1999 Chevrolet Astro Visibility (wipers, defrost, mirrors) Problems

“The Astro/safari has a brittle vacuum line that crosses over the thermastat area of the intake manifold. This plastic vacuum line is easily broken in routine service of the air filter or rubbing on other component parts. When this vacuum hose is broke...air select to defroster and other vent positions is lost-causing lack of visability. I believe this is a safety issue. I believe there is a GM TSB on this and it shows up on intranet threads yet GM dealers allow customers be to subjected to a $70. Diagnosis. This is a known safety problem. …”

“While driving the vehicle would surge and jerk then clunk, the dealer has attempted to repair the vehicle several time but the problem resurfaces, other failures include PCM failed causing the check engine light to illuminate, the gas gauge jumps from full tank to empty causing the vehicle to run out of gas, rear door handle broke twice, drivers side window motor was replaced and the air bag light would flicker on and off.”

“Vehicle bought at the end of 2000, used. Every summer since I have had to have wiring replaced in the engine, front door locks stopped working after 5 months, front brakes have been replaced three times, I have had to have it towed 6 times do to the wiring and I have had to replace the alternator and battery due to all of the electrical and alternator problems. I also had to replace the starter. Hydraulics on rear door also broken. Display lights come on and off when they want to and I have continually replaced fuses. …”

“- the automatic door locks locked more than once. I called the Chevrolet dealer since I could not leave since I could not lock the side doors; a mechanic informed me that it had something to do with synchronization of the automatic door lock while I actually lock the doors (very confusing to me). He suggested that I use a screwdriver to manually release the locked mechanism on both doors. I finally was able to do it, but this happened more than once; in one incident, the door opened as I was making a right turn (fortunately, no one was on my left). …”

“Driver side window will go down but motor heats up trying to go up. 3 of our friends have same issue. Dealer says it is a $250 fix. For a 1999 vehicle this shouldn't happen. Utah safety inspection won't pass this off. If you surveyed Astro owners you would find the same issue.”