Dt: the contact owns a 1998 chevrolet venture. Two months ago she had to replace the engine due to the cam shaft breaking. She replaced the old engine with a new one. One week later the cam shaft broke again on the same spot as the other. Mechanic said that he had never heard of a hollow camshaft, and that was the way all cam shafts were for this vehicle.
1998 Chevrolet Venture engine complaints
Page 2 of 5: complaints 11 to 40 of 111, newest first, as owners wrote them.
1998 chevy venture mini-van. Have had to replace the radiator (now twice) due to overheating caused by "sludge" in the cooling system. Also, mechanic reports a coolant leakage in intake manifold gasket, which apparently is a well-known problem. Have only put dexcool in system, so wonder where sludge came from. Have not had gasket repaired yet because I think gm should do it for free.
I have had all the problems that everyone has complained about, but, the worst to me is that I am sitting here in need of a motor in my 1998 venture van. I thought that I would be able to use to at least 100,000 miles. I started getting the ticking noise like at 50,000 miles and was told that it was the lifters, couldn't believe it, then before it hit 60,000 I had rods bearings and I am not sure what else done and by 70,00 my motor is blown. I am a homemaker with 2 children in college and 2 weddings going on, I can't afford a new car and now I am driving my brothers, it is embarrassing to say the least. I had contacted chevy and they offered me a little voucher to help pay on a new van. I can't afford a new one, I am not a vain person, I just want a car I can trust and thought that I had one in chevy. Now I see why people are buying foreign. I saw in the complaints where this has happened to several ventures what are we to do?
Vehicle taken in for routine oil change at 39000 miles. Mechanic informed us that there was a manifold intake leak that would cost $600+ to fix.I did not do the repair, but have since been informed that there is damage to the engine and that not repairing could cause sudden engine failure. Something known and common like this is shameful for a car 3000 miles out of warranty. I suspect the problem was present at the oil change prior to 36k.
The 1997-2000 venutures have problems with the engines, the intake gasket breaks down causing anti freeze to mix with the engines oil causing the cam shaft to crack, in our case there was no leaks under the van and there was no warning either the van was running well that morning and when my wife was driving down the street there was 2 short bukles from the van and everything shut down including steering which was difficult to do, is it going to take someones family to die on the side of the road before gm will do anything about this if my wife had been on the highway then there would be no way that she would have made it without being hit, even then she had 3 young children in the van ages 3-8 and was almost hit from behind, because it was an industrial highway speed limit of 50mph and not much room on the shoulder to park. There are many complaints about these vans and yet no one seems to be doing anything. This website has complaint after complaint, www. Complaints.com and www.gm-v6lemons.com has hundreds of complaints along with other websites of people experancing the same problem. How many people have to die before anything is done? Gm doesn't seem to care even though their dealerships have stated their is a problem with the engines. Engine shut off and failure are serious problems .
Water build up into the front head lights and water build up in the engine. Had to replace lights and engine after lights were replaced we had to drill a hold below the light covers so that water build up can drain from hole. Had to replace the engine.
December 2002 - manifold gasket failed, allowing dexcool coolant to mix with the oil system. Gasket replaced. November 2004. Replacement gasket failed. Coolant in oil system again. Modified gasket kit installed. Jan 2, 2005. Cam shaft breaks. Bearings/bushing seized due to oil system contamination. On jan 2, 2005, the van stalled in intersection. Car restarted. Car then stalled on the expressway on the way home and would not restart. The stall occurred on a bend coming out of a tunnel. Approaching cars had little warning that our van was on the side of the highway. Police helped push the van off the side of the road onto the grass. The van cannot be cost effectively repaired. It needs a new engine.
Engine stalling and under performing due to manifold gasket leaking coolant into engine. My wife was entering a main road from our sub-division driving our chevrolet venture '98 when the engine started running roughly and sputtering. This could have been fatal with the oncoming traffic. This problem was due to a leak of coolant I believe into the engine. It seems gm is aware of the problem but has not notified owners of the vans. At the least they should be making consumers aware of the problem and the fact that engine failure could occur during critical times.
