Chevy & GMC Vans

well my laziness caught up with me , on my way home from the store yesterday my astro started knocking then it died and would not turn over , my father in law said to try pulling the spark plugs and put a little oil in each cyl and fill the engine with oil too and if in lucky it might break free.

It might, but you can pretty well write this engine off as finished just the same. What do you mean, laziness. You knew the engine was already low on oil?

no i didnt think it was that low, will a 305 out of a 86 caprice work with a tbi?

Don't fee bad, I always checked my oil and ran mine low without knowing it. You may have the same thing that happened to mine, the rear main dried up and wore out. It was like a light switch from just a little leaking to old faithful.

You could try a mixture of kerosene and oil, or fuel oil. I've free'ed up blocks that sat with rings stuck to the cylinder walls before that way. Fuel oil and kerosene have very low viscosity.

Sorry to hear about it, but sounds like a good excuse to step up to a V8.

Yes, a 305 from the Caprice will work.

well its a long story, my oil guage has been flikering the past week i figured it was because if the cold snap here, but i should have checked the oil. so the 305 i have do i need a tbi from another 305 because it has a carb on it right now??

Before peter says it I'll say it........ At least you didn't roll it.

On a more serious note that sucks dude. At least you can admit to it being your fault. BTDT myself with an old Kcar I had many a year ago. I completely neglected to check or change the oil for about 50K and then she seized up on me while I was booting down a country road. Not a nice thing to have happen that's forsure.

You'll need to use a TBI intake with the middle holes elongated for the 86 and earlier style heads. Either that or you need an aftermarket intake w/adapter plate, this is the way I'd reccomend you go. An LG4 305 is only putting out about what a stock TBI van does and slightly more torque, however an intake and a set of headers will help a good bit. That being said, if you can cam up too these motors came with an awful cam stock unless you're talking about some HO variant.

unfortuanetly i have do this on the cheap because im flat ass broke.

Too bad you couldn't get a hold of a full size van from same or close year. That is what I did, and saved me a lot of work.

well i have oil and funnel with a hose attached to reach in to the spark plug hole and a magnetic oli pan heater . wish me luck . oh btw its -10c and snowing , im gonna look like frosty when im done. lol

Good luck

I can always get deals on wrecks if you need one... but they are all over the US so you would have to factor in the transprotation of it...

here is an example...

This truck sold about 10 minutes ago in Spokane Washington about 1000Km's from you for $100 bucks. If you have access to a trailer and a truck it should not cost anymore than $500 to go get it, then there will be a buyers fee at the auction and taxes at the border.. so you are looking at about $1000 for this 96 suburban to your door... I have no doubt that you could part out what is left of the truck when you are done to make a profit and have your new motor... the downfall is it is a hassle of a process if you have not done it before..


Stock Number: 3481353
Loss Type: COLLISION
Year: 1996
Damage: RIGHT FRONT, ALL OVER
Make: GMC
Start: CAN'T TEST
Model: YUKON
Key: YES
Cert. State: Washington
Odometer: 217614
Sale Document: BILL OF SALE
Odom.Status: NOT REQUIRED/EXEMPT
Sale Document Brand:
VIN: 1GKEK13R0TJ733734
Sale Document Notes:
Vehicle Status: READY FOR SALE
Vehicle Rating:
Item #: 344


Additional Vehicle Information

CD Player: YES
Color: WHITE
Engine Size: 5.7L V8 FI NF
Radio: YES
Tape Deck: YES
ACV: $4,950.00
VIN Status: OK





Good luck on whatever you decide!

When a 4.3 goes bad,here we automaticly go to a V8 swap for the answer.Truth is to get a low mileage same type 4.3 might be a cheaper repair without all the tinkering that "could" be a issue with a V8.