The van just up and left me stranded. I was driving and it went chug chug and died. It would not restart, so my son and I pushed her off the road. The engine lights did not come on and there were no tell tell signs of smoke -white or black. After 10 minutes or so, and turning off the air conditioning and radio, it restarted, but ran very poor until we got back home. The engine lights never came on until we put her on a tow dolly to take her to the dealer. She would not run long enough to drive into the bay. They did not read the codes, but said we needed a new motor. Do I really need a motor? It has had regular maintenance - oil change every 3,000 miles, new air filters and spark plugs. What would cause the motor to die without any warning?
The serpentine belt needed to be replaced at around 40,0000 miles.
The automatic door locks started working intermittently at 100,000 miles.
The horn has never worked well. It takes two men and a boy to get the exact two spots on the steering wheel pressed at the same time to hear the horn, which is extremely quiet.
The headlight covers fell off and both needed to be re glued.
The passenger door spring and spacer fell out so the door closes on people.
The radio knob broke off.
The front wipers both have broken off where the wiper fluid squirts out.
The air filter is hard to get to.
It is hard to get the three back spark plugs in.
It has had a lifter rattle since we've owned it.
The plastic on the seats have cracked.
The rear door handle broke out of the plastic.
The brakes need to be replaced between 18 months to two years and adjusted through out that time period.
We've needed to rebuild the seat belts several times as they lock or don't lock depending on which seat you are in.
The passenger mirror vibrated itself right out of the casing and broke off.
My 1997 Venture I bought at 175,000. Km Had it for 10 months & the only repair I had to do was a battery... UNTIL one day it was idiling & I ran into the store for a minut & when I came out it stalled & went click when I tried to restart it. It cost me 3000.00 & a used motor to repair it. No warning lights nothing. It was running fine, then not. It died at 180,000 Km
disalarm@shaw.ca
I bought my '97 Venture in 2006 with 133000 km on it. I paid the same price as for a newer model with more mileage, thinking I'm doing a good deal. Big mistake.
2 weeks after owning this vehicle, the engine died on me in the middle of the highway, 140 km away from home. I had no engine light coming on, fluids were fine. 3200 dollars and many headaches later, the van is running properly after replacing the engine with a 70000 km one.
If I could turn time I would not buy a Venture anymore. One of the reasons for buying it was the fact that my previous minivan was a Chevy Lumina that I got for free from a friend with 340000 km it. Never had a problem with it, I drove it up to 370000 km and passed to another friend of mine for free as well. Now it's at 400000 km and still going. That made me think the Venture will be an evolved model of Lumina Apv. Not even close. Think twice before buying a Venture, better buy an Lumina Apv with twice the mileage.
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