8th Mar 2005, 11:43

I have a 2000 astro after 36,000 miles my starter went out after 80,000 miles my starter went out again, my driver side window motor is not working properly it stops half may, then I have to wait a few minutes before I can use it again. my air condition stop working after 40,000 miles, now my service the engine soon light is on all the time, and it fells like is not shifting all the way to the next gear went i'm in the open road. other than that I love my astro I'm a drummer and a father of 3 kids and the space is spectacular lots of room. I will have it all the way to the end.

25th Mar 2005, 09:04

I have owned my 1998 Astro van for 5 years now. It's been through the works. Everything mentioned above as well as a rebuilt transmission. It's probably the worst vehicle I've ever owned, and would never do it again. Also a common problem with these is the tortion bars in the front going bad, the result is the front drivers side is lower than the passengers side. It will be about 600 bucks to fix that. Last winter a hose connector to my radiator corroded and all the fluid ran out. Thankfully it didn't ruin the engine because we noticed the temperature was high and the check engine light was on. I will never ever buy an astro van again. I really hate everything about it. It also has always been very bouncy and bumpy.

13th Sep 2005, 22:58

We have had a 1998 Chevrolet Astro van since 2002, and we have never had a car with so many problems. With all the comments made about the Astro above, I can eliminate my original theory that we just happened to have a lemon. We have had all the exact same problems as listed above and we also received a recall notice for the power mirrors. Anyone else have this?

15th Feb 2007, 15:26

Mine is a 1999 and have owned it since 2002. I've replaced:

- both power window motors

- both power lock motors for the front doors and now the drivers door is going bad again where the lever won't lock or unlock fully.

- replaced the lemon transmission at 72,000. seems there's a known defect with most tranny's equiped to the 4.3 engine having to do with a valve body.

- replaced idler arms in front end.

- I've also experienced crazy electronic problems. such as the headlights dieing all of a sudden. 10 minutes later they worked and that hasn't happened since then. I've also had the heater fan go bad for about a day, and then it worked again. I swear my old girl is possessed by demons.

It's funny, because some parts of the van are excellent. for 105000 miles, the body is in excellent shape and holding up well. engine runs sound too. but it's the other crazy crap that angers me. especially the known valve body flaw in the transmission. are you wondering why it shifts hard into first gear? yeah, that's the problem. happens on almost all of them around 70,000 miles. I knew I should've bought the Honda before buying it, and sadly regret not getting the Honda like I promised myself.