New Owner- 2007 Chevy Uplander
March 9th, 2014, 9:33 PM
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New Owner- 2007 Chevy Uplander
Hello all,
I am hoping that I can join a great group of people who are willing to help with some good insight.
First some details about me. I am coming into the Uplander line of Chevy coming from Saturn; where I have maintained a few S-Series over the years and basically have self taught myself quite a bit when it comes to car repair.
Our 1997 Saturn SW2 has been on it's last leg and we stopped into the dealership today. We test drove a 2007 Uplander today, and while it seems like a good vehicle- I know that it also shares a platform with the Saturn Relay and another Buick. In the Saturn world; the Relay was not a very well received minivan and had many issues, similar to what I have read with the Uplander.
We got a decent deal on the vehicle purchase price and the dealership has also thrown in a 2 year/ 24,000 mile warranty.
This Uplander is a Base model, so it doesn't have very many bells and whistles; but I wanted to see if the few small issues that are present with this car are things I may be able to fix on my own...
Noted issues:
Driver's side Manual Door only opens a short distance before it stops and then you can't open it anymore, but it will close perfectly fine.
Also Driver Side bezel that surrounds the door lock and the door latch is loose and will need to be reseated in place.
Overall, the car has 91K miles on it, and drives good. It's a one owner vehicle and it has been in this same area since new.
Any pointers? We are supposed to sign papers on it tomorrow at 10AM.... would it be a good buy or should we run, based on the issues that I have read that the Uplander has had over the years....
Help, Comments and Thoughts appreciated.
I am hoping that I can join a great group of people who are willing to help with some good insight.
First some details about me. I am coming into the Uplander line of Chevy coming from Saturn; where I have maintained a few S-Series over the years and basically have self taught myself quite a bit when it comes to car repair.
Our 1997 Saturn SW2 has been on it's last leg and we stopped into the dealership today. We test drove a 2007 Uplander today, and while it seems like a good vehicle- I know that it also shares a platform with the Saturn Relay and another Buick. In the Saturn world; the Relay was not a very well received minivan and had many issues, similar to what I have read with the Uplander.
We got a decent deal on the vehicle purchase price and the dealership has also thrown in a 2 year/ 24,000 mile warranty.
This Uplander is a Base model, so it doesn't have very many bells and whistles; but I wanted to see if the few small issues that are present with this car are things I may be able to fix on my own...
Noted issues:
Driver's side Manual Door only opens a short distance before it stops and then you can't open it anymore, but it will close perfectly fine.
Also Driver Side bezel that surrounds the door lock and the door latch is loose and will need to be reseated in place.
Overall, the car has 91K miles on it, and drives good. It's a one owner vehicle and it has been in this same area since new.
Any pointers? We are supposed to sign papers on it tomorrow at 10AM.... would it be a good buy or should we run, based on the issues that I have read that the Uplander has had over the years....
Help, Comments and Thoughts appreciated.
March 10th, 2014, 5:11 PM
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The drivers sliding door sounds like an issue with the fuel fill door. There is an interlock which keeps the door from opening if it thinks that the fuel door is open so you don't smash the fuel door with the door. If you look you should see the cable that runs from the slider to the fill door - might just need to be re-attached or adjusted.
Can't help you with the door handle bezel - if you pull the door panel it should be pretty obvious what holds it on. Might require a trip to the junkyard to find a replacement or might just need tightened.
I was the owner of a 95 SW2 and my ride is a Vue now so I've spent plenty of time at saturnfans figuring out how to fix both of them as well...The Uplander base models have a lot technology jammed into them...for better or worse...but at least the base models don't have the power doors that have caused so much grief.
Knowing how to replace wheel bearings and brakes is a money saving skill for the Uplander owner - I've done numerous of both to ours. There are better minivans out there and there are worse as well. I believe the Uplander falls somewhere in the middle and is usually less expensive as they weren't as popular. Its great on the open road, not terrible on gas and fairly comfortable. We've put a bunch of miles on ours and its doing OK (knock wood).
A cared for Uplander should give plenty of miles - Good Luck. Feel free to post back with any other questions.
Welcome to the forum!
Can't help you with the door handle bezel - if you pull the door panel it should be pretty obvious what holds it on. Might require a trip to the junkyard to find a replacement or might just need tightened.
I was the owner of a 95 SW2 and my ride is a Vue now so I've spent plenty of time at saturnfans figuring out how to fix both of them as well...The Uplander base models have a lot technology jammed into them...for better or worse...but at least the base models don't have the power doors that have caused so much grief.
