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Pontiac Grand Am

2588 messages,  Last post on Apr 30, 2013 at 7:46 AM

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What is this discussion about? Pontiac Grand Am, Sedan

Messages Page 76 of 260

#747 of 2588 Not a Trouble Free Car by nbr1stunna77

Mar 04, 2001 (6:02 pm)

I shopped all around to find the perfect sports sedan. I looked at Dodge, Acura, VW, and every other car priced under 25,000. I came to find the 2000 Grand Am GT to stand out infront of all the others. I purchased the new GT1 in July 2000, and since I have had nothing but problems with the car. The rotor's warped at 11,000 and have been replaced, the mech's have attempted twice to try to fix my a/c that shut's off after running it for more than a halfhour. The passenger doors leaked until mechanics got it fixed the second time around. Also the trunk makes a howling sound when at highway speeds, that has yet to be fixed. All of these problems I found to be common with the Grand Am's because they have bulletin's out on all. Has anyone else had any of these problems? And if so what did the dealership do to fix them. I know it sounds like I am bad mouthing the GA, but I am not I love my car. The handleing is great, accleration, cornering, it's just a great performing car. I don't know if I will ever buy another GA though or any Pontiac for that matter. Just my 2cents.
 
Oh one other Question- Does anyone have a lifter noise or tapping noise during starts and if so is it normal with the 3.4 Liter?
 
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

#748 of 2588 Re: Not a Trouble Free Car by lrymal

Mar 05, 2001 (6:05 am)

I had water on the carpet also, but honestly, at least in my case, the problem was from impatient rear passengers not raising the glass high enough. I mean, the class was in the top channel, but not against it. I have a rear-seat passenger who loves the glass down when the weather is nice, but raises the glass while opening the door. I solved THAT problem by MY doing the glass raising. After checking for that, my water problems "evaporated". No more wet carpets.
 
Airconditioner problems on your end sound like a thermal sensor or thermostat. Easy fix. Your dealer should fix that. At the worst, it could be a thermal shutdown issue in the compressor itself. Again, your dealer should spot that easily. I mean, this isn't rocket science. These are "old technology" problems with autos in generals. I'm referring to problems on any make vehicle all the way back to the late 60s. This is just a standard air conditioning issue. Even a home central air conditioning unit can experience these problems.
 
If your dealer cannot isolate this, then shame on that dealer. I would go somewhere else.
 
Rotors warping is a well-known problem. Your dealer should have offered to REPLACE those rotors with GM's heftier rotors. This list has several times listed the TB on that. SHAME ON YOUR DEALER...
 
Not sure what the howling sound is. Haven't seen any postings on that in this list. Might be a tire problem. A thrown weight, tire imbalance might cause slight cupping on the tread making the tire noisy.
 
The tapping noise of the engine is normal. The 3.4 liter motor is a hefty workhouse and is known for grunt work and high mileage. It is not an overhead cam motor. It uses hydraulic lifters and as such, it takes a few seconds for oil pressure to get oil to the lifters adequately. Hence, the tappet noise. This is normal and you'll hear this for another 200 thousand miles.
 
Example: Very old cars from the 60s that have hydraulic lifters usually are racketty sounding things at startup, especially if the oil was never changed well and sludge is in the crankcase.
 
At any rate, it is normal with the 3.4L. Just keep the oil clean.

#749 of 2588 by midlifecrisis

Mar 05, 2001 (9:04 am)

Tonychrys - I don't drive the GSP regularly, but every once in a while on business and pleasure. I've had it down in the Cape May area and from exit 130 north to exit 159 a few times.
 
Beedublu - I got to challenge the GT in a major snowstorm last week. I had to drive about 10 miles to a business function in a snowstorm in which there was 2-4" of unplowed and/or packed snow on top of icy roads. The car performed admirably, similar to how other front-wheel drive compacts have done for me before.
 
The ABS brakes in conjuntion with the traction control handled all but one situation perfectly. I did slide somewhat down a steep grade towards an intersection. I regained control after about 15 seconds. The low clearance did not seem to cause any problems, but I did notice that both the front and rear wheel wells trapped a tremendous amount of snow coming off the tires. The next day it took me a half hour to extract the frozen compacted snow from under the fenders.

#750 of 2588 Key noise by midlifecrisis

Mar 05, 2001 (9:08 am)

I also have the key problem. I was driving with a coworker just last week and she asked me why I was always grabbing my keys. I told her that I grab them going around turns because they clank against the dashboard and it is VERY annoying. She laughed at me. I really like having the ignition on the dashboard for ease of key insertion, but man it makes too much annoying noise! I was thinking of wrapping a rubber band around the keys, but that probably wouldn't work. Last week I removed 3 or 4 keys from my key chain, but it still makes noise. Maybe the sock isn't a bad idea. The keys will still sway back and forth, but maybe you can limit the noise it makes when hitting the dash.

#751 of 2588 Missfire when idling by sonic222

Mar 05, 2001 (10:00 am)

This is the first time I have worked on a quad four engine. After complaints from its owner {mother-in-law} about sluggish performance, I drove the car for look see. she was not kidding . It felt like it was running on two cylinders. I removed the coil tower cover and found telltale signs of carbon tracks from arching between the plug boots. replaced the coil tower,plug boots and plugs. I fired it back up and it ran like new. Now it seems to have an annoying slight but very noticeable miss when idling. The owner informs me that it was not there before I worked on it. I was hoping someone might have a suggestion as to what I might look at next. Thank you

#752 of 2588 Brakes by canada7

Mar 05, 2001 (12:06 pm)

I just bought a used 2000 Grand Am V6 last week with 23000 km (about 14k miles) on it, and when I brake the front discs grind. Apparently a 150 pt. inspection was done without it being noticed, and I even brought the car in to the dealership and was told they couldn't hear anything. The fan has to be on low to hear it, but it's definitely evident to us. Has anybody else experienced this, or know what it is?
 
Besides that the car is awesome though!

#753 of 2588 Canada... by vocus

Mar 05, 2001 (12:14 pm)

The front brake rotors are bad, and this is a Technical Service Bulletin on Grand Ams. Check this chat thread for alot more information on it. Talk to your dealer about having the new, stronger brake rotors put on your car, but do it quickly. Usually, brakes are only covered for 12K. Since this is a widespread problem, you should have no difficulty getting them replaced.

#754 of 2588 by jkidd2

Mar 05, 2001 (7:18 pm)

I've posted on the body cladding before. I didn't buy mine because it had it...but, as everyone else has noted....I have no door dings all...the only car of 3 we have in our family that doesn't have them.
 
Side body cladding is a Pontiac tradition...someone else mentioned that there are a lot of cars/trucks/suv's out there now days besides the GA with cladding....nobody seems to say much about them...Pontiac is an easy target...different strokes for different folks. If you don't like it...don't buy it.
 
I've read a lot of postings here Edmunds and on other message boards of people complaining about water leaks in their GA's....have had no problem like that in mine. Wonder if there is a service advisory out there?

#755 of 2588 Water leaks/strange noises by chaylan

Mar 06, 2001 (6:44 pm)

Working at a Pontiac dealership, I get to see what problems tend to recur in the different models/years of the Pontiacs brought in for service. A few people were commenting about water leaks in their 2000 GAs and there was a problem with this last year. If you just have a few water spots here and there, this probably doesn't apply to you. However, we had people coming in after hard summer rains (in FL where it rains every day in the summer) with a trunk full of water. This was apparently due to improper sealing of the rear window, causing water to leak in and down into the trunk and backseat. If you're experiencing a lot