Manifold/header/muffler/tail Pipe problems of the 1997 Chevrolet Venture

Intake gasket leaking coolant in my van not to mention the many problems I have had with the lights on this van, so now I am having to sink another $500 into this van to get the part first mentioned just so my motor won't blow up.

My vehicle a 1997 chevy Venture, suddenly lost power while cruising on the highway. The temp light came on and I pulled off the highway. Luckily it happened to be the dealerships exit and I pulled right in to the service bay. They tell me I have a blown head gasket. When they took the engine apart the service manager allowed me to see the engine. The coolant channels are coated with a brown gummy substance and the cylinders were full of coolant. The service manager was given a sample of the substance and said he will give it to the gm rep when he comes in later this week. Cost will top $2500. Previously I replaced the intake manifold gasket and the water pump. This seems like faulty gaskets or coolant I don't know which. I'm just glad it didn't strand me out somewhere away from town.

(1) car started making knocking noise and then quit in the middle of traffic. (2) the intake manifold gasket failed causing engine coolant to leak into the engine oil. This coolant in the oil ruined the engine bearings and main journal. This caused the engine to quit running in the middle of traffic. (3) the vehicle was brought to a Chevrolet dealership and a complete new engine had to be installed.

Vehicle stalled while driving. Also, coolant was leaking from the intake manifold gasket. This could be related to what was causing the vehicle to stall. Dealership will be contacted.

Intake manifold failed on van. Vehicle became hot quickly and stopped running. Had chevy dealer replace intake. Vehicle still overheats. Problem has not been resolved after spending over $1100. 00. I appears that this is a very common problem with the 3. 1, 3. 4 and 3. 8 gm motors. Very dissappointed in this product.

My chevy Venture with 95,000 miles, with no prior warning, rather suddenly overheated and stalled as I was pulling it over on the interstate. Thankfully there was a level, grassy shoulder so I could pull all the way off the road, as the heavy truck traffic was quite intimidating. This was in maine, on a very cold day, and I was alone with my 4 small children, about 45 minutes from home. Tow truck driver couldn' t take all of us, and there were no taxi cabs. Thank god one of my friends with a van (Ford!) was able to come get us. We had to wait in the cab of the tow truck for 45 minutes for my friend to come from home to where we were stranded. Got the van back from the dealership with a $2800 repair bill (apparently we got off easy, usually more engine damage is sustained in this kind of thing) diagnosis: failure of intake manifold gasket (which dealership admits is a "design flaw", resulting in these problems for too many owners) resulting in a flooding of engine with antifreeze, sudden temperature change warping the head. If this is such a common problem, I wish it had been recalled for a replacement before this incident. Chevy needs to know that its minivan products are almost always driven by moms with large families who cannot afford (financially or safety-wise) to break down so dramatically and without warning. My children and I were terrified that day--if it had stalled 5 seconds sooner, we would not have made it off the road. Thank you. Marcia hyde.

I have a manifold gasket failure that makes it necessary to replace the engine. This vehicle only has 50,000 miles. At this point we were told no help from gm. From looking at complaints I see this is not the only problem. Gm should be made to fix this problem on all affected vehicles. It is obviously a manufacturing problem.

Mechanic informed me that I will soon need my intake manifold gasket replaced because that is why I have an oil leak they cannot stop. I pad a lot of money for a diagnostic to determine the oil leak. And have been charged for so many oil changes because of the diagnostic tests etc. I was told there is a techniocal service bullitin re. This problem but I think it should be a recall based on my research of this widespread problem.

On 11/18/2003 I took my 1997 Chevrolet Venture van, with 64,000 miles, to my service shop telling them I was getting a fluid leak on my driveway looking like a mixture of oil and anti-freeze. I was told it was my intake manifold gaskets and also that I could have engine damage as a result. It turns out I did have engine damage and now may need to replace my engine. This shouldn't happen with so few miles. Chevrolet should back their product.

While driving at any speed and without warning engine would stall, causing the consumer to pull over. Dealer stated that intake manifold cracked, and coolant went inside the engine.

Description : I bought a used 1997 Chevrolet Venture from the norwood group in warwick, ri back in sept 2002. Approximately 5 weeks ago I began experiencing overheating problems. I took the vehicle to pep boys in warick, ri for a diagnostic thinking that it was the thermostat. They ran the test and came back with an engine problem, and advised me to take the vehicle back to the dealership. I did this and the service dept at norwood informed me that there was a problem with the intake manifold gasket. After having my vehicle for two weeks they repaired that and when taking it for a test drive before returning it to me, they decided that I now had a throttle body problem. Fixed that and two weeks later the vehicle started to smell strongly of gas. Again I took it to pep boys where another diagnostic was run and it was determined that the fuel injector, intake manifold and the fuel injector kit had to be replaced. Back to norwood I go. . . . Norwood assumed a portion of this repair but it still cost me a lot more money than it should have considering they had just done this work. Less than 48 hours after getting my vehicle back, while on the road and 120 miles away from home the vehicle caught fire from underneath. Oil is sprayed all over the vehicle's exterior,the engine and undercarriage. I had to pay to have the vehicle towed back to norwood. The engine appears to be seized up and will not turn over. I am extremely disappointed over the performance of this vehicle, the dealership and the cash outlay I am having forced upon me. I want to know what can be done in the way of recourse.

Engine required replacement because of a broken camshaft. Camshaft broke due to engine coolant leaks into engine via damaged intake manifold. Repair cost estimated at $5180. This incidence is similar to many cases reported by owners of vehicles (venture, montana, grand am, etc. ) with either the 3. 1l or 3. 4l gm engine. There is no prior warning before engine failed, except for the low coolant light turned on a while back. Coolant was topped off to recommended level at that time. . Read more...

