2005 Chevy Astro 7 to 8 times/year, Engine will not start

MTRICH2820

MEMBER
2005 CHEVROLET ASTRO
6 CYL
AWD
AUTOMATIC
102,000 MILES

I've already submitted this question, along with a $50
donation (pay pal) to the cause, maybe the original question from est. May 28, 2009 can be found.

The problem: Whether hot or a cold start, 7-8 times per year, the engine spins, sounds like it wants to start, but will not. Must wait a period of time 15 min to 1hour, and the van will always start. Sometimes kicking the tires, pounding on the dash helps? (Good Grief)

This is a service van and is operated every day, all day long. No other symptoms that we can detect.

Never dies once running. Always rolls down the highway, steady w/ good power, @ 75 mph, no problem.

Chevy Dealer did diagnostics (had in shop 2 days), did not find a problem, cannot reproduce the problem in car shop. Checked fuel pump pressure: Normal.

Please advise

1 Reply

POET042005

MECHANIC
134 POSTS

For starter heres one suggestion these vehicles have a very badly designed electrical connector on the
driver's side, underneath - about mid-ship. This connector is for the
power to the fuel pump and sender. Known to build up corrosion and act up
very intermittently. Worth looking at.

My next guess would be to find a very good automotive electrician and have them run diagnosis on the crank and camshaft sensors, a bad crank sensor does not give any errors reading to the computer, if its faulty it can cause random nonstarting conditon.

I would also have the fuel pressure checked with key off to verify that presure is between 50 and 60 psi pressure has to be this high to open the popets or van will not start indicating a bad pump even if it reads 60 psi while running.

Hope this helps

Rich