Problem solvers needed...Chevy Astro electric/tranny

This is a 2001 Chevy Astro Passenger Van with about 60,000 miles on it.

First, the rear dutch door needed two or three presses of the button on the door before it would unlatch. Then, it quit opening all together. You'd hear a click, but it just wouldn't open. Now, there's no click.

Second, the same symptom developed for all the doors when the button to lock all of them on the driver's door was activated. Like the dutch doors, this played out over a period of weeks, although you can still hear a slight click in all the locks when the lock button is pressed. That is, it doesn't seem totally shut off from any power source like the dutch door latch.

Third, the interior lights and the cigarette lighter stopped working. The radio works. The heater/ac/gauges/etc. all work fine.

Finally, the transmission sometimes fails to shift into the higher gears or shifts at a higher RPM than it should.

I've checked all the fuses under the dash and under the hood. Everything's good.

We just lived with the door latch problem -- probably longer than we should -- but obviously I need to deal with the tranny. I understand these could be totally unrelated but wonder if there isn't some central module that could affect everything.

Anyone have any experience with something like this?

Reply to
midwestmotocross
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I can't answer all your questions but I can tell you this. I help maintain a fleet of vehicles that involve Safaris and Astros. It is very common for the door lock actuators to fail. It is hard to believe, but at times I have had to replace all 4 actuators in one van all at the same time. Why? I am not sure.

First symptoms of an actuator going bad is that you must hit the button more than once when it begins to get weak. Eventually it will totally fail.

James

Reply to
James1549

Try cleaning the indicator switches in the door jam with rubbing alcohol. On the back and sliding doors.

Reply to
4546

Thanks for the response. Maybe this is a stupid question, but in your experience, and a bad door lock actuator cause other electrical problems -- by interrupting a circuit or affecting a ground?

Thanks, again.

Reply to
midwestmotocross

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