier models!

The shop also warned me about the $800 fuel injector! Seems that there
is one fuel injector that - in order to replace - you have to
practically tear the top end of the engine off to do! And given the
absolute lack of space to do so.....

Damn. I knew it was too good to be true.

On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 15:52:30 -0500, "*" > wrote:

>I owned an '89 and a '92 - both with 4.3 and loaded with options including
>A/C
>
>Both went well over 200,000 miles.
>
>As a matter of fact the '92 is STILL running for another owner.
>
>Maintenance was no more difficult than most other vehicles.
>
>I did my own routine maintenance.
>
>I would suggest a "routine maintenance" fuel pump change at 100K. Both my
>vans needed one at around 125K-130K - as did my current GMC S-15 pickup
>with the 4.3.
>
>It is just "normal" GM maintenance.
>
>Both vans did around 20-21 mpg and "lost" one mpg to A/C - which I figured
>cost me around 25-cents per hour travelling down the highway in the late
>'90s.
>
>My current pickup will do up to 23 mpg on summer fuel, with a similar
>one-mpg loss for A/C, but even if it was twice the '90s cost - 50
>cents-per-hour - I feel the A/C/ is well worth it....a couple of bucks to
>be comfortable during a four-hour trip.
>
>
>
>
>

96 Astro/Safari - any good? Opinions Please!

In article >,
NewMan > wrote:

> I talked with my shop on the fuel pump issue. You are quite correct,
> the Safari / Astro has issues with the fuel pumps. They change them
> ALL THE TIME.
>
> Worse than that... If the van is 1996 or older, then this is a minimum
> $500 repair. If the van is 1997 or newer - then you can only replace
> the "fule pump module" which is a "GM Only" part with NO aftermarket.

Someone is feeding you a line of hooey. NAPA shows new fuel
pumps for 97-98-99 Astro vans for $550 for a Delco and $529 for
the NAPA (likely Carter) brand. In 2000-01-02-03, still
available but the price drops about $100.

> The part alone is $1200 - and they are no more reliable than the
> earlier models!

See above

> The shop also warned me about the $800 fuel injector! Seems that there
> is one fuel injector that - in order to replace -

96 and newer have 6 injectors, they can be serviced individually,
but you can get a new 6 injector SCFI assembly for the 4.3 for
$299.

> you have to
> practically tear the top end of the engine off to do! And given the
> absolute lack of space to do so.....

No, you have to remove the upper intake plenum, takes about an
hour to have it off.

> Damn. I knew it was too good to be true.

Depends on who you ask and how out of touch they are.