Used 1999 GMC Savana Consumer Reviews
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A Great Cross Country Trooper
We have owned this vehicle for three years now and it has been great transportation. We had purchased it to make regular back and forth trips from Texas To California but wound up moving to Pennsylvania. It was a great ride in the cross country expeditions. We have used to haul machines, lumber, water purifiers and just plain traveling. We like the capacity as we carry people to church on Sunday and have had as many as 15 on the run. We would buy it again. The only real problem we have had was with a engine sensor that only happened while traveling in the California Desert and that was only once. Haven't had any other issues. Would recommend this baby to anyone who wanted a roomy ride.
Great Van - built solid
This is my secound GMC. I bought this one new and paid almost $35,000. The price was a little step, but it is very dependable. I have only need a few minor repare and they were covered under warranty. This is a great van and I am very satisfied.
Epitomy of Planned Obsolescence
This is a typical GM product. It looks alright on paper, but in real world use, it falls flat on it's face. This vehicle has been beset by problems from day one. The built-in TV/VCP will short out the rest of the interior lights. It is on it's 3rd transmission. The rear differential is going out (clack clack clack!). The intake manifold has cracked. The fuel pump has died. The brakes are garbage. Even the oil dipstick is rusty. That's sad.
Great Van
I bought my 1998 GMC 2500 Savana with the 5.7 motor in November of 2021. The seller said a company was taking care of it and that it's motor was rebuilt and only has 90,000 on it. Who knows what 'rebuilt' means - maybe they just put a new starter on it, I don' know, I wasn't given any information about what was done to the motor. You have to move around the shift lever in order to make the key contact and start it. It ran great going down the highway, has power, sounded awesome, and is very comfortable. It was used as a cargo van / food truck to deliver stuff. No major dents in it but the sliding side door handle and lock was missing and would get stuck and the back drivers side door has been smacked and it needs to be lifted up a touch to totally latch. It starts up every time and goes down the highway great. No 'Service Engine Soon' light, gas gauge works, but I notice the steering seems to have a little play when going down the highway. I can let go of the steering wheel and it stays straight really well and it's not pulling from side to side or nothing like that. Right now the biggest problem is that it has developed a tick every revolution of the engine and its hard to tell if it's low in the motor or high. The ticking sound is not quite a knock but it is kind of loud. At the moment I've been doing all kinds of stuff to try to find the culprit. Let me say this. I've driven the van around 1,300 miles with the ticking/knocking sound and it hasn't gotten better or worse. I've checked the flywheel for cracks and the tightness of the flywheel bolts, changed the oil and put a really good filter in it. I also removed the left valve cover just to see how the rockers looked. It's a massive job just to get that left/drivers side valve cover off. I even made YouTube videos to show the process: see this: https://youtu.be/GUGiHv2Fk3U The rockers on that left side looked really clean and there was no gunk around the cover and on the bottom. I'm going to adjust my rocker bolts first, and then change the oil again to look for metal shavings. While the oil pan is off, I'm going to use a small ball peen and tap the bottom of each rod to hear a clunk or weird sound, that'll tell me if a bearing has a problem. Worse case scenario is to pull the engine and check everything - or just replace the engine. Ya know, sometimes they say if it ain't broke don't fix it...If read where some owners have a tick/knock and just keep driving it...what ever. I hope my review is helpful. All in all I love the way the van drives and goes down the road and it's worth it to me to repair it. The body and suspension seems to still be in great shape, brakes too. If you have a 1998 gmc with a 5.7 ticking noise let me know your situation. Take care!
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The kids love it
I seem to have similar experiences to those reviews already written. Brakes need replacing a lot, driver's side window works 75% of the time, scraped up running boards while learning my boundaries and they don't do well in airport parking garages! But, my 6 kids Love this van! So much so that with 158,000 miles, we just purchased a new one! We are excited about spending 10+ more years with this one.