I have a 1998 chevrolet venture with 82,651 miles. The vehicle would slowly dissipate coolant, which I replenished as needed. Then a major coolant leak occurred at the engine block. Barnard chevrolet of churchville, ny 14428 repaired the lower and upper intake manifold gaskets, and the rear head gasket. Each had detiorated from the dex cool, causing the leakage. The dealership refused any customer assistance, despite my providing them with technical service bulletin #03-06-01-010. Although the dealer provided a complete and professional repair, I believe that evidence is quite clear that the dex cool coolant and the gasket materials used by gm results in a defective product, and that gm must pay for these repairs. I also believe that that the federal safety agency has a responsibility to the american consumer to hold gm accountable. The bush administration seems to have completely suppressed this issue in terms of government followup. What a shame, the lobbyists win again. Middle class americans left with the bill.
Extreme leak in the intake manifold gasket, leading to possible engine damage due to coolant destroying aluminum components of internal engine parts. The following was done to prevent immediate engine failure: replace intake manifold gasket and thoroughly clean inside engine ($771), replace oil pressure switch ($86), full coolant flush ($105), oil/filter change ($15), and replace coolant sensor ($85). Consistant with historical failure of all similar makes/models. Customer pays for gm's poor product.
Heater not working due to a faulty manifold gasket that allowed the coolant to leak out of the engine of our 1998 chevrolet venture. I was told by the service tech that gm is now producing a better gasket to fix the problem. That's great!! I would like gm to pay the $798.67 bill for having to replace the first gasket that was not properly tested by engineering. This problem is very common, and should be a recall item.
Driving down the highway my van over heated and stalled with no prior warning. I had to replace my head gaskets, lower intake, all my spark plugs and spark plug wires. I had no leaks that I was aware of. Nothing on the gorund to even suspect a leak. Apparently I was leaking so bad internally that 2 of my spark plugs crapped out and my van refused to run. From what I read this is a fairly common complaint among venture owners. I really love my van but this flaw will prevent me from buying another one, which I fully intended on doing in a few year. Sorry gm but I'll go with a honda next time.
Cam shaft broke while warming up in my yard. 1998 chevrolet venture van. I found a tsb that stated that this particular van had an intake manifold gasket problem. I have since found that the dealer never replaced the gasket before I purchased it.it has 56000 miles on it when I bought it and now has 88000 16 monthes later. Talked to a mechanic and was told that camshafts don;t just break unless they are faulty. I am currently negotiating with dealership and they have loaned me a vehicle to use until we come to some kind of agreement.
I had the coolant flushed one month ago at the local dealer. Driving on the freeway near home, the low coolant light came on. No indication on temperature gauge that coolant temp ever exceeded even halfway through the normal range. The next morning, the van runs rough and has a light coolant smell from the exhaust. Took it to dealer for diagnosis. Dealer said that the intake manifold gaskets failed allowing the van to overheat and blow the head gaskets. Repair estimate is $2500 and with only 88k miles on the van. This is the second time that the intake manifold gaskets have failed. First time the intake gaskets failed was at 45k miles right after I bought it. There was no overheat or head gasket failure on the first incidence.
I am going to need to repair my minivan due to the problem with the coolant leak and I really can not afford this and may have to have the van sit until I can. I cannot believe after all the complaints I have read on here that there is not a recall on this or the headlights. I will not purchase another chevy vehicle again because this is a costly repair that is not the consumers responsibility, its obvious that this needs a recall. I do hope you come to your senses about this costly repair to the consumers because I will let every one I possible know that chevy knows about this costly problem but refuses to accept responsibility as I am sure others that have this problem have told numerous people and you sales will drop so low that you will wish you would have had a recall.
Cam shaft just broke.
