Was on the interstate after driving approximately 1.5 hours when service engine soon light appeared. When I slowed down to in-town speeds the van drove very rough and would often stall when at a stop light. Took it to gm shop to find out that the rocker arm post had pulled out of the cylinder head #4. Gm wanted to charge me over $2000 to repair. Instead the offered to repair with a "heli-coil" and gm picked up all charges. 10 months later driving again on the interstate went to pass another vehicle and the service engine soon light appeared again. Was able to get to a gm service shop. They found another rocker arm post had pulled out of a cylinder head #6. They did a "heli-coil" replacement again which I paid for. Both shops have said this should never happen during the lifetime of a vehicle, yet it happened twice in mine. In a car less than 5 years old no less. Is there a manufacturing defect in these engines to cause such a significant failure?
2003 Chevrolet Venture engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 28 of 28, newest first, as owners wrote them.
In our 2003 chevy venture with only 53,000 miles. We are having trouble with the intake manifold leaking. The van has overheated and needs to be replaced at a high cost to us. It upsets me to find that chevrolet knows of the problem but has done nothing to correct it. Why recall the vans in canada with the same problem but not here in the united states.
Premature failure of the intake manifold gasket caused my car to lose power while driving.
On 3 mile in town trip, heat gauge suddenly climbed into the red. I turned of car and let it cool. Drove back home with many stops to prevent overheating. Towed it to a dealer. Lower manifold intake gasket, a well documented problem--but no us recall, needed to be replaced. Labor costs brought the defective and badly engineered replacement to over $900. There was no engine damage, because I caught the problem early, as no coolant had yet leaked into the engine.
2003 chevy venture with engine code of e in the VIN (covered under service bulletin) started leaking antifreeze and oil from the intake gasket. Called chevrolet customer care and they informed me that my VIN was not covered in their service bulletin. It will cost approximately $850 to repair and be without the vehicle for 2 days.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet venture. The contact began to smell gas both inside and outside the vehicle. Approximately one year after initially detecting gas the dealer inspected the vehicle. The dealer stated that the failure was the head gasket. The contact brought the vehicle to a local mechanic for repairs, but the scent of gas remained. The vehicle was inspected again approximately four months later. The dealer stated that the entire fuel system should be replaced. Once more, the contact brought the vehicle to a local mechanic for repair. The mechanic stated that the filler hose deteriorated due to poor design or a material defect. The current and failure mileage were 113,000.*ak the consumer stated that the vehicle leaks from the manifold as well as the fuel tank system. Updated 07/30/07
Dt*: the contact stated the dealership noticed the intake gasket was leaking while an oil change was being performed. The intake gasket needed to be replaced.
I have owned this van for 28 months with multiple mechanical failures. I have had the brakes replaced, the rack and pinion replaced twice, the tie rods on both sides, the power window motor on the passenger side, the glove box lock, the water pump, the thermostat twice, the engine "seals", the coolant hoses and the power door handles. The power sliding door gasket has also come off on multiple occasions. The airbag light has now been on for 4 weeks. I have been stranded many times and without a vehicle on several occasions. The latest problem required three visits to the dealer to fix. The car overheated and could not be driven all three times, in a two week period. This required a new water pump on the first visit, a new thermostat 8 days later and new hoses 1 day after that.
I have just been notified by a local gm dealership that our 2003 chevy venture, with 40000 miles on a 3.4l v6 engine, needs the lower intake manifold gasket replaced. Upon further research, it appears this is a widespread problem with this particular engine, in fact gm issued a recall in canada to have this problem rectified for no charge to their loyal owners. However, here in the us we are being asked to pay $1100 or more because of an intial design flaw. Not only am I disappointed to have this kind of trouble with my relatively new vehicle (we have owned it since it was brand new and taken excellent care of it), the quote of $1100 from the dealer to replace this gasket is, I think, ridiculous. Gm has admitted their part in the problem by issuing the recall in canada, and I feel they need to do the same here in the states.
2003 chevrolet venture has stalled without warning twice. This caused difficult steering and near collision. Will contact dealer for inspection / repair. Van has only 22k miles.
Intermittently while driving at low speeds and turning to the left vehicle stalled. Also, problem with both sliding doors opening and closing on their own. Dealership replaced the windshield.
Consumer complained of rear end problem. Consumer maintained that manufacturer never sealed the back end of the vehicle. As a result, water leaked into the vehicle. The manufacturer refused to repair the defect. However, the manufacturer was willing to dry out the vehicle. Also, a moldy mildew smell lingered within the vehicle. *ak mold was all through the ceiling as well as blowing through the rear vents, the back end leaked, the roof rail seams and pitch rail were not sealed, water leaked into the rear dome light and leaked onto the floor in the rear, the tires were replaced at 18k miles, the #2 and #3 fan relay shorted, the front end had excessive play, and the front windshield seal had come loose from the glass. *sc
When slowing down to make a turn vehicle dies unexpectedly. *ak
I previously submitted a complaint in december odi id number 10051011, concerning our 2003 chevy venture and the engine cutting off, between december 2003 and march 3, 2004 the van has since had disturbing noises coming from the under neath of the vehicle, grinding sounds and a thumping sound. Scheduled the van to the chevy dealer and while driving in the van's engine cut off. The van is currently in the shop waiting to hear what they say this time. Last time they said this should not happen agian, well it did, and we are awaiting a reply.
Awd and ABS light on. Rear heater/air conditioning temperature cannot be controlled. Car horn beeped when gas pedal in depressed.
While turning into a parking space the steering on our 2003 venture tightened up and then the engine cut off without any warning lights. The van was brought to the dealer ship and they found no problems, they said there was no history recored in the computer and that it should not happen again.
On two separate ocassions in the past 2 months the engine of our 2003 chevrolet venture van had cut off while turning into the driveway. I contacted gm about the matter and also took it to the local dealership, but they could not find the problem.
While driving at any speed and with no warning vehicle stalled, causing the consumer to pull off the road. Dealer notified.
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