Problems with 1999 Chevrolet Venture ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

Purchased vehicle brand new. manifold gasket leak at 35,000 miles repaired by gm. failed again at 70,000 miles but gm wouldn't cover the cost, paid $900 out of pocket. now at 112,000 miles and suspect that it is in need of replacement again. the lifters are also making noise. the mechanics are telling me that this is a very common problem. gm needs to take responsibility for this design flaw in their engine. the government needs to step in and order a recall. *ln

1999 chevrolet venture, while traveling a fire erupted in the engine compartment. *bf (ohio traffic crash report # 10-0260-91) updated 07/22/10 *bf

I own a 99 chevy venture the problem is the temp gauge goes back and forth from hot to cold i was told the head gaskets were bad. after a little research i found out that this problem is occurring with a majority of these vehicles why isn't gm doing a recall. *tr

Ball bearing on vehicle replaced 2007, now 2008 won't pass inspection must be replaced again, plus the engine manifold. *tr

Dexcool antifreeze deteriorated my intake gaskets of my 99 chevy venture, sludged up my engine and caused my car to overheat and leak dexcool continuously. the dealer just told me sorry but it will be about 1500 to 2000 to repair. that antifreeze was supposed to be never changed and work until 150k miles. my van is a leaking reliability problem that could strand us on the road because of the dex cool they put in the factory. there will be a recall if you investigate this. the problem is all over the web and there is a class action suit about it in california. it affects hundreds of thousands of people. *tr

Tl*- the contact owns a 1999 chevrolet ventura. the contact stated that the vehicle hesitates when shifting into second gear. she replaced the transmission, but the failure was still present.also there was a puddle of water on the frontal floor board. the vehicle was taken to a local repair facility and a mechanic replaced the heater core. immediately after the repair the engine overheated. the vehicle was re-inspected in which the mechanic concluded that the head gaskets failed. the vehicle has not been repaired. the failure mileage was 100,000. the current mileage was 162,000.

Intake gaskets leaking, upper and lower. caused oil to be contaminated with anti freeze and anti ffreeze to be contaminated with oil. gm has since changed the gaskets to a different type of material. mechanic stated that this problem is common with this type of vehicle.

The engine in my 1999 chevy venture van just went out. the van has less than 90,000 miles on it. my parents 1999 venture did the same thing at approximately the same mileage 2 years ago. is there a problem with the engines in the 1999 venture vans? *jb

I have had so many problems 1. the inner brake pads wore down to the steel ruining the inside of both rotors about 3,000 miles. under warranty. but the brake pads. 2. battery acid is corroding about 4,000 miles the dealership pay all still under warranty 3. battery again but it turn out to be the alternator about 6,500 the dealership pay under warranty. 4. the tread completely separated from the sidewall. p215/70r15, fire stone on all four tires. dealership did not cover tire have no warranty on new vehicle 7,000 miles 5. water leak, and carpet is wet every time it rains i feel it is coming from the windshield. warranty does not cover. 8,000 still does it at 50,256. 6. lighter keep shorting out and ac keep mess up under the warranty 7. while driving the check oil light and the battery line came on. the vehicle shut off, loosing all power the intake manifold under warranty 38,000 miles. 8. intake manifold fix came home my lights was mess up when put on my brakes the four way flasher came on when i put my left turn signals the right one would came on put the right turn signals the left one would come on took it back they had to repaired entire wiring system because of over hearted burn it up under warrant 9. battery acid is corroding the battery pan and surrounding components, positive cable connected to battery has fallen off,38,500 not cover 6 year was up. 10. power steering fluid spraying fluid onto the engine and serpentine belt the dealership did not put cap back on power steering. 11. power locks will not operate from door switches only from the remote power window. back ac does not work. 12. connector left and right melt tail lights, stop lights, turn signals about 42,000. 13. there is a thump noise when stopping and taking off. 14. strong smell of fuel when parked. 15. clouding of lens 16. serpentine belt replace at 50,256 17. leaking from lower intake manifold gasket. at 50,000. *nm

