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When to give up on a van/ Lemon/Garage Queen

Old Jan 5, 2026 | 4:42 AM
  #1  
neatchevy's Avatar
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Default When to give up on a van/ Lemon/Garage Queen

I am a little stubborn and refuse to give up sometimes, but it just seems like the new chevy express 2500 2015 is just a lemon. I know it's 150k miles on it, but I am constantly finding things going wrong day after day. I am learning more about these vans and starting to regret my decision to buy one. AT first I thought these vans had a reputation of ruggedness and reliability. What I am seeing so far is now that I've hit the 150 k mark, things are just failing left and right. Is this normal? it just seems like this van is a money pit, and others on this forum are saying the same thing. Responses are mixed. Is it possible I just got a lemon/Garage queen? hard to know with these vans because people often let them sit unused because they are gas guzzlers. a lot of guys out here who do the same work don't recommend vans, like trucks instead. Maybe there is a good reason for that. we have a very small van crowd out here, maybe 25% is vans and 75% is trucks. I just have always thought vans were cool .

so the question is when to give up/ pull the plug, and how do so with the least amount of damage to my wallet

Last edited by neatchevy; Jan 5, 2026 at 4:44 AM.
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Old Jan 5, 2026 | 9:34 AM
  #2  
redfm42's Avatar
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Originally Posted by neatchevy
I am a little stubborn and refuse to give up sometimes, but it just seems like the new chevy express 2500 2015 is just a lemon. I know it's 150k miles on it, but I am constantly finding things going wrong day after day. I am learning more about these vans and starting to regret my decision to buy one. AT first I thought these vans had a reputation of ruggedness and reliability. What I am seeing so far is now that I've hit the 150 k mark, things are just failing left and right. Is this normal? it just seems like this van is a money pit, and others on this forum are saying the same thing. Responses are mixed. Is it possible I just got a lemon/Garage queen? hard to know with these vans because people often let them sit unused because they are gas guzzlers. a lot of guys out here who do the same work don't recommend vans, like trucks instead. Maybe there is a good reason for that. we have a very small van crowd out here, maybe 25% is vans and 75% is trucks. I just have always thought vans were cool .

so the question is when to give up/ pull the plug, and how do so with the least amount of damage to my wallet
Sounds like the previous owner might not have stayed on top of maintenance. I have 407k miles on my 04 Express 3500 with a 6.0 in it. I do HVAC work and this is my personal van. I am not a fan of the 4.8 v8 or the 4.3 v6. Not nearly as much power and they seem to get the same gas milage. (my experience, do not blow me up about how you get 52 mpg towing a 30 ton excavator with your 4.3 please. No one cares.)

My work van in a 2009 and gets about 14mpg with several thousands of pounds of tools and equipment. My personal van gets about 16mpg but doesn't have much weight added to it. I do way less in maintenance on it than a car payment would be. I do have a spare engine that I am building this winter to put in it. I recently put my second alternator on it and replaced the water pump for the first time. It does need a steering gear because of a small leak. But I prefer to drive it over any of my other vehicles.

You may want to set down and inspect the entire van to see what it would need to get up to your expectations.

Good luck.
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Old Jan 5, 2026 | 11:45 AM
  #3  
Charles J Edward's Avatar
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Default 2015 Savana issues? Like what?

What kinds of things are failing on your 2015 on a day after fay basis?

I fairly recently bought a 2018, and I have the entire maintenance record from day-one. While it looks to me that the first owner was over-sold a lot of things, multiple full brake jobs and so forth, none of it was major failures.

Of course the 2018 came with the 'new' 4.3 - so many a lot of other things are different / have been improved too - I don't know.

But I am trying to 'balance the scales' here in regard to selling either my 2005 1500 or my 2018 2500. There are a lot of things I don't like about the 2018 Savana and I bought a 2000 Express to replace it - but I'd like to hear what all been going on with your 2015 if you don't mind.


. ,

Originally Posted by neatchevy
I am a little stubborn and refuse to give up sometimes, but it just seems like the new chevy express 2500 2015 is just a lemon. I know it's 150k miles on it, but I am constantly finding things going wrong day after day. I am learning more about these vans and starting to regret my decision to buy one. AT first I thought these vans had a reputation of ruggedness and reliability. What I am seeing so far is now that I've hit the 150 k mark, things are just failing left and right. Is this normal? it just seems like this van is a money pit, and others on this forum are saying the same thing. Responses are mixed. Is it possible I just got a lemon/Garage queen? hard to know with these vans because people often let them sit unused because they are gas guzzlers. a lot of guys out here who do the same work don't recommend vans, like trucks instead. Maybe there is a good reason for that. we have a very small van crowd out here, maybe 25% is vans and 75% is trucks. I just have always thought vans were cool .

so the question is when to give up/ pull the plug, and how do so with the least amount of damage to my wallet
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Old Jan 5, 2026 | 7:16 PM
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I replaced my radiator because it started to leak. I have some paint chipping off (some I already "fixed"). I've put a battery in it twice now. I've done a number of oil changes. Other than that I've done upgrades. My van is a 2015 but has 100k less miles on it. At 150k it really depends on how the previous owner took care of it. I like vans. I like the nature of these vans. They have big, low-tech engines and a real frame. The high tech stuff in the truck engines (DOD) that gets them better fuel economy is also what goes bad in them.
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