Faults:

This thing was an absolute beast, I was a kid when we had it... an absolute embarrassment if you ask me.. RAN GREAT! But too top heavy, hence the reason we no longer have it.

My mother and I were driving down the highway when the truck infront of us hit his brakes suddenly, my mother being the cautious driver that she is swerved at 65 mph to miss the truck and over we went. Luckily being that it was a boxy van we didn't flip over the whole way, just on our side. VERY SCARY!!

The van ran very strong up until then. It had 190,000 miles on it when we crashed, and needless to say we didn't get much for the trade in value. Now my mother is driving a Hyundai Elantra. Much smaller, but fits her a lot better.

The van burned oil like a tank and the brakes wore easily because of the weight.

Since it was only rear wheel drive, travel in the winter was left to our other car.

General Comments:

Other than the weight and the oil, the van lasted us a long time, very reliable. Started every time we turned the key.

Wasn't a very pretty vehicle, but a car's a car.

Faults:

A lot has gone wrong recently, but that is going to happen with high mileage.

General Comments:

Awesome van. I have taken that van places I wouldn't take a 4x4 truck and still got through. It is a lean machine with plenty of torque, and acceleration is not bad either.

Faults:

Fuel pump replaced.

Water pump replaced.

Rear end makes noise.

Alternator.

Digital cluster quit working.

Outside door handles break easy.

General Comments:

All in all for the miles it has it has been and still is a very dependable vehicle.

Faults:

Typical high mileage failures. Alternator, brakes, rotors, battery, couple of tune-ups.

Idler arm failed twice. Second failure was due to improper installation of the first one. Mechanic installed bushing on back wards.

Cigarette lighter on the same circuit as the ABS brakes. Short in the lighter caused a misdiagnosis of the brakes by a mechanic.

Rear differential failed. You should check your seals on your differential for leaks from time to time.

General Comments:

Very good work vehicle. Hauled a lot of weight and towed a cargo trailer. Never broke down on the job.

Handles poorly, not maneuverable, top heavy, brakes poorly. Not a safe vehicle to drive and very bad in the snow. Designed as a mini work van.

Faults:

The most annoying problem was that the engine would use about a quart of oil a week. This became a tedious maintenence chore.

Also, the transmission would not shift past Overdrive into Drive, 1, or 2. No matter how hard you pulled on the lever, that was as far as it was moving.

Both outside door handles (on the front) and the window crank on the passenger side broke off without a considerable amount of force.

The high idle made it very difficult to move slowly across a gravel driveway etc.. The brakes would stop the front wheels first, but the rear wheels would continue to try to move.

After around 150K miles, both seat belts became virtually useless seeing as they wouldn't stay tight when fastened.

General Comments:

My Astro had a lot of relatively small nuisances, but it ran like a tank. In less than 15 years it passed (to my surprise) 260,000 miles. The only reason I had to get rid of it was the inspection and registration had expired and the van wasn't worth registering again. Just the other day I happened to be at the junkyard we sent it to and found it sitting there, with two cars piled on top of it. To everyone's surprise, the beast still started after 5 or 6 months of sitting there.

I used the van for cargo. It was a two seater with no windows on the sides. For the grunt work I needed it to do, it did it well. I didn't hesitate to buy another, as I found it to be a strong dependable vehicle.

Faults:

The stock idler arms usually fail. I've replaced mine, no problems.

These vans tend to have a vibration right at about 60 - 70 miles per hour. I have purchased 2 sets of wheels and tires, and re-balanced MULTIPLE times to no avail. My latest set is 16-inch Nich Thrusters with 50 series tires mounted. The vibration settled down, but am afraid the taller wheels have possibly just moved up to a higher range (maybe 80 - 90 MPH), but I don't drive that fast anyway.

General Comments:

I have completed a 350 V8 conversion on this van over a year ago, and it's still running STRONG. I am pushing nearly 300 horsepower, and pushing close to 20 miles per gallon.

Log onto my website at www.v8astro.homestead.com to see pictures and details.

Basically all I needed was a TBI, distributor, and ECM from a similar year V8 truck. I chose to do this because my wife and I have 6 children, and love horsepower, so I get the best of both worlds in my 8 passenger minivan.

Plus, do you know how hard it is to find a 8 passenger full size van?