GM's triplets Venture, Silhouette, and Montana

kyleo · March 2005

Follow up... no luck with GM. Apparently, I'm too far away from the warranty "time" for GM to offer help (says GM district Rep). I found a TSB on this: 03-07-30-017

I don't have the $3,000.00 (after tax)to get this replaced... so I'm in a real bind here (have 4 kids)...

Is there antyhing else that I can do?

I wish I would have found this site before I bought the van:

http://www.gm-v6lemons.com

Apparently, there's also a big problem with the lower intake gasket on many of the V-6 GM motors..

I guess there's a lesson to be learned here. It's not likely that I'll purchase another GM, since there are lots of other makers out there backing their products with MUCH better warranties.

Transmission toasted at 35,000 miles... Thanks GM.

vanman1 · March 2005

Lower intake gasket doesn't affect all vans and later models have updated 3.4L engines.

Sorry to hear about the transmission though. It's not common at all but nothing is for certain. I would shop around for a transmission. I think the new vans have a 5 year power train warranty as does our 2004 Montana.

stratofire · March 2005

My door just quit today 38.400 miles ,everything works ok,power locks/unlock,I can open it manualy ,all fuses are ok,relays are ok,but the owners manual doesn't show you which one is for power sliding door ,The door switch in the van doesn't work either,I sure could use a photo , if you have mail it to.. n2xwh@arrl.net Thanks

n7don · March 2005

Have you tried resetting per message #1065?

stratofire · March 2005

Thanks , I'll try that tomorrow , This van had some recall repairs on the door also,I'll have to check into it .

stratofire · March 2005

Boy .. Do I feel like an idiot .I had no idea that I must have hit the sliding door overhead lock switch the other day when I put on the courtesy light.I went nuts looking under the dash ,pulling all the fuses and the relays out,switching relays,I looked up today ,and said .".What is that switch for",what a dope !!!

alvan9000 · March 2005

I have a 1990 silohuette 3.4 with 30,000 mi. that has intermitant belt chirp and a grind noise. I thought it might be a water pump, because the noise would stop for a while if I tapped on it. Changed the pump with no effect.Are these known for belt tensioner problems and if so is it difficult to replace? thanks.

kyleo · March 2005

Thanks. I found a local reputable transmission shop that will save me about $400.00, so I'm having the van towed there now. Pontiac still charged me the $91.00 fee to look at the transmission..... Funny thing though, going through the yellow pages I see most transmission shops offer a free diagnostic service, or do it for a nominal fee of $40.00. Pontiac, or GM for that matter, has lost me as a customer forever.

dmontana · March 2005

Hope someone has a suggestion. I have a 2000 Montana, and water is getting in somehow at the passenger side, rear near the storage for the jack? Carpet is soaked, my jack storage bag) is actually full of water?
There is plastic trim at the back by the hatch, where the two pices meet, I see water dropletts at that seam.

Dan

n7don · March 2005

Recently removed the tensioner on a 98 Montana (3.4l). Held on with a single bolt. Don't recall the metric size. Fairly easy to do.

n7don · March 2005

Found this:
#PI01362 Water Leak into Jack Compartment with Power Sliding Door - carpet gasket power PSD rear right seal trunk wet - (Sep 12, 2003)

Unfortunately further info is specific to the vehicle's VIN

dmontana · March 2005

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't have a power sliding doors, with 3 kids I wish I did get that option. I did, however stop in at my local GM dealer this a.m. and spoke with the body shop manager. He mentioned these vans are known to leak at the back rear hatch where the rubber hosing for the wiring enters the body. Water generally follows the wiring and drips down into the jack compartment. Also last summer GM replaced under full warrenty (shockingly) my roof as it wasn't properly, e-coated when built and its was showing signs of rust. So they are going to do a water test to make sure it isn't happening from the warrenty work.
When I do get the final answer I will post the results as I'm sure others have or will run into this problem.
Thanks again for your suggestion and I am glad to have come across this website, so now I can troubleshoot anf future issues.
Dan

4wheelerfive · March 2005

My power locks will chatter and actually attempt to lock while driving (although already locked) The intermittent chattering of locks while driving is annoying. Seems to me could be a defective module, a short in the wiring or moisture in the contacts. Also recently had my lower intake replaced because of leaking (caught it right away - no damage) for $500.00 + tax at a shop that has done many in Canada. All prior quotes were double taht before I found this shop. Van has no leaks going on 2 moths now.

jasonm · March 2005

Anyone had any problems with the factory tv in the vans?

offham · March 2005

This is another oldie from the past. When you open the hatch you will see two rubber boots in the center of the frame at the top between the two hinges. I believe the water is getting in through there.

