"SBlackfoot" > wrote in message
.. .
> >
> > You should be taking the advice here as a pointer to look in the section
> > of the service manual that covers what you were pointed to. It is just
a
> > start. Not an end.
>
>
> Well you *were* being helpful...

NOT if you were all set to run out and replace sensors or belts on account
of
advice I posted here. You should use the advice you get here to help you
prioritize what to look at first.

> Isn't asking questions about an engine a
> good way to begin learning about it?

- begin- that is the operative word.

> Last time I checked FSMs are pricey.

$20 is pricey?!?! See:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tego ry=34217

> Are you suggesting I shell out for a FSM for a vehicle that I do not own?

You won't even drop $20 into helping your father, the man who bore and
raised you? What an ungrateful brat! :-)

> Shell out for said service manual because of a single problem? Obviously
I'm
> not familiar with it else I wouldn't be asking for advise.
>

This is NEVER going to break down EVER again once you fix it? Amazing! Can
you come fix my cars!? :-)

Be serious. This is getting to be a more elderly vehicle, that with the
chair mods is
probably going to be run until the wheels fall off. If you want to keep it
running
which would be a kindness for your father and brother, a FSM is a
requirement.
Otherwise find a good mechanic.

> As for throwing parts at it we haven't replaced a single component yet so
> I'm not sure where that came from. I mentioned car/rotor/leads but they're
> common tune-up items on any engine with a distributor and are overdue.
Would
> you buy another van just for simple disposeable parts? Wow.
>

cap/rotor/plug wires are no big deal. What I am cautioning you on is that
your approach is a shotgunners approach, and that is going to cost you, and
there's a good chance it won't solve the problem.

It's been said numerous times on this forum here, your wasting time and
money
without a FSM. There is really no excuse for it.

Everybody on this forum can get a cheap FSM for all the cars they own if
they
just do one simple thing and that is as soon as they buy their car, start
scanning
Ebay for a FSM. It isn't necessary to go to Hemmings Motor News and buy
from
one of the FSM dealers there, who generally charge 3/4 of the cost of a new
FSM, nor is it necessary to pay the factory for one. All that is necessary
is to
start scanning Ebay and eventually one is going to come up for sale, cheap.
Your
father should have done that when he paid extra to mod the van, or you
should
have done so and given him the manual for his birthday or for Christmas,
along with
the usual tie or after shave.

That's what I do with my parents, once the warranty on their vehicles runs
out.
(as I know that at least one or two times I'm going to get called in for
advice,
even if I don't end up actually doing the work to fix the vehicle) And as a
matter
of fact, amazingly enough, my father has actually looked at the pertinent
sections
of the manual once or twice when he had a failure. And when time comes to
trade in or sell the car, the manual goes back on Ebay and what I get from
it
usually pays a good chunk of the cost of the next one.

By the time the vehicle breaks down and you realize you need a FSM, well
if you don't have one by then, you really need to be silent on the cost, and
either pay the factory or pay one of the HMN's dealers and treat it as a
lesson
learned.

Ted