We have a 1999 chevy venture minivan with 50,000 miles on it. we started having problems about a year and a half ago with it. after many trips to the mechanic, we finally found the main issue causing the numerous problems. a leak in the intake manifold leaking coolant into the engine oil. the gm part is plastic. it is a small part, but takes 7.5 hours to fix, so the average cost to fix it is $800!!. there are literally thousands of complaints about this part used by gm. there is a petition with over 9,000 signatures!! its time for gm to recall the part and make things right for their customers especially when it is usually families with small children riding in these gm minivans. *nm

1999 chevrolet venture developed problems with the thermostat, and the intake manifolds.*mr the thermostat was replaced, however that did not resolve the problem. the mechanic informed the consumer the type of vehicle he had was none to problems with the intake manifold, which was replaced at a cost of 780.00 dollars. *jb

My wife with my 4 small children were entering mo hwy 412 when the vehicle started stalling and quit. when the vehicle quit it was partially on the hwy and partially on the turn from where she was exiting. while she alone was trying to push the vehicle off the hwy a tractor truck and trailor almost run them over. take in mind that when these vehicles die they have no brakes or power steering. when i had the vehicle checked out it seems that it had a intake valve gasket blown leaking dexcool into the oil and broke the camshaft. at this time i can't afford to have the vehicle fixed because from the research i've done it will cost $4,000 to $5000 to get the vehicle fixed.

I have had numerous problems with my 1999 chevrolet venture which my husband purchased new for me in december 1998. last year i experienced problems with the engine light staying on, coolant level constantly dropping no matter how often we added dex cool, and then in the spring i had to have the intake manifold replaced due to engine oil in the coolant. he told me he has had several customers with chevy venture and olds silhouettes with the same problem. just a couple of months after this repair which cost me over $1,000.00 my car suddenly stalled in heavy traffic on route 22 on my way to work. i managed to get it to the shoulder before it stopped rolling despite losing power and called my mechanic. he towed me to his shop and has informed me that my camshaft is broken and he has never heard of anything like it before! well, after finding this site while researching what to do about this problem, i found this site and was shocked to see all the same complaints and since at least 2001 chevrolet has known about these problems and didn't care about their customers enough to warn them or offer to replace the source of the problem before we had major engine damage like mine. i am lucky i was not killed on the highway by a truck rear ending me or something! i am a single mom with 4 kids and i still owe my mechanic over $800.00 for my last repairs and now this! no way can i afford to replace the engine! besides, another venture engine would just have more problems! and now i'm reading about other problems like air bags not working and windows exploding and transmission failures, tail lights and electrical problems! these cars are death traps! and most people who purchase mini vans have young children! gm should be ashamed! *nm

The car has been running low on radiator fluid, but we could not find any visible leakages. we have been replinishing the fluid. we did not think anything major. on a friday, we started to hear a knock in the engine. we were told to have the oil changed/looked at. afterwards, the noise continued even louder. we had the car immediately towed. the problem involved the lifters and the intake gasket. (both problems are related.) i researched and many others had the similar problems with the intake gasket. repair for all will be $1,000.*ak

I had to replace intake and head gaskets at 105,000 miles on my 1999 chevy venture. they are leaking at 180,000 miles. i am very unhappy about this. *tr

1999 chevrolet venture had the transmission repaired and the intake manifold replaced.***no answer required***. *mr the intake manifold was leaking. the consumer's mechanic explained that he believes the transmission failure was due to faulty valve body installation at the factory. *nm

I have my oil changed every 3,000 miles. the intake gasket started leaking and got in my oil and caused it to die on me. the dealer said it was the worst one that he had seen. i have to replace the motor, but what is to say that this one will not do the same thing? *jb

Intake manifold gasket failed at 91,000 miles. this is the seond time this gasket has failed on this car. the first time (3 years ago, i think) was replaced by gm under warranty. this problem is endemic to this (3.4 v6 and the gm 3.1 v6) engine. gm should recall and fix these for free. *ak