Knowing how to replace wheel bearings and brakes is a money saving skill for the Uplander owner - I've done numerous of both to ours. There are better minivans out there and there are worse as well. I believe the Uplander falls somewhere in the middle and is usually less expensive as they weren't as popular. Its great on the open road, not terrible on gas and fairly comfortable. We've put a bunch of miles on ours and its doing OK (knock wood).
A cared for Uplander should give plenty of miles - Good Luck. Feel free to post back with any other questions.
Welcome to the forum!
Last edited by 442dude; March 10th, 2014 at 5:28 PM.
March 12th, 2014, 7:17 AM
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442Dude,
Thank you for replying. The Uplander, so far for the past couple of days has been a decent vehicle for my wife. Although we have both made the decision that this will be a "transitional vehicle" for my wife. My fear is that my wife, while she enjoys it now; will get tired of driving it because it is such a larger vehicle for her compared to the SW2.
We did own a 2005 VUE, but sadly, she had wrecked it in 2008 right before we had started to get the paperwork started to buy it off of the lease that we had on that vehicle- so she is not a stranger to the larger wheelbase, it's just that we have not owned a van before. The Uplander was not on the radar for either of us, but we got a decent deal on it, my wife needed a set of wheels, and we also got a 2 year/24,000 mile warranty in this deal as well.
Our mutual agreement plan is to keep the Van for 2 years (we have a 4 year note on the vehicle). Once February 2016 rolls around, we are planning to use the Van as a Trade-in on a newer model year Chevy Traverse or Chevy Equinox; which is what my wife would prefer to own, but the dealership (which was a Ford Dealership) did not have any used Traverses or Equinoxes in stock, obviously.
I know that the Equinox is built on the same platform as the VUE (the newer platform for the VUE, so it is of comparable size.)
Just curious 442Dude; are there other active Minivan forums- while it seems that there are alot of people on this board talking about other Model Chevies, it seems that this board is not as active as I have seen on other forums....
Looking again at the manual door left side yesterday, it looks as if the bottom runner piece? Not sure the appropriate name, is getting hung up on a cable that runs in the bottom track of the door. I know that the middle track guide with the rollers is an issue, but on ours, it seems to be the lower track runner that is getting hung up. Any thoughts on this?
Since the vehicle has 91K on it, I was going to look at the maintenance schedule. The back 3 spark plugs look like a bear to get to... and it also looks as if this Uplander still has the Dexcool in it. Oil was changed before we bought it and Oil Life is reading at 98% on the Oil Monitor. Brakes are solid, and the Rear Suspension is in good shape too.
I'm sure that if you are also on the Saturnfans website, you can see and read that we were in the Saturn family since 1997.
What things should I be on the lookout for with 91K on the clock? The car was well maintained by the only previous owner, but I don't have full maintenance records on the vehicle.
Overall, how easy has the Uplander been for you to work on? Any pointers that you can throw out would help.
Thank you for replying. The Uplander, so far for the past couple of days has been a decent vehicle for my wife. Although we have both made the decision that this will be a "transitional vehicle" for my wife. My fear is that my wife, while she enjoys it now; will get tired of driving it because it is such a larger vehicle for her compared to the SW2.
We did own a 2005 VUE, but sadly, she had wrecked it in 2008 right before we had started to get the paperwork started to buy it off of the lease that we had on that vehicle- so she is not a stranger to the larger wheelbase, it's just that we have not owned a van before. The Uplander was not on the radar for either of us, but we got a decent deal on it, my wife needed a set of wheels, and we also got a 2 year/24,000 mile warranty in this deal as well.
Our mutual agreement plan is to keep the Van for 2 years (we have a 4 year note on the vehicle). Once February 2016 rolls around, we are planning to use the Van as a Trade-in on a newer model year Chevy Traverse or Chevy Equinox; which is what my wife would prefer to own, but the dealership (which was a Ford Dealership) did not have any used Traverses or Equinoxes in stock, obviously.
I know that the Equinox is built on the same platform as the VUE (the newer platform for the VUE, so it is of comparable size.)
Just curious 442Dude; are there other active Minivan forums- while it seems that there are alot of people on this board talking about other Model Chevies, it seems that this board is not as active as I have seen on other forums....
