The van over heated and left me stranded on the freeway because the plastic intake manifold gasket melted.
1998 Chevrolet Venture engine complaints
Page 4 of 5: complaints 71 to 100 of 111, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I had my van in the shop because my heater quit working. The thermostat was changed. When I got the van back the heater didn't work and by the next morning the coolant reservoir was empty. Their weren't any external leaks noted. I took it back into the shop and he ran some checks and he stated that it was the intake manifold gasket and that the coolant was leaking internally. He also said that this was a common problem with most gm engines. Now my van is parked and I can't even drive it. It is knocking real loud and I am afraid to drive it because I have found out that this problem can lead to the van eventually catching on fire. My van had been in the chevrolet shop several times for the engine light coming on and it was running rough. I was told that the light was on because the gas cap wasn't on tight. My van is just out of the warranty at @ 82,000 miles. I hear that the gasket in question is on national back order do the excess amount of gm vehicles with the same problem.
Intake manifold leaked coolant onto motor at 79000 miles.
The intake manifold gasket developed a leak, allowing dexcool antifreeze to leak into the engine. Mr scc
Intake manifold gasket had to be replaced at 62000mi, started to leak anti-freeze in engine, based on dealer and other customers , this is a common problem with gm 3.1l and 3.4l engines. Accountability is needed by gm. Issue should be made a recall. $900.00
Intake manifold gasket failed causing coolant to leak into oil. Dealer performed pressure test and verified leak, changed oil, and found coolant. Had repaired by independent shop. Unknown at this time if internal damage has been done to engine. Engine had 70,000 miles on it. This is absolutely ridiculous to see this many complaints without a forced, or voluntary recall. I want to be reimbursed for the cost of this repair.
At 57,000 mi my 1998 chevrolet venture developed a coolant leak at the intake manifold on the drivers side of the engine. I was quoted a $500.00 estimate to replace the $3.00 gasket and the mechanic at the dealership stated that he sees a lot of these leaks and that this is very common. Ts
Intake manifold gasket leak and engine seal leak on a vehicle that has been serviced exactly as recommended in the owner's manual. Simple internet research (including this webiste) has shown a pattern of failure for these parts on this vehicle. Gm customer service acknowldged problem but would not pay any of the $1,200 repair bill since the vehicle has 80,000 miles on it. This is a huge out-of-pocket expense for a part with a history of problems. I personally know two other 1998 venture owners who have had the same repair.
98 chev venture with 60k blown eng.due to defective intake gasket which gm wont recall.100k antifreeze sludged at 30k.over 70,000 intake gasket backoredered at one time.nov of2002 models have updated improved gasket why should public that kept up on thier maint have to pay for design flaw.100s of web sites on this issue exsist.
I own a 1998 chevy venture with the 3.4l engine. I am constantly loosing antifreeze and oil disappears with explanation. I am still under a warranty but the dealership says it cant find anything wrong with it. I am concerned that my engine might seize or fail while driving down the interstate due to a design flaw in the intake manifold gasket. The coolany that chevy uses dexcool has been known to eat away the gaskets, so large a scale has this happened that gm has switched coolants to prestone extended life. I want a recall done free of charge to fix this problem. It is definitly a safety issue as most have complained about cams breaking and loss of power. Someone is going to die because of this.
Total engine failure caused by faulty gaskets allowing coolant to leak into engine resulting in camshaft breaking. This is a classic problem on 3.4l engine, occurring on most affected vehicles between 50k and 60k miles.
1998 cherolet venture van, v6 engine with 85,000 miles. Well maintained engine. Coolant system leaking from intake manifold. No independent repair shop would do the repair. Took van to dealer...repaired upper and lower manifold gaskets. Total cost $908.
Intake gasket bad, replaced jan. 2002. Problem still occuring, engine knocking and a new engine is needed.
1998 chevy venture, 77000 miles, no warning, engine light came on, pulled over, engine tapping & smoking. Walked 1.2 miles on interstate, 8 miles to exit, took ride from unknown couple. Had van towed, diagnosed: collasped intake gasket caused rod to go through engine. Dealership & gm refused to help. Repeatable problem with gasket easily located on internet, overwelmed by severity.
Consumer complaining about the engine light working intermittently. Dealer has inspected the vehicle on several occasion. And could not duplicate or correct the problem. Please provide further information. Ph
Coolant leak in 1998 chevy venture minivan. Faulty intake gasket.