This happened twice the first time the coolant was leaking into the oil due to a intake manifold gasket failure. I replaced this at a cost of 25. 00, luckily it was covered under my extended warranty. The second time this happened was in July of 2003 I had just gotten onto to the highway with my two 5 year old daughters suddenly the car just slowed down as if to stall white smoke everywhere. . It turned out to be the manifold gasket again but this time the engine went and I had to get the engine repaired at a price of $4400. 00. My mechanic though at least guarantees me on this engine of 3 years or 75000 miles. More of a warranty than gm gave me. I will never buy american gm products again. The second time it occurred, I was only 1,000 miles over on my extended warranty, but not yet up on the years and gm and the company offering an extended warranty didn't do anything to help me out. Gm refused to help out at all.

Coolant leak caused by failure of the intake manifold gasket.

Consumer states intake manifold has failed. Dealer notified.

In March 03, I noticed that the van did not have heat. The van was taken to highland Chevrolet, aurora ontario for recall work and we asked that they check the no heating problem! the no heat was diagnosed as a problem with the intake manifold gaskets. At the time of replacement the van had 59274 kilometers (37000 miles) on it. The van was repaired with newly designed gaskets that came out in November 2002. The van still did not have heat and the air conditioning was no longer working after the above repair. The van was returned to the dealer, who rechecked the van and stated that the cabin filters were blocked. They took the cabin filters out and told us to try the van for a couple of days. This did not work and van still did not have heat or a/c. The van was returned to the dealership again , we addressed our complaints with the service manager, who agreed to take the van back in for a third time . This time they back flushed the heater and heater now works moderately better. Service manager informed that there was a build up of grunge, which was preventing the heater from working . As for the a/c that still does not work, we were told that there are pin hole leaks in the pipe that runs under the van . This pipe operates the rear air. We were also told that there is leak with the end seal on the tie rod, which causes power steering fluid to leak. To date we have not had these items repaired. In July the headlight lens cover came off! I sent a registered letter to mr. Grimaldi, president g. M. Canadian division, asking for full reimbursement. I also talked about the TSB that was released for the 1999 vans with the same problem that essentially extended the warranty coverage for vans with less than 80,000 kilometers . Verna, a customer service representative telephoned me in response to my correspondence. However she indicated that gm did not see it as a problem but told me to hang onto my receipts. We purchased our van brand new in August 1997.

I took my 1997 chevy Venture van to the dealer today for a previous recall for steering and to my supprise I was informed that my lower intake manifold gasket is bad and will cost approximately $600 to fix. Not everyone has that kind of money including me. I did some investigating on the internet and found that thousands of similar complaints have been filed. How many complaints need to be submitted before a recall is issued?.

I own a 1997 Chevrolet Venture with 71000 miles. That has been maintained in accordance with the owners manual. Van started to over heat, took it to the dealer and was told there was engine damage due to coolant in the cylinder and engine oil. A leaky manifold gasket is the suspected cause. This appears to be a prevalent problem with this manufactures 3. 4l engine.

This all started in Dec of 2002, the coolant was leaking into the oil due to a intake manifold gasket failure. I replaced this at a cost of 850. 00. After reading all the complaints on this from other websites I decided to write the bbb also who wrote back stating not gms fault since they have not had any complaints. Thats a lie, because there is a thousand of them on the internet including a petition-on-line. Anyway though, after only one month after I fixed the manifold gasket the engine went anyway and since I still have a large "balance due" on the car I had to get the engine repaired at a price of $4300. 00. My mechanic though at least guarantees me on this engine of 3 years or 75000 miles. More of a warranty than gm gave me. I also want to note that before I got the gasket replaced, I went to the Chevrolet dealership I bought the van from. . . He didnt even look under the engine but knew immediately that I had this gasket problem and offered me only $1000. 00 for the van for a trade in. . . He knew we still owed 7000. 00 on it. I will never buy american gm products again.

Manifold gasket leak.

The intake manifold experienced a coolant leak.

The intake manifold and head gasket failed, and the head light lens fell out of place. Ph.

On my 1997 chevy Venture the manifold gasket is leaking! and I don't have that kind of money to fix that it, because of gm poor engineering. There are thousands of complaints online about this defect and no one seems to be doing anything about it. Ts.

Gm mainfold gasket leak.

Leaking intake manifold gasket no longer covered under warranty. Cost to repair is $1000. . Read more...

Over the past year the low coolant light has been coming on. Recently I noticed coolant on the floor of my garage so I decided to take the vehicle in for diagnosis. Leaking intake manifold gasket and possible lifter problems. I have also had to have the brakes replaced a couple of times and have had the vehicle in for several recall related issues. . Read more...

Consumer states that the exhaust manifold is leaking. *jbmechanic informed consumer that it was an improper gasket installation.

Manifold gasket cracked resulting in the vehicle overheating. Nlm.

The intake manifold gasket blew and filled the engine with water, this is a problem with the 3. 4 engine that gm is aware of. The sliding door on the passenger side has fallen off the van 4 times since we have had dealer fixed 3 times then it was out of warrenty. The front and rear brakes started squealing when the van had 1000 miles on it and continue to this day. Gm says they are designed like that. The seat belts in the van come unlatched at any time, the belts in the rear will contiually tighten when you hit bumps in the road. Gm told us that we were not using the seatbelts properly. The rack and pinion steering started making a growling noise immidiatly following the warrenty running out.

Consumer states while vehicle vehicle was being serviced technician noticed leakage coming from manifold. Manifold gasket needed to be replaced.