Looking again at the manual door left side yesterday, it looks as if the bottom runner piece? Not sure the appropriate name, is getting hung up on a cable that runs in the bottom track of the door. I know that the middle track guide with the rollers is an issue, but on ours, it seems to be the lower track runner that is getting hung up. Any thoughts on this?
Since the vehicle has 91K on it, I was going to look at the maintenance schedule. The back 3 spark plugs look like a bear to get to... and it also looks as if this Uplander still has the Dexcool in it. Oil was changed before we bought it and Oil Life is reading at 98% on the Oil Monitor. Brakes are solid, and the Rear Suspension is in good shape too.
I'm sure that if you are also on the Saturnfans website, you can see and read that we were in the Saturn family since 1997.
What things should I be on the lookout for with 91K on the clock? The car was well maintained by the only previous owner, but I don't have full maintenance records on the vehicle.
Overall, how easy has the Uplander been for you to work on? Any pointers that you can throw out would help.
March 12th, 2014, 2:47 PM
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I'm better known as "john95sw2" over there...I have been a Saturn owner since 98 so we're sort of in (or from) the same boat. I recognized your handle immediately. Anyway - Back to the Uplander....
I'm going to take a look at our Uplander after I get done typing - specifically at the sliding door. The cable is part of the mechanism that keeps the slider from hitting the fuel fill door. If its just the cable in the way it might have come out of a clip. You might be able to just fasten it out of the way.
As for the Dexcool - ours still has it too (changed once so far)without any problems - You might want to do a flush and fill - I would suggest sticking with the Dexcool - it gets a bad rap when the real issue was crappy manifold gaskets. They seem to have straightened this out in the motors that were built after 2004 or so.
Back 3 plugs...pain in the rear. Did them on our Venture - same body, different motor. Some say you can get to them from underneath but the FSM says to rotate the motor forward. Google it for the procedure or I can post it for you if you have no luck finding it. Basically you remove the air cleaner and the top motor mounts, put it in neutral and use a strap to rotate the motor forward so you can access the back.
I suppose its a testament to how Ok these Uplanders are that I really haven't had to do much to it, knock wood, in almost 70K miles. A couple of front bearings (they're just like any other GM), front and rear brakes and a couple of burned out bulbs. Did a little more work to our Venture but it really wasn't bad...if you've worked on any other GM vehicle you'll find that these are not much different and share a lot of parts with them. And there isn't a ton of stuff that needs to be done in terms of scheduled maintenance. at 91K you might want to change all the fluids so you know there all good. Don't forget about the power steering fluid - ours looked pretty funky when I sucked it our with a turkey baster and refilled it a few times.
We did have an issue with AC condenser water leaking back into the front and soaking the carpet - once we figured it out it was an easy fix - the hose is too short...I put an old spark plug boot on it and never had a problem again. Our sliding doors didn't want to stay open and the dealer said they were OK so I took matters into my own hands & figured out that the wave spring that's supposed to hold it open was not quite the right shape. Fixed that...if you need more info let me know and I will post pics.
You're correct that this forum is kind of quiet - at least compared to what we're used to but even though its a little quiet here there are folks cruising around that are willing to help...I have yet to find another good forum for the Uplander/Relay/Terraza/Venture/Trans Sport/Silhouette. I'm thinking that many minivan owners might not be the wrench turning type.
You're right, the Uplander is big but my wife who drives it most really likes it partly due to the size. She says she's cramped in my Vue. I suppose all things are relative...
Enjoy - will post back once I've taken a closer look at the cable and the sliding door.
I'm going to take a look at our Uplander after I get done typing - specifically at the sliding door. The cable is part of the mechanism that keeps the slider from hitting the fuel fill door. If its just the cable in the way it might have come out of a clip. You might be able to just fasten it out of the way.
As for the Dexcool - ours still has it too (changed once so far)without any problems - You might want to do a flush and fill - I would suggest sticking with the Dexcool - it gets a bad rap when the real issue was crappy manifold gaskets. They seem to have straightened this out in the motors that were built after 2004 or so.
Back 3 plugs...pain in the rear. Did them on our Venture - same body, different motor. Some say you can get to them from underneath but the FSM says to rotate the motor forward. Google it for the procedure or I can post it for you if you have no luck finding it. Basically you remove the air cleaner and the top motor mounts, put it in neutral and use a strap to rotate the motor forward so you can access the back.
