Four problems related to coolant leaking have been reported for the 1997 Chevrolet Venture. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Our 1997 chevy Venture van with 65,000 miles on it just lost its second engine in less than two years. My wife and I are the original owners, and it began at 50 something thousand miles when the dealer stated the head gasket leaked and the engine had damage from the coolant. Now, on Nov 18th, 2003 the engine died and the mechanics say that it is the cam shaft undoubtedly from the original coolant damage. Information from the internet would indicate that this is a well known problem. Two engines in less than two years and I still owe on the loan.
Own a 97 chevy Venture during an oil change was told I had coolant in my oil, so I took van to a local chevy dealer. They informed my the intake gasket was bad and had to be replaced at a cost of 975. 00, this was done and no mention was ever made that there could also be engine damage due to this leak. Five months later I was driving down a busy street during 5 o'clock rush hour traffic taking my sick child to the doctor when all of a sudden the oil light came on and I lost all power, I had to leave the vehicle in the curb side lane, get my sick child out and walk to a phone to call my spouse to come get us and the vehicle mind you this was late September and it was chilly outside. We had the vehicle towed to a local chevy dealer (the same one that diagnosed the gasket leak) who told me they did not know what was wrong with the vehicle and that it would be cheaper to replace the motor than to find out what happened, at a cost between $3000. 00 to $5200. 00 depending on what type of replacement motor I wanted, not being comfortable with this repsonse I had the vehicle taken to a different dealer, who at least could tell that the intake gasket had been replaced, but unfortunatly gave the same result replace motor. I did not have the funds to do this so the vehicle is parked in my garage and of no use to me. I had to go and replace the vehicle.
1997 Venture 3. 4l v6 engine (37,000 mi), engine abruptly stopped while vehicle is running (one lane each way with middle turn lane). Complete loss of engine power, power steering, and power brakes. Problem traced to a well known problem withthese engines (3. 1l and 3. 4l v6) having internal coolant leakage that causes camshaft to break. Luckily, no other vehicle was following and I was able to pull off the road safely. Just worry that others may not be as fortunate.
Coolant leak at intake. Venture had 40,000 miles only.