jczarn

I'm back in the hunt for a Chevy Express for my growing family (12 or 15 passenger)
One just popped up at a local dealer - a 2000 Chevy Express, with only 39,000 miles! They're asking $7500. It has the 5.7L engine.

Is there any reason why I should avoid an older van like this? I know the 2003 MY is supposedly just a facelift, but wondering if there are any underlying safety or reliability updates that were introduced at some point.

$7500 is a little more than I'd like to pay for such an old van, but the low mileage is enticing...

MiragePilot

Wow, that is low miles! I had a 96 Express for 17 yrs and it was very reliable. I replaced it with an 02 Express, and it is just as good. The only thing to be aware of is that the engine Lower intake manifold gasket will fail after 100-130k miles and will need to be replaced. It is a known failure on those engines. It failed on both my vans at about 130k miles.

Peter

pomerlo

It is smart to check for common problems related to a plateform production.
But on top of that..... another question to ask is : Any reason not to buy THIS particular 2000 Express ?
The only way to answer the question is to get it inspected. Commonly called a PPI (Pre Purchase Inspection).
If not done by yourself... it is probably the best $150-200 spent. Also it is wise to get the Carfax/Carproof or the Autocheck to verify the mileage recorded along the life of the vehicule.

Yes 39k miles is pretty low.... but what if the engine oil has never been replaced for the whole 39k miles ?
Believe me it exists.... much more than you think.
In this case I would prefer a 100k miles van that has been serviced regurlarly.

So be careful and never assume.

Good luck

mountainmanjoe

I bought a low mileage van too. Low because it was a lease. Lease vehicles are driven like they're stolen. Those few miles were HARD driven miles on dirt road. The roof leaked, doors were crooked, shocks were pooched, frame was banged up, etc.

No amount of internet advice will replace thorough visual inspection and road testing.

jczarn

I was a first-hand witness to this today. The first van I mentioned sold before I got there, but another supposedly low-mileage 2000 express popped up locally for $4k, and I jumped on it. Supposedly it only had 68,000 miles. I don't know what the deal was, but the van drove like it had 300,000 miles on it. Unloaded, the van had a really hard time getting up to speed on a 45 MPH road. I'm not that experienced at diagnosing drivetrain problems, but it just seemed... tired. With the gas pedal to the floor, it would rev all the way up, but still only accelerated very slowly, only upshifting after quite a while. Engine sounded fine (5.7L) , but unless my expectations were too high, something seemed very wrong. I almost wonder if someone swapped in a low mileage odometer, otherwise I can't understand why it had almost no power.

The brakes went almost all the way to the floor, the brake warning light was on, both turn signals were doing the fast click, and the airbag light came on during driving. The guy basically was trying to keep me on the side streets during the test drive, so the whole thing smelled fishy. Obviously I didn't buy it, but I'm still scratching my head as to what the real story was.

I test drove a 2008 express (6.0L) with about 130k miles that felt way better than this a few days ago but couldn't come to an agreement on price with the used car dealer. And that felt like it had plenty of power, no issue accelerating, even merging onto busy expressway. So I don't think it's just me - there shouldn't be that much difference in "power" between a 2000 5.7L and a 2008 6.0L, right?

William Kisselstein

Low miles means it's been sitting somewhere a lot of the time. Where did it sit? I had a 1989 Suburban I bought with 57,000 on it in 2005 or so and while it ran reliably right to the day I yanked the engine out, the rust was pretty terrible. The only thing holding the tailgate on was the window. It had belonged to a school and while it was maintained okay it was never cleaned of the salt or undercoated and it just rotted away.

These vans seem to be prone to electrical gremlins as they age, the computer is on the inner fender and has an aluminum cover which can corrode and allow water inside. The grounds can deteriorate. I'm chasing a hot no-start in mine and I found a list with about a dozen possible causes. My 3500 had to have the computer replaced entirely.

Now if you're somewhere in the south or west where they don't use tons of salt you might be okay.

jczarn

Yeah, I'm close to Chicago. Almost every single express I see around here has bad rust along the bottom of the doors. Who knows where this one spent much of its time - I really should have grabbed the VIN just to do a post-mortem analysis on what the real history of this van was.

William Kisselstein

The state here in normal years auctions off vehicles and sometimes one comes up with low miles, there was a 2001 van last year with very little rust and something like 65K on it that sold for about 4 grand. But that can be hit or miss, it depends what state agency had it. I am aware of a 91-95 van that sits in a state facility and did not move for about four years, then was put back in service, and as of my last visit had again sat an extended length of time. It spends all it's days in a parking garage and has virtually no rust.

WilliamKirkland

My first reply, bear with me. Had a 2000 something van...made 7 1200 mile round trips to GA and VA. I never met an owner who said his gas guage worked! Most said drive 200 miles and fill up. I went to junk yard and saw how to take out sending unit...it's in the tank, has a ring that screws off and entire device comes out. You have to remove the tank so you can get to the topside. Float is an arm with a styrofoam like bulb on end. It floats, over time it deteriorates and arm lost its float. Hard part to find used. There is a sock like filter on the pickup tube, replace before putting sending unit back. Maybe a rebuilt one or even a new one comes with float and sock. I drove mine past 200,000 and sold to antique dealer for waht I paid 4 years earlier! He cleaned it top to bottom and it looked good. The doghouse cover over the v6 in mine was really a bear to take on and off. Needed plugs, back 2 are really hard ro reach without a lift. Good luck. WilliamKirkland

john2000

I decided to by a 2000 Chevy Express 3500 in 2018 to use as a motovan and debated older & less expensive vs. spending a lot more for a newer van. I found a good condition extended wheel base passenger van with 90K miles, no OBD2 codes. I removed the rear interior and added a wall and bed to make a camping motovan. There have been a number of small things like idler pulley, thermostat, exhaust hangars, transmission cooler line, shocks and cracked distributor cap (caused by prior work). These were things I was able to do myself for a fraction of shop prices. I did pay an experienced mechanic to replace the lower intake manifold gasket which had a slow leak. I recently did some work on the gauges and all work now and none are jittery. Overall I would say these vans are easy to work on and the systems are simple and well understood. Kinda reminds me of working on old Cessna airplanes, keep up on the maintenance and they're reliable. For tech I installed a very nice mirror cam with backup and forward recording for about $50 and use a $18 bluetooth transmitter to connect my phone to the radio. A $20 OBD2 reader provides a ton of useful data. I also get why some would rather not deal with any maintenance and have a bumper to bumper warranty. For me the cost savings vs new (or even almost new) are significant. To put that in perspective, the money I saved vs. new keeps growing and will cover years and years of gas, oil, maint, camping and mountain bikes & dirt bikes. 1600 mile road trip coming up for a couple weeks of desert riding. Can't wait!