1990 G20 Chevy "wonder" van

[suebeehoney70]

Ok...I call it the "wonder" van, because I "wonder" what's going to work today and what's going to work tomorrow!

Background - I'm a single parent, somewhat mechanically inclined (can change my own oil, change a tire, etc.), but funds being limited, I need to know what to look for to fix the following issues that have come up:

-high pitched squeaking noise in front end - think it's the fan belt - is there something to spray on it to stop the squeak?

-blower sometimes comes on, sometimes not - having read this forum, could this be a sensor issue? Have plenty of heat/cold at the right times, but the blower won't always come on

-electrical issue - everything worked when I bought the van a month ago, now the radio, the interior dome lights, and the horn all stopped working within about a day of each other. I haven't replaced the fuses yet, but somehow I don't think that's it. This rings to me of something other than fuses. Ideas?

-surging when at idle. Noticed the other day the van started surging when it was idling at a stop sign, causing my oil pressure gauge to jump up and down, but other gauges didn't budge. Weird! Any thoughts? It hasn't done it again since then.

-noticed during the nasty wet spring snowstorm we had yesterday that there was water coming in around the top of my windshield, through the edge of the headliner. I think this may be coming from the little ledge that runs around the roof of the van on the outside - possible it's rusting up there, since the ledge tends to hold water (or snow in this case). Would slapping some heavy duty silicone caulk into the crevice up there work?

Any suggestions are appreciated...I would much rather try to fix some of this myself than take it to a shop and spend $400 on labor for them to trace down the electrical problem...and then find out it's something simple I could have fixed myself.

[Fecklar]

I can help you with a couple of these issues. The radio, dome light and horn are all linked buy one fuse labelled horn/DM. Replace this 25 amp fuse and that should do it. These vans have a shorting problem with the cigarette lighter. Unplug that and you should not have this fuse blowing any more unless the water leak is affecting this fuse. I have a fleet of these vehicles, and found that to be the case over time.

I had the same problem(s) with the blower motor. Its usually the motor itself. You can usually give them a tap and they will start working again, but evenually you will have to replace it. This is a very easy job, just unplug it and remove about 5 screws. Good Luck

[suebeehoney70]

Thanks so much for the tip on the fuses - turns out the former owner had put a 15-amp fuse in the Horn/DM fuse spot, which is supposed to be a 25-amp fuse. No wonder it blew out! And it was a cheap enough fix. I now have my horn and radio back, but not the interior lights. I'm going to check out the other fuses to see if that's the problem.

[DFBonnett]

Just to jump in quickly..
If the fan belt is squealing, tighten or replace. Spray is a band-aid.
The intermittent fan issue may be a bad connection at the blower control module. Under the hood, on the firewall on the passeneger side, find the blower then check the connections.
FWIW
YMMV