Chevrolet Astro Van Manual
While today's minivans offer levels of comfort and performance on par with sedans, the Chevrolet Astro was a minivan from a different era. Born in the mid-1980s when full-size Chevy vans were still in style, the Astro modeled the looks of its bigger brothers. It also shared their tough body-on-frame construction and rear-wheel-drive layout. Compared to front-wheel-drive, car-based minivans, the Chevy Astro was a true workhorse with considerable towing and hauling capabilities. However, it was nowhere close to more modern minivans when it came to day-to-day convenience and driving ease. Its old-school, box-on-wheels design located the engine within close proximity of the passenger compartment, resulting in cramped quarters for the driver and front passenger, and high cabin noise levels. Getting kids in and out wasn't easy either, thanks to the van's high step-in height and single sliding rear door.
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Chevrolet Astro Van Repair Manual
Ride and handling characteristics weren't bad considering the Astro's rudimentary suspension components, though driving it was certainly more akin to a truck than a car. Fuel economy was similarly trucklike, given the engine's origins in GM's light truck line and the Astro's hefty curb weight. Chevrolet did offer the Astro van with an all-wheel-drive system, which made it one of the handful of vans, mini or otherwise, capable of tracking confidently through snow and ice. To be sure, the Chevrolet Astro fulfilled the basic requirements for a minivan, given its accommodations for up to eight passengers, removable rear seats and considerable 170 cubic feet of cargo room.
But given that car-based competitors like the Dodge Grand Caravan, Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna have long been far nicer to drive and easier to use, we don't recommend the anachronistic Astro as a used vehicle choice unless you're in need of a small tow vehicle or family/cargo hauler at a rock-bottom price. Most Recent Chevrolet Astro Introduced for 1985, the Chevrolet Astro, and its twin, the GMC Safari, lived on through the 2005 model year without a major redesign.
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Along with Ford's Aerostar (which debuted the following year), the Astro was a stopgap response to the wildly popular Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager twins. Truck-based underpinnings put these late entries at a significant disadvantage alongside the front-drive Chrysler minis, and both GM and Ford eventually undertook clean-sheet minivan designs.
However, a niche market emerged for the Astro, and Chevrolet sold it profitably to ordinary consumers and fleet customers alike for the next two decades. A 4.3-liter V6 was standard on all Chevrolet Astro passenger vans. (Early cargo versions came with a four-cylinder engine.) This engine went through several iterations, producing anywhere from 150 to 200 horsepower, depending on the year and model. It held steady at 190 hp and 250 pound-feet of torque from 1997-2005. Initially, GM offered a standard five-speed manual transmission, but almost all Astros were sold with a four-speed automatic that soon became the sole transmission offering.
Early vans were exclusively rear-wheel drive; Chevrolet added the option of all-wheel drive in 1990. Towing capacity was right around 6,000 pounds with either drivetrain. Chevy Astros of the 1980s seated only five passengers in two rows. In 1990, Chevrolet created an Extended version that was 10 inches longer (190 inches overall) and could be equipped with a third-row bench, increasing capacity to eight.
Notably, it rode atop the same 111-inch wheelbase as the standard van. From 1995 onward, Chevrolet sold only the extended-length Astro. Standard equipment varied over the years, but most Astros you encounter on the used market will have 15-inch wheels (16s starting in 2003), power steering, air-conditioning, cloth seating, an AM/FM stereo, power accessories and cruise control.
Options included rear air-conditioning, leather upholstery, second-row bucket seats (reducing seating capacity to seven), upgraded stereos, towing preparation and a locking rear differential. The Chevrolet Astro changed remarkably little over the years, though there were some noteworthy developments. Four-wheel antilock brakes were made standard on Astro passenger vans in 1990. The brake system was upgraded again in 2003, when the van's rear drum brakes were swapped out for discs.
A driver-side front airbag first became available in 1993, and Chevy made it standard the next year. Dual front airbags were fitted to all vans starting in '96. The addition of airbags improved the Astro's crashworthiness in government frontal-impact tests, but prospective buyers should note that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rated the van 'Poor' (the lowest possible score) in its higher-speed, frontal-offset crash test - hardly a surprise given the vehicle's aged structural design. A 1995 face-lift gave the Astro a fresher exterior look.
The face-lift spread to the interior in 1996, bringing an all-new dashboard with easy-to-use controls. Speed-sensitive power steering was added to ease parking in 1997, and in 1999, Chevrolet adopted a new all-wheel-drive system that sent power to the front wheels only when the rear wheels began to slip - thus improving fuel economy. If you are looking for older years, visit our page. Our expert team of auto researchers have reviewed the Chevrolet Astro and compiled a list of inventory for you to shop local listings, and.
This article needs additional citations for. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009) Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari Overview Manufacturer Also called GMC Safari Production 1985–2005 Assembly, Body and chassis 3-door cargo van 3-door passenger van, / Powertrain 4-speed 4-speed 5-speed manual Chronology Successor (Astro, passenger van) (Astro, passenger van) (Safari, passenger van) (Astro and Safari, cargo van) (Astro and Safari, both cargo and passenger) The Chevrolet Astro was a / manufactured and marketed by the automaker from 1985 to 2005 and over two build generations. Along with its variant, the Safari, the Astro was marketed in passenger as well as cargo and livery configurations—featuring a V6 engine, construction with a separate front engine/suspension sub-frame, leaf-spring rear suspension, rear bi-parting doors, and a seating capacity of up to eight passengers. Contents.
