92 Astro 4.3(Z) intermittent starting problem

[indyhoosier]

92 Astro 4.3(Z) 2 weeks ago it died while driving and wouldn't start back up.Strong fuel odor while trying to start. Drained battery and had to jump. Someone convinced me that the catalytic converter was bad so we cut it off. Van started after about 5 minutes, I figured it was flooded. Ran good for three days but died again while driving. It wouldn't start, just turned over.Drained battery, had to jump. Towed it to a friends house and left there overnight. Came back next night and it fired right up. I drove it home, ran decent. Hooked a Pro-link 9000 reader up and found no trouble codes, probably because battery had drained. Drove car for 4 days and it died on me this morning while I was driving. Just flat out dies, no sputtering or anything. I immediately hooked reader up and it won't communicate with the ECM, just says "NO DATA". Is my ECM bad or should I be looking somewhere else? ECM is not testable and not returnable. Any help would be appreciated!!

Indyhoosier

[Aqua Angel]

I can't really say if it is flooding as i don't know too much about gasoline on those vans for their behaviour as mine is propane, but what i could also look for could also be a bad alternator "not charging the battery" or simply have a bad battery "not holding it's charge". those could also be an option to look at. My van did the same thing and found out i had a bad battery and couldn't be the alternator as it was rebuild a little bit before having my engine rebuild.

Hope that helped a little

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by indyhoosier

92 Astro 4.3(Z) 2 weeks ago it died while driving and wouldn't start back up.Strong fuel odor while trying to start. Drained battery and had to jump. Someone convinced me that the catalytic converter was bad so we cut it off. Van started after about 5 minutes, I figured it was flooded. Ran good for three days but died again while driving. It wouldn't start, just turned over.Drained battery, had to jump. Towed it to a friends house and left there overnight. Came back next night and it fired right up. I drove it home, ran decent. Hooked a Pro-link 9000 reader up and found no trouble codes, probably because battery had drained. Drove car for 4 days and it died on me this morning while I was driving. Just flat out dies, no sputtering or anything. I immediately hooked reader up and it won't communicate with the ECM, just says "NO DATA". Is my ECM bad or should I be looking somewhere else? ECM is not testable and not returnable. Any help would be appreciated!!

Indyhoosier

The key is proper testing when it does it.
You have to catch it in the act.
First thing make sure the battery and charging system is good.
Then when it dyes check for lose of spark or fuel/proper fuel pressure with no fast leak down.
If it has good hot blue spark to all spark plugs and fuel check for injector pulse.
If no injector pulse give the old PCM a twist or tap test.
MT

[indyhoosier]

Found corrosion on battery terminals when I unhooked battery to remove ECM. Will replace and report back. Thanks!!

Indyhoosier

[Kings-x59]

baking soda in water does a great job of cleaning up corroded battery terminals. after that hit the terminals with some sandpaper to remove oxidation.
Two of my vehicles have had similar symptoms due to corrosion on the battery terminals.
good luck.

[A_Bach]

funny, yet another TBI Astro with exactly the same problem. Man, if someone finds the fix for this, they'll be rich. I still haven't fixed mine.

Now the experts have all told me, and you, to check fuel pressure. Go right ahead, but I'm convinced that has nothing to do with it. This problem has got to be electrical. With mine, previously I had got trouble code 42 - Elec. Spark Timing. I replaced a few sensors, and rebooted the ECM by unplugging the battery, and voila, it was fixed for a few days. Then it stalled on me again, exactly as yours has been. No trouble codes came up. Then last night it stalled again after 3 days of clean running. Its giving me trouble code 42 AGAIN. I'd bet all the tea in china, that yours is also an electrical circuit failure. Some sensor, or wiring, or possibly even the ECM, or something involved with that is causing this intermittent stalling. And heat I believe is also a factor. Heat builds up electrical resistance, and this stalling only happens when the car is fully warm.

[indyhoosier]

Finally fixed the problem!! Turned out to be the ignition control module that is located right under the distributor cap. Replaced that, distributor cap, rotor, plugs and wires, and she runs better that she has in years. Thanks for the help.

Indyhoosier