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Comments
Thanks!
Phil
Can I continue to just add coolant ?
Am I risking major damage?
Leak seems to be minor....
Would I really be better off getting repair
done by independent garage ?? Most dealers seem to want $800 based on posts !
Is there an organized protest to GM ????
As for the hot air from the rear a/c, they did not find any problems. They duplicated the symptoms I saw, but said it was normal. FYI, the rear a/c was redesigned on the 2002 vans and newer. They do not have two separate units like my '99 Montana had. The 2002 van does not have an expansion valve like the '99 had. The air ducting on 2002 comes from the front, there is no evaporator in the rear. They said that the rear air vents may take longer than the front air vents to turn cold because the ducting comes from the front and the ducts may be hot. Does not make sense to me. If the problem persists, I'll take it to another dealer to see what they have to say.
I also didn't think the van handled as well as it could and didn't like the factory shocks/struts. I just bought new gas charged struts and air shocks from Autozone - total cost including the kit (see below) was less than $200. If you're adventuresome, you can do this yourself, autozone will loan you the spring compressor for the struts and the rears are no brainers. I don't recommend doing just one end or the other, for safety handling you want your vehicle to have balanced dampening on all 4 wheels, replace all of them.
In my experience, many (not all) US factory dampners (shocks and struts) are horrible and are the cheapest POS possible, you can't even buy parts for your car that are even half as crappy. Any replacement will be an improvement. Good quality gas charged units make a huge difference. I've installed new shocks on every car I've ever owned except my Maxima, which has reasonable shocks on it for now. I've never understood why GM goes so cheap on something that makes such a big difference to people who know better, I mean that's why the imports ride so differently in most cases, its the spring/shock package! Anyway, I'll quit ranting...
Last night I installed new Gaberial (sp?) Hi-Jackers air shocks and tied them into my auto-leveling system. Installing the shocks took less time than putting the lines onto the auto leveling system, the shock bolts are easy to get to and simple. The hardest part was getting the new shocks to extend (all that hydrolic and air bag resistance). I've done shocks before but these were the hardest to extend I've seen.
Anyway, to tie into a autoleveling system you need to order the Gabriel adapater kit for GM autoleveling (kit no inside box of shocks). The hose kit install involves removing the compressor from under the van (3 bolts, a wire plug and a high and low pressure hoses to unplug). You need to put the compressor frame thing in a vice and then use a very large adjustable wrench to remove the a screw lid and then you have to replace a spring and reinstall the lid. The new spring increases the minimum pressure for the system to 25lbs as recommended by mfg.
The line going up from the compressor into the body of the van remains as-is. Cut the return line's fitting off, remove all old hoses to the shocks including the T fitting. Assemble new T fitting, put new fitting on the air line you cut, install everything and make sure hoses are re-clipped into the factory routing as the original was. Do NOT overtighten the plastic line connectors, they are only hand tight. Run the aircompressor manually from the inside of the van for about 20 seconds, you should hear slight sound of the system bleeding excess air. This gets them up to minimum pressure.
The stock air shocks were a joke!!! The one that hadn't leaked was very light and felt like it had about 3oz of oil in it. The one that leaked had zero oil in it and was even lighter.
The new ones, while not a koni or Bilsteen performance shock, provide on the order of about 3x the dampening and additional spring rate increase. My van used to bounce just when I sat on the back to put shoes on, that sort of thing. Now its very firm. I have not driven it except around the block, but I can tell it has better handling already.
Tonight I'll put in the gas charged front struts and let y'all know how that goes.
ps. if you don't have load leveling, you can install w/o the kit and just use an air chuck to add air to the system manually, just allow time for more messing with the lines and mounting the T fitting where you fill it.
Dirk Daddy
Open the hood and first I notice is, where are the strut towers? Way in the back! Holy moly! The top nuts are about as impossible as anything I've ever done, on side they are behind the windshield wiper motor and assorted braces and linkages, with about 1.5" of top clearance to the overhanging firewall on the top. Only could use my air-ratchet on one of them. And I thought that would be my savior. The others were barely visible, barely accessible. Was able to use 3/8" ratchet wrench but it would about do 2 clicks before running into interference on each end, and the dang nuts were those "self-locking" type that you can't run off with your fingers and require wrenching all the way. Ok, about an hour and change later I have all three out, one side done. The other side is nicely hidden from the front by the ABS brake stuff. Good gravey. Hope I can fit the air ratchet but I'll do that later. Now for the bottom two bolts near the steering knuckle. Use air wrench and take off the nut. Finally I can start rolling on this. Go to push them through and take off the bottom of the strut. No go. Notice they don't have regular heads on them on the bolt side. Hmm....put some liquid wrench on them. Get a 24 oz brass faced hammer, smack it repeatedly. They don't budge a lick. They are so soild I have to double check the book to make sure they aren't forged into the flange. Get bigger hammer, a mini-sledge. Exercise my arm for a while. The bolts stay put like they are solid iron with the steering knuckle. I don't think they moved even a nanometer. Finally after about after 30 minutes of flailing and inspecting what could be wrong, I figure I'll ask Richard what heck is up with these weird bolts. I pack up my tools and head in.
