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Right now, our choices for used minivan have been narrowed down to the Chevy Venture and Pontiac Montana. The Dodge minivans are everywhere, though after owning a Dodge a few years ago, I'm not sure I want to own a Chrysler again. Foreign minivans are out - too expensive and husband would kill me.
Our search was at least a month to find the right one at a really good price. The dealership replaced a coolant sensor and bad window switch and also recoded a key for us that wouldn't work. For piece of mind we bought an extended warranty up to 100,000 miles.
Bottom line is we are extremely happy as are the kids. And, the mute button on the steering wheel for the stereo comes in handy when the kids are being a challenge.
Any failures?
Thanks!
a loud fuel pump ... We hear a loud humming noise
and it was determined to be the fuel pump .. I hear the part is very expensive and the gas tank
needs to be removed .. if anybody has had one
replaced .. what did you pay for the fuel pump
to be replaced ?
The van has 65000 miles on it.
To be sure, go to Auto Zone or similar, and buy a Haynes manual ($12-18) for your rig. Then look it up. Haynes manuals are valuable because they deal with only 1 model in a limited range of years. These are arguably the finest manual for the general public and independent mechanics. My mechanic uses them.
Good luck! aralph@innevi.com
Just to let you know. I bought Montana 2000 5 month ago. Since then I have got following problems: Broken wipers (do not park), broken fuel tank sensor (gauge shows full tank constantly), leak from one of the break cylinders, coolant leak from intake manifold, high oil consumption
I have an extended warranty (most expensive one) so yesterday I brought the car to North York Chevy dealership to fix all the problems. They gave me a loan car to get to work. It was yesterday. Today they called me and told that coolant and break leeks are fixed, by my Wipers and Gas Tank Sensor are not covered by the extended warranty so I will have to pay for it. So they want me to pay 200$ to fix wipers and 465$ to replace Gas Tank Sensor. I just wonder whether this sensor made from GOLD….
I will shop around to find better deal and I know I will. I think they trying to compensate somehow the work they spend fixing parts under the warranty. The never lose.
Just to let you know that this car is amazing on the road, but I will never buy it again.
I still have 2.5 years of extended warranty and then I will sell it and buy Sienna.
I have enough worries in my life, I don’t need another one
Good luck with your vehicles.
Seemed to be a good time to drop the "Transport" in the discussion title too. It'll still show up in searches for Transport.
More HP anyone?
Steve, Host
My wife's transport wiper blades do not close (point down under the windshield ....
They work fine in all speeds but when you shut
them off .. they appear to go down under the windshield but then go straight up and shut off in a full straight up position (both blades do the same thing.... we had this problem 4 years ago under warrranty but the dealer won't fix it again .. we called Pontiac .. they said same thing .. has anybody else had this problem and is there a easy fix ? Under warranty - they said
they replaced the wiper motor ?? I would think their should be a less expensive fix ?
I,ve seen a lot of those van with the wiper in the upper position, samething with the Grand-Prix, there is a flaw in their design, you shouldn't have to pay for that
If you go back a few months in postings for the various gm minivan discussions (they're all virtually identical mechanically) you'll find plenty of people are quite pleased with them (myself included)...any of the vans regardless of brand will have plenty of good & bad experiences described, but if you look at the overall $$$ picture, for example of a gm versus a oddysey or toyota, each with say, ~ 10 or 25K miles, each a year or two old, IMO the gm's are a pretty darn good bet.
Steve, Host
Steve, Host
We bought a used 1997 Transport with the montana package about 4 yrs ago with approx. 47,000 miles on it. We have had very good luck with this van. We currently have 118,000 miles on it and runs very well still.
I do have a question for you guys,
we have noticed lately that when you are going 60-75 mph and the RPM's are between 2000-2500 that we get a bad vibration/shaking through out the van. I guess the best way to describe it would be that the tires are out of balance but worse. It doesn't happen all the time. I recently bought new tires and had the tires checked again for proper balance twice and they said everything looked good and tight.
So any idea's on what this might be caused from?? I had a cousin that thought it might be from the torque converter. I plan on taking it in and having it looked at, but thought I would ask you guys also.
Thanks for your time,
Dwight
Koolhatz
Shocks you get aftermarket often are spec'd to work with a variety of vehicles.
The poster went on to say why use a generic shock from Monroe or Midas instead of getting an OEM replacement that was designed for the van?
One good reason, obviously, is cost....
(edit) Found it!
idahodoug "Toyota Land Cruiser" Feb 10, 2003 9:24pm
Steve, Host
I ended up going with AC Delco shocks in our Y2K Montana.
Phil
I don't know any way to really fix it without tearing into the door somehow and adjusting the tracks. There's probably some fix buried over in Maintenance & Repair somewhere but I haven't played with the search tools over there yet.
Steve, Host
DD
Unless maybe your in a high-cost area, D.C., San Fran, Boston, etc., maybe that's normal?
These are normally bulletproof power train except for coolant leaks.
If you want, you can test the wires with a spray bottle full of water. Spray each wire. When you find one that is giving you trouble, the van will stall.
They cost about $22 each and Canadian Tire. (About 18.00 US)
Changing bulbs is easy. Follow instructions in owners manual. Be careful not to touch the glass part of the bulb. Oil on fingers is bad for bulb.
A number of minor problems are accumulating to the point we want to get them taken care of. Other readers will have faced them, too, so would like some feedback on what is the problem and the best way to get it fixed.
1.) The front wipers have only one speed – fast. No slow speed and no intermittent speed. They will not park when turned off, unless I turn them off at exactly the right place.
Is this a failed wiper control on the driving column or a failed wiper motor?
2.) The car occasional develops a severe shudder at around cruise speed. It goes away if I accelerate. It only lasts for a minute or so and then id gone for a few days. I have always assumed it was transmission related. Others had the problem and found the cure?
3) We lost all engine coolant, with no sign of a leak. There was a white emulsion around the oil cap, so we assume the coolant went through the oil system. This is BAD.
We replaced oil and coolant and added heavy duty rad sealant to the coolant. This has worked just fine (6 months.) I assume the problem is the manifold gasket problem we have heard about. If we have the gasket replaced, will that solve the problem – or will it come back?
My mechanic (not a dealer) assures me that the V6 and transmission of this series of vehicles is very reliable. He recommends the GM cars because the problems tend to be minor items rather than major problems. We bought the Transport because he recommended it to us. Other than the suspected leaking manifold gasket, his advice has been accurate. Problems have been minor.
Sure looking forward to hearing what is causing the shudder.