The cure is to get some black sealant and lift the edges of the boot and liberally squeeze the sealant all around underneath the flat edge. I have a Venture 2000, although I did not have the problem per se, it was an issue with this model year.

Clear out the water and check next time it rains or through a car wash. I know some people drilled a drain hole at the bottom of the jack storage compartment as a last resort

balich · March 2005

This morning while driving - hit a bump in road and the ABS light on dash comes on - it is not
flashing but steadily on ... brakes are working fine. Except for light - no noticable symptoms.

Any ideas what might be the cause ?

Thanks in advance!

n7don · March 2005

Suggest having someplace like Autozone scan for trouble codes.

bobj1 · March 2005

I have a 2000 Oldsmobile silhouette and cannot find the flasher under the dash. I can hear it but no luck finding it. Can anyone help

beechflyer · March 2005

REally loved the car. when the tranny started going at 76000 my dealership wouldn't touch it. Told me to call GM . I did, had it "evaluated" by the dealership and they said I had a problem NO KIDDING JACK!!. Did what GM told me to do and then the dealership told me I'd have to have it torn down to check it....at my expense and maybe GM would hlpe me. YEH RIGHT> so , I'm stuck with the tear down, the put back to gether when they tell me that I can't afford to spend $3000 to have it fixed. Can't find areputable tranny rebuilder in the area and THI SIS THE LAST GM I'LL BUY! My dad has a 50 yr pin from working for GM and even he is disgusted.

anyone out there having tranmission problems ... hard shifting between the gears?? Starts out with occasional "it works sometimes and not others:.??? Like to hear from someone.

This was a trip car....no hard driving and almost all highway driving. when we did yse it.

dirkdaddy · March 2005

look inside the pass door for fuse panel on side of dash.

kyleo · April 2005

I went through the same thing, but my Montana only had 35,000 miles on it. They tried to pull the same thing with me, but since three gears were showing up on the scan as shot, there was no use in tearing it down. This tactic would have netted the dealership more income since I would have had to pay for the tear down ($400 - $500) AND the rebuilt transmission ($3000) since they don't rebuild them there.... I had my van towed to a local shop that charged $2,400 for a total rebuild (including torque converter). GM offered me NOTHING, not a break on the tranny or on labor. Since it was out of "time" when the tranny started failing(not miles), I was out of luck. They also charged me $91.00 to look at the tranny.... Looking in the yellow pages, most transmissions shop either offer a free tranny check, or charge a nominal fee of $40 - $50.

I had another line here, but it was censored by Edmunds since we're not allowed to promote other forums (even ones that don't exist yet)....

Good luck.

indrgb · April 2005

The seal must be broken on my headlight because there is water in it. I recall others having this problem. A new headlight assembly is $147. Has anyone had any luck re-sealing it? If so, did you use a utility knife to remove the caulking and then pry the lens off?

n7don · April 2005

You might shop around. Do a search on ebay for Montana headlights. There's one outfit selling new OE updated GM units for $82.50

My LF lens has a small leak. I ran a bead of gray RTV long the seam that helped. After a day or so of dry the moisture disappears and it doesn't seems to effect the quality of the light. Just doesn't look good.

billw · April 2005

Wondering if there is a way to turn the headlights off while moving. I know if you put the emergency break on before starting they will not come on. But as soon as you put it into drive they go on. The lights wake up my little girl when I come home at night.

montanafan · April 2005

If you manually turn them to park/dash, will that shut off the headlights?

Or perhaps keep a small flash light in the car and shine it on the darkness sensor as you get to your driveway.

All I have for ideas.

paulie9 · April 2005

I also had water in headlight of my 2000 Olds Silhouette. Removed lens from van and dried it with a blow dryer set at medium heat. Found several hairline cracks around edges of lens which I covered with two coats of super glue. Did this about a year ago and headlight is still dry.

