Olds 2003 thinking of purchasing

I am thinking about buying a 2003 silhouette. I am concerned about the Dexcool.
I would like to know what problems people have had with the silhouette.
I own a 91 Corsica now with 90,000. Just paid 600 to have intake manifold gasket replaced.

The wife has a 2001, bought in 2001:used with 11K. Too many problems to list. All be it, they are mostly minor. The biggest gripe is the brakes. The fronts need replaced every year, had to replace the rotors once. She puts about 20K a year, and it is 90% highway milage. It's not like she's hard on brakes as her old Subaru had 80K with the original brakes, and this was mostly city driving. Back brakes shoes are like new, (had it make to the dealer multiple times as the auto adjusters don't) but had to replace the cylinders last year as they were leaking.

Re the new antifreeze. Had it flushed/replaced recently as the temp was all over the place, and the idiot light kept going on/off After it was flushed things settled down. This was around the 60K mark.
Also you can smell antifreeze on the outside of the van, but not the inside. Not sure if this is normal as on my car I don't ever smell it, but I have the old stuff.

Also had to flush the tranny twice. The lock up wouldn't unlock. Flushed and it was fine for a while. FLushed again, and it's been fine.... so far

Also had the plugs replaced well before the 100K mark as it was running really rough. Replacement cleared that up, but it is not a DIY job. Had to drop the engine/tranny to get to the back set.

If you get one, get an extended warrenty. So far ours has paid for itself about twice over.

Run away! Look into the Toyota Sienna or the Honda Odyssey. I have never been as unhappy with an American product as I have with my 98. Had to drop $2500 on it for intake gasket and related failure over 18 months. All that for a gasket GM knew was defective...

The 2003 manufactured after Feb will have the updated gasket. If not expect to replace it Id get it done under warranty it will have the updated gasket.

As far as the dexcool I thought it was to blame for the gasket issues but theyre were happening on the green stuff.

The second poster in this thread probably had a leaky manifold and oil is getting in and causing cooling problems. But hasnt figured that out. A note any gaskets replaced before Feb 03 with GM gaskets will probably fail again. I used carquest as mine was out of warranty.

I have no complaints about my 2000 and I have 95,000 mi on it. All manufactures have issues. And as far as comparing to imports I can tow a large boat with my van and it dosnt feel plasticy and dosnt dent in when bumped with a shopping cart. And the parts are cheaper.

As far as the brakes 95,000 mi only replaced the front once and again I tow a large boat. Some people complain about brakes and after taking a ride with them I found they ride their brakes either on hills or all the time with their left foot.

35,000 on our 2003 Olds Silhouette, not a single problem with it.

SN95GT50

You probably are concerned about the quality issue with a GM vehicle (or any other domestic). I was also when shopping for my van. I bought a 97 a week ago. When these vans were introduced in 97, it was not the best time for GM quality. This may have something to due with the fact that GM was losing billions and billions of dollars in the early 90's when these van were being developed. If you're a reader of a lot of the auto industry news sites, you'll here a lot about the turn around in recent quality.

If you look at the JD Powers best in class for initial quality in the minivan section for 2003, you'll see the winner is the Silhouette. It beat the Honda. Now that doesn't necessarily imply the long term durability is better than the Honda, but it is a good sign.

The benefit to buying a brand of car that has a poor reputation for quality (based on past performance) but has recently made improvements is that you can get a very good deal.

I bought a 97 because I do all of my own repair work and because of the bad rap (even if it is deserving) I could get one very cheap.

Don't buy it. Stick with a quality vehicle like the Toyota Siena or the Honda Odyssey. I've had the intake manifold gasket replaced in my vehicle too -- cost about $1000. Plus Toyotas and Hondas retain their values; the Silhouette does not.

One more comment...

I just drove ours from Atlanta to Kalamazoo, MI to Chicago and back to Atlanta. Fully loaded with 2 kids and the far rear seats folded up and everything behind their packed solid. When driving 75MPH I averaged ~26 MPG, when driving 80MPH I averaged 25 MPG.

I don't know the status of the brakes, we bought the van with 24k on it and we now have 38k on it. Just checked the brakes and they have 25-30% left, I can't comment because I don't know if they were changed in the first 24k.

The more I drive this vehicle the more I like it as a traveling vehicle, but, I am always glad to get back in the 5.0L Mustang for around town.

When we came up on the manu warranty end, we wanted to it in, but, couldn't find any reason to.

SN95GT50

Not happy with my 2002 - heated seat element replaced 2x in 1 year, power sliding door quits part way every couple of weeks (apparently can't be fixed), weather stripping replaced, severe wind noise vibration in part of windshield attempted to fix 4 times!, fan blower in Heating/Cooling system replaced. Too many problems with the toys!! I should have bought the Odyssey

IIRC, anything made after feb 2003 is far less likely to have the head gasket problems since they changed the material used.

Used to have an 03 and loved it. Quieter than the 02 Odyessy we had before it, but not as sporty of a ride (which was OK w/ me)

Also, if ou do opt for an used Ody...watch out for transmission problems, Honda's dirty little secret