1997 Villager: Three years in a row my engine has died while making steep climbs on hot days. Suddenly the engine will choke for gas and the car will stop. Generally it takes about an hour of cooling down for the engine to run normally again. (I open the hood and remove the gas cap) If I try to run prior to that the car will start and appear healthy until I try to drive -- then it will quickly die. In all cases I had topped the tank prior to heading uphill. Oil temporature was not a problem in any of the situations. Twice I was going up winding roads but the last time was on Interstate 15. The problem cannot be reproduced in the city. Has anyone heard of this -- does anybody know what the fix is?

Change your fuel pump.

I used to have the same problem on my 93 Villager, well it seems that the van starts when the fuel pump cools off, so replace it and forget about it, just learn to live with the pitching sound that comes with it.