Hope this helps....

vlslusher · April 2005

my 2001 silhouette with 67K miles on it apparently has a blown head gasket? the bad red light came on and the gauge was in the red. stopped the car, waited 10 minutes, turned car back on with heater on full blast (light did not come back on and gauge was in normal ranges) to drive the last 1 mile home. next morning had van towed to shop.

from reading i am doing online is it reasonable to think that perhaps this could be related to the intake thing that people have issues with? is there any possibility of getting oldsmobile/dealer to cover under the after warranty assistance or a secret warranty program? if you have any tips on how to present this to the service guy, please help! they have my van, but have not yet begun to do any work on it. :confuse:

offham · April 2005

This subject was on the board a long time ago and people took them to the dealer to get disconnected and so only worked manually.

As info we also have a Jetta and Suzuki SL7 and both have headlights on all the time as DRL

dirkwork · April 2005

Thanks for the idea of looking on Ebay for the van headlights. My '98 Olds with 118,000 miles has its lights looking pretty crappy, yellow plastic, sandblasted from road debris, and they leak water. My past effort of scraping off the hard adheisive, cleaning and gooping them back together worked for a few years but they are not worth cleaning anymore with the lens messed anyway. The guy wanted $15 (each!) for shipping but it was still a lot cheaper than dealer.

redly_one · April 2005

about the intake gasket....is there a VIN cutoff where they switched from the old to the new? Or, is there a way to determine the date a van was manufactured? I hear the switch was made in may of 03, but I can't confirm if this is true

We're looking at an 03 Montana with about 30K

short of replacing the gasket, is there any type of additive that can slow or stop the deterioration of the gasket?

Thanks

n7don · April 2005

If I push the e-brake down a click or two before turning on the ignition, my 98 Montana lights don't come on.

n7don · April 2005

Bulletin 03-06-01-010 was first issued in March 2003 however there isn't any production info. The bulletin detailed the new gasket p/n and fastener specs. The way it was written it appears to apply to all 2003 Montana's without regard to VIN.

Not aware of any "additive" to slow the deterioration. The new gasket design has reinforced edges at the water passages and the new bolts have thread-lock applied. The later suggests the OE bolts may have loosened over time.

vanman1 · April 2005

I don't know but I do know that they were modified / fixed at some point.

Does the 2003 have a 5 year powertrain or a purchased extended warranty?

redly_one · April 2005

ok, I went to check out the 03 Montana tonight. it's in outstanding condition, just like new...and it hasn't even been detailed yet. very sharp looking white on grey with alloy wheels

build date is 10/02. According to carfax, the warranty is 3/36. Interestingly enough, the van originated in Quebec for it's first 17k miles and then was imported to the US. Very strange since they were telling me it was a one owner vehicle....and from what I can tell this guy has lived in my town all his life. more on this later.

The dealer is about 30 miles away from my home. For whatever reason, they were like "take it home to show your wife, make sure she approves" and I don't have to take it back till Saturday. Nice extended test drive.

My concern is that I smelled coolant when I arrived at home. with 30000 miles on the vehicle, I'm wondering if I can make this work to my advantage. I'm going to take it to my local Pontiac dealer and see if they can diagnose (or probably mis diagnose) the source of the smell. If it turns out to be the gasket, and they will cover it under warranty then Yeah!! And, since the price isn't set in stone yet, I can spin it with the selling dealer to get another 5-800 bucks off the price. Any thoughts on how to approach this?

Back to the van originating in Quebec..is there anything difference between a van sold in Canada and one that is sold in the states?? (emissions, anything?)

the deal
I'm trading a 93 silhouette. It's pretty rough around the edges. tranny is on it's last leg, AC doesn't work (110psi on the low side of the compressor), rotors are warped, dr side front wheel bearing needs replaced, air compressor is gone, mysterious disappearing coolant, leaks oil. 112K miles paid $1900 2 years ago, they offered my $1500

they're asking $13800 for the Montana. Not great, but seems to be consistent with private sellers prices and about anything I've seen on the net for one of the triplets (actually wanted another Silo, but they seem to fetch premium prices)

any advice on how to get them down on their price? I haven't negotiated or even discussed price much yet.

redly_one · April 2005

took the 03 montana to my local dealer today.

easy cheesy, they looked it over and said they'd replace the lower intake gasket and water pump under warranty, no cost.

