Here in a couple of months I'm going to start building a house, and have to come up with $500 for the first year's insurance. I WAS going to sell the van to cover my expenses, but I haven't gotten a SINGLE offer on it. Well, the house I'm building will have a 2-car garage, so if I still have the van when its completed I'll have a suitable place to play with it and build it up the way I want it.

Conversion vans are usually pretty custom anyway, since they can be ordered to spec brand new. Has anyone done their own work building a conversion? I plan to rip out the mildewed carpet and "walls" then start fresh. I also plan to sand blast the body and give it a fresh paint job, as well as give it all fresh fluids/filters/plugs/wires/etc. If anyone else has done their own custom interior for a conversion van, feel free to share!

While I'm discussing my project, I'll go ahead and throw in a couple of mechanical questions as well that I hope will be simple to fix.

1. The power steering pump on this thing is pouring fluid back out as fast as you can put it in. Otherwise it seems to work alright, but I have run the van at idle with the pump empty a few times (hopefully this hasn't burned it up). Do I need to go ahead and replace the pump, or can I just replace the seals? Whats the easiest way to remove and install the pump? Finally, I noticed that Auto Zone offers a power steering pump with a detached reservoir for $112. If I do need to replace the pump, will this pump interchange with the factory pump? This thing has the STUPIDEST placement for adding fluid; you can barely run a long funnel to the filler cap.

2. It usually takes the key a few turns to finally kick the starter hard enough to start the van. It acts more like a bad connection than it does a bad starter or solenoid, but I could be wrong. The starter, when it does get going, seems to turn with plenty of power so I don't believe its a battery problem. Where should I start with diagnosing this? Could there be a corroded connection somewhere, a bad switch (the previous owner did somehow connect the alternator wrong and fried the alternator), or would the solenoid be this intermittent? The problem seems to kind of improve a bit after the vehicle has warmed up pretty good.

 

I don't know your location but maybe you can get a pump here...

http://www.pullapart.com/Locations/Main.aspx

Take the battery out and get it tested at the parts store.

If it tests good, clean all connections.

david

 

Most of the time the leak is not from the pump, but rather the metal tube for the return line on the back of the pump rots through.

The contacts in the starter solenoid are likely burnt/worn.

 

If it was dirty contacts in the solenoid, wouldn't it at least click? It either clicks and starts up or doesn't click at all.

Also, it looks like the leak is coming from the front of the pump.

 

Then you should check out the starter relay. I've seen them located inside at the left end of the dash panel and I've seen them under the hood near the battery.

If the leak is at the front of the pump then it's likely the front seal. In that case, replace the seal or the whole pump.

 

Crap, why didn't I think of that? Everything points to the starter relay, and somehow I managed to completely miss it.

 

Another possibility that just came to mind is the neutral safety switch. If it doesn't establish connection to ground then the starter relay coil doesn't have a ground. The next time the starter won't turn, try moving the shifter to neutral and see if it turns then.

 

Park and Neutral seem to have no difference.