At my 60000 miles the service department found oil and coolant leaking from the engine of our 1999 chevrolet venture which has the 185 hp v-6 engine. total cost to repair the leaks was $695.39. according to the servce representative at the chevorlet dealership, this problem is common with this engine.*ak

Recently had lower engine manifold intake gasgit replaced due to coolant leak resulting from use of dex-cool collant corroding the plastic gasgit. also associated was thermostat failure which could have caused engine overheating and fire before there was any means of knowing the engine was overheating.*ak

vehicle was losing coolant due to defective intake manifold, but there was no leak. *ak all of the repair shops and dealership claimed this intake problem was common with this engine. it took dealership two months to repair vehicle. *ak

The low coolant light came on in my 1999 chevrolet venture ls (that i purchased in january of 2004), the engine started making a horrible knocking noise, and then froze up while driving down the highway. after having to have it towed and looked at by 2 mechanics, the diagnosis was that the intake manifold gasket was defective and allowed coolant to leak into the engine, causing the rocker arms to quit working, the valves to bend and the cam shaft to break in half. the cost of a rebuilt motor and labor to install it adds up to $4,300. gm doesn't know if they can help or not.*ak

1999 venture with 3.4 l engine and 42,000 miles has leaking intake manifold gasket. gm should recall minivans and reinburse owners for repair cost. dealer cost estimate for repairs was $800.00. *ak

I own a 1999 chev venture van with 65,000 miles. in march 2004, i had to have the intake gaskets replace because it was leaking antifreeze, this had gotten in the cam shaft and caused the cam shaft to break. *jb

Intake manifold gasket of engine failed leading to dex-cool radiator fluid leakage on ground and into engine oil. repair of intake manifold gasket, water-pump, special sealant for bolts cost consumer $807.00. the leakage of toxic fluid into environment has no estimated cost, but represents hazard to animals and environment. chevrolet has received a high number of complaints about this problem and issued a technical service bulletin related to revised gasket, sealants, torque specifications and order of tightening bolts, but did not issue a recall. internal damage to engines is often not determined until complete engine failure despite repair of manifold gasket. dex-cool fluid cited in chevrolet literature as having 100,000 mile lifespan, but fluid appears to have destructive potential to engine beginning at anywhere from 40 to 60% of this estimated lifespan. *jb

Experienced coolant leak into engine. personal mechanic found that dex-cool had caused excessive corrosion to intake manifold and that gasket had to be replaced. spent in excess of $500 to repair this. other people i know say that if the corrosion was bad enough that the cam shaft might break. i am not willing to put my family's lives in jeopardy with an issue that gm is aware of. the fact thta nobody has died from this is no excuse not to recall the gm 3.4l engine vehicles to repair this problem at no cost to the consumer. also, the effectiveness of dex-cool needs to be re-evaluated with regards to performance and the affect on engine parts long-term.

I own a 1999 chevy venture which has been driven 26,000 miles. i took my vehicle in foran oil change and on inspection the dealer found coolant leaking from all four corners of the lower intake manifold gasket. they replaced the lower intake manifold gaket and related gaskets at a cost to me of $753.88. the service supervisor informed me that there was a defect in the gaskets and that they have been seeing and fixing this problem on vehicles with this particular motor. he informed us that if we did not get our vechicle repaired that the engine might seize up. i called the corporate office for chevrolet and they stated that there was no recall on the faulty gaskets at this time. iak

My 1999 chevrolet venture has 59,800 miles. while driving on the highway i noticed the "coolant level low" warning light on; the coolant reservoir was nearly empty but there were no visible leaks. the mechanic told me that the intake manifold was leaking. the service shop replaced worn gaskets. this is an expensive repair which should not be necessary at 60,000 miles. i have a friend who owns a 1999 venture which has had the same problem, and he told me of two others in his circle of friends. *la

