Howdy, I just picked up a brand used 1994 Voyager, 3.0, to replace my dead 1992 Caravan.

The previous owner had let it sit for about a year. Not even sure if he fired it up and drove it around the block every now and then during that time.

The tranny had been serviced at an Aamco 500 miles ago. And, of course, it's full of Dexron 3. Morons. I do plan on doing a full fluid flush, but I've heard that at this milage (173 K), and the fact that it sat dormant for a year, the seals could have hardened, thereby doing more damage with a fluid flush. Any thoughts on this?

Next Issue:

It stalls out from time to time. Did it 3 days in a row. First day I was driving along for about 10 minutes, then it slowly lost power over the course of 30 seconds or so, and puttered out and died. I tried to restart it a few times, but it would only run for about 10 seconds before dying again. About 30 minutes later it fired back up and ran fine the rest of the night.

Next day same thing. Only it took longer to get running and stay running after the initial sputter. The spark plugs looked pretty worn out, and I knew the gas was probably about a year old, so I got some new plugs and an air filter and limped it to a gas station to put in some 92 octane, in an attempt to maybe balance out the old gas. Ran fine the rest of the night.

Next day, same thing, sputtered and died after about 10 minutes of driving. The terminals on the cap and rotor looked pretty worn, and I limped it to a parts store to get a new one, along with some Lucas injector cleaner, as the store said that would help deal with the old gas. It's been fine since then, but I haven't driven it more than 10 minutes or so, so I don't know for sure.

I don't think it's a fuel filter, as I can smell gas at the engine after it stalls. The AC belt was missing, and I put in a new one during the cap and rotor swap. Don't know if that had anything to do with it, as it appears the belt just goes around the AC pump, a tentioner, and another wheel that the main drivebelt wraps around. A friend mentioned it could be the MAP sensor, or a cold start sensor (which I couldn't find any mention of in my Haynes manual). I'm thinking it could possibly be the Oxygen sensor. Or maybe the things I've done have fixed it already, and I just haven't driven it enough since then to know for sure. It did drive fine the first few days I had it, then this all started. Any thoughts?

If the tranny was serviced 500 miles ago and fresh fluid was put in, you don't have to worry about it damaging seals. Dexron 3 won't hurt the seals, it's just the wrong friction formulation for shifting. Plus, the issue of changing fluid at this mileage is a moot point--it's already been changed. Changing it to the right fluid won't do any more damage.

Putting in a higher octane was definately the wrong thing to do. A higher octane gas has a higher flash point, meaning that it's HARDER to ignite. That's why it's only used in higher compression engines--so it doesn't pre-ignite from the compression rather than the spark plug. Very common misconception. So, the lesson here is to never use a higher octane.

New plugs and air filter are always a good idea. Same with cap and rotor. Now you're down to just a few items. Why is it stalling? You say you smell gas, which could mean you have an injector stuck open problem. That would give you a very rich mixture and would also make the engine chug after it starts as it clears out the raw gas. Sitting for a year could easily gum up the injectors. Techron is the best injector cleaner I've ever used. Lucas isn't bad, but I like Techron better.

A bad MAP sensor or bad oxygen sensor would make it run bad as soon as the engine warmed up and the computer went into closed loop. Until that point, it's in open loop and running off of factory programming. It still shouldn't die though as it goes into closed loop--run rough maybe, but not die. Is your temp gauge reading in the middle when it starts to die out?

After it dies, you really should attach a fuel pressure gauge to it to see if you've got a fuel pump/filter issue. In fact, a fuel pressure gauge could also help you diagnose a stuck injector. If you turn off the engine with the gauge on and the pressure drops, that means either a stuck open injector or a bad check valve in the pump.

Finally, in this age car, you might want to check the operation of the fuel pressure regulator. If that's not operating right, it could be commanding too much fuel pressure.

Thanks for your reply! Lot's of good info in there.

It hasn't died since I replaced the cap, rotor, and AC belt. At this point I'll hope that it was just low spark, as the previous cap was pretty worn out.

If it gives me trouble again, I'll round up a fuel pressure guage and see what that tells me.

Meanwhile, I'll get to work on flushing out the tranny fluid.

Alright, I put some of the Techron cleaner in there, and flushed out the Dexron from the tranny. Holy moly does that fluid come out FAST when using the line coming from the radiator. I filled up 2 milk jugs in about 60 seconds, and of course spent some time sopping up all the spillover.

Another thing I was thinking was what if the Aamco monkey read "ATF+3" on the computer screen, got confused, and told me Dexron 3? Thereby making that whole fluid flush adventure moot.

I still have a little bit of shudder when taking off, but not as often and not as bad as before the flush. Perhaps retraining the computer will solve that.

And on the other front, it did stall again yesterday, before I put the Techron cleaner in it. This time it ran for about 30 minutes before stalling.

Now try this on for size. I put the new AC belt on, ran fine for a few days. After I got it back home yesterday after it stalled a few times, I noticed that the belt was a little loose. Makes sense, as it heats up the belt expands. So I tightened up the belt, and today there have been no stalling issues. Could this belt be the fix?

Meanwhile, I can't spare the money for a fuel pressure guage right now, so until I get my next round of money, I'll have to hope that the Techron and/or the AC belt fixed it.

One other thing; It seems like when the problem hits, it'll start off with the van choking for a couple seconds, then it will catch back on and run fine for another minute, then it'll choke again. After a few times of that is when it stalls out.