95 astro died, won't start

Hello, I have a 95 astro v6 vortec engine 2wd auto trans. My speedometer started going crazy. It would say I was going 70 mph while sitting still. Odometer was also turning while in park. When I tried to drive the vehicle it acted as if it was stuck in second gear and wouldn't shift. I did a little research and decided it was the speed sensor on the transmission. I purchased one and my brother in law put in on the van for me. It shifted OK after the replacement but the speedometer was still acting up a little. My wife suggested unhooking the battery to reset the computer... so I did. After getting it back together and taking it for a test run, the speedometer was working great again and it was shifting good but about a mile down the road it just shut down... died completely. It started right back up and then ran great for about a month. On the way home from work one night it just died again. Headlights went out, engine died and I had no interior lights either. Radio light would come on and the power windows would work but it wouldn't start when I turned it over. I had it towed to my sons house and since then it did start and run with lights working and all for about 30 seconds but it died again. Now it won't start again...no lights either. Fuel pump doesn't seem to be getting power as well. I am lost here!! I tried to remove the new speed sensor and replace it with the old to see if it would start but I couldn't get the new one out. It is in there really tight and won't budge. My brother in law doesn't seem to think it is the sensor... says that won't keep it from starting. Does anyone have a clue what could be wrong or even where I should start looking. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! :banghead:

Sounds like the fuseable links have gotten hot at their connection behind the battery-- seen it about 6 times- the ends melt off at the plug in terminal. My fastest way to tell people to diagnose was to ask them, does horn work? It is on same fuseable link as the fuel pump....The best thing you have got in this scenario, is that stuff that doesn't work!! At least it is not intermittent!!

A good mechanic would have found this already in his circuit tracing....

All your description seems to fit- my '94 was the fuel pump fuseable link.

The easiest fix is to cut all four fuseable links off of terminal plug, and fashion round terminal ends- and attach those new terminal ends to the accessory stud right next to melted plug...works good, and never again a problem.

This is probably a dumb question... but what are fuseable links? Someone else told me to look behind the battery but all that I see is a wire harness. Should I tear it apart and look at the wires inside?

You unplug the plastic connector that the fuseable links are in that plugs into the bulkhead, and observe the terminals-- are they melted, blackened, burnt? If so heat has been generated by a poor connection, poor connections cause all kinds of weird anomalies (ghosts) in your electrical systems- and it appears you have been having strange problems.

If you are not able to do this - then have your mechanic look at it.

Fuseable links are wires that if electrically overloaded will melt in two and interrupt the current flow to protect all other wiring, much like a fuse does.