1996 GMC Safari SLX from North America - Comments

Tires, shocks, and struts are now shot.

All new wiring had to be in stalled in the engine in 2002.

Engine was replaced in 2001.

Transmission was replaced in 1998.

Driver side window does not work.

Windshield wipers have a mind of their own and do not work properly.

Passenger side and rear sliding door power locks do not work.

Van is OK. It has a nice interior and exterior appearance.

I own a 1994 GMC SLX Safari van, The Biggest Lemon I ever owned. This vehicle is nothing short of a money pit!Muffler died in first 2 years, 3year total warranty would not cover this? Vehicle chews up tires on outside walls in under 40,000km, this is after alignment. have alignment checked problem still persists. Too many other problems to mention!...ART.

Unfortunately a lot of these problems sound familiar. I have a 1996 all wheel drive Safari with 137,000 miles on it, which I have a ongoing problems with from the start. It started out with a transfer case problem, then the air conditioning, the heating, the electric door locks, the cigarette outlet, the drivers side window does not work, the windshield wipers have a mind of their own, which usually means they start to work only when I pull in the driveway. I have had brake problems, new tires that wear unevenly, and have blown while driving, transmission problems, and most recently the air conditioner will only come out the front windshield defroster, and the worst, it is now doing a front nose dive to the left! I don't know what is wrong with it yet, it just happened Friday. We have had it up, and cannot see anything broken, but yet the front left wheel well area is just about sitting on the tire! If anyone has any ideas, please let me know! Thanks!

I Have a Safari 1988 and it runs pretty well. The engine was replaced about 4 years ago. For an old vehicle it runs good. Obviously things break down just like any other car. I'd have to say that my windshield wipers don't turn on by themselves and I don't have any electrical problems. I do have some transmission problems, but nothing major. What can you expect from a 14 year old van? The body has over 300 000 kilometers on it and the engine has about 100 000 kilometers on it. Over all I like this van because it is very spacious and it's a nice looking van when it is in good shape.

I have a 1996 Safari van, rear wheel drive. Love it except for wheel-alignment/tire-wear problem (which are both due, in part, to the tie-rod idler-arms wearing out prematurely, about every 25,000 miles) and the driver's side window problem.

The window problem is that it stops working part way up or down. I cleaned and lubricated the fuzzy glass tracks and the internal scissor mechanism inside the door. When it works it moves fast and sounds great. It occasionally stops, however. Just before it is going to stop you can hear and see it running slowly, then it stops. It will not start again and keep running unless you let it set for about 30 seconds or more. I suspect the control electronic module inside the door (just below the two rocker switches). A GMC service manager said he did not have many problems with the window on the Safari, but that he suspected the motor.

The electronics module is easy to change (about 10 minutes) and costs only $55. The motor is a major costly job, $135 for the motor plus several hours of labor at $55/hour. I would appreciate any feedback on the window problem. My e-mail address is piocon@vcn.com.

Glen.

I have a 1996 Safari van that I bought in April of 1997 that I have loved until November 2002. Oh, I have had the usual little things to break like the driver window, that would come part way down and not go back up, and the sliding door not opening or shutting right (that has never been fixed, but I learned to live with it).

It has 125,000 miles on it now and it has had regular service every 3,000 miles. Since Nov. I have only been able to drive it about 400 miles. I have replaced two (2) oxygen censors, a cam censor, a crank censor (twice) two sets of spark plugs and spark plug wires, had a full tank of gas drained all to no avail to find out why the van will run good for a day or two and then shake, rattle and die in intersections, and make you pray to be able to return home even if you can only drive 10 miles an hour.