I suppose its a testament to how Ok these Uplanders are that I really haven't had to do much to it, knock wood, in almost 70K miles. A couple of front bearings (they're just like any other GM), front and rear brakes and a couple of burned out bulbs. Did a little more work to our Venture but it really wasn't bad...if you've worked on any other GM vehicle you'll find that these are not much different and share a lot of parts with them. And there isn't a ton of stuff that needs to be done in terms of scheduled maintenance. at 91K you might want to change all the fluids so you know there all good. Don't forget about the power steering fluid - ours looked pretty funky when I sucked it our with a turkey baster and refilled it a few times.
We did have an issue with AC condenser water leaking back into the front and soaking the carpet - once we figured it out it was an easy fix - the hose is too short...I put an old spark plug boot on it and never had a problem again. Our sliding doors didn't want to stay open and the dealer said they were OK so I took matters into my own hands & figured out that the wave spring that's supposed to hold it open was not quite the right shape. Fixed that...if you need more info let me know and I will post pics.
You're correct that this forum is kind of quiet - at least compared to what we're used to but even though its a little quiet here there are folks cruising around that are willing to help...I have yet to find another good forum for the Uplander/Relay/Terraza/Venture/Trans Sport/Silhouette. I'm thinking that many minivan owners might not be the wrench turning type.
You're right, the Uplander is big but my wife who drives it most really likes it partly due to the size. She says she's cramped in my Vue. I suppose all things are relative...
Enjoy - will post back once I've taken a closer look at the cable and the sliding door.
March 15th, 2014, 1:01 PM
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After looking at the cable I'm thinking 2 things:
1 - There are clips that hold the cable in place - if the cable popped out of a clip I could see where it might keep the door from opening.
2- (And I think more likely) The mechanism that the cable is attached to is attached on the other end to the gas filler door - if the gas door is open it keeps the slider from opening and smashing it. Either the cable is not connected at one end or the other or you need to make an adjustment. A quick look makes me think that the sliding door stopper is spring loaded so if the cable breaks its going to fail in a position that will not let the slider open. It also looks like it could be easily disabled by removing it. I think its kind of a silly feature anyway. If you can get the door open enough to see the mechanics you might be able to remove it completely. Looks like you could use a long screwdriver to reach down and push the stopper out of the way to get the door open and get full access to the mechanicals to remove them or repair them.
1 - There are clips that hold the cable in place - if the cable popped out of a clip I could see where it might keep the door from opening.
2- (And I think more likely) The mechanism that the cable is attached to is attached on the other end to the gas filler door - if the gas door is open it keeps the slider from opening and smashing it. Either the cable is not connected at one end or the other or you need to make an adjustment. A quick look makes me think that the sliding door stopper is spring loaded so if the cable breaks its going to fail in a position that will not let the slider open. It also looks like it could be easily disabled by removing it. I think its kind of a silly feature anyway. If you can get the door open enough to see the mechanics you might be able to remove it completely. Looks like you could use a long screwdriver to reach down and push the stopper out of the way to get the door open and get full access to the mechanicals to remove them or repair them.
March 19th, 2014, 9:49 AM
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Thanks for the reply. When the weather gets a little warmer I am going to take a weekend and look at the mechanicals of the door and see what I can find out with the left manual sliding door. Any pictures you can provide or email would be cool in helping me get a better idea.
One new thing that I discovered over the weekend is that the second key fob for the Van does not work at all. Is it difficult to replace the battery in these fobs?
One new thing that I discovered over the weekend is that the second key fob for the Van does not work at all. Is it difficult to replace the battery in these fobs?
March 19th, 2014, 11:02 AM
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Thanks for the reply. When the weather gets a little warmer I am going to take a weekend and look at the mechanicals of the door and see what I can find out with the left manual sliding door. Any pictures you can provide or email would be cool in helping me get a better idea.
One new thing that I discovered over the weekend is that the second key fob for the Van does not work at all. Is it difficult to replace the battery in these fobs?
One new thing that I discovered over the weekend is that the second key fob for the Van does not work at all. Is it difficult to replace the battery in these fobs?
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March 19th, 2014, 4:58 PM
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Hi 2ndsout,
Welcome to the forum! Please feel free to reach out to us if you would like for us to look further into your key fob concern. If our help is needed, please send us a private message referencing your concern. We will be glad to assist with this concern!
Kristen A.
Chevrolet Customer Care
Welcome to the forum! Please feel free to reach out to us if you would like for us to look further into your key fob concern. If our help is needed, please send us a private message referencing your concern. We will be glad to assist with this concern!
Kristen A.
Chevrolet Customer Care
March 22nd, 2014, 8:34 AM
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