GOD I LOVE THIS VAN
took it on a 150 mile trek tonight, filled the back up with 4x8 peices of fencing and posts for the back yard. I filled up the gas tank before I left, added a little Lucus fuel system cleaner, and the needle didn't even budge off F(ull).

I had an 02 Odyssey, then an 03 Silhouette, then the [non-permissible content removed] fell out of our personal economy, so we bought the 93 Silhouette for cash. I always relate vehicle discussions back to the Honda, though, as it is perceived as the "ultimate". Loved that van too, don't get me wrong. sure it had 240HP, but you had to rev the hell out of it to really feel it, and it was noisy as hell at 75MPH. Can't say it really was a memorable difference relavtive to the 03 Silo, which we also loved. I really think, if you buy used, maybe even new if you hit the incentives right, you come out ahead by buying a GM (at least the pre 05 non "truck looking vans").

anyway, we'll be signing the papers today (sat)

dirkdaddy · April 2005

FYI, I am fixing my broken plastic rear hatch handle bracket. A lot of people have had trouble with them breaking, as I guess ozone and a poorly designed part both contributed to them breaking. Not wanting to plunk down $ on a replacement that will likely break again, I was inspired by N7don's home-make bracket he told me about, so I went out in the shop and got to work. This is the result, made from mild steel, the top part where the strap attaches us made from 1" square steel tubing, which is slightly smaller than the strap, but I used a belt sander to narrow it down a little bit to fit. Thought about sectioning the thing to make it wider but it wasn't worth that much work. Come to think about, I don't know why I bothered to do this anyway, wife and I always grab the door itself usually, except for when she broke the handle. Anyway, if you are looking for a solution and don't mind it looking a little bit utilitarian, you might give this a shot. Thanks to N7don for the link to the picture. I am going to paint this and install. Also, although I drilled a big hole so that the attaching screw would be installed on the bottom part of the bracket, it was unnecessary as the screw is probably long enough if you decide to try this at home. Provide enough $ and maybe I'll make y'all some.

http://tinypic.com/2nstie

Dirkdaddy

dirkwork · April 2005

I got my Ebay headlights recently, and they were double boxed and pretty large when shipped, so I guess the $15 each to ship was partially explainable.

They are so shiney and new its amazing, I have not yet installed but holy cow, my wife was really impressed compared to our sandblasted and sun yellowed old water filled lights this really ought to be a big improvement!

If you have an older van like my '98 and are thinking of replacing the lights, I am ashamed I waited this long, they are that much different and I haven't even installed them yet!

DD

indrgb · April 2005

DD - Let us know how the new headlights work. Are they GM or aftermarket?

Has anyone had trouble with the front power windows? For the last year the drivers window on my 2000 silo wants to go up crooked. It goes down fine, but it needs help going up. My wife drives the van so I kind of put if off since it was not a serious problem. I finally stopped by a Olds dealer to have them look at it and to my surprise they wanted $600 to fix it!!!!!! They said it needs a new regulator, which is basically the whole inside of the door (not including the inside trim). They said more than likely the only thing wrong is one of the brackets that raises the window is bent, but it could not be repaired. I then stopped by an independent shop that I have used before and they said the same thing, and also there was no aftermarket part for the Olds, however there is one for the Venture and Montana. I have looked on gmpartsdirect and found p/n 10315961 for $271. The olds dealer said this is the wrong part. The p/n I got from the dealer is 16639553, which is $325 on gmpartsdirect. Has anyone had this replaced and have a p/n?

n7don · April 2005

Do an ebay search on "window regulator montana" I got a couple hits. This one may be of interest as it says most of the time it's bent arms
Regular Arms Only
Of interest the items suggest the only difference between the vehicles is a plug. You can read the first ad with this info.

n7don · April 2005

Note the link should have read "Regulator Arms Only" I just returned from a higher altitude and the brain functions are catching up.

peego · April 2005

hello there. i have a 99 venture and the rear wiper is not working i don't know if the relay or the wiper motor is bad.... i check the fuse and the fuse is good. but anyway. could you tell me where i could buy the wiper motor at please. thank.
jeff

indrgb · April 2005

Thanks for the help. After checking out the parts on ebay, I'm a little concerned about the quality and the negative feedback on the guy selling just the arms. I can't believe there's not a big aftermarket guy out there selling these window arms. My local shop said they called three different companies they have bought window arms from and all said they can't get one for this van. I will have to do something however. I just refuse to pay $600 for this.

