Manifold/header/muffler/tail Pipe problems of the 2001 Oldsmobile Silhouette

Our 2001 Oldsmobile Silhouette has had numerous issues. The issues are placed in a close chronological order. All events have occurred after 50k miles with the exception of the power door locks. The dealer took care of all recalls. The power door locks intermittently lock and unlock. This problem has been to the dealer over 4 times. The first time the dealer replaced ignition switch wiring harness and the last time the dealer replaced a chafed wire under the passenger seat. The other times the dealer could not isolate. The problem still occurred. We got tired of bringing it to the dealer. The drivers side seat heater had failed. At 66k miles, the transmission went out. It was due to a faulty sun gear. I had to replace tie rods on the vehicle twice on each side. Once around 70k and once around 115k. The fuel ascending unit failed around 90k. On the passenger side I had to replace the wheel bearings and the cv axle. Lights in the heater controls have blown and the only way to replace them is to solder new bulbs onto the control module. The blower motor failed on 1st and 2nd speed. We experienced the same engine overheating issues as seen by other individuals at mycarstats. Com. This relates to the cooling system. I had three separate issues stemming from this. The first failure was a blown head gasket. About 8 months later the upper manifold gasket blew. Six months later another cooling system failure blamed on the lower intake manifold. Many of the repairs where costly. The lower intake manifold failure was never fixed. We decided to pass this gm piece of junk on. It had 137k miles. Most of the miles driven where highway, very few city and stop-and-go.

Transmission failure-three times in as many years also electrical problems with rear lights and also intake manifold leaking. Both window switches failed. Passenger front wheel hub had to be replaced.

This Oldsmobile Silhouette has had so many many problems over the past 3. 5 years, I have finally had enough. I noticed an occasional engine "whine" or rattle while driving, but it was so sporadic I wasn't sure if it was really happening. Then last week it seemed as though the heat wasn't working well in the van. . . The temperature wasn't below freezing, but the heat just wasn't warming up sufficiently. I mentioned this to my husband and he noticed it the next time he put the heat on, too. At the same time he noticed that the engine termperature was fluctuating as he drove and stopped. He thought at that point that it might be the water pump and immediately (yesterday) took the van to a firestone center for repair. Turns out the water pump was fine, but the mechanic diagnosed the problem as the lower intake manifold and said it would be a very pricey repair and that there was probably engine damage because of the failure of the lower intake manifold. The mechanic said that it was an inherant problem with this engine. We had no work done at that point. I contacted my local gm dealer and was told that the problem was not widespread and olds/gm was not doing anything to help the consumer with this repair. The van is now sitting in the driveway, unable to be used because of this mechanical problem.

I have leaky intake valve gaskets on a 2001 Oldsmobile Silhouette van which has ruined the ehgine. Gm will not do anything. I have many friends who have had the same problem. There are thousands on the internet who report the same problem in the 3. 4 v6 gm engine.

The consumer is experiencing a problem with the vehicle overheating. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and a local repair shop and both confirmed that the problem is a leak in the intake manifold gasket.