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GM's triplets Venture, Silhouette, and Montana

1617 messages,  Last post on Mar 11, 2013 at 3:33 PM

You are in the Chevy Venture Forum.

What is this discussion about? Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Montana, Oldsmobile Silhouette, Van

Messages Page 139 of 163

#1374 of 1617 2000 Silhouette by jeffshadow

Apr 16, 2006 (7:36 pm)

I read virtually EVERY post in this forum as I was looking for a near-excellent condition Silhouette for my dog! I sold Oldsmobiles for 14 years and as a member of the Oldsmobile Club of America, it is the only make and model I would ever buy. After studying the posts and revisiting my experiences with selling Silhouettes, I decided on the GL version with the right side sliding door. I searched on AutoTrader for several weeks and found precisely what I was looking for in Burlington, Washington. This particular Silhouette was a rental for eleven months in the SeaTac area and then went to a private owner in Oregon. It had the rather unimpressive hubcaps on steel wheels. My wife and I flew to Seattle, took the Amtrak Cascades to Burlington where our dealership sales representative picked us up. The van was better than the photos described and nearly as clean as when new. We were so impressed by the dealership service that we also purchased a 1995 Cutlass Supreme convertible that the store had just set out for sale. We drove the Silhouette home to Southern California and the convertible was transported here three weeks later. I bought four 1998-1999 Intrigue 16" wheels for $35 apiece on eBay and upgraded to larger tires as well. So now I have a 2000 Silhouette (last year with the traditional Oldsmobile Rocket grille) with wheels from 2001-2004! I purchased new remotes from www.thepartsyouneed.com (found in this forum) and got a GM printout of the options and warranty claims on this vehicle. All three recalls and safety checks were done at 39,000 miles. So far no problems at all and the Silhouette has 59,000 miles. The van will soon be repainted and striped to resemble an Amtrak SDP40F locomotive from the late 1970s.

#1375 of 1617 Re: 2000 Silhouette [jeffshadow] by dirkwork

Apr 16, 2006 (7:45 pm)

Replying to: jeffshadow (Apr 16, 2006 7:36 pm)
Sounds like you did your research and found a nice ride! I like the Olds, it seems to handle better than the other of the triplets and has a lot of neat features. The bonus is that like you, I got a used one and you get a lot of vehicle for your money.
 
Funny you mentioned Oldsmobile is your choice of car, I just bought a 2000 Intrigue from a guy in Ohio and while it has two spots that need painting to be 100%, I got it for a steal and he had done all the maintenance on it and had receipts.
 
So we're a two olds family right now too. The paint job sounds...interesting. Not sure I'd do that paint job, but you'll be able to find your van in the parking lot, that's for sure! For me, just adding the fairing to the rack helps me locate the van in a sea of while vehicles.
 
Good luck with teh van. If you have read all the posts you have heard about the things to look for.
 
Dirk

#1376 of 1617 Van stalls with low battery warning by d0ct0r

Apr 16, 2006 (9:06 pm)

This afternoon, I was about to pull into a parking lot today and all of a sudden, I lost steering (couldn't turn) and the battery warning light was up. I then stopped the car (was driving maybe 3km/h) okay, shifted to park,
then shut off ignition and started again. There wasn't any hesitation when restarting, then I was able to drive again.
 
Recently (3 weeks ago) I got the gasket changed (famous 3.4L problem). And own this car only 1 month - I have no idea about its history.
 
Wire harness under the driver seat ? Fuel pump ? Anything else ? I feel I am not alone with such behaviour.
 
Thanks for your suggestions,
V.P.

#1377 of 1617 by jrdwyer and dirkwork by dillydill

Apr 17, 2006 (1:01 pm)

Thanks for the messages. . .
I know my brother talked to the regional Olds rep but didnt get anywhere.
I tried to tell him to tell the rep that acuras have had tranny problems and they extended the warranty to 100K.
 
I will let you know what happened when they get back from vacation next week.
 
Dillydill

#1378 of 1617 Re: 2000 Silhouette [jeffshadow] by ronsmith38

Apr 18, 2006 (2:48 pm)

Replying to: jeffshadow (Apr 16, 2006 7:36 pm)
The grille on your van must have been replaced. My 2000
Silhouette does not have the Rocket insignia, but the newer swoosh.

#1379 of 1617 Transmission 4th Gear by boga228

Apr 21, 2006 (10:41 pm)

Information to all on the Venture, Montana, & Silo 4th gear (overdrive) can go without any notice to the driver. especially if you drive only in the city under 55 MPH. When you drive freeway and you notice that your getting bad gas mileage its probably that 4th when out, to find out when driving on the freeway shift to 3rd and the engine will speed up and the van will bog down, now acellerate and than shift in to Drive you should feel the tranny shift into overdrive, if you don't your 4th gear is out. On the Venture sometimes you can't feel if the RPMs are running high becuase thier is no Tachometer, Montana has one, unsure on the Silo. At 65 mph you should around 1900+-100 RPM's. It took me months before I found out because I don't use the van that much, it's the wife that uses the van. If you know you have a problem and you take it to the dealer and you told them that you said you have no overdrive. They would hook up a scanner and check for codes and test drive the van to see if 4th gear is working the scanner would show 4th gear engaged. Problem with me is that i took it to the dealer and they used the scanner they said 4th was good. I guess the machanic that look at the van wasn't really a good one becuase a REAL MECHANIC would have notice the RPMS were high and would have test drove the van on the freeway or some sort.

#1380 of 1617 2003 montana by cargal5

Apr 22, 2006 (8:55 am)

these 3.4 engines suck. know alot of people who have replaced their engines,headgaskets and transmissions. beware of buying a used one. people get rid of them instead of repairing them. i know i did, transmission problems began to show just after warranty was up. kept the van until 70,000 kms and dumped it when the lease was up. feel sorry for the chump who buys it from the dealer. they kept saying there was nothing wrong with it even though it clearly acted up when it was taken for a test drive by their mechanic. it didn't act up all the time but couldn't trust it on a long trip.

#1381 of 1617 Olds Siloutte-sliding door problem by livernois

Apr 23, 2006 (10:13 am)

have tried a reset according to owner's manual but the power door keeps opening after making contact with the center post. does anyone know how to change the contacts or what i should do next?
many thanks!

#1382 of 1617 Re: Olds Siloutte-sliding door problem [livernois] by mscheffler

Apr 25, 2006 (10:58 am)

Replying to: livernois (Apr 23, 2006 10:13 am)
We just fixed this on our van. We cleaned the contacts reset the power sliding door programming, etc. Turns out a socket set did the trick. The latch plate had gotten two compacted, so we loosened it a bit and now it works like a charm! If you're not car savvy, like me, it's the black hook thing that's at the door opening that's got two bolts in it. I took my van into the body shop to have a window regulator repaired and mentioned it to the guy and he figured it out in 5 minutes. I'd been searching and trying fix it all cures for months. Go figure!

#1383 of 1617 Re: Olds Siloutte-sliding door problem [livernois] by mscheffler

Apr 25, 2006 (10:59 am)

Replying to: livernois (Apr 23, 2006 10:13 am)
We just fixed this on our van. We cleaned the contacts reset the power sliding door programming, etc. Turns out a socket set did the trick. The latch plate had gotten too compacted, so we loosened it a bit and now it works like a charm! If you're not car savvy, like me, it's the black hook thing that's at the door opening that's got two bolts in it. I took my van into the body shop to have a window regulator repaired and mentioned it to the guy and he figured it out in 5 minutes. I'd been searching and trying fix it all cures for months. Go figure!

Messages Page 139 of 163

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