Chevy & GMC Vans

Good Luck Philly.

Will it start with starting fluid?

Jim

there is a way to test the coil http://autorepair.about.com/od/troubles ... st-ohm.htm i remember seeing it in my haynes manual have never done it though since my problem ended up being so obvious. if you have one it'll say the proper values for the test off the top of my head i don't know them sorry

good luck

Success... I got the ignition coil out and the new one back in last night. It was still very humid last night and it started right up once it was changed out, the yellow sparks in the dark were also gone. It started this morning with no hesitation and it was still very humid and gross out. Tonight we should get rain, that will be the real test...

Definitely a tough job, real tight space, a lot of bolts to remove from inside and under the hood. The best thing I ever did was buy a 3", 6" and 10" extension kit as well as a u-joint. I used Chemist's how-to and it was very helpful... Its located here: http://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=4080

Tips for this job:
- As I am finding out quickly, no job on this van can be done without several extensions and a u-joint. Be sure to have several on hand.
- You do not need to remove the entire air intake assembly to get better access through the hood. You can loosen the hose clamp on the hose towards the back of the open hood space, then pop open the cover of the intake as if you were going to replace the air filter. The hose will slide off and the the top of the cover will lift right up. This can all be done very quickly and give you enough added space to get in there.
- Dipping the head of the socket in grease to keep the nuts from falling when you are setting them in place is helpful. About halfway through the job I got annoyed with grease on everything so I resorted to folding a napkin a few times over the head of the socket, jamming the nut or bolt in so it was very snug, and installing it that way. It works suprisingly well and is easy enough to pick the small piece of napkin off afterwards.
- There are several bolt/nuts involved in this job. I thought I had everything out at one point, but I didn't and nothing would budge. The problem was that the bolt holding the coil bracket, closest to the front of the van, has a bolt with 2 nuts on it. The first nut is holding the other bracket on top of the ignition coil bracket, the next bolt/nut actually holds the bracket. Its hard to see in there and I thought that by removing the upper nut everything would come free, that was false.

Anyways... Its in and I now have a sweet brushed nickel heat shield on my ignition coil... By the time I got the coil out, the hardware stores were closed, so I had to make something in my condo work so I could complete the job. It turns out an extra cabinet drawer handle I had laying around was a perfect fit. The holes in the handle were spaced perfectly and the screws fit snugly in the bracket/coil. Works for me!

Astroturf and Cobra... Thank you for the quick responses that really allowed me to complete this job in one night.

Timelessbeing... Old people don't drive much, they die. I looked for a van for about 6 months when I stumbled across the crapiest craigslist ad with no pictures that just said "2000 GMC Safari AWD 60k", thats all I needed to know. I picked it up the next day.

Do you have a multimeter? Perhaps you could get readings on the old coil. Too bad it's too late to measure the new one.

Sorry I dont have a multimeter.

Got lots of rain last night and this morning. The van started right up.

That is good news

Congrats

Jim

that's what i like to hear

I've got a question about the coil. The coil is attached to a bracket; there's a piece of aluminum (looks like some sort of cooler) that is also attached to the same bracket (I see it in the picture). There's a wire that connects to the piece of aluminum. What is that (the piece of aluminum)?

that aluminum piece is a heat sink and is attached to the ignition control module