Hello all… first time poster, hoping to get some guidance from some of the gurus here.
Yesterday, my friend & I were driving her 1998 Chevrolet K-1500 conversion van, with a 5.7 liter engine (not the Northstar), with just under 100,000 miles on it. All I know about the transmission is that it’s a 4-speed automatic.
We were taking the van out after several weeks parked, and it had been running perfectly when we parked it.
Almost immediately, engine power began cutting in and out, on a neatly regular basis. Several seconds of power, several seconds of no power, over and over. I never could get up to much over 40 mph.
At the same time, the stereo was flashing off and on, and the speedometer had gone wonky, with the needle floating all the way over to 120 and just settling there. The ABS light was on all the while, but the Check Engine light never appeared.
I connected my basic little OBD scanner, and it showed no DTCs. So… can someone suggest what kind of malfunction would cause this intermittent power loss and electrical craziness without triggering the Check Engine light or an OBD error code? Any ideas or guidance would be much appreciated!
I have a 1998 chevy express with some of the same symptoms, after going to mechanics I decided to fix it myself ,first I recommend you replace your power wires coming from the positive of the battery ,have you battery tested then replace your alternator, starter and engine coil , you will start to see a difference on performance ,next step will be replacing the throttle body sensor and idle sensor ,the oxygen sensors and the one that will defensibly will make a difference will be your transmission speed sensor ,by the way buy only ACDelco OEM otherwise this won't work ,I have learn the lesson the hard way ,another important part in performance is your thermostat, check if your coolant have the correct temperature , replacing this will make also a big difference in your wallet , this will save u money on gas . you could also go a litter more far like I did replace other parts like radiator, gas pump, gas filter, gas tank, knock sensor, map sensor, purge valve. Good luck I hope this will help you.
@frankh24 please copy+paste your answer to the box below. Thanks.
my friend & I were driving her 1998 Chevrolet K-1500 conversion van
The Chevy K1500 was pre-1998 1/2ton 4x4 pickup truck.
Since 1996, the Chevrolet full size vans are called the "Express" (or GMC Savana)
(Before that is was the G-series: G10,G20,G30)
with a 5.7 liter engine (not the Northstar)
That would be a Vortec. The biggest Northstar was 4.6L, and they were only put in Cadillacs
Almost immediately, engine power began cutting in and out, on a neatly regular basis. Several seconds of power, several seconds of no power, over and over ... At the same time, the stereo was flashing off and on
Sounds like power issues. Have you battery + alternator load tested for free.
Ah, okay, that'll be my next step then. Thanks for the reply!