Comments: 1-15, 16-21
Rear door strap broke.
Driver side power window loose in track.
Front headlight lost cover - entire assembly needed replacement ($300)
Overall, Venture has been very reliable. Other than headlight noted above, no maintenance beyond required beyond routine items. At 100K miles, still has original exhaust. Optional rear seat captains chairs were well worth the money for our two teenage passengers.
Comfortable for long trips. Very convenient to remove fold or remove rear seats for hauling stuff home from the lumber yard.
I have a 1998 Venture. I love my van, but am starting to hate the repair bills. My headlight lens fell off and was not covered under the warranty. The cost to replace it was $300.00 so my husband bought a good silicone caulk and repaired it himself. The power window on the driver side broke. The dealership replaced it once, but it broke again 4 months later I got the bill for that one. Now the horn has stopped working. I am told by a dealership that it could cost in excess of $500.00! I'm sure I will not be buying another Venture.
How interesting re: your venture. A headlight lens just fell off our 1998 venture and the dealer wants $300 to replace... claims that it cannot be glued. Thanks for the silcone tip!!
My passenger side headlamp lens also fell off, but unfortunately I did not recover it so I paid $250 to have the whole unit replaced. The mechanic says this happens often and always seems to be the passenger side. I silicon-ed both the new and old units after I had the new one installed.
My water pump had to be replaced because the gasket was leaking. The garage says this is normal as the original gasket material is poor.
After 100,000K (60,000 miles) the intake manifold gasket had to be replaced. There were 5 other Ventures of the same year in for the same thing that week.
Mike.
Our 1998 Venture's power sliding door motor failed at 62,000 miles. GM wants $2000 to replace the power sliding door motor. I declined and decided to never purchase another Venture.
We own a 1998 Chevrolet Venture LS. The power sliding door motor broke according to the dealership. It is a $2000 repair cost. The man at the dealership said that we should have bought the extended warranty. Can you imagine?
I have always owned Chevy vehicles. I have $2000 in earnings from our GM Mastercard for our next GM vehicle. However, we will not buy another GM.
After contacting Chevy company about 1998 headlight covers popping out- was told they only had one other complaint on it. The entire light wells have to be replaced at cost of $300. Lost one and the other is loose. After reading other comments, I don't feel they were honest with me about the frequency of occurrence.
Hi I have a 1998 venture... at 100,000km we replaced motor gasket (Price at dealer $1000) I changed myself... also head light lens fell off, but found a used one $150... passenger side power window not working ($?) compressor for rear shocks toast ($800)... rear tail light electrical board toast ($350) Multi fonctional switch toast ($500)... Front shock mounts glides toast... drive side mirror toast... all Canadian dollars... I WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER VENTURe AGAIN!!!
Motor gasket hunh? Is that anything like the electrical switch? Come on which one (head, intake manifold)?
We just purchased a 1998 Chev Venture LS. So far so good, but I will look out for these seem to be common faults.
My wifes 1998 Chevy Venture LS stopped running while driving down the interstate. No warning lights came on. Two different mechanics have looked at it and told me that a new motor is needed. Compression is low in cylinders 2 & 4. There should be 100psi to 125 psi, but, there is about 25 psi in both. Estimate $2800 to $3500 to repair. Vehicle only has 58000 miles and has had regular routine maintenance. She also had the problems with passenger side sliding door, loose windows, and new tires after 20,000 miles. We will not be purchasing another Chevy min-van.
1997 Chevy Venture
So far experienced leaking intake manifold, which resulted in $500 repair. Lost driver side headlight cover and am in the process of looking for headlamp removal instructions. For the last year or so the Van has been running erratically at certain speeds. Have had both engine and transmission diagnosed. Replaced plugs and wires, cleaned injectors, replaced fuel filter, replaced transmission solenoid, still no improvement. Very frustrating.
I agree with most of the preceding posts and will not buy another Chevy product, especially not a Van. The dealer's attitude has been nonchalant about hitting me with outrageous repair estimates, even when the failure is quite common and well known to be a design flaw.
I have a 1998 venture and it is about to nickel and dime us. The rear door strap broke, the passenger headlight lens fell off, the drivers side window has came off of track, the garage door opener above head has broken, and the automatic side door faults out for some reason. The automatic door will not close all the way, what time it doesn't fault and stop working. Other than the things afore mentioned, the venture runs good. It will just nickel and dime you to death.
Two months ago I bought a 1998 Chevy Venture with 50,000 miles on it. It began stalling on a Wednesday. By Friday it stopped working altogether. My mechanic tells me it needs a new motor which will cost me $3200.00. Not to mention the fact that the power lock on the sliding door does not work. I am quite unhappy with my purchase, and would not recommend that anyone buy a Chevy Venture.
I have a 1997 Venture Van, and it has been a dependable vehicle. I bought it used 3 years ago. The only trouble I've had has been from the side power door (which there was a recall on). I am currently looking to replace a headlight assembly, only because I was involved in an accident that broke the one on the drivers side. There are some good ones out there! I would definitely own another based on my experience with this one.
1998 Chevy Venture Van: Have a noise in the rear on driver side when going over bumps. I found on the Web a description of "loose lumber noise from rear, 1997-98 Venture LS". It mentions a valve making noise in the load leveler system. Manufacturer Technical note suggests replacing rear shocks with a new set of GM shocks. I read this after putting a set of Gabriels on it. Unfortunately the new shocks made the clunking noise more frequent even on the slightest bumps. Any ideas? So I should pitch the new shocks and buy the GM shocks?
I sympathize with the 98 venture van owners, since about half of the problems I have had appears to be inherent in this van. Thank you.