It has been at the dealers for 6 weeks, when I stopped by today to ask them to call in a tech from GM they laughed and said they had had a tech to come only once in the last ten years and then it was after a 6 months ordeal. I cannot believe that a Dealership that wants to stay in business would not take better care of their customers. I lost my cool today and told them that I would never buy another GM product. My husband has a Chevy truck (GM) and is (was) planning on buying another one this coming summer, but now his is looking at Dodges and Fords, he wants a diesel, 4x4, extended cab. And I suppose I will eventually buy another van. Not that my husband and I will be buying so much that GM will suffer a great loss, but if they do everyone this way they will eventually suffer a loss. Thanks for letting me vent my anger. Joyce

I own a 1996 GMC Safari SLT Van with rear wheel drive. I really enjoyed our van up to the point our van was rolled over upside down. It has never left me stranded anywhere. I have put 199,996 miles on it driving it all over the US and some in Canada.

My van has an odd size tire that came with it. Sears was one of the few places that could order it, but I always had over a week waiting for them to be in stock. Average price per tire was $125 - $150. I finely switched tires to a better match that seems to last longer and gave me better ware. It came with P235/65R 15 Good Year Eagle GT. I switched to 255/60R 15 Grand Prix Performance GT. These ran around $85 per tire.

I have had the front air conditioning compressor replaces after 175,000 Miles. We've had some hot summers in Florida, and it gets used constantly. The electric door lock actuators on all doors had to be replaced at different times. The cigarette lighter outlets seem to come loose after time, but if you can reach around the dash, or loosen the dash and reach behind, they are easily tightened back up. I've never had any problems with my electric windows. The windshield wipers did give me problems like all the others here had described, until I learned about the wiper motor kit that cost less than $20. (Under the hood you will see the wiper motor on the back firewall in the middle near the top, 4 screws on the cover plate, remove old parts and replace with new, and put cover back on, real easy to fix!).

With the brakes, you need to have the rotors replaces every time you do a front brake job. Rotors cost about $25 - $30 each. Rear breaks don't need replacing all that much. I have never bought rear drums to replace the old ones. The transmission has always been strong. I have towed a truck and UHaul trailer both and had no problems. The problem with the A/C and Heat coming through the windshield defroster vent, I found was a small black rubber hose or tube that dry rot. (It is under the hood on the right passenger side. It follows along the top of the firewall near or under the wiring harness, and comes down near the A/C condenser. It is hard to see because there are some wires along next to it). Repair or replacing the hose should fix the problem.

The front end parts do wear out; I found buying the parts in Canada was a lot cheaper then buying in the US. One of the idler arms was $235 in the US with US Dollar, and only $60 at Canadian Tire in Canada with Canadian dollar. If you're in the US and live near Canada, you may want to consider this. (The person with the nose dive problem might consider if this being their problem). My sliding door not opening or shutting has never been a problem on my van. I've never had any problems with any of the sensors. Spark Plugs are a pain to change out. (It is very hard to get to all of them without reaching though the wheel well or climbing under neither, and going though the cowling). It is a good thing that you only have to replace them every 100,000 Miles on the 4.3 vortex engines. The problem the person who had the fuel take drained might consider changing out the ignition coil on top of the engine. I had the same problem, even after changing the fuel filter, spark plugs and spark plug wires. I seen a small crack in the coil which made the spark jump to ground, replaced that and problem went away.

I have had other problems like my rear end would go out after 75,000 Miles (happened twice). I found a place that replaces them with an 80,000 mile warranty. (Hmmm, makes you wonder if that is all they are good for). I have replaced the water pump once at 90,000 miles. (It was an odd ball to replace; it had a huge nut in order to remove the fan from it). I have replaced the idler pulley on the engine.

I have replaced the back hatch shock stabilizers twice. (If they quit working, don't let the hatch slam closed or you could knock the rods clips loose on the inside of the hatch near both sides of the window, and the back hatch will no longer open). Then you have to unscrew and "pull" the molding off from the inside of the back hatch being careful not to crack or break it. Use a flat tip screwdriver to push the rods back into the hatch door to allow you to open it and get in where you can repair it.

One point I like to make is, new parts seem to be at least 1/2 to 2/3 cheaper in Canada they are in the United States with this van.

Now that I have covered most of the problems that this van seems to have, let me express my better points about it.

