Rear Head Gasket

Hi
My 2001 Venture has just hit 70K and yesterday the dealer said the rear head gasket had to be replaced for $1000. Its pretty sad that GM supplies vans with an engine that falls apart at 70K. My old 95 Venture also had an engine gasket replaced but at least it waited till around 125K.

Any comments on this problem, is this common for this vehicle. Personally I think its pitiful and another nail in the north american car markets coffin. I think this will be my last NA car, unless I start leasing and giving them back their junk before it breaks.

What exactly is a powertrain warranty? What does it cover? Would not an oil leak from the engine be covered under the powertrain warranty?

Let me know what you think.
thanks

I jsut finished reaplcing both of my head gaskets on my '97 venutre. The gaskets cost$50.00 CDN each. But you will need to get a bunch of other gaskets if you decide to replace it yourself like EGR gaskets and the lower and upper intake gaskets.

Very common repair on these vans, as well as other vehicles (GM) using the 3.4 and 3.8 motors. The original gasket was defective, and a newer spec gasket has been released to remedy the issue. It has metal compression reinforcement parts in it to prevent failure (usually caused by the original parts being over torqued, or not torqued enough at the factory, or no locktite being applied to the holding bolts). Take it to an independant mechanic to have this done, not the dealer. I got a quote at a reputable shop in town for 400 bucks for the whole job, including the new gaskets and labor.

Thanks for the info.
I have been speaking with GM and it looks like they will pay half of the cost, which is better than nothing. So this should make it roughly $500 CDN. I hope to talk them into replacing the intake manifold gasket also for little or no more, which I have heard is even a more common gasket problem.

to change the head gasket, they have to take the intake off, so you will get an intake change. Don't let them get by with only changing one head gasket though.