Entirely off-topic motorhead question

[loopy]

My wife drives a Montana - identical to your Venture, including the 3.4L V6. Had to have the head gaskets replaced on it, and it was $1800 3 years ago. $2000 sounds about right. Mini-vans are a royal pain to work on.

 

[JDcluster]

It might be the intake manifold...
GM cars use that orangy coolant & it's a known issue that it eats away at the gaskets & seals causing them to leak. There was suppose to be a class action suite formed about it somewhere in the mid-west, but never heard if it went anywhere......


https://sancarlosradiator.com/dex-cool.htm



JD

 

[sandmantoy]

It might be the intake manifold...
GM cars use that orangy coolant & it's a known issue that it eats away at the gaskets & seals causing them to leak. There was suppose to be a class action suite formed about it somewhere in the mid-west, but never heard if it went anywhere......

JD

If it is the intake manifold you would be able to find the missing coolant ether in the oil inside the engine or a puddle on the ground, right. This also would take some time before it over heated since it would have to loose enough coolant before it got hot. If you super heat it in the combustion camber and send the chamber heat into the coolant passageways it will over heat the engine within a few miles if not sooner. Does not matter what you put in it for coolant. :bangpan: Guaranteed it's the head gasket and leaking into the chamber most likely from damage to the cylinder head if it is aluminum caused by the coolant being to old.

 

[JDcluster]

Goodyear tried to talk me into this & said it would cost $1k+ to do the job.
They said the head gasket may go at any time..... Well, at 164,000 miles it's not doing too bad( knock on wood). It may misfire once & a while when it gets hot after running it for a long periods of time.


JD

If it is the intake manifold you would be able to find the missing coolant ether in the oil inside the engine or a puddle on the ground, right. This also would take some time before it over heated since it would have to loose enough coolant before it got hot. If you super heat it in the combustion camber and send the chamber heat into the coolant passageways it will over heat the engine within a few miles if not sooner. Does not matter what you put in it for coolant. :bangpan: Guaranteed it's the head gasket and leaking into the chamber most likely from damage to the cylinder head if it is aluminum caused by the coolant being to old.

 

[JDcluster]

Goodyear tried to talk me into this & said it would cost $1k+ to do the job.
They said the head gasket may go at any time..... Well, at 164,000 miles it's not doing too bad( knock on wood). It may misfire once & a while when it gets hot after running it for a long periods of time.


JD

If it is the intake manifold you would be able to find the missing coolant ether in the oil inside the engine or a puddle on the ground, right. This also would take some time before it over heated since it would have to loose enough coolant before it got hot. If you super heat it in the combustion camber and send the chamber heat into the coolant passageways it will over heat the engine within a few miles if not sooner. Does not matter what you put in it for coolant. :bangpan: Guaranteed it's the head gasket and leaking into the chamber most likely from damage to the cylinder head if it is aluminum caused by the coolant being to old.

 

[Peartree]

Problem solved.

We decided that we simply needed something more reliable and that even if we had the repair done, we wouldn't have confidence that more damage hadn't been done.

Took half a day off Wednesday and went car hunting.

We traded the Venture (unrepaired) for $750 and brought home a 2004 Ford Explorer (with factory tow package).

 

[sandmantoy]

Now you have to get bigger rockets and go get a big trailer :y:

 

[Peartree]

I already have the bigger trailer...

 

[sandmantoy]

Sweet!