CHEVROLET EXPRESS 1997 1.G Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Tips About Your Audio System
Hearing damage from loud noise is almost unaerectable
until it is too late. Your hearing can adapt to higher
volumes of sound. Sound that
seems normal can be loud
and harmful to your hearing. Take precautions by
adjusting the volume control
on your radio to a safe
sound level before your hearing adapts to it.
To help avoid hearing loss or damage:
Adjust the volume control to the lowest setting.
Increase volume slowly until you hear comfortably
and clearly.
I
NOTICE:
Before you add any sound equipment to your
vehicle
-- like a tape player, CB radio, mobile
telephone or two-way radio
-- be sure you
can add what you want.
If you can, it’s very
important to do it properly. Added sound
equipment may interfere with the operation
of your vehicle’s engine, Delco radio or
other systems, and even damage them. Your
vehicle’s systems may interfere with the
operation
of sound equipment that has
been added improperly.
So, before adding sound equipment, check with
your dealer and be sure to check Federal rules
covering mobile radio and telephone units.
3-26

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Care of Your Cassette Tape Player
A tape player that is not cleaned regularly can cause
reduced sound quality, ruined cassettes or a damaged
mechanism. Cassette tapes should be stored in their
cases away from contaminants, direct sunlight and
extreme heat. If they aren’t, they may not operate
properly or may cause failure
of the tape player.
Your tape player should be cleaned regularly after every
50 hours of use. Your radio may display CLN to indicate
that you have used your tape player for
50 hours without
resetting the tape clean timer. If this message appears
on the display, your cassette tape player needs to be
cleaned. It will still play tapes, but you should clean it
as soon as possible to prevent damage to your tapes and
player. If you notice a reduction in sound quality, try a
known good cassette
to see if it is the tape or the tape
player at fault.
If this other cassette has no improvement
in sound quality, clean the tape player.
Cleaning may be dc
: with a scrubbing action,
non-abrasive cleaning cassette with pads which scrub
the tape head as the hubs
of the cleaner cassette turn. It
is normal for the cassette to eject while cleaning. Insert
the cassette at least three times to ensure thorough
cleaning. A scrubbing action cleaning cassette is
available through your
GM dealership. You
may also choose a non-scrubbing action, wet-type
cleaner which uses a cassette with a fabric belt to clean
the tape head. This type of cleaning cassette will not
eject and, it may not clean as thoroughly as the
scrubbing type cleaner.
After you clean the player, press and hold EJECT for
five seconds
to reset the CLN indicator. The radio
will display
--- to show the indicator was reset.
Cassettes are subject
to wear and the sound quality
may degrade over time. Always make sure the cassette
tape is in good condition before you have your tape
player serviced.
Care of Your Compact Discs
Handle discs carefully. Store them in their original cases
or other protective cases and away from direct sunlight
and dust.
If the surface of a disc is soiled, dampen a
clean,
soft cloth in a mild, neutral detergent solution
and clean it, wiping from the center to the edge.
Be sure never
to touch the signal surface when handling
discs. Pick up discs by grasping the outer edges or the
edge
of the hole and the outer edge.
3-27

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Power Antenna Mast Care (If Equipped)
Your power anteilfia will look its best and work well if
it’s cleaned from time to time.
To clean the antenna
mast:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Turn on the ignition and radio to raise the antenna.
Dampen
a clean cloth with mineral spirits or
equivalent solvent.
Wipe the cloth over the mast sections, removing
any dirt.
Wipe dry with
a clean cloth.
Make
the antenna go up and down by turning the
radio or ignition
off and on.
Repeat if necessary.
I NOTICE:
Don’t lubricate the power antenna. Lubrication
could damage it.
I
NOTICE:
Before entering an automatic car wash, turn off
your radio to make the power antenna go down.
This will prevent the mast from possibly getting
damaged.
If the antenna does not go down when
you turn the radio off, it may be damaged
or
need to be cleaned. In either case, lower the
antenna by hand by carefully pressing the
antenna down.
If the mast portion of your antenna is damaged, you can
easily replace it. See your dealer for a replacement kit
and follow the instructions in the kit.
Adjustable Mast Antenna
The mast should be fully retracted before entering
any automated wash facility to minimize the risk of
antenna damage.
If the mast should ever become slightly bent, you can
straighten
it out by hand. If the mast is badly bent, as it
might be by vandals,
you should replace it.
Check every once in a while to be sure the antenna is
still tightened to the body side panel.
3-28

