Got new intake manifold gasket last weekend. It is a 2001 last year of the 5.7 or 350. Couple of years ago I decided to find a used carpet cleaning Van. The 97 Ford E350 I had was about done and I figured I'd find something to last me 4-5 more years until I got out of the business. Found this GMC it only had 57,000 miles on it and the machine only had 500 hours and the price seemed right. I have done nothing but work on that Van since I've had it. its gone through 3 water pumps. Had the dealer do that because when it went it was 15 degrees outside. They replaced it 2 times under warranty. 2 Fuel pumps. A radiator. Brakes all the way around and now one of the front rotors is warped. Tuned it up.. Major mistake. The Ford I had before had 250000 miles. Stock fuel pump. Stock water pump. The only thing I ever did to it was normal maintenance. I've had enough.. Gonna fix the brakes next and I'm selling it.. Never again will I buy GM.. Intake Gaskets are not a fun job in that van.. They say its a very common failure.. took me 3 days to do that job.

 

That sucks however GM has their fair share of issues as does Ford and any other brand. I agree though, get rid of it before something bigger goes

 

Damn - I think you would have had better luck with a Dudge!

 

It is the Dexcool coolant that GM used at the time. The gaskets that were used react with the coolant and will leak. If you put almost any other type of coolant in with the Dexcool it will gum up and clog. I changed the gaskets in my mom's 96 Grand Prix and last weekend the gaskets in my brother's 4.3L S-10. They used these gaskets because they're cheaper. Just like everything on the vehicle, the cheapest way possible was the way to go. Engineered by Accountants!

 

I know youve figured this out, but the Ford vans are the most reliable in the segment. Our church finally got away from the Dodge and GMs a few years ago and repair bills were practically cut in half.

 

May the Econoline van rest in peace - let's hope the Transit is just as reliable.

 

There's nothing like driving an E-350 extended length... the e-series is built like a tank. Can't believe they cut them still... they are like a common staple of transit.

 

I've never driven a GM van, but I've been driving vans at work for more than 20 years. When I started we had a few Dodge vans. They were very used and major POS's. We eventually bought a very used E250. It was a major POS. I drove that van for one year and in that time it had to be towed six times.

Eventually I convinced the boss (my dad) that it was crazy to spend little money for the POS vans. We lost way too much time and money fixing them. We got newer E250's then brand new.

The Ford van is a good one. It's not perfect though. The front ends are a week point. Ball joints frequently. Front rotors on a couple vans that I've had have warped. Guess that could be my driving. All of these E250's have had interior parts break/fall off.

I'm pretty rough with the vans that I drive. Time is money, and I don't have enough of either. I think that any vehicle used for blue collar type work is going to wear faster than vehicles that serve only as a mode of trasportation.

 

The interior in the GMC Van is a hole nother deal. Door handles have broken linkages have broke. It takes 20 minutes to get all the crap off to get the dog house off. It is a horrible pace of equipment.