Chevy & GMC Vans

Whats up guys? The names Johnny, 27, father of 4 (3 gals and a boy). I manage a pawn shop. I love motorcycles. Currently have a 97 VFR 750 and a 75 CB550 on a chopped frame.Im a fps fanatic, currently addicted to bf4 on ps4. Ive been on car forums for 12 years so I know the basics. Usually if I post something, chances are ive already searched or dont exactly know what im searching for lol. Enough about me...

I call her Big Red One. I recently aquired a 92 Astro CL awd for $1600. This is the 40th vehicle ive owned, first van. After researching here I chose this over a few mini vans (seemed more manly). I got it for the reliability, power, awd, it has a towing hitch, and seats my small militia of children. Its got 157k, rear seats are near mint due to prev owner using it as a work van, he kept the seats stored away. Paint sucks, but it is what it is. Ill post pics later.

The only major issue other than a rusted out exhaust, which ive already had redone, is the awd doesnt work. Ive searched and only seem to find issue fixes for the later gens with the abs/awd in 1 unit. Due to the snow I havent had a chance to crawl under it yet. I do have a few questions that I havent fiund a clears answer to yet...

Does this model flash the awd service light on start up? If it should, mine doesnt and ive yet to see a fuse.

I read theres a specific type of fluid to use or the awd gets temperamental. Is that tranny fluid or tcase fluid?

Whats the avg running temp? Mines seems to stay around 200-220 in 30º-40º weather.

Seems weird, but when the exhaust was half rusted off it seemed to have no trouble starting. Now that I had a new muffler put on it turns over for like 5 secs and I have to tap the gas a few times. Even then it acts like its wants to cut off at first then the idle smoothes out. Fuel pressure reg maybe?

Planning a good tune up sunday. Maybe that'll weed out a few problems.

Welcome! I will address the AWD. No AWD light or fuse on the 1990 to 1998 models. They all used the Borg-Warner 4472 transfer case. This t-case is 100% mechanical and uses a viscous coupling for AWD activation. I have heard of a few failing where the front output does not work. Have you verified if the front drive shaft turns with the rear if you are spinning? Could be a front diff issue as well.

I havent had a chance to jack up the front due to the weather and my garage is a little full of bikes getting winter rebuilds etc.

BUT... funny thing happened tonight. I had big red sitting on a slightly inclined road while at my sisters today. I noticed after about an hour when I was leaving that my van, which was parked directly behind another vehicle, was now about 2 car lengths behind it. It was slowly creeping backward lol.


I also learned tonight not to ignore the gas light. Coming home from work the glass light started flashing just under 1/4 tank. Figured I was safe for a few more miles to a town with cheaper gas. Right at the exit, check eng light came on. She started bucking while at the stop light and sputtering really bad on take off. After a quick fill up, she sputtered a bit more then finally picked up a ran fine. Hopefully we'll have nice weather next week so I can do a good tune up. On the bright side, its so nice being able to work on the engine from inside the cab. Esp in winted. Found that out while installing an "Ooogah" horn lol. Dont judge.

the reaper wrote:BUT... funny thing happened tonight. I had big red sitting on a slightly inclined road while at my sisters today. I noticed after about an hour when I was leaving that my van, which was parked directly behind another vehicle, was now about 2 car lengths behind it. It was slowly creeping backward lol.

That is a sign that you are either missing the front drive shaft or the front diff or t-case is shot.

Sounds like im in for some fun. We're finally getting some decent weather so ill do a tune up and check it out.Im guessin the tcase is shot bc when i had the safety inspection they pointed out the rusted exhaust i had to fix, pretty sure theyd pointed out an unhooked shaft. Gotta love good ole nc weather. Summer one week, winter the next. Last week we had 10" of snow and the last few days have been high 60s to low 70s lol.

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:

the reaper wrote:BUT... funny thing happened tonight. I had big red sitting on a slightly inclined road while at my sisters today. I noticed after about an hour when I was leaving that my van, which was parked directly behind another vehicle, was now about 2 car lengths behind it. It was slowly creeping backward lol.

That is a sign that you are either missing the front drive shaft or the front diff or t-case is shot.

As I was reading down through this, my first thought was "Does the van roll when left in park?"

If the front shaft is missing or disconnected, you will likely need a new transfer case to get AWD back. Everything I've read indicated the viscous unit will lock up (fry) if driven without the front driveshaft connected (for any length of time). If it was already disconnected, the previous owner must have already had "issues" with the t-case.

Used t-cases are out there and honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about how many miles are on the ones you find. They tend to (normally) outlive most of the other drivetrain parts on these vans.