2004 Chevy Astrovan

[bonneyman]

I bought my 2004 Astro in '07 as a work truck to relieve my Toyota PU which was just too overloaded. It cam with the ladder rack and internal shelving installed. All I had to do was drop the ladder on top and load my tools and parts. Has a 4.3L V-6 which is plenty powerful, and I get 16MPG city, 20MPG combined highway and city.
It was a lease truck, and the leasing agents use them for 3 years till the three-year warranty expires, then they sell them and get new. My had 89,000 miles on it. Now - 18 years later - I'm nearing 170,000 miles.
I've thought hard the past few years of converting it to an AWOL hippy van but the Mrs. just doesn't see it. Now I'm too old to do the conversion work so I'm just happy jetting around town in it.

[Muddy]

Astros are great vans! Treat it right and it'll do the same.

[goodfellow]

Bullet proof -- wish they brought back the old engine and transmission combinations. Not fancy or even fuel effcient, but they were reliable.

[Muddy]

Bullet proof -- wish they brought back the old engine and transmission combinations. Not fancy or even fuel effcient, but they were reliable.

Many of the forklifts we work on still have the 4.3 in the. The rights were bought by PSI and they made a few changes but the engine is basically the same 20+ yrs later

[bonneyman]

Hey guys, just a heads-up on a long running problem with my Astro.
Been having the speedo being erratic intermittently for several months. Then the tranny starts shifting weird. And the ABS light goes on and off. Several shops later, I think the issue has finally been resolved. The plug connector on the tranny speed sensor had a bad pin in it. Intermittent contact caused pretty much all the issues I was having. New wiring harness and everything seems to be holding. Just an FYI to any with 4.3l V-6 and 4L60 transmissions, could also apply to PU's and 4WD models.

[bmwrd0]

I had the GMC Safari version as a utility work van back in the day. Kept if for rushes and red ball deliveries, and it worked great. Those are solid little guys. Glad yours it going again.

[bonneyman]

Yeah, the van is over 20 years old but I'm gonna keep her. Can't see the benefit of buying something newer when they are built like they are. Rather put the money into what I've got and just keep on trucking!