I have made many long trips in the van with my family, and it is a very comfortable van to ride in. The seats have very good back supports. It has the power to get up hills, and move about in traffic in the city and highway. The engine and transmission needs very little maintenance. I have used a TV, DVD Players and Laptop computers, off a power inverter and never had any problems with the charging system, or starting system. For making road trips, I have really enjoyed this van and will buy another one here soon to replace my wrecked one.

I know this has been long and I hope it helps out others who may read it.

I am the owner of a 1996 safari GMC I have experienced almost all of the problems on the page. as far as the drivers side window, I was able to get away with removing the cover from the door control panel and clean the contacts. I eventually had to replace the window motor. it was not expensive, but time consuming. it took about three to four hours. it was the first time I had done this type of job. having the right tools is a perk. I had to purchase rivets and a rivet gun in order to do the job correctly. my van has 128000 miles on it as of today. I get very mad it some times for all of the small problems that I have had, but I refuse to get rid of it. it drives comfortably and my boys have a blast in the back. I have replaced the shocks; found it was cheaper to get a larger tire over the manufactured suggested tire. I replaced the kit for the windshield wiper motor as well. the deal with the vehicle stalling on turns was repaired by one of the two problems. I say this because I remember doing both of these and I never had a problem again. I replaced my transmission filter and fluid along with the fuel filter. I had to replace my serpentine belt along with the tension pulley. the front of the tensioner popped off. I am currently experiencing a problem with my a/c. I had the oil and freon removed and replaced. it's still pumping cool air. I would like to replace the van, but it looks so good and still drives well. I am still getting good mileage. a gentleman offered a nice sum of money for it based on the looks, but I quickly explained the joy and love I have for it. hope this helps.

I drive a 1998 GM Safari (70,000 miles).While driving down hill at low speed (20 mph) in a curve, the motor stopped. For about 2-3 seconds I had no control over the car. The brakes did not function properly. It took all my strength to pushed the brake peddle to the floor, but even at that, the response time was slow. I believe a tree stump helped in bringing the car to the final stop. If someone else has had that problem, please let me know.

I have 1995 Safari it's been pretty good. When you buy a used vehicle you must be prepared to spend a little bit of money. I've got the van about 1 1/2 years and spent about $900. It's still running good after 16,000 miles. I travel 56 miles a day to work, and some more on the weekends. Over all I'm happy with it. I've even got offers to buy it.

I must be one of the few who had good luck with my 96 Safari.

165,000 miles. Only the usual problems that are to be expected. Vehicle is used pretty hard. Only major problem was a broken torsion bar. 20 mpg. I figure if I have to make a repair now and then it beats spending 20-30 grand on a new vehicle. If you consider $300.00-$400.00 monthly payments on a new vehicle, the occasional maintenance cost is nominal. When you finally get a new vehicle paid for, you'll be in the same position of having a vehicle with 100,000 plus miles on it again. But that's just me.

My windshield wipers stop a quater of the way up when I shut

the wipers off. When the wipers are on intermit, they only

move part way across the window.

I have replaced the circut board on the wiper motor, but it didn, t help.

Any ideas, before I replace the entire wundshield wiper motor, if that even helps?

I "used" to own a 1995 GMC Safari SLE. Bought it in 2000 for $9000.00 with 56,000 miles on it.

It was a very dependable vehicle for me and I did lots of traveling. Things I had to replace were the brakes twice, the idler arms, shocks, and at 134,000 miles the blower motor for the heater.

Last week, I was driving and all of a sudden the van started to bog down. As I was on the interstate, I had to drive until there was an exit, did not want to pull over as it is dangerous.

Got to the bottom of the exit ramp and the van stalled. Had it towed to the repair shop and was told the engine had hydolocked. Apparently, the fuel regulator malfunctioned and injected gasoline into the engine. There was gasoline in the oil. So pretty much the engine was destroyed. Sold the van for $300.00 and bought another van.