NHTSA Complaint #11378031 — 2002 CHEVROLET VENTURE

BLOWN INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET. VEHICLE DID NOT HAVE AN OVERHEATING ISSUE, AND HAS BEEN WELL MAINTAINED SINCE I'VE OWNED IT. DROVE ACROSS A STEEP 7 MILE HILL, TEMP GAUGE STARTED MOVING ABOVE NORMAL. I STOPPED AND LET IT COOL DOWN, MOTOR GOT TO ABOUT 245 DEGREES WELL BEFORE ANY WARNING LIGHTS WERE ABLE TO COME ON. STARTED THE MOTOR AND IT SOUNDED DIFFERENT SO I POPPED THE HOOD AND THE COOLANT OVERFLOW WAS BUBBLING. NOTICED THE WINDSHIELD STARTED STEAMING UP, AND A VERY ROUGH IDLE. SHUT THE MOTOR OFF AND STARTED IT AGAIN. WHITE SMOKE COMING FROM THE TAILPIPE. TURN IT OFF AGAIN AND OPENED THE OIL CAP AND IT HAD THE MAYO LOOK AND SMELLED OF ANTIFREEZE. PULLED THE DIPSTICK AND THE OIL WAS BROWN AND SEPARATED. GOT IT HAULED HOME. DID AN INSPECTION AND ANTIFREEZE WAS ALL DOWN THE BLOCK. TOOK THE MOTOR APART AND THE LOWER INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET WAS JUST DETROYED. CHEVROLET HAS HAD NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS OUT OF THESE 3.4 GEN 3 MOTORS. THEY ALL NEED TO BE RECALLED AND THE PROBLEM CORRECTED. DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU KEEP THE COOLANT FLUSHED AND OIL CHANGED. HEAD GASKETS WERE IN THE SAME SHAPE I CHANGED THEM TOO. ALL TOGETHER COST ME OVER $1000 BETWEEN GASKET KITS, HEAD BOLTS, INTAKE BOLTS, COOLANT, OIL, FILTER, FLUSH, AND THAT WAS CHANGING THE HEAD GASKET, LOWER AND UPPER INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET COMPLETELY BY MYSELF. THESE MOTORS ARE SO HARD TO WORK ON, I JUST COULDN'T AFFORD TO HAVE SOMEONE DO IT FOR ME. IT'S JUST BAD TO BUY A VEHICLE AND HAVE THIS PROBLEM. MOST VENTURE OWNERS HAVE CHANGED HEAD GASKETS OR INTAKE GASKETS MORE THAN ONCE. TOYOTA RECALLED THEIR 3.0 MOTORS FOR THIS PROBLEM, WHY IS GM NOT MADE TO RECTIFY THIS CONTINUOUS PROBLEM. THE VAN HAS ALOT OF OTHER PROBLEMS AS WELL, BODY RUST, HEADLIGHTS YOU CANNOT SEE WITH, OIL SEAL LEAKS, STEERING KNUCKLE PROBLEMS, SLIDING DOOR ISSUES, RADIO PROBLEMS, ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS, SIGNAL LIGHTS, ABS PROBLEMS. FUEL PUMP PROBLEMS. IT'S A LEMON