Service engine soon light states evap problem. Stinky emissions but dealer found no problem after I paid $162. Reset light several times but the same problem reappears after a few days.
Leaking coolant in 1998 chevrolet venture van w/ 3400sfi v6 engine diagnosed by dealer as "blown head and intake gaskets; may have cracked head, won't know until opened up. Estimated repair cost of $1300 for replacement of gaskets and another $660 if head is cracked." no action yet taken by consumer 1/3/2003. Many other reports of this problem noted by owners. Ts
Noticed an engine "tick" couple weeks ago. Problem seemed to disappear once engine came up to temperature. Noticed last night that problem "tick" is more noticeable. Investigated tonight after researching intake manifold gasket problems on the web, and discovered coolant in the engine oil. Ts
Engine failure due to leaking intake manifold gaskets which allowed dextrol coolant to mix with oil. Complete engine failure requiring engine replacement. Appears to be an issue with this engine, but no assistance from general motors. Dt
This failure if the intake manifold is a common and costly repair on these gm minivans. Dt
Engine continues to shake real bad and stalls out. The service engine soon light comes on the car wont start. *ts *nlm **dimsii ivoq entry posted after 12-12-02 cut over to artemis**770115
No summary. Dt
After much research with area gm dealerships and your website, it appers that the 1998 venture mini-van's intake manifold gasket develops a leak at 80000 to 90000 miles. I had this replacement in may 2002. Since my van was out of warrenty by 1000 miles (it was shy 2 weeks of being 4 years old). I spoke with gm's customer service and they stated there was nothing they could do about it. Even though I have maintained my vehicle on schedule for all tune-up/oil changes/tire rotations, etc. I ended up paying $575.00 to have the intake manifold gasket replaced. Since then my van has never been the same. It is now in the shop in need of a whole new engine with only 82000 miles. It seems a piston rod spun and damaged the crank shaft. After much investigation, I was told that the problem with the intake manifold gasket could have caused all of this. Now I am faced with replacing the whole engine with an used engine with 4,000 miles for $2400 + tax, getting a remanufactured engine for $3865 or trading in the car. I do believe an investigation in the leaking of the intake manifold gasket should definately be pursued. I would really appreciate any assistance. For the headlight, my headlight lens fall off while I was driven on a highway going about 55 MPH. I never could found the lens and lucky the lens flying off did not cause a crash. I contacted the gm assistance program and once again was told there was nothing could be done to assist us. This wasn't a known problem. After investigating again, I see this is a known problem. Replacing the lens meant replacing the whole headlight unit at the tune of $328.03. What is the consumer to do??no safety defect listed.
Camshaft in engine broke while traveling 50 MPH. Vehicle immediately ceased to operate, and needed to be pushed to side of the road. *ak mechanic stated that camshaft was defective and should not break under any circumstances. Entire engine had to be replaced.
Engine stalls. First year of ownership, 5 times towed three times replaced fuel pump twice. Stalling again, 22may02 at 65 MPH, 30may02 at 15 MPH, and 04jun02 at 55 MPH. Each time will restart after 20 minutes. Dealer says nothing wrong. Have case record with chevy s1-3066803.
January 2002 low coolant light came on. Contacted dealer who advised that if no leaks visible to add specific coolant if needed and recontact if further illumination of light occurs. Small amount of coolant( type specific as per owners manual) was added. Approx. One week ago light again illuminated. Small amount of coolant added. On 3/26/2002 coolant system pressurized and found to have leak from engines intake manifold gasket. Have been told by numerous sources that the gm 3.4l engine has had numerous failures of intake manifold gaskets. Nlm
Coolant was "sludgy" and dealer attributed this sludge to third party oil shops using wrong radiator fluid. Dealer claimed this wrong radiator fluid sludged up and ate through intake gasket. $647.19 to repair gasket.
Vehicle stalled while driving on 3 different occasions over past 6 months. Vehicle currently using coolant, but not leaking to ground. When vehicle stalls, makes almost impossible to operate and nearly caused me to have an accident.
The headlight assemblies had to be replaced, due to the lens covers popping out and the headlamps blowing out, the problem was due to a defective venting system in the headlamps, and that the manufacturer was aware of the problem.
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