I just bought this van. Going on my third day. on the second day the check engine light would come on once than it would go off. the third day the check engine light came on and the engine started sputtering really bad to the fact that it lost 50% of its power and the check engine light stayed on. {{Due to coolant getting into the combustion chamber}}

I had heard about CarComplaints.com. I got home and turned my computer to find out my worst nightmare reading about all the complaint on this vehicle's 3.4engine and its head gasket failure.

I am taking it back THANK YOU AutoBeef!

Update from Dec 4, 2011: i have a van like yours. i have a question as far as you were saying it cuts off all the time??

1999 pontiac montana 3.8 motor.

my van can run good for a week or two then all of the sudden it looses power and check engine light comes on it sputters like its misfiring. it does that for maybe 10 miles or ten minutes than it starts running good again the check engine lights shots off after 40 to 50 miles after.so my question to you is if it sounds familiar to you. any info you give me would be helpful.. Now the other problem is that in the morning when its cold and i am on the road right after the tranny shifts to over drive it shuggs you know like it wants to slip out and in of overdrive. thank-you

I Own a 1999 pontiac montana i have owned it for 18mnths shortly after i got it the low coolant light came on , so i pulled over checked it and it was a little low the light never came on again for about 8mnths. then all of the sudden i was going through alot of annifreeze. not sure where it was going. anyways then i was on my way to work and it just died along side the road like it had lost all power i tryed to restart but then it would die right away. I do not know what to do it will cost alot to fix and not sure after reading this sight if it is even worth fixing

i bought my van at a used car dealer ship. the price was great. the van looked great. but if i had known what i was in store for then i would have left the damn thing where it was. i have never bought a vehicle and 3 months later the damn thing broke down on me. it ran hot!!!!! anti-freeze was everywhere! i took it to the nearest auto shop and they told me what the problem was. then again what they thought it was. they told me that my engine block might be cracked and i should just go ahead and replace the engine. i will find a way to file a lawsuit against the dealership. there was no warranty. but i'm sue there is a way around everything! i will never get another Pontiac again!

This problem with the over heating started about 3 weeks before it finally just quit on me and my wife. The check engine light would come on and as soon as I got it home and would check things out the light would go off. It would run good for a couple of days and then it would start to stagger and run like a 3-legged dog. It then started getting hot or at least it would read hot. I would put antifreeze in it and it would run ok for a day or two. Nobody here likes working on these Montanas because GM stuck the damn motor in it sideways which makes it impossible to do anything. We were driving it on the 19th. of June 2008 and it started staggering and I just managed to get it out of traffic before it died. I ended up paying $65 for a tow truck to come and get it and take it home because it would not start. I ended up having to buy another car until this pile of junk gets fixed. I took it to a mechanic here who agreed to work on it and he called me at the end of the day and informed me my oil had anti-freeze in it. I am now looking at buying a new motor for it as the one that is in it is trash. I have no idea what that is going to run me. I also think that GM should be held accountable for this problem. I will never own another Pontiac that is a fact.

Hey guys I have good news for at least some of us anyways. I was doing some research about this lower intake manifold gasket problem and it turns out that there is a settlement being offered from GM. It not much but anything is better than nothing. There are certain conditions for you to qualify. To see if you qualify go to this link: go to (http://www.girardgibbs.com/dexcool.html#faq_1). Unfortunately they can't help me but maybe they can help you. You need to hurry though because time is limited.

Yet another complaint about the 1999 Pontiac Montana Van. I purchased mine about 2 years ago and have had numerous problems. The latest and worst problem is my lower intake manifold gasket. I haven't replaced it yet but will in the near future unless I can sell it before then. I have been noticing an antifreeze smell for a while now but have not been able to locate the leak. I know it is going somewhere because I am having to add antifreeze every few days. I have also been noticing an oily film in my coolant reservoir even after changing my coolant. After reading this website I am confident that it is my lower intake manifold gasket. Add me to the list for the class action lawsuit. This is wrong what they are doing to us! They shouldn't be able to get away with this!

I have a 1999 Pontiac Montana and I think its cursed!! I had the lower intake repaired

last year, and now this year I had the lower intake fixed again and I have to replace both heads that are leaking too!! The total cost between last year and this year totals

around $4,000 dollars. Between what I paid for the piece of crap and all the repairs I have done, I could be driving a fairly new dependable car. Pontiac is losing customers because of their lack of attention to this problem. I wanted a montana for a long time and I was so excited to get one, now I wish someone has only warned me first. I have always loved pontiacs but I have to say that I will never own a pontiac again, I will be a loyal ford customer now!

I have a 1999 Pontiac Montana that had the annoying intake gasket problem. I managed to run mine to 140,000 miles until the antifreeze poured down the side of the block and the motor overheated. It started leaking antifreeze about 100,000 miles but I am not going to take the engine out and rebuild the top half with that many miles on it. So I ran it till it couldn't run anymore. I bought a crate motor and put it in myself for 2000 dollars which includes all brand new sensors. Before I put it in, I discarded the original junk plastic intake gasket and bought a new aftermarket metal gasket which is by far superior. Also I thought the torque specs were kind of loose for the intake manifold bolts, so I increased the torque values x2 when I tightened the bolts. I now have 40,000 miles on my new motor and it runs a lot better.

This seems to be a chronic problem that eventually will damage the motor severely. In our case an intake manifold leak began at 40,000 miles. A moderate amount of antifreeze began to leak. When we contacted our dealer we were told sorry it is out of warranty and will cost anywhere from 1000 to 1200 dollars to fix because the whole motor had to be pulled in order to reach and change the intake manifold. I fortunately had a friend, who was a former GM mechanic, he told me this was a very common problem with these particular engines. His suggestion was not to change the intake manifold gaskets until the leak became much worse than it was at the time. Along with this he told me GM had a specific radiator and engine stopleak especially used for this problem. I went to GM and bought a package of 8 tablets, made of a vegetable combination, and added this to my radiator. This seemed to seal the leak significantly. I nursed the vehicle along adding these stopleak tablets every 15 to 20 thousand miles, whenever the leak would reappear. Finally at 98,000 miles I had to have the intake manifold gaskets replaced when finally the stopleak would do no good. I had to add more stopleak after about 20,000 miles again after this repair. Now at 130,000 miles the engine has basically locked up. It is kind of a shame because it seems like it would have never lasted this long if I hadn't been monitoring and nursing along a , what seems to be, defective engine to begin with. I can't help but feel that this leakage finally ruined the engine and GM knew about the problem and could have solved it with a recall and repair that should have actually fixed the problem.

Motor intake gasket failed with no warning. Engine overheated and warped heads. Installed new motor because used motors were under such demand that you cannot find a good one. I am a relatively experienced person from a mechanical standpoint and this thing still got me. I check my oil weekly and my radiator fluid on a monthly basis. No symptoms until it went out. I would love to get involved in some form of class action due to the volume of this problem. GM should be held accountable for yet another piece of junk. This problem would nailed Mr. Goodwrench himself. I had no warning. $4500 and all I have is a new motor and a junk van.