When I called a mechanic friend this morning and got advice. Good old GM couldn't just use regular bolts on the front struts, they used "interference fit" bolts with splines that are pressed in and have to be pounded out. Good gosh, that's the sort of thing I'd figure on Ford doing. I hope I don't mangle the bolts getting the bastards out of there. I have a 16lb sledge I might be able to swing lightly to persuade it to start moving. I have a 1/4" scrap of brass for such occassions, but its hard to hold that hit it at the same time! Crap, hate to admit it, but maybe Bob was right when he told me to take it somewhere!
The back shocks were easy and fun, this is a bit of a test of wills. I don't even see how a professional would be much faster as I have all the right tools.
DD
more later after I finish.....
I've replaced struts on a few cars in the past, I've got the spring compressor & all that, they've all been really simple--jack up car, unbolt strut assembly, put on the vice, compress spring, replace, bolt back on, maybe 1/2 hour per strut total--but these hard-to-reach bolts, and especially the bolts with splines (?), sounds awful. another case of a manufacturer designing something that ends up ridiculously difficult & time consuming to repair/replace, when they could, with just a minor change or two, make the task fast & simple. My experience working on other gm vehicles (even fairly late model ones) has been good--pretty "user friendly" I hope doing various maint. & repairs to my new van doesn't prove the opposite is now true. Geez, whats wrong with a cotter pin or something if they don't want the bolt & shock to fall off?!?!? lol
good luck, let us know if & how you get those bolts off--that's something I haven't had the pleasure of (yet) also, can you replace those bolts with some regular ones for reassembly? that's what I'd do, if possible, maybe w some loctite or something
My experience is limited to mostly changing the oil. As a teenager, changing the oil on the family cars was one of my jobs. Lately, I've been trying to make the time to do more of my own repairs. I was considering trying the shock and strut swap out but I'm having large second thoughts.
DD, your posts have been very helpful. I'm looking forward to hearing how your Silho rides. Assuming it turns out to be an upgrade, I may have to call around and get some prices for labor.
Best of luck!
Phil
Anyway, armed with the knowledge of the technique needed to get the lower strut bolts out, I got all 4 out in 2 minutes with a "mini sledge hammer". Really wasn't too bad once I knew it was OK to beat the living crap out of it.
The bolts on upper strut on driver's side were about the same or even worse than the pass side. The ABS was in front of them, and there's a brace below the cowl, then there's the wiper arm thing (you need to disconnect the driver's side wiper arm drive, that gets you some clearance.
A stubbyish 3/8 ratchet and 15mm will get them off, except for the one closes to the motor, that one is right under the support and you need to use a wrench, and my box end only got like 1 or 2 of the notches with each cycle...so it was like pulling teeth!
If I had to do over again, I'd take off the entire wiper system and unbolt the ABS controller to give more access.
BTW, if you fool with struts you need a impact wrench really to make the spring compressor deal faster and to take on/off the upper strut nut. Otherwise with a wrench the strut tube just turns - the air gun gets it off w/o turning the tube too much.
Anyway, the day I started this my headlight cover I hadn't glued back on fell off in the drive, so I need to fix that with Goop like I did the other one before I go driving around.
Oh and you'll like this...I found 2 large nuts off the car I couldn't figure out where they went for a minute, then I remembered the new struts came with their own nuts! Doh!
Give me time to drive it and I'll let everyone know if it was worth it.
DD
On the airbag light check all connections under the front seats. When I had the dealer check he wanted to replace $$$$ of parts based on computer readout.
The warning light should flash 7 times before going out. Twice now it has stayed on and connected to someome using the power door. I immediately turn off the engine and restart.It acts as normal. Don't ask me why it is related but that is the coincidence I have noticed.
To clarify, to get those "splined bolts" off, I'm understanding you put a good, tight wrench or socket on it, then smack it with a hammer until it loosens?
Extra nuts/parts when you're finished always gives you kind of a sinking feeling, doesn't it? lol...its always a good thing when you can figure out what they're for!
To remove the lower strut bolts, of course jack up both sides of vehicle and take weight off suspension. take off the nut and then turn the steering wheel so that the threaded end is sticking out where you can whack it. It has a unthreaded part on the end for whacking its made very stoutly and doesn't deform. Hit the bolts on the end with a small sledge hammer and drive them out. You can't turn them, they are splined longways and they have no regular bolt head on them anyway. Mine came out in 5-6 serious whacks.