Leak in the intake manifold gaskit , which has been diretly related to engine failure,which i now have with my 1999 chevy venture

I bought a used 1999 chevrolet venture with 54,500 miles on it. 7 months and 32,000 miles later, the van is at my local chevrolet dealer with $1,650 _x0013_$2,200 of engine damage, due to an intake manifold gasket failure.*ak the van_x0019_s 3.4l engine was well-maintained, with frequent oil changes and inspections. the only warning sign that i got was that the coolant level had to be topped off about once a month. a mechanic said that the coolant loss was due to evaporation. my mechanic offered to replace the engine with a used one for $2,200. he would put a new intake manifold gasket on the replacement engine, so i would be less likely to run into the same problem again. i learned of gm technical service bulletin #03-06-01-010, with subsequent revisions appended _x001c_a_x001d_ and _x001c_b,_x001d_ which describes a repair procedure for coolant leaks on 3.1l and 3.4l engines. the repair procedure is _x001c_install a new design intake manifold gasket. the material used in the gasket has been changed in order to improve the sealing qualities of the gasket. when replacing the gasket, the intake manifold bolts must also be replaced and torqued to a revised specification. the new bolts will come with a pre-applied threadlocker on them._x001d_ my son called chevrolet customer assistance and spoke with john brooks, who told him that i would have to have my van evaluated by the service department of a chevrolet dealer before he could offer any assistance. he gave me the following service number with which i could reference the call: 1-201938-040. the intake manifold leak was confirmed at the local chevrolet dealer. the service manager estimated that the engine could be repaired for about $1,650, including parts and labor, but that he couldn_x0019_t confirm the extent of the damage without _x001c_getting into the engine._x001d_ getting into the engine would cost $500, after which there would be _x001c_no going back._x001d_ he said there would be no assistance from chevrolet, as i hadn't bought or had my vehicle serviced there.

Intake manifold leak. *nm

Coolant leak on 1999 chevrolet venture 3.4l v6 intake manifold. so many complaints on the web for the same "expensive" problem! gm needs to take responsibility. *ak

This complaint is directed at potential safety issue concerning vehicles using the gmc v6 engine. in my case, with a 1999 chevrolet venture, a poorly designed intake manifold gasket caused the dex-cool coolant to leak into the engine. this coolant is corrosive and will lead to catastrophic engine failure. the problem is especially serious since the leak cannot be easily detected due to its internal nature. a brief investigation on the internet found well over 5,000 other persons reporting the same failure. gm has refused to issue a recall on this problem, but should do so immediately.*ak

Coolant leak from intake manifold gasket after 36,000 miles. *ak

Plastic manifold intake gasket failed on my 1999 chevy venture mini van.*ak

Early failure of the lower intake manifold gasket, which caused lost of coolant. 40,000 miles on 1999 chevy venture. believe a poor design of gasket and that the radiator level is below that of the manifold. an air pocket can be trapped in the manifold and when the engine is off the residual heat of the engine cooks the gasket. believe this theory is supported by the coolant sensor is on even though the level in the radiator is full and the reservoir is full. *cb

The consumer stated that she took her vehicle to the dealer, to have it checked out after having to stop and refill the vehicle with coolant. she was told by the mechanic that the vehicle had a manifold intake valve crack which caused the coolant to leak. *jb *nm

1 inch of sludge in engine, lost of coolant, the engine pinging and knocking, steering and brakes locked up which caused the accident while driving. we changed the oil pump, oil connecting rod, spark plugs, spark plug wires, coils and still engine is broken. started with coolant in the oil. unsure symtoms leading up to the accident. *jb

1999 chevy venture passenger van with less than 58,000 miles experienced an intake manifold gasket failure. chevrolet customer support representative indicated an "advisory" has been issued for the 3.8 litre v6 engine but that she has also received "several" calls on the 3.4 litre v6 engine. given vehicle age, number of miles, and driving patterns, a failure of this magnitude and cost should not occur. *ak

3 failed engine manifold & head gaskets and expensive repairs in 2 years.

