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.

- Waterbury, CT, USA

1999 Chevrolet Venture, while traveling a fire erupted in the engine compartment. (Ohio traffic crash report # 10-0260-91) updated 07/22/10

- Cleveland Heights, OH, USA

- 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.

- Terrehaute, IN, USA

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.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA

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.

- Port Salerno, FL, USA

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 Silhouette with the same problem. Just a couple of months after this repair which cost me over $1,000 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 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!

- Hillsborough, NJ, USA

1999 Chevrolet Venture developed problems with the thermostat, and the intake manifolds. 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 dollars.

- Poughkeepsie, NY, USA

I've had a 1999 Chevy Venture since new. I've had to replace the intake manifold gasket, upper and lower radiator hoses at 69500 miles. Replaced the thermostat at 78400 miles. At 78500 miles I had to replace both head gaskets, intake gasket and plenum gasket, both valve cover gaskets and several collapsed lifters, and the cylinder heads needed to be reconditioned. These repairs cost me thousands of dollars. Something is surely not right with this engine.

- Pittsford, NY, USA

We own a 1999 Chevy Venture. The intake manifold gasket has failed three times. The first time was 1-28-03 at 55385 miles. It was leaking fluid in the front. It was diagnosed as the intake manifold gasket and repaired. The second time was on 10-30-03 at 67823 miles. This time, the repair shop took responsibility for the charges as they felt the adhesive failed. The third failure just happened on 2-11-05 at 85500 miles.

- Woodbury, MN, USA

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?

- Cleveland, TN, USA

We have a 1999 Chevrolet Venture that we purchased in Dec. 2001. We did not purchase a warranty. A couple of weeks after the purchase the "check coolant" light came on and stayed on. We had to keep adding coolant. I do not work on cars and had a very sick wife, so the light was a minor stress at the time. I'd taken the car to get looked at and they said "the coolant is leaking into the engine, and the engine is going" well for a car with just over 23,825 miles on it, I was very steamed. It lasted till 47,359 miles and my wife was stranded on the road. The car was towed and sat at the Chevy dealership from Sept. 9th till Dec. 12th 2002. While still paying $437 a month payment. We had a used engine put in it by the Chevy dealership which had 20,000 less miles on it, and today has 74,000 miles on it.we paid $2,400 for this used engine. I just found out that the O2 sensor just went out on us. But if there is a defective engine or similar parts on it, is this going to happen again- just a matter of time?

- Landfall, MN, USA

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.

- Hickman, KY, USA

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. 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.

- Bradford, PA, USA

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.

- Calgary, UN, USA

Intake gasket leaks

- Mississauga, UN, USA

Intake manifold gasket leaks allowing dex cool coolant to enter the engine and mix with the oil. GM customer assistance will not help. They say "there is no problem that they know of". $1000 repair bill for a $20 part. Please see:www.petitiononline.com/gmcnsmrs/petition.html and www.GM-V6lemons.com/ there are literally thousands of folks with this problem.

- Mountain Home, ID, USA

I am the original owner of a 1999 Chevy Venture mini-van. We had the oil changed at an independent mechanic every 3,000 miles. Last week my wife was driving and heard a knocking noise. The van stalled and we had to have it towed to our mechanic. He looked at it and said there were major internal problems. We then had it towed to our dealer and were told it needs a new engine. Our mechanic said since we faithfully got the oil changed there is no reason we should need a new engine. The dealer gave us an estimate of $5,300 for the new engine. We called GM customer service to see if they would help pay some of the cost. We just mailed them a copy of all our maintanence and are waiting for a reply

- Horsham, PA, USA

Failure of intake manifold gasket resulted in coolant leaking into engine causing \\gumming\\. this caused cam shaft/engine to seize. Subsequent \\knocking sound\\ and check engine light. Seizing engine simulated a rear-end collision as described by my wife who was driving at the time. She was picking up our kids from school at the time. After 3 trips to the service dealership and 4 weeks engine required replacement.

- Daphne, AL, USA

I have discovered coolant in the engine oil. My coolant is disappearing, and I have been forced to top it off. The engine is making ticking noises, and running roughly. I have done a quick check on the internet to see if others are experiencing this problem, and found that it seems to be a common problem, and that GM is aware of this. They have redesigned the head gasket to correct this problem, but have not offered to fix this problem on my car. Chevy denied that there is a widespread problem, and refused to help cover the necessary repair (they said that because I had around 70,000 miles it was too far out of warrantee). It cost in the range of $815 to replace the head gasket. As a side note, the air bag light turned on intermittently after I got the car back, and now is on steady. I told my next door neighbor about it, and it turned out they also had the same problem. They had an even larger bill ( I don't remember how much), and they have another friend who has the same problem...

- Plainfield, IL, USA

I noticed a smell of hot antifreeze. Also it would make a lot of noise when starting up. The thermostat never showed anything overheating. Oil didn't show anything on the dipstick. We change the oil every 3000 miles. The dealership that tore into it had said we did not change the oil ever by the looks of the internals. We bought this used 1999 Chevy Venture lt, August 2000 having 34,000 miles on it already. The previous owner bought this van in October 1998 brand new. How could a vehicle have to have a motor dropped in with only 57,000 on it and have had done everything possible to keep everything in working order. This is not our first Chevy, our whole family buys Chevy. Just to brag we have 13, and all of them maintained well. One even having over 200,000 miles on it,1995 Chevy astro. Anyway, I watch the gauges very closely and never did I see anything wrong.

- Salem, WI, USA