flyingAMT

I decided to give Chevy another try. 2008 Uplander LS with just over 100k. Got it in 2013 with only 70K from a family member, well cared for, not abused. Glove box door hinge already broken and a loud clunk coming from undercarriage somewhere.
Fixed Clunk after several weeks hunting for it. It was the Park Brake interconnect bracket hitting the rear axle housing. the spring holding it away from axle broke, no big deal, but hard to find as noise seemed to be coming from the front. Dealer attempted multiple times to locate, no success. Found it on my own one day.
Soon after, discovered the AC leaked water inside cabin. Took multiple attempts to fix that, but finally success, however the center console is completely rusted away as a result. (Their is a SB kit for that I hear)
At 90K, front wheel hubs started making noise and water pump started leaking. Replaced both hubs with a lot of problems due to corroded axle shafts stuck in old bearings. New bearings sound great, but now after 6k miles the stability system, anti locks and traction control lights are on. All points to bad sensors in the new Duralast hubs. Dealer did not have a pair available and had to wait a week plus for 2nd. Didn't want to go with GM, since the first set only lasted 90K, but maybe should have.
Water pump wasn't a big deal, but seems early for a car that has had regular maint with BG fluid swaps on all systems but brakes.
Also the tie rod ends had to be replaced at 94K and the rack and pinion is leaking along with several nuisance engine oil leaks. I found 3 bolts missing from the oil pan, and the Chevy dealer could not sell me the parts, not in their system, they said. Found generic bolts at the Zone.
All the rear AC outlets keep falling out and the rear lift gate handle broke off last week, and the weather stripping for the sliding doors fell off a long time ago, along with the Bowtie emblem on the front. (A new one is $75 from local dealer! Even the guy behind the counter laughed at that price.)
Oh, and the heat shield for the Cat keeps breaking the pop rivets used to hold it in place. So, it rattles around every 6 months, reminding me it needs more rivets.
The latest issue is the turn signal flasher is malfunctioning, flashes fast, but the bulbs are fine, double checked and replaced anyways. Fuse is good too, but cant locate the flasher, some say it doesn't have one, but the guy at the Chevy dealer will gladly sell me one, but can't tell me where it goes???
Just posting this for anyone who might be considering a Uplander, unless that is, you would like to buy mine. Ill make you a great deal, or trade for anything not made by GM.
I'm not a auto mechanic, rather an Airplane Mechanic, so I know a bit about mechanical things and I think this thing is Junk. Anyone else agree that Chevy should buy them back under the lemon law? Thanks for reading, this was very therapeutic.

Val D.

260K km on my Montana SV6 in Toronto, just regular maintenance, front hubs replaced twice (but cheap), ABS cables fix was needed at 150K (done in about 1h in my garage), parking brake cable replaced at 200K, tie rod ends replaced at 200K, still original shocks, engine / transmission never touched, all interior plastics in place, all electronics work properly, no leaks... cheap car to own if you know how to fix things and where to get good price parts.

tech2

ditto
cheap parts, easy to diagnose, easy to work on. just the usually leaky seals and gaskets which is typical gm. as long as the engine and trans are fine anything else is small potatoes.
they are dirty cheap in the used market. A sienna used is crazy expensive for a 8 year old van...no thanks.

niceguy88

I haven't had too many issues on my 2008 Cargo Uplander...glove box, leaky coolant gasket but if you browse other forums, unforutunately every brand has their problems.

BTW, I also found a water leak in the passgenger side floor board after installing stereo amplifier wiring under the carpet and after some research, I found that it was the firewall drain allowing the water to wick back inside the cabin.

I installed an o ring toward the end of the drain tubing to allow it to drip before it got back to the firewall/cabin.

Do you recall what was done to actually fix your water leak issue?

chevy55

i have a 2005 uplander lt awd 140km on ,great van.i also had a 2005 pontiac montana sv6 with 297kms .great van only scraped it after the body started going.never touched the motor or trans and everything else that was replaced was normal wear and tear.it even had the original rack and pinnion ,original struts and shocks.i got my moneys worth out of that van.now if my 05 uplander can get the same mileage il be happy.

flyingAMT

After a couple failed attempts, I used a utility knife to cut the sound proofing mat from around the condenser drain then applied copius amounts of a high quality caulking around the grommet and I added a short lenght of 5/8 tubing cut at a 45 to the drain outlet. This is on the outside of the firewall, there is no easy access from inside. This has worked for a summer, so far. Too bad the damage was already done and the metal bracket attaching the stability sensor module was already completely rusted away. Fortunately, no mold, that I noticed. There is a SB kit,
Sold by dealerships, but you have to pay for it and do the work yourself, or pay their shop to install it.

niceguy88

I had found that the entire metal bracketry behind the center console was totally surface rusted badly. So after removing all of the lower center console and side panels I removed the metal bracket that the console mounts to, wire brushed it and covered it in black POR 15. Looked brand new after curing and reinstalled same day. Pulled the console recently to update some stereo equipment and a few years later all is still good.