'04 Venture 3.4 - Dex-Cool issues?

[Number_35]

Guys -

A good friend of mine has conditionally agreed to buy a lightly-used (80K km) 2004 Chevy Venture van from a used car dealer with a good reputation.

The van appears to be in good shape, and the price seems good (C$4K with taxes in).

My concern is the 3.4 litre engine, which would have been equipped with Dex-Cool from the factory. I'm not familiar with Dex-Cool personally, but am aware of the horror stories about it eating IM gaskets.

The coolant in the Venture's reservoir is pink. Would that be Dex-Cool? With the low mileage on the van, it's possible the coolant has never been changed.

Is an '04 new enough that the IM gaskets are compatible with the Dex-Cool? If not, are the head gaskets also at risk?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[Chris142]

IMO all gm v engines with a wet intake will need the gaskets replaced at some point. BTW the labor to change the thermostat in that van is over 3 hrs.

 

[901Memphis]

Yes pink is dex cool usually, it turns from Orange to pink after used. The 3.4 will have lower intake manifold gasket issues regardless of coolant used unless you use the problem solver gaskets which are rubber with metal frame instead of plastic.

Dexcool is a fine coolant although these systems don't use a pressurized recovery tank which is not ideal for dex since it doesn't like air in the system. I have the same engine practically in my Buick with 3.1, since the previous owner had the lower intake manifold gaskets replaced the shop used conventional green coolant I flushed and converted to Zerex G05 which is a good universal coolant.

More interesting than the coolant issues, the transmissions are known weak links, and I believe that the crash test ratings for that vehicle are deadly for passengers

 

[Nick1994]

Change the intake gaskets regardless with Fel-Pro gaskets. Dexcool wasn't the only reason these engines ate the gaskets, but it helped. Once you have the updated gaskets you should have no problem with using Dexcool again. As said above change the thermostat while in there.

 

[crazyoildude]

intake gaskets sometimes but besides that those gm engines run a long time with little maintenance

 

[KCJeep]

We had that exact van. My strong suggestion would be to tell your friend to leave it on the lot.

They drive nice, till the tranny starts slam shifting and they eat lower intake manifold gaskets AND head gaskets. Ours was a total loss due to a blown head gasket, labor to repair was more than the van was worth.

Donated what was left of it to charity. Been mad at GM ever since, after over 25 years of primarily driving Chevys.

 

[eljefino]

I had an olds silhouette, same thing. Someone did the gaskets and put green coolant in. Drive it 18 months, sold it for more than I paid.

There aren't any great vans out there, if there are, they're $$$. Most eat transmissions or have some other glaring defect.

I had a short wheelbase and the form factor was great, a couple inches narrower than the competition. Good visibility, pep, and mid 20s MPG.

 

[PhillyJoe]

The bad gaskets were replaced towards the end of the 2003 model year so your potential buy would not have that issue. The engines affected were the 3.1, 3.4 and 3.8. My daughter had a 2002 Grand Am with the problem, my other daughter with a 2003 GA did not. My wife had a 2001 Grand Prix that hit 100k without leaking.
If the Dexcool is 10-11 years old, that may be another problem.

 

[Colt45ws]

Even if it has the updated intake gaskets, the head gaskets on my grand parents 2001 were eaten away by the DexCool until it started leaking into a cylinder.
Only reason it worked out for them, was I caught it early via UOA and did the work for cost of parts.


I don't have a picture, but I vacuumed an inch of sludge out of the cooling jacket in the block.

Its not an easy job to do much of any engine work on this van. (Common with all vans, really. Just so much worse on this one because its something that will happen at some point rather than an unknown.)

I would avoid.

If he does buy it, I would religiously do UOAs. It'll save the motor.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

That is caused by the original owners not ever changing coolant, right?

 

[il_signore97]

Originally Posted By: Number_35
Guys -

A good friend of mine has conditionally agreed to buy a lightly-used (80K km) 2004 Chevy Venture van from a used car dealer with a good reputation.

The van appears to be in good shape, and the price seems good (C$4K with taxes in).

My concern is the 3.4 litre engine, which would have been equipped with Dex-Cool from the factory. I'm not familiar with Dex-Cool personally, but am aware of the horror stories about it eating IM gaskets.

The coolant in the Venture's reservoir is pink. Would that be Dex-Cool? With the low mileage on the van, it's possible the coolant has never been changed.

Is an '04 new enough that the IM gaskets are compatible with the Dex-Cool? If not, are the head gaskets also at risk?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!



I have a 2001 Chev Venture with over 300,000 km on it that I still own and use for towing my boat trailer / house work / other such uses. My dad got this van as a company vehicle back in 2001, and he was actually the one that picked it up from the dealer brand new. After 2 years, he was given a new company vehicle and was given the option to either buy or return the van. My mom needed a new car so my folks bought it for $10,000 and it had 75,000 km on it at the time (my dad was the only driver of it, and had it maintained as he pleased during it's ownership by the company). Years later after my mother got tired of the van and got her next new car, I bought the van from my folks for next to nothing to use it for a work/tow vehicle.