Background Because of their size, and truck-based, the Astro and Safari not only competed against / and the, but also vehicles such as the and. The Astro was marketed as a minivan, though sized between the / and the full-size.
Similar to the, it had powertrain components in common with GM's other light trucks and up to a 5,500 lb (2,500 kg) towing capacity. Both and GMC have used the Safari nameplate (GMC belonged to the Pontiac/GMC Division, which was later expanded to include ); Pontiac used the nameplate on several of its models from 1955 to 1989. The two Safaris, both Pontiac and GMC, were marketed simultaneously, at times by the same dealerships, from 1985 through 1989. The Pontiac Safari is not a variant of the GMC Safari, and the Chevrolet Astro by extension. The Astro model name had been used previously for the unrelated Chevrolet Astro 1 Concept car, first shown at the of 1967.
1st-gen GMC Safari Initial advertising boasted that it was a vehicle that will 'make you realize that life is too big for a ', referring to the. The van can have a seating configuration between two and eight passengers. Engines choices ranged from a 98 hp (73 kW; 99 PS) 2.5 L four-cylinder to a 200 hp (149 kW; 203 PS) 4.3 L V6, depending on options and/or model year.
Much like the second-generation 1970-1981 and vehicles, the GM M-van (Astro/Safari) had a bolt-on subframe. For the M-van, the front suspension shares most components with the station wagon (, and larger variants of the and ) with a leaf-spring rear suspension. The lower ball joints were larger than their counterparts (similar to 1977-96 Cadillac D platform vehicles, e.g., Fleetwood limousines). These ball joints were later used in the final Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 (police package) cars manufactured in 1995 and 1996. They also shared many mechanical similarities to the midsize S/T pickups and utility vehicles. In 1990 a new (AWD) system (the first U.S.-built minivan to do so), designed and developed by (FFD), was made optional.
The AWD models had a lower fuel economy: 17 miles per gallon highway versus 20 to 21 miles per gallon for rear-wheel drive vans. AWD Astros used a Borg Warner 4472 transfer case.
Also in 1990, a new dashboard was introduced along with the availability of an extended body option, sharing its wheelbase with the shorter version. The 1990 model year also introduced the hydroboost braking system, a system using the same accessory belt driven pump to supply the power steering and brakes. In 1992, a new optional door form was introduced, colloquially known as Dutch doors. This form was two bi-parting doors with a flip-up window above. Previously, Astro and Safari vans were equipped only with bi-parting doors. An optional 4.3 L (RPO L35) engine with central port injection and a balance shaft was phased in.
2000 Chevy Astro Van Manual
In 1993, an electronically controlled 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive became standard as the sole transmission offering. As with many other 1993 model year GM vehicles, fabric protection also became a standard feature on Astro vans equipped with cloth seats. 1994 also saw the addition of three new exterior paint colors. These colors were Indigo Blue Metallic (#39), Light Quasar Blue Metallic (#20), and Medium Quasar Blue Metallic (#80).
For the 1994 model year, GM started manufacturing most of their vehicles, including the Astro and Safari, with CFC-free air-conditioning systems, which used R134a refrigerant instead of R-12 refrigerant. 1998 Chevrolet Astro LT In 1995, the model was facelifted with an extended nose that resembled the then-new full-size Express vans; while the original square headlights were retained for use on the cargo vans, the passenger-carrying variants now used horizontally-mounted rectangular headlights that had debuted on the full-size trucks in 1992, and would eventually appear on the smaller trucks in 1998. Also for 1995, the shorter length body was dropped. In 1996, a redesigned dash received a passenger side air-bag. The vans remained mostly unchanged until the end of production in 2005.
In 2003, GM upgraded the chassis of both the Astro and Safari with certain suspension components, larger brakes, and six-lug, 16 inch wheels from the full-size Chevrolet and GMC half-ton pickup trucks. The last Astro and Safari rolled off the assembly line on May 13, 2005. Safety and crash testing The (IIHS), gave the Astro a 'Poor' rating in 1996 because of a display of in the Institute's 40 mph (64 km/h) into a fixed, offset barrier. The underbody of the test van buckled, pitching both front seats forward and shoving the crash into the dashboard and, and resulting in a broken left leg, leading the Institute to comment that 'the collapse of the occupant compartment left little survival space for the driver.' In testing performed by the (NHTSA), however, the Astro and Safari fared better, improving from a single-star rating in 1991 to a three-star (driver) and four-star (passenger) rating by 2000. In side impacts, the Astro and Safari both received the highest, five-star rating in every year that the test was administered. In 2007, the IIHS reported that the 2001–2004 model year Chevrolet Astro recorded during calendar years 2002–2005 the least number of killed drivers of all passenger vehicles in the United States, as calculated per every million units on the road.
Driver's habits and vehicle usage might have influenced this result. References.
From the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2016. Keefe, Don (December 2005). From the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
Gunnell, John (1993). Standard Catalog of 4x4's 1945-1993. Krause Publications. Ward's Auto World. December 1999. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute.
Archived from on June 2, 2006. Retrieved February 28, 2016. Status Report.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. April 19, 2007. Archived from (PDF) on January 17, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
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