Did they ever get it right?

I thought I read a post many years ago that eventually GM got it right with the 3.4L engine and no longer they had the gasket problems. We love our 98 Venture but I cannot intentionally buy one again knowing their reputation. So were the later years of the Venture any better?

I was told by the service manager at our Chevy dealer that they were redesigned in 02 but their were still problems but noticeably less. So far so good with our 04 it's got 75k mi on it now. I think it's important to keep the Red coolant ( I forget it's name now) in good shape. I just changed mine since it was 5 yrs. but now where near the miles. I know what you mean about loving the old Venture's. We replace our 99 with 203k mi. on it with an 04 had 41k. on it when we got it.

So far so good with our 04 it's got 75k mi on it now. I think it's important to keep the Red coolant ( I forget it's name now) in good shape..
That would be Dex Cool.

I have noticed a big drop off in post 2003 models with the LIM issue. The aftermarket replacement gaskets seem to fare better than the OEM 'redesigned' gaskets. Although I have seen my share of OEM gaskets that are still holding up well in post '03 models that are factory installed and have 100K or more on the engine. I would be comfortable replacing an older model Venture with a '04 or '05 if needed. I've always jokingly said that GM discontinues a model after most of the bugs are worked out of it and in this case it seems like the same holds true :lol:.

we have an '04 Venture and at 60k we had the intake go out on us. Fortunatly for us we had the extended warranty and it was repaired free.