This was the work done to it over the years (aside from tires / brakes / oil changes):

110,000 km - lower intake manifold gaskets failed, replaced with Fel-Pro problem solver (still working fine ever since to this day), removed DexCool and filled with Amsoil Universal coolant (60/40 mix, still working fine to this day)

120,000 km - installed auxiliary transmission cooler and Amsoil ATF (original tranny still working very well, shifts perfectly, nothing ever changed or done to it)

150,000 km - spark plugs, thermostat, serpentine belt, front control arm bushings

220,000 km - driver front wheel bearing assembly, upper strut mounts, front struts, rear shocks (also installed heavy duty progressive rear springs for towing)

240,000 km - passenger front wheel bearing assembly

280,000 km - serpentine belt and belt tensioner, front sway bar (due to rust from salt), front sway bar links, fuel pump assembly, front ABS wheel speed sensor harnesses


So all in all, this van has not required a ton of maintenance from us. It really has performed very well throughout all of these years, even with towing a boat trailer and being fully loaded as well. It has over 300,000 km, and the original engine and transmission work very well with no apparent issues. It runs great, starts no problem from -40 C to +40 C, and generally puts up with abuse very well (loaded to the roof with drywall, etc). I've towed almost 5000 lbs of construction waste with many times, well over it's original 3500 lb towing limit, with no issues.

Some things to note to your friend before buying the 04 Venture... The intake manifold gaskets will need to be replaced at some point, and if not caught early enough, coolant leaking into the oil can take out the engine if it continues to be driven like that. I would also get rid of the DexCool and run a quality universal coolant (and change regularly). The safety issue is true, the frontal offset crash test ratings are not great - something to consider. A transmission cooler and fully synthetic fluid are highly recommended for anything but the most gentle use - they go a long way to helping this transmission live forever. There are other minor weak points like rust-prone bodies and underpinnings, water leaks due to rust around the windshield and in wheel wells, fuel pump issues, auto belt tensioner, and in some cases head gaskets (although mine are original and working well).

It's a good vehicle if you take care of the above mentioned weak points and give it proper maintenance. The 3.4 L engine will run forever as long as it doesn't leak coolant into the oil

 

[Number_35]

Thank you all for your excellent responses. I always learn a lot when I throw out a question.

My friend has definitely bought the van, and is really happy with it so far.

I may offer to help with a preventative IMG changeout. It sounds like maintenance is critical to giving these vans a long and happy life. Do these have the different length intake & exhaust pushrods?

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Number_35
Do these have the different length intake & exhaust pushrods?

Yes.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Number_35
Thank you all for your excellent responses. I always learn a lot when I throw out a question.

My friend has definitely bought the van, and is really happy with it so far.

I may offer to help with a preventative IMG changeout. It sounds like maintenance is critical to giving these vans a long and happy life. Do these have the different length intake & exhaust pushrods?


The 04 shouldn’t have any transmission issues it has a hardened 4th gear input shaft that was the major weak point.
Do the LIM gaskets, when these fail the overheating often takes the head gasket out, the head gaskets themselves on the 04 are usually fine unless subjected to overheating.

This is a genuine PITA vehicle to work on under the hood, an otherwise simple job can turn into an all day affair with your arms looking like you just had a run in with Freddie Krueger, just be aware of that before offering to do small maintenance jobs.

 

[KCJeep]

Our 04 had both gasket issues and severe tranny issues that started around 120k. I also thought according to research GM had fixed the gasket issues by 04 (what 7 to 9 model years after the problem surfaced) but ownership proved this was not true. Same issues.

Was much happier with the Astro we owned for 12 years prior.

 

[Trav]

LIM gasket were never fixed on the 3.4 unless you go aftermarket.

 

[Number_35]

Update on the van - the 1st month has been pretty good for my friend, with no major problems.

It did strand him yesterday, so today we replaced the battery. It was a Delco, so I suspect it was the original battery.

It was probably the hardest battery replacement I've ever done - not crazy difficult, but definitely more involved than most. The fuse box is situated right over top the battery. The negative terminal is well-hidden, so I couldn't disconnect it before starting to take other things apart; I was pretty careful to avoid doing any unintended arc-welding.

I like to load-test my own cars' batteries every Fall so they won't let me down in the Winter. This one would be much work to get to to justify doing so. I recommended an AGM battery, but the one PartSource had was $300. (We were shopping for a battery right before store closing on the eve of a stat holiday.) My friend opted for a conventional battery for half the price. 36-month replacement, and pro-rated for quite a few years after that.

Although PartSource offers free battery installation on most vehicles. I noticed they had a list of exceptions, including the Venture.

Access to a lot of stuff under the hood looks pretty difficult. Hoping for long life out of the alternator & water pump!

 

[Nick1994]

Yeah the batteries are a major pain on these. And actually the water pumps are pretty easy, I've done 3 of them.

 

[Colt45ws]

I never did figure out how to get the alt out. When I did the LIM and then later did the heads on the Montana, I unbolted it and dropped it back behind the engine until I needed it again.

 

[Trav]

Remove the windshield wiper transmission cross bar, the coolant bottle, alt bracket, belt tensioner and move the PS pump out of the way, it helps to jack the engine forward.
I have done a few of these and it ain’t fun, you come out from under the hood looking like you just got into it with someone’s cat.