1999 Pontiac Montana EX from North America - Comments

Intake Manifold gasket at 50K miles... but original owner since 1999.

Very dependable Van... I like it.

Very comfortable to drive and ride in.

All I read are nightmares here, scarey stuff.

I just bought mine with 147K Km. and a fraction of highly devalued cost of over 40 grand the original owner paid for it 5 years ago including taxes.

After 20K I have had no major problems with it, it is a joy to drive and if it wasn't for all the negative feedback here I would recommend this to anyone. I hope mine turns out to be a good one as I suspect people are more apt to vent condemning problems than praising what they are happy with. If you want a nightmare, buy a Volvo, or worst yet fall victim to the mercy of a crooked dealer. Yikes.

I have put 20K on this van so far with nothing major happening.

I have researched this van a lot and found some very common problems like:

Intake gasket leaks antifreeze requiring immediate repair or antifreeze gets into oil that can cause cams to break. (luckily the previous owner did this at around 90K and he seemed like a responsible fella indicating he kept up on all the regular maintenance)

Radio LEDs fail, go out totally which is a drag because I can't tell what station I am on or what time it is. I bought it like this. Dealer won't fix, but replace whole unit and they could just solder in some LEDs from what I read somewhere with parts from radio shack.

Paint bubbles I sanded and touched up on front hood, but here in Canada where we have salt and corrosion. I think GM screwed up on not applying enough primer from what I read. I botched the job, but it is barely noticeable and looks one heck of a lot better than those ugly grey bubbles.

I am glad the rear wiper makes a loud noise because this way I won't leave them running. I took it apart, looked like new inside, ran it apart even, and found the gears still make that awful noise, but as I said, I don't mind. Not worth replacing it even at a wreckers.

Other than that, it is nice to see some one is happy with this vehicle. My mechanic did not understand the ticking noise it makes when it first starts. Sounds like tappets/valves/rockers whatever, but GM claims this is piston slap due to the engine tolerances. They go on to claim this has absolutely nothing to do with the longevity of the vehicle which is reassuring. I must explain this to my mechanic who initially claimed if it goes away when warm all is OK, and it does. Extraodinarily quite when warm.

I like this van so much I even oil sprayed it hoping to keep it for years to come.