kajutisg

I'd forgotten I'd joined this forum, & a couple years have gone by so I figured I'd put in an update on how this Venture has done.

First, the previous owner must've had a cheapo body job done, 'cause within a year the front fenders started showing rust bubbles badly, & the rockers panels started showing rust stains in the paint & the passenger side developed a hole just below the passenger door. I've picked up new fenders & rocker panels off eBay & will be taking care of that myself. Fenders shouldn't be much of an issue 'cause I can paint them before installing, but I've never done rocker panels & am thinking of structural adhesive instead of welding. Anyhow, otherwise the body seems solid.

On our previous 2000 Venture we had the body rust at the top of the windshield & the Maaco guy said it was common for those areas to rust out, so to prevent or slow this down I have, a couple times, pried the weather strip around the windshield up a bit & sprayed some Rust Check in there, to keep that area protected.

Hidden Hitch 2 inch receiver installed pretty easily, AFTER I purchased a tap to clean out the original holes for mounting it. I've had the vehicle up on my 4-post lift & the undercarriage is pretty solid with few traces of rust, so I figure I may just get under there with a paint brush & used engine oil to protect the surfaces from rust (what with rockers needing replacement I'm not sure about going with Rust Check). I've attached pic of right side & the undercarriage. NOTE that the wet areas on the undercarriage photo are where I sprayed some Rust Check to slow down corrosion on some areas, & by the front transaxle where I was "wet proofing" the ABS connection (got a code occasionally when driving in wet weather).

Had transmission fluid changed by a reputable shop I deal with (changed filter & fluid but NO flush) & have had no transmission issues. Had coolant changed by dealer & I topped it up once when it was cold to have it reach the fill mark on the overflow. Periodically I'll smell coolant when I park it in my garage, but I see no signs of leakage on the intake or the garage floor, & the overflow level hasn't moved, so it might just be misting out during use?

Changed the front brake rotors myself & new pads. Blower motor seized up & blower resistor had to be changed, too (both by dealer). Had dealer change fuel filter.

Comfortable to drive in, relatively quiet on the highway & lots of room for my wife & our 3 dogs. If we're going camping with the dogs we'll install the large cargo carrier in the receiver & leave room for dogs inside (only front buckets & rear bench seats normally installed, on this regular wheelbase LS).

Mileage has been good, with 1st year city/highway mpg of 20/26 (US) or 24/31 (Imperial). I generally drive conservatively, with few or no jackrabbit starts. 2nd year mileage figures dropped somewhat because I've occasionally pulled a 13 ft aluminum cargo trailer to/from camp & THAT affects the mileage. But 2nd year of ownership mileage has so far been 20/25 (US) or 24/30 (Imperial).

All in all, a decent vehicle that we're happy with.

TheGorn

Your gas lines are badly rusted and up near the exhaust you can see rust at the holding bracket. This is dangerous. Rust checking isn't going to help. Scrap this junker because that alone is going to cost you $600.

U.Nanimous

First let me apologize for starting a colony on your planet without making sure there were no sentient beings already there. Believe me when I say I have no intention of meeting you in the Arena.

Now seriously, you dug up a 3 year old thread (and I see 4 others including one much older) to tell people these are rusted junk and to ditch them? Mine is newer being an '05 and it does only have 93K miles on it but other than the clear coat peeling off the hood it is an excellent vehicle. Your personal experience may seem to be common because forums are where people discuss problems and not generally used to brag about reliability.

And about that rusted holding bracket...between me and a few family members we've experienced that on more than a few different GM vehicles. Living in the salty road state of Michigan the bottom of any car starts rusting after 1 winter but that's no reason to junk it.

kajutisg

Hi.

I'd forgotten about being in this forum, again, but got notice of the updates to my thread.

I still have the 2003 Venture but it's been parked for a while. The rust damage was much more severe than expected & I've cut off most of the rocker panels & will look at patching them with replacement panels I purchased a while back. Nothing fancy, just to put something there. Have replacement fenders I picked up, too, & they will be installed as well. Hope to fix this up enough so that it can do duty as our family Winter Beater vehicle, 'cause it gets decent mileage & has the room we need for our dogs.

About a year ago I lucked out & picked up a good used 2005 Venture from a friend of a friend. It had been rust proofed pretty regularly so the body is in really good condition. Had a few issues to take care of that local Canadian Tire garage couldn't figure out. There was a loud metal clunk in the front end when going over rough pavement. Eventually traced it to defective struts up front, by installing my used struts from my parts 2000 Venture. Strange thing was that this 2005 already had the struts changed once by a local shop, whereas my 2000 had original GM struts? Anyhow, my 2005 is now running the struts from the 2000, with no issues. The mechanic at the dealership where I got the front end alignment done kept saying that they were leaking too bad to install, but I overrode them 'cause I'd literally soaked those rust struts in Rust Check to slow down any further rusting. When these struts go I'll most likely go with replacements that come pre assembled with new springs, but in the meantime, life goes on.

Had to replace burnt out resistor for rear blower motor. Found good prices on Internet 'cause dealer too expensive. Can't believe how expensive some of the plastic parts are for this vehicle. Temperature control **** for rear heating and air conditioning is $40 at dealer? Not going to happen.

Anyhow, the 2005 is our summer vehicle now, with lots more room because it's the longer wheelbase model, & it's parked over winter while we use our current Winter Beater (2003 Nissan Murano). Want to get that 2003 Venture set up for Winter Beater use because it gets better mileage than Murano and uses 15 inch rims, which are much cheaper to get winter tires for.

Oh, & I just realized that I'd forgotten another issue that I had to deal with on 2005. When we bought it the temperature gauge, or maybe it was the fuel gauge, did NOT work at all. Researched on the 'net & found that many vehicles had these issues with servo gauges, but found great instructions on how to correct. Purchased new servos on Internet & the necessary tools (soldering pen & solder wick, etc) then pulled dash & put new servos in. Works fine now!