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Comments
In winter mine never goes above the third line on the gauge, I think that I'm running cold
People are talking about it in the 2005 Chevrolet Uplander/Pontiac Montana SV6/Saturn Relay/Buick Terraza discussion.
Steve, Host
dontcha love when manuals do that - they say, "first do 'THIS'... and just leave you to your own devices? lol kind of defeats the purpose of having the manual sometimes! good luck. Put in some good, long-life platinum plugs!
We did like the Toyota, but they can't be had at any reasonable discount, and the Honda but didn't feel it did a whole lot different for us.
Add in the fact that trade-in value on these is horrendous, and we decided to put new tires on the Montana (only 24000 miles but we never rotated them), and with new Toyo Ultra 800's it's a whole new vehicle.
It's not a great vehicle, but it is a solid 'OK', and hasn't had any larger failure so far than squeaking and rattling. We do have MajorGuard for another three years though, and I don't intend to keep it past there...
I guess thast is normal. Lots of heat from the heater.
However thanks for your input
Do people generally like their vans? How are they for rattles after a few years? Any major issues? We have had 3 GM cars lately and all have been very good but I really don't know much about vans. We have #2 kid on the way so we need a hauler.
Any help would be great. We are thinking of an SE short wheel base as I want it to fit in the garage and I want the alloys ect.
I was pretty much leaning towards a toyota or honda minivan, but I weighed the tradeoffs, and decided the gm's would suit my purpose perfectly, for way, way less $. After driving a few gm's, toyotas, and hondas, I determined that performance, ride, interior space, etc. etc. were pretty comparable to the toy & honda, and I haven't been disappointed. I have about 55000 miles now, with no problems. I plan to keep until 125 or 150K miles, so resale ain't a big factor there. I know it won't be much! Oh, and don't be too put off by the "horrible/dismal offset crash test results" that some people will argue makes these vans rolling deathtraps...these vans are proven to be quite safe in a "real world" accident, IMO.
mine hasn't developed any strange rattles or squeaks yet! good luck
There not perfect but they are a good value.
baveux : Ya, I think they are a great value, they look sporty (for a van) and they seem to drive really well. I will wait for the deals to hit up in the spring / summer. Baby is due in June so it can wait.
Thanks
Uhhh, I must have missed something?!? what's the link? I'll probably do plugs/wires this spring or summer; I, too would like to see how to best access those back sparkplugs. thanks
Steve, Host
(1) Block the rear wheels and put the transaxle in neutral(Remove the negetive battery terminal)
(2) Remove the air cleaner duct, the air cleaner, and the accelerator and cruise control cables from the throttle body.
(3) Remove the driver side torque strut by removing the two bolts. Remove one bolt from the passenger side torque strut and pivot the strut towards the engine.
(4) Attach a ratcheting strap to the engine removal eye bolt on the drivers side and the other end to the radiator support. Slowly ratchet the engine forward.
I hope this will be of some help.
when connecting the throttle & cruisecontrol cables after you've taken them off, do you have to adjust or calibrate them, or just put 'em back together and its good to go?
Hopefully someone with actual experience will post
a reply.
Lots of snow today here, ouch!
Just purchased new michelins and wow - they are so quiet in comparison (our Houston roads are concrete and very rough and noisy), plus smoother riding.
Drove to Austin and back, averaged about 57mph on the computer and got 23.5 MPG on the computer even running the AC (we have warm winter days sometimes!).
Wife loves the van now. I had to buy as "my" vehicle but she prefers it to our Maxima now.
DD
I would like to know if I can stop the outside air from coming in the van through the Climate controls system. Even if the fan is at the off position when I drive, the air enters the car and comes out through the chosen outlets (vent, floor, bi-level etc). My dealer tell me its normal. The only way I found around this situation is to select vent or bi-level with air recirculation.
With my GMC Sierra when the fan is at Off no air is coming in the truck.
In cold weather I have to remember to set the climate control to vent and to re-circulate until the engine is warm enough.
But anyway do you know if this is a normal situation or a problem with my van?
Good luck.
Any ideas? I know the dealer I got the van from replaced the wiper motors so I'm guessing they didn't do it right...
Also, could this lead to an electrical problem? I've found weird electrical problems -- most notable when I ran the wipers (but rain/moisture could be contributing... )
Thanks
1) The interior lights stayed on for 5+ minutes after closing all the doors and exiting the van. I couldn't shut them off without entering and shutting the off the interior lights entirely. The next day the lights automatically shut off after the 30 seconds like they were supposed to.
2) Power sliding door wouldn't work, as if it lost power. Happened 2x.
3) In 1 trip today, I encountered all of the following (it was raining and i had my wipers on):
a) Went to church; clock was okay. Left church, Time was way off.
b) Radio sound blipped off for an instant, and at the same time the AIRBAG light blinked on for a few seconds and then went out.
c) 30 seconds later, I hit a medium sized bump while braking. The Antilock light, Traction Control light, and Brake lights on the dashboard instantly went on and stayed on until the end of my trip.
d) Arrived home 3 minutes later and noticed the headlight intensity was changing slightly (almost blinking?) as were the dash lights.
e) I shut off the van and immediately tried to restart it. It fired about 40-60% of the time. I let it crank 15 seconds straight once, and stepped on the accelerator slightly and then it started. All the dash lights appeared normal.
e) Finally shut off the van, and hit the button to open the power sliding door and it did nothing. I eventually had to open and close the door manually.
Any ideas where to look first?
Thanks
The white clips that hold the door panel are stripped thus the bottom of the panel is flapping and getting stuck when trying to open drivers door .. where can one get a couple of the white clips to hold the door panel to the door ?
Thanks in advance!!!!
Also, just to be sure I understand your issue, when the engine dies, you only loose power assist to the steering and brakes, not that they actually lock up?
I see your complaint at NHTSA's site, but I only find one other compaint for a stall and none for steering locking up, and none for brakes locking up.
My one complaint is the fuel mileage. So far we have 2800 kms on the dial and the fuel consumption is not getting better. I realize sometimes that the first few tanks are bad but I was kind of hoping for some improvement. Can anyone shed some light on this situation for me? Will I ever get close to the 19/26 I'm suppose to?
Your mileage may vary is stated just for this very reason.