At 71000 miles intake manifold gasket failed. if not repaired this will lead to engine damage and possibly total engine failure. at my own expense i had it repaired using the proper "re-engineered" gasket. expense was $550. *ak

1999 chevrolet venture at 60,000 miles had to have intake manifold gasket replaced. repar cost was $874.66. upon further research, it is apparent there are thousands of venture owners who have suffered the same problem and expense. *ak

I have a 1999 chevy venture. i have had nothing but problems with the injectors causing the check engine light to come on. this happens every couple of months. i also have a problem with the intake on the same vehicle. it is the 3.4 engine and there are a lot of people with the same problem. i feel that a recall needs to be required to fix this. after spending thousands of dollars on a vehicle is should be right or at least fixed on good faith. *la

My husband and i own a 1999 chevrolet venture. we bought it august of 2002. with in the first month my airbag light came on. called the dealer and we had to have the seat belt tension replaced on the drivers side. about a year later the samething happens again this time on the passengers side. about a month ago our antifreeze light keeps coming on and shutting off. we notice no leaking on the ground however the antifreeze is slowly disappearing. well this weekend my husband took the van on a trip and comes back the next day and the engine is making a ticking noise. we found out that the antifreeze is leaking into the oil causing the gasket to be replaced and the hydraulic lifts to be replaced. this could of resulted in the engine freezing up. this has obviously been an issue with this vehicle and i want to know why anything has not been done about this. just because someone was not injured does not allow the company to overlook the fact that they have a defect with this year of ventures. *jb

I contacted cheverolet for assistance regarding my 1999 venture van. the intake manifold gasket was leaking causing over heating. repairs were made at a cost of $706. the representative at cheverolet (1-800-222-1020) said that there was a recall on the the intake manifold gasket, but not for my vehicle. i asked the representative how can the recall not cover my vehicle with the same problem. that does not make common sense. the representative could not answer the reason why my vehicle was not included.

As the weather has gotten cooler i tried to use my heating system and just got cold air. the engine temp gauge was going up but i only got cold. then i noticed that the temp gauge kept climbing and i was afraid it was going to 'redline' and it suddenly dropped to normal and i started to get heat in the car. the problem then kept coming and going as i drove. the car is now in the shop and i am told that it is a leaking intake manifold gasket and will cost me $650 to fix. i only have 59k miles on my car. the shop owner also mentioned that he has seen 'a lot' of this problem in chevy ventures (and other cars with the same engine) and that he had another one in his garage as we spoke. this sounds like a desing fault that gm should take ownership of. i haven't heard of a recall so i'm faced with paying so i can have a functional car.

Heater fan does not operate on the two lower speeds. bottom inside of tailgate is rusting from the inside. power locks will not operate from door switches, only from the remote or when activated by putting vehicle into gear.

The problem with my venture turned out to be a leaking water pump based on the mechanic's diagnosis. so far, so good. although, replacing a $300.00 water pump at 82,000 is somewhat ridiculous! the mechanic says it was due to the fact that the extended life coolant (dex-cool) doesn't perform like chevrolet says it should, and it is the cause of many water cooling system problems. he recommends changing the ext. life coolant every other year just like regular coolant, and judging from the look of the old coolant, i believe him! august update: i am now facing a transmission rebuild that the transmission man says is "typical" of these ventures due to a mfg. defect causing the transmission oil pressure to drop and kick the oil pump into high pressure mode forcing fluid through the system at such high pressure that every time it shifts, it feels like the transmission will jerk itself loose from the vehicle.

Blown head gasket on 1999 chevrolet venture van with only 73000 miles causing $1500 worth of repairs.*ak

Vehicle has been in shop since 8/6/03 for repair on engine, due to continues lost of oil that cannot be found. engine need to be clean,gaskets was to be replace on two separated times and was not. have been told that van is losing oil due to block engine. wires were pulled and not replace back in correct order.