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Section 4 Your Driving and the Road
Here you’ll find information about driving on different kinds of roads and in varying weather conditions. We’ve also
included many other useful tips
on driving.
4-2
4-3
4-6 4-6
4-9
4-11 4-12
4- 13
4- 14 Defensive
Driving
Drunken Driving
Control
of a Vehicle
Braking
Steering
Off-Road Recovery
Passing
Loss of Control
Driving at Night 4-
16
4-19
4-20
4-2
1
4-22
4-22
4-24 4-27
4-29 Driving
in Rain and
on Wet Roads
City Driving
Freeway Driving
Before Leaving on a Long Trip
Highway Hypnosis Hill and Mountain Roads
Winter Driving
Loading Your Vehicle
Towing
a Trailer

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Please start with a very important safety device in your
vehicle: Buckle up. (See “Safety Belts” in
the Index.)
Defensive driving really means “be ready for anything.”
On city streets, rural roads or freeways, it means
“always expect
the unexpected.”
Assume that pedestrians or other drivers are going to be
careless and make mistakes. Anticipate what they might
do. Be ready for their mistakes.
Rear-end collisions are about
the most preventable
of accidents. Yet they are common. Allow enough
following distance. It’s the best defensive driving
maneuver, in both city and rural driving. You never
know when the vehicle in front
of you is going to brake
or turn suddenly.
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is:
Drive defensively.
4-2

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is
a national tragedy. It’s
the number one contributor to
the highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims
every year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs
to drive
a vehicle:
Judgment
0 Muscular Coordination
Vision
0 Attentiveness.
Police records show that almost half of all motor
vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most cases,
these deaths are the result of someone who was drinking
and driving. In recent years, some
17,000 annual motor
vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the use
of alcohol, with more than
300,000 people injured.
Many adults
-- by some estimates, nearly half the adult
population
-- choose never to drink alcohol, so they
never drive after drinking. For persons under
2 1, it’s
against the law in every
U.S. state to drink alcohol.
There are good medical, psychological and
developmental reasons for these laws. The
obvious way
to solve this highway safety problem
is for people never
to drink alcohol and then drive. But
what if people do? How much is “too much”
if the
driver plans to drive? It’s a lot less than many might
think. Although it depends
on each person and situation,
here is some general information
on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of someone
who is drinking depends upon four things:
0 The amount of alcohol consumed
0 The drinker’s body weight
0 The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking
0 The length of time it has taken the drinker to
According to the American Medical Association, a
180-lb. (82 kg) person who drinks three 12-ounce
(355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour will end up with a
BAC
of about 0.06 percent. The person would reach the
same BAC by drinking three 4-ounce (120 ml) glasses
of wine or three mixed drinks if each had 1- 1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka.
consume
the alcohol.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine It’s the amount of alcohol that counts. For example, if
the same person drank three double martinis
(3 ounces
or
90 ml of liquor each) within an hour, the person’s
BAC would be close to 0.12 percent. A person who
consumes
food just before or during drinking will have a
somewhat lower BAC level.
There is a gender difference, too. Women generally have
a lower relative percentage
of body water than men. Since alcohol
is carried in body water, this means that a
woman generally will reach
a higher BAC level than a
man of her same body weight when each has the same
number
of drinks.
The law
in many U.S. states sets the legal limit at a BAC
of
0.10 percent. In a growing number of U.S. states, and
throughout Canada, the limit is
0.08 percent. In some
other countries, it’s even lower. The BAC limit for all
commercial drivers
in the United States is 0.04 percent.
The BAC
will be over 0.10 percent after three to six
drinks (in one hour).
Of course, as we’ve seen, it
depends on how much alcohol is in the drinks, and how
quickly the person drinks them.
But the ability to drive
is affected well below a BAC
of
0.10 percent. Research shows that the driving skills
of many people are impaired at a
BAC approaching
0.05 percent, and that the effects are worse at night. All
drivers are impaired at BAC levels above
0.05 percent.
Statistics show that the chance of being
in a collision
increases sharply for drivers who have a BAC
of
0.05 percent or above. A driver with a BAC level of
0.06 percent has doubled his or her chance of having a
collision.
At a BAC level of 0.10 percent, the chance of
this driver having
a collision is 12 times greater; at a
level of 0.15 percent, the chance is 25 times greater!
4-4