I recently purchased a used chevrolet venture minivan. After approximately 6,000 miles driving, the intake manifold gasket failed and I now have coolant in the vehicle oil. This is an expensive repair and after considerable internet investigation, I found literally hundred of other owners with the same complaint. It appear that gm has known about this problem for some time and refuses to correct the problem. So far, I have not had the vehicle repaired because of cost, but I think that gm should be responsible to venture owners to repair this defect cost free to the owner.
While driving at 30 MPH consumer noticed that the vehicle overheated. Vehicle was taken to a certified mechanic to be examined, and mechanic determined that the head gasket malfunctioned.
My family and I were on vacation driving from butler, pa to cape canaveral, florida. I was driving on I-95 near savannah, ga on june 26th when I noticed my temperture gauge was moving up and down. Car never boiled over or loss any anti-freeze. I stopped at a pep boys repair shop at which time they advised me that my thermostat needed replacement. It appeared the dex-cool antifreeze that gm requires to be used turns into a sludge at high temperatures. Entire cooling system was sludged up by the dex-cool. After installing new thermostat and anit-freeze engine was idling rough. Car was taken to chevrolet dealer nearby - chevrolet dealer said engine needed replacement. - anti-freeze was entering cylinders #1 and #2. Chevrolet dealer charged over $6,000. I feel chevrolet dealer overcharged as I was traveling from out of state - my local chevrolet dealer quoted $3,700 for same work. My local mechanic advised me it's common knowledge that dex-cool is a defective product that has ruined many engines, radiators, heater cores and thermostats - gm refuses to acknowledge the problem while the damage continues. My vehicle was purchased new by me - garage kept - well maintained - 112,000 miles at time of failure.
The upper and lower intake gaskets were leaking coolant and oil onto the engine. This resulted in vehicle overheating, and burning up the engine motor. Also, fuel injectors had to be cleaned numerous times due to them misfiring.
My 1998 chev venture was getting coolant into the motor oil which caused it to start ticking.I took it to the dealer and they said it was the intake gasket. They fixed the problem which cost me $1500.00. Three months later the engine blew up .I had to get a reman.engine which cost $4000.00.I feel because of the faulty gasket this lead to my engine problem.
1998 chevy venture van 65k miles my manifold intake gasket no good it is leaking and causing damage to the engine
1998 chevrolet venture with a leaking intake manifold. A very costly repair for a single mom of three.
While the consumer was changing the oil noticed engine coolant intake manifold head gasket developed a crack.
The engine's head gasket failed on 2 separate occasions. He second time this occurred it destroyed the engine. *ak
Intake manifold gasket problems on 1998 chevrolet venture 3.4l. Dealer informed me at approx. 58000 miles gasket was failing. Replaced 06/02. Same dealer informed same gasket problems at 94000 miles. Have heard of similar problems on other gm products, very common. Would like to see gm held responsible for poor design of gasket, will never buy gm product again.
Problem with the intake manifold casket. The part fails and the allow coolant to leak into the oil pan. This casuse a loss of coolant and wild tempature funcuations. This is a wide spread problem with this part and should be recalled a a defective part. In fact the part has been replaced in more recent gm models. If some one would do a little research you would find that problem is more wide spread than gm is willing to admit to.
While driving the vehicle jerked back and forth. Dealer stated there was a crack in the crankcase. *ak
'98 chevy venture only has 51,000 miles and has been maintained regularly by dealer. Recently had intake manifold gaskets replaced due to leak of coolant into crankcase at a cost over $1,000. Engine is knocking and now needs replacement with expected cost of over $5,000. So far, no financial consideration given by gm.
Low coolant light came on while wife was driving and she said temperature gauge soared then dropped, she pulled out and drove again and it soared then dropped again along with low coolant light. Saw on the internet this is common for 1998 chevy venture and others. A lot of minivans with kids and spouses out there encountering this. I checked the engine upon arrival and think it may be an intake manifold gasket failure and have contacted a local service representative.
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