2000 Venture dying and leaving me stranded

[chelmarsie]

Hi. Looked in the threads and can't find this problem. Have been to many other site forums and nothing. Hoping someone can answer my question. A few weeks ago I came out in the am and my van was dead (didn't even roll over). My husband jumped it, took it to church, and after 1 1/2 hours came out, it was dead again. Jumped it again. Took it home, let it run for half hour and turned it off. Came back out an hour later and started fine. Then it worked for the next 2 weeks.
Meanwhile... the service engine soon light has been on for almost a year now. The mechanic we took it too put on diagnostic machine and can't find the problem. So, I lived with it being on all the time. My hubby borrowed a friend's code reader and it read something about an injection something or other and had to do with cold weather (I don't remember the exact code but could prob get it from hubby). Had a way to turn the service engine light off so he did it. It has not come back on since. And now...
Friday I am at the mall and come out after an hour of running errands and it is dead. Have it jumped, take it home, and turn it off. Won't start at all. Have husband jump it about 5 hours later and leave it run for 10 min. Turn it off, and it starts up fine.
Saturday morning come out to take my daughter somewhere and it starts up. It sat most of the rest of the day.
My husband uses it to go to the store. He comes out of the store and it is dead again. Gets it jumped. Comes home, parks it and we decide to take it to Auto Zone and have the battery tested.
The machine won't even read the battery. Hubby was skeptical so they attached the machine to another battery, and that one worked fine. So we bought a new battery. He got it home, put it on and now when I start it, it coughs and sputters and wont start until the 2nd or 3rd try. And we did this multiple times in about 10 min to see and it does the same thing.
If anybody can help us and knows what this problem could be, we would appreciate the help. My hubby is trying to fix this on our own since we cannot afford a huge mechanic bill at this time.
Thanks so much for the help.
Penne

[roadrunner2]

The next time it won't start, spray a LITTLE starting fluid in to the air intake (remove the air filter). Do this while cranking the engine over.

If it fires up then quits, you have a fuel supply fault.

If not, you may have an electrical problem somewhere, perhaps in the ignition system.

As far as dead batteries go, boosting a dead battery and hoping the alternator will recharge it in a short period of time won't work.

A charger has to be hooked up for at least 4 hours (If the battery will hold a charge).

It seems that according to your post you likely have an ignition system fault, perhaps a loose or dirty electrical connection somewhere.

It's not a good idea to ignore the CEL or turn it off/remove bulb or tape over.

[Ididnt[BreAK]it]

Sound like the same problem i had .. it was the Battery - corroded terminal,
removed it, Cleaned it and works fine ..

[rockwood84]

when was the last fuel pump put in? sounds like a weak fuelpump or clogged fuel filter.these fuelpumps that are on theses vans will not quit all at once some can linger and drive you nuts. one thing to check also is to pull the vacuumn line off the fuel regulator and see if gas comes out which would mean the fuel regulator is bad.i had a fuel pump that would pump 50 pounds pressure then ten minutes later would not pump 10 pounds pressure[backpressureing]