2000 Olds Silhouette, new to us

[dareo]

Bought this for advertising/work use, 2000 with 131k miles, from original owners with papers back for 24 miles. It had o2 sensors and intake manifold gaskets done in the past few years. They even had the original window sticker, 30k for this loaded van in 2000!

3400 V6, AT of course, new brakes, decent tires, just one leak:

Power steering leaks, so please suggest a stopleak type steering fluid that may slow it down or stop the leak. A shop quoted them 2k for a rack and pinion and this prompted them to sell it. Nearly every OCI from the same small shop with Pennzoil 5w30.

Short trip employee driven city use with our ads on it. Low mileage per year expected. Suggest and comment away if you have owned one of these before. If this runs without drama for a few years it will have been a huge bargain at about 95% off the new price.

 

[renegade_987]

My uncle has its cousin, a 2001 Montana. Its got around 230K on original everything and the transmission JUST started slipping. Seems to be a good vehicle.

 

[bigt61]

Those were nice Vans back in the day. It should have a lot of life left. Lucas always worked for me on PS leaks unless it was pouring out. Even if it slows it down a little, how long can you go on $2000 worth of power steering fluid top offs?

http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=28&catid=2&loc

 

[EricF]

stay far away from ANY lucas product.
All the p/s stuff is is a thickening agent with no soap added.
it's a super thick red dyed petroleum .

You aren't going to solve anything with it, just create more.
Also adding to much of this stuff has been known to lock up the rack & pinion unit.

for a slow oil leak, and you don't want to replace the hoses if that's what's leaking, find a bottle of ATP's Re-Seal (AT-205)

If ReSeal doesn't solve your leak, you have a bigger problem.

 

[cptbarkey]

the only thing that terrifies me about this vintage van is its terrible crash safety ratings.

 

[Bryankkkk]

Had a 01 like that, it was nice and reliable, only things I had issues were the electronics! Window issues, seats, headlights, tail lights etc. haha.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
the only thing that terrifies me about this vintage van is its terrible crash safety ratings.
the op bought it for his employees to drive so who cares about crash ratings!

 

[The_Jeff]

I had a 97 short wheel base and it was pretty nice! 26-27 MPG at extralegal speeds with the AC on. A noticeable couple inches narrower track than the competition. Great visibility, decent pep and handling, good gear ratios, cheap tires. Easy out seats.

The big thing that was biting mine was rust, rust, rust! I hit a bridge expansion joint and the air-ride compressor detatched itself underneath the floorpan, taking some of that with it. It wasn't a huge deal as I had already replaced the heavily leaking air shocks with ghetto yellow monroe ones.

 

[NHGUY]

Exactly on the crash test results.Check You Tube for a Trans Sport 1997 crash test on NBC Dateline.The only ones worse were Astro/Safari and Previa.

 

[silverrat]

That's the Cadillac of minivans!

 

[Hokiefyd]

Where exactly is the leak point? Could it simply need a new low- or high-pressure fluid hose?

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Wasn't Dateline the one that put dynamite under Chevy trucks to show them exploding?

 

[dareo]

Originally Posted By: Bryankkkk
Had a 01 like that, it was nice and reliable, only things I had issues were the electronics! Window issues, seats, headlights, tail lights etc. haha.


This thing has power everything, some rear stereo setup, rear HVAC, all sorts of electricals to maybe break. It just has to roll around town with a vinyl wrap and one person in it, and maybe haul some stuff around now and then. So i hope electrical failures won't stop that type of use.


No idea where the exact leak is on the power steering but it doesn't seem to be as severe as the guy thought it was.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
the only thing that terrifies me about this vintage van is its terrible crash safety ratings.
the op bought it for his employees to drive so who cares about crash ratings!

I actually lol'd at that one!

 

[mclasser]

My neighbor had the Chevy counterpart of this van- the Venture. He didn't keep it in the best of shape but the van soldiered on. He finally sold it with quite a few miles on it.

 

[daves87rs]

Rust is going to kill my dad's Venture well before the engine goes...his has done well in 10 years of service....