billw · April 2005

I noticed my temperature computer above your head does not read right. It was 82 degrees yesterday and it was reading 53 degrees. I already did the adjusting to make sure that I was in the right sector of the U.S. Did it again and it still reads wrong. i did put small bubble mirrors on the outside mirrors. Does anybody know if that is where the sensors are. Maybe by putting on the mirrors I covered up the sensor. Looking for ideals.

just4fun2 · April 2005

The temperature sensor is located on the left side by the radiator. I believe that needs to be replaced. You can only select the compass setting number depending on what part of the country you are in. Looks like an easy fix.

dirkwork · April 2005

I mounted the new head lights and they were mostly a drop-in. The tab for the turn signal light had the a steel threaded tab that needed to be reversed, but otherwise it fit well. I need to adjust them now. the drivers side must be at full "down" from the factory for "safety". Only used to drive about 2 miles. Will adjust.

My issue with the GM lights on my '98 is the hokey way the front side/signal lights are attached. Could they have designed worse system? The little clip that is supposed to hold the bottom to the headlight bracket inevitably comes off with the head inside the bracket and then you have to pry it out and when you get it all reattached, its so loose and floppy you wonder if you have it right, but you actually do, its just GM thinks you only need one nut and little clip to hold the light in position. You won't see Honda doing it this way....maybe it saved $.25 on the assembly line.

They are built in some far-east country, have to look at the box again. Since the GM ones fell apart, this might be a good thing. I had both lenses fall off and the reflective material inside lost its luster from time - even after I had cleaned it out and reglued the lenses. These look like something from a new vehicle, they are so shiney looking.

The guy I got them from however charged $15 each for shipping, which is a fairly large fee but I knew it going in. They were shipped very well, double boxed and foamed into large boxes. He also sent me a 3rd light for a Chevy by accident that I offered to return if he pays MY shipping cost, see what happens there.

DD

dirkdaddy · April 2005

My '98 Olds broke today.

Short story, going to festival tomorrow. Almost didn't get to take van although friend flew into town with his son and we'd have 6 of us, 3 in car seats. I had planned this event for about 3 months.

Wife drove home from store today, parked in driveway (some luck there as you're about to discover) and then the transmission lever became totally limp and did not shift the van out of D into any other selection. Well, short and sweet, my van's transmission gear selector cable broke at the attachment point where it goes around the little ball on the transmission selector lever. It would work fine if you held it down on top of the ball, but would come off otherwise. Weird!

Local dealers did not have it "on hand" and we were planning on leaving early in AM to secure a good festival camping spot. Looked at the factory manual at the section for replacing the cable and while it wasn't bad, I didn't want to delay our trip spending 2 hours wrestling with the cable. So, I jury rigged the thing, which is pretty hard to describe but it involved some U channel steel, a bit of welding, a 1.5" screw and two nuts.

I basically sandwiched the ball socket thing on the cable and the transmission lever ball. Sort of like two custom made steel parts from iron fence scraps - that clamped together with a screw, and it had a slot in the middle for the shift cable to go through. It was limited by a steering shaft in the rear and a transmission electrical plug. I whipped something up in about 2.5 hours of futzing around with it, but it will be secure and I can take vacation on time and replace the cable at my leisure.

I am not sure why this broke, perhaps I was a bit rough with it at times. Was made to go together fast on assembly line but no hold up after a few years. I was not happy to have this break, I didn't plan on doing this work tonight!

DD

consmatt · April 2005

How about replacing the water pump in a 99 Olds Sil. Looks easy. Has anyone tried it? I have the telltale dexcool being splattered in the plane of the belt with slight noise.

n7don · April 2005

I have changed mine and don't recall any special problem(s). After changing, I had to tighten the bolts along the bottom to clear up a slight seepage.

dirkdaddy · May 2005

Fixed the transmission cable, followed shop manual, no problems, fixed problem with cable coming off the transmission shift lever.

Dirk

greaser · May 2005

I have an 01 montana that is overheating, think it may be a head gasket. It is putting pressure back in the recovery tank, and it won't circulate. How can I be sure it's the head gasket or just the intake? Can the heads be removed with the engine in the van?

GM's triplets Venture, Silhouette, and Montana

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