1999 Pontiac Montana Extended from North America - Comments

When I first got the car at 23,000, I had to have the dealership re-pad the front bucket seats.

At 24,000 miles I had to replace a broken double cup holder.

At about 40,000 miles I replaced the trunk closing handle (the plastic loop you grip onto to close your trunk).

At around 40,000 miles the coolant light came on. I added coolant and the light went off. A couple weeks later the light came back on. I added more coolant and the light eventually goes off. Then I started checking coolant at least every week or two and filling if needed. The light never has came back on. I would suggest keeping up on this as there is a problem no doubt about it. My van has never over heated, but, I have smelled antifreeze coming through the heater vents.

At about 45,000 miles I replace the 3 front spark plugs, the back 3 are too tough for me to get to. I replaced because it seemed to crank a little to long to start, and I was bored. This actually helped (in my opinion) the van start better.

I really cannot complain about this van. My wife and I have four children and we all are seated comfortably. The van has always started, never stalled and is nice and quiet.

Reading a lot of reviews, I'm grateful the machine I paid $14,500 dollars for a year ago has not had many problems (nor in my opinion should have). Knowing I probably own the only 1999 Montana Ext. Minivan Pontiac that didn't screw up (too badly) I'm taking my precautions. I'm keeping the antifreeze filled regularly, but it's taking 3-4 gallons (unmixed) antifreeze a year.

My next purchase I suppose will be a bigger transmission pan to allow better cooling. I feel so bad for all the people that have had their van overheat because of this cooling problem. I'm just lucky so far.

Unfortunately, almost all of them start out this way. Some drivers just aren't as diligent as you at keeping up with the coolant loss. Eventually, the coolant loss will increase and seepage into the crankcase will degrade lubrication etc. No matter how often you change oil and add coolant, you can only prolong the inevitable and it will destroy the engine. The next symptom will usually be increasing valve tapping and overall engine noise etc... Mine lasted over a year by doing the same thing you are doing and then my luck ran out. I'm told replacing the leaking gaskets in the very early stages, may save the engine, but is not cheap. Best of luck and thanks for sharing your experience.

I had the "low coolant" light come on for my 2000 Montana. I took it into the dealer the next day and I was told that the head gaskets were shot. They would need to be replaced at a cost to me of $1626 + tax and that they would need the van for 2 days. I am shocked that the head gaskets are leaking. The service department manager could not give me a reason as to why the gaskets could be leaking. We have been very diligent in maintaining this van however one thing after another is making this van one of the most expensive cars we've ever had to maintain. I am currently looking around for a second opinion and working from home...sigh.

My mechanic told me the best thing to do was to get that dex-cool stuff out and replace with regular anti-freeze. We had the radiator cleaned I am now using regular anti-freeze without any problems so far. Have driven my van on a family vacation since then without any heating problems... of course I am holding my breath and keeping my fingers crossed just prying for nothing else to break before I can get rid of the hunk of JUNK!!!

I own 1997 Pontiac Transport/Montana.Presently it just passed 100K km .

The best deal was I bought extended warranty.

There is the list of problems and repairs done or not.

Cold engine pistons slap or valve noise which goes away after warm up. No fix.They say it is nornmal with V3.4

technical marvel.

Persistent water leak in headlight assembly. After third replacement under warranty I resealed it myself. So far for quality control.

Front wheels bearings, A/C compressor clutch bearing, rear windows motors, front rotors, rack and pinion bearings and leak, disintagrated serpentine belt and of course intake manifold gaskets - usual affair.

Car is also prone to rocker panel sub-frame damage when not carefully hoisted. It was damaged twice in dealerships!Check if your seem behind front wheels is still intact.

Snow and ice accumulation make wipers in the winter mornings unoperable. Why does small cabin air filters cost so much? More than HEPA furnace filter.

I bet if I buy 2004 model it will be deja vue.

I too own a 1999 Pontiac Montana, I have loved my van until I stumbled across this site. My coolant light came on at about 40k and it was the intake gasket and was replaced at the local dealer at no cost, there is some kind of "GM one time satisfaction warranty" but they may not cover additional problems, I was fortunate and found a service manager that was honest and wasn't looking to make a "fast buck".I live in Pa and bought it in Ohio and the local dealer still took care of it. I started to notice a "ruff" shifting in my transmission recently and was going to get it fixed and my fuel pump went (51k). We have had some bad gas problems in n/w Pa and I don't know if that had any part in it or not, but a new pump is about 400. I might consider fixing the pump and unloading the van. I too have had all of the little things go bad (broken cup holder, broken rear gate strap, fog lights, air bag light, water in headlight, rear brake light bulb works when it wants to, rear seat belt won't latch, noise in the front right wheel occasional grind when applying brakes.

Hi,

Sorry to hear about all the problems with the 99 Montanas. I bought one used last fall with 82,000 miles on it and left for Florida one hour after buying it. It is now a year plus later and the only problem I have had is that the sliding door was doing the "bounce-back thing". I pushed the rubber trim back into shape and place and lubricated all the moving parts and haven't had any more problems. This van has been from Illinois to Florida twice and to Virginia once with no other problems. The reason I found this site was that the other day the ABS, Brakes and Traction control lights all came on. They went out after a while, but came back on and have stayed on for 2 days now. I am getting ready to pull the wheels off and check things out and thought I would see if there was a history of this problem. I haven't experienced any of the problems that are described in others comments, but will obviously be alert now.

On my 99 Montana I also have a coolant problem. The coolant runs out in like a day, every time I fill it up with coolant, the coolant light stays on, the engine smokes, and the coolant leaks out, but the van is very nice, but not that reliable because of the coolant problem, I'm going to trade it for a Chevy Uplander.