i think i killed my van

[patgizz]

not really killed by something i did, but the alternator died in my 98 cargo astro last week and i had to get pulled home, first time an astro ever left me stranded.

so i pulled the battery to put it in the warm garage on the charger, and when i pulled the battery the tray was non existent. it literally fell out in crumbles of rot.

so i pulled the air filter to start getting to the alternator, and the fan blades were peeking through the hole they ate through the shroud, and have almost eaten through the radiator hose. i poked around and my body is rotten at the subframe mount points. the only thing keeping it from collapsing completely is that the stamped inner fender panel is resting completely on the frame so it can't collapse any further. and i've been driving this thing around loaded with ladders on top pulling a trailer.

so i gather it's time to look for another van. my helper has an E350 and we took it to the job the day after the astro broke, and while i love my astros man that full size was nice.

so i am at a confusing situation that i have been thinking about. i get another astro, i get a fullsize van(express or savana, no fords for me), or i get a 5x10ish enclosed trailer and pull it with my blazer. a trailer costs as much as a decent van, and around here clean anything is hard to find. i wish i could go down south and bring back an awd astro cargo van with sub 120k miles. the trailer registration is $35/year versus $105-150 for van, and $0 insurance because it is covered under my business policy.

there is a local selling a "no rust from pennsylvania" 96 AWD cargo with under 120k for $1500 with a broken rear axle. but i am getting to the point that i hate working on my work vehicles and want something i can get in and drive like i did with my current 98. i bought it for $800 with 149k and put 20k trouble free miles on it doing only front brakes in the 2 1/2 years since i picked it up.

i don't know if i am sad or confused or what right now, but i needed to vent. i got back into astros because i wanted to park my 3500 dually and HD 14' enclosed trailer when i did not need that much vehicle to get to the job. which is 95% of the time, but when i need it, it's there and it needs to always be there. my astros have always paid for themselves getting 18-20mpg versus 8 with the big block. 2 years of driving the astro saved me $4500 in gas versus driving the dually, minus $1000 in insurance and registration and $800 initial purchase, and $200 for ladder rack and trailer hitch that i'm keeping, i am still $2500 ahead. so i guess it makes sense versus driving the big truck. but does it make more sense to buy an astro, or beat on my blazer pulling a trailer, or get a fullsize van and get 14-15mpg.

[Kidhauler]

The blazer towing a enclosed trailer is not going to get good mileage. Probably in the area of 12mpg just due to the size of the frontal area and the amount of wind it blocks. I would look at the Astro or possibly a small pickup like a s10 or ranger just stay away from Dakota's the gas mileage sucks.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

I would grab another 96 - 98 astro and keep the 98 for some spare parts!

[MountainManJoe]

I think Astrofaris are still a good investment for you.

Can I ask what state you drive your van in? I thought rust was bad here in the rainforest, but my van isn't crumbling ... yet.

[patgizz]

cleveland ohio - the vehicle rot capital of the world. i parked next to an 08 ram at the home depot a few weeks ago with rot holes above the wheel openings on the bed sides.

i already have a 91 4.3 shortbed sonoma, but it is too beat up to take to customer's houses. the blazer is at least nice. but it gets 16mpg without trailer.

i have a hard time finding good astros around here, i may have to save some $ and go south for one in the spring and just use my helper's van for stuff i can't do with the blazer and my 5x8 open trailer. i did just put a hitch on the blazer.

i can't stomach buying a cargo trailer for 2x more than i paid for the astro. plus i already have the 6 month old hitch and almost new ladder rack. i really would love to find an AWD white 96+ cargo that hasnt been beat to crap or rusted out. i suppose i will need to leave cleveland for that.

this is the blazer i picked up a couple months ago because i needed something relatively safe to drive my son around in

[doyoulikeithere]

Thats Sad news.
I notice more and more "Old" looking Stro's on the road. Too Bad.
I see tons of them for sale around here for dirt cheap. Kinda far for you though.
Last week I was tempted by a sweet, lowered 89 Cargo for 450 bux, as well as an AWD 94 shortie for 750 bux.
I say tempted, cuz even at those prices, I cant bite. Neither was rusty, surprisingly, as TB said 'From the rainforest'...

Good luck on your hunt for another good StroFari..

[MountainManJoe]

Is the rust there mainly from rain, snow, or salt?

There are AWD Express vans as well, but I think they're pretty rare.

[patgizz]

they salt the crap out of the roads in the winter. it rots everything. my sonoma is from florida, my impala is from north carolina. i have a habit of buying my toys down south and buying rusty cleveland cars for everything else. my 3500 is getting ready to blow rust holes in its second set of cab corners and needs repainted again.

i bought a caprice wagon a few months ago to use for a winter beater and ended up scrapping it after i crawled underneath to do brake lines and the transmission crossmember fell apart in my hands, and the floors were only held together by the rust stuck to the bottom of the carpet.

[MountainManJoe]

One I thing I regret not doing is putting mud flaps on. The rocker paint has taken some abuse. But they are rusting from the inside as well.

[patgizz]

you still have rockers?

i put the cladding on to cover up the fact that the body is gone a foot up the left side.

[MountainManJoe]

LOL. Sounds bad there. Maybe you need a plastic car.

[patgizz]

i had a lumina APV before the string of astros. the plastic body looked great, the suspension pickup points on the unibody rusted out.

i looked for a few minutes on CL for one of those but i believe most of them are dead and gone by now.

[doyoulikeithere]

who makes stainless steel, or aluminum cars?

[patgizz]

lots of aluminum in new audis.

it's officially done, it seems trying to get it home with dead alt may have fried something as it wont even try to fire even on starting fluid.

i took off the insurance and transferred tags to the blazer, i will be heading south in april to look for a clean plain white cargo strofari.

[JustSomeGuy]

Hey, I see you've bought some cars from the southern US before, so you're comfortable doing that. Not sure if went there in person and drove them back, or if you shipped them. Before I had my Astro, I had a *cough* 1998 Ford Windstar Cargo from Miami, Florida. It had only 65k miles on it and of course, rust free. It was 11 years old when I bought it. I got it on eBay for $1100 and paid $650 to have it shipped to upstate New York. I took a bus and picked it & drove it home. Some may think that was a bit much, but I really didn't want to deal with rust anymore, and the van was fleet maintained (ex-post office van). All it needed to pass inspection was one tie rod end. Maybe you could look for a southern Astro Cargo. I'm sure you could find a nice pre-2000's for the about the same price and I can't see it costing more than $650 to ship to Ohio. That way you don't need to take time off to go get it, but you have to take that leap of faith to buy it sight unseen (well, just based on pictures the seller provides).

I'd say for under $2k (or maybe just a bit more) you could probably have a southern rust free Astro, shipped and on the road in Ohio. Not sure if you'd consider a window passenger van and take the seats out and dark tint the side windows, but sometimes I find the passenger vans are cheaper than the cargo vans. Though it is kind of nice having the steel sides with no windows. I prefer that look even though I'm driving a passenger Astro van now (needed extra seating, so a cargo van wouldn't work for me anymore).