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine The body takes about an hour to rid itself of the alcohol
in one drink.
No amount of coffee or number of cold
showers will speed
that up. “I’ll be careful” isn’t the
right answer. What
if there‘s an emergency, a need to
take sudden action, as when a child darts into the street?
A person with even a moderate BAC might not be able
to react quickly enough to avoid the collision.
There’s something else about drinking and driving that
many people don’t know. Medical research
shows that
alcohol in a person’s system can make crash injuries
worse, especially injuries to the brain, spinal cord
or
heart. This means that when anyone who has been
drinking
-- driver or passenger -- is in a crash, that
person’s chance
of being killed or permanently disabled
is higher than
if the person had not been drinking.
Drinking and then driving is very dangerous.
Your reflexes, perceptions, attentiveness and
judgment can be affected by even a small amount
of alcohol. You can have a serious -- or even
fatal
-- collision if you drive after drinking.
Please don’t drink and drive or ride with a driver
who has been drinking. Ride home in
a cab; or if
you’re with a group, designate a driver who will
not drink.
4-5

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Control of a Vehicle Braking
You have three systems that make your vehicle go where
you want it to go. They are the brakes, the steering and
the accelerator. All three systems have to do their work
at the places where the tires meet the road.
Sometimes, as when you’re driving on snow or ice, it’s
easy
to ask more of those control systems than the tires
and road can provide. That means you can lose control
of your vehicle. Ekaking
action involves
perception time and
reaction time.
First, you have to decide to push on the brake pedal.
That’s
perception time. Then you have to bring up your
foot and do it. That’s
reaction time.
Average reaction time is about 314 of a second. But
that’s only an average. It might be less with one driver
and as long as two
or three seconds or more with
another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination
and eyesight all play a part.
So do alcohol, drugs and
frustration. But even in
3/4 of a second, a vehicle
moving at
60 mph (100 km/h) travels 66 feet (20 m).
That could be a lot
of distance in an emergency, so
keeping enough space between your vehicle and others
is important.
And,
of course, actual stopping distances vary greatly
with the surface of the road (whether it’s pavement or
gravel); the condition of the road (wet, dry, icy); tire
tread; the condition of your brakes; the weight
of the
vehicle and
the amount of brake force applied.
4-6

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive in
spurts -- heavy acceleration followed by heavy
braking
-- rather than keeping pace with traffic. This is a
mistake. Your brakes may not have time to cool between
hard stops. Your brakes will wear
out much faster if you
do a lot of heavy braking. If you keep pace with the
traffic and allow realistic following distances, you
will
eliminate a lot of unnecessary braking. That means
better braking and longer brake life.
If your engine ever stops while you’re driving, brake
normally but don’t pump your brakes. If you do, the
pedal may get harder
to push down. If your engine
stops, you will still have some power brake assist. But
you will use it when you brake. Once the power assist is
used up, it may take longer to stop and the brake pedal
will be harder to push.
Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your vehicle has anti-lock brakes (ABS). ABS is an
advanced electronic braking system that will help
prevent a braking skid.
When
you start your engine and begin to drive away,
your anti-lock brake system will check itself. You may
hear a momentary motor or clicking noise while this test
is going on. This is normal.
ANTI -
LOCK
If there’s a problem with the
anti-lock brake system, this
warning light will stay
on.
See “Anti-Lock Brake
System Warning Light” in
the Index.