If you have small/med hands you should be able to do the upper bolts w/o too much hassle if you don't get too frustrated. Figure about 3-4 hours. Recommend a stubby ratchet and some of those new box end wrench ratchets I saw at lowes. Or maybe take to a mechanic and go watch a movie!
Can't wait to see how it drives. took the maxima to work. That car the manual tranny always feels like its over stressed even in regular driving.
DD
I'll have to look in my Haynes book & see what they show...
I'm gonna rotate tires Sunday, I'll try & take a look when I take off front wheels
anyway, like I said, I'll probably wait a year or so unless one starts leaking oil or something--plenty of time to get my courage up! The last shocks I did were maybe 3 yrs back, on my 88 4runner (fantastic vehicle, an absolute joy to work on, definitely one of the best I've ever owned, but thats OT, I guess) but I think we put on 4 new bilsteins (sp) in about, oh, an hour including coffee break--lol--them were the days! I guess if I want low tech, easy to work on, I coulda got a 1970 econoline van instead of my silo!
thanks again for the info
Anyway, at least the struts don't have much adjustment for camber like some of older ones I had, I have not taken in for alignment check (tomorrow) but it wouldn't seem like could be very far off. That makes installing easier.
I think I'd pay someone good to replace the struts and leave the frustration to others!
Oh yea, FWIW, I glued my headlight lens back on with GOOP adhesive after chipping out all the old dried glue and cleaning out.
If others have the same problem:
My fog lights had gotten the lens busted from rocks and looked unsightly, and new ones were $$$ at the dealer and would probably suffer a similar fate.
I ordered "halogen driving lights" from Harbor Freight (purveyors of cheap tools and stuff from China) for about $9.00. If you unscrew the screw and remove the GM lights, then the two bolts holding the bracket, you can use one of the bolts to mount the new lights.
Granted the new lights have cheap plastic housings and not super quality, but they will work for fog and look better than my broken GM's for very little $.
jeber - my older sister dated a guy with Ford Econoline van in the 70's, he had mags on it, shag rug everwhere and hair down to his belt. The inside of the van always smelled like incense or something funny (LOL). I think he had a mini steering wheel thing on it and those tiny little windows in the side and air shocks jacking up the back. Oh yea, and glasspack mufflers, of course!
DD
Steve, Host
Also, anyone know of any mild performance enhancements? I find the Montana downshifts in the 70-80 mph range when going up hills. I think a little more torque output might solve this annoyance.
Ryles
Ryles
Tomek
FYI - anyone ever replace their front brake pads on the Montana? I did with Raybestos. Never will again. They ruined my rotors. I got less then 6 months out of the new pads and had to buy new GM rotors (and GM pads). Guess what the dealer says? Don't use aftermarket brake pads on the Montana...... On past GM products (fwd cutlass and fwd grand prix) I never had a problem with aftermarket pads.
Replacing the rear is much more of an improvement than the front, put high quality shocks in the back too!! I can feel the front, but its a huge difference in the rear. Over speed bumps in my parking garage it used to bounce twice in the back, now its just down and up. Braking is better as it doesn't drop the nose as much and hugs the road better.
oh yea, I guess the van isn't a deathtrap as some other brands owners would have you belive if you bought another one. How did you fare in the accident? Can you enlighten us? Hope everyone was ok.
DD
A while ago at 25-27K miles I noticed coolant was low on my 2000 Venture (wife mobile) - but the dealer pressure-tested the system and said "nothing wrong". I'm now just out of warranty (3 weeks over 3 years) and 34K miles. Coolant seems low again...
Tomek
Tomek
Van has 119000 miles. Has anyone notice in their van with the brakes seeming spongy?
If you have some dealer installed options (running boards or remote starter, etc.), they may not show up in our list. Often these things won't really add much to your selling price but would help the van sell faster.
Steve, Host
Thanks
Also, I heard that the Olds Silo is going to be rebadged as a Buick to compete with the Chrysler Town & Country. Is it true?
I'm not too aggravated since the car has only had front discs & pads replaced in the 3 years we've had it, but still, I've never had a car need this fix before, which seems to be common among GM 3.4s.
My local Chev/Olds dealer tells me the failure of the manifold gasket was due to poor assembly at the factory. They tell me the silicone has to dry properly before the head is put on. If it's not allowed to dry, air bubbles can appear in the gasket which will eventually burst and thus a leak.
It will take at least half a day to have it fixed since they're going to get the engine out and get the manifold at the bottom.
Pep Boys: $550
Local indie chain:$900
Chevy dealer: $1100
Fingers still crossed......
what are those exactly? Not that my van is leaking in any visible way, just curious...
Tomek
P.S. I hope they won't stop the engine from running in addition to stopping it from leaking... :-)
Our 01 Montana doesn't seem to ever get over 18-19mpg even on long highway drives (70mph w/ cruise on). I seem to recall our 99 model getting a whole lot better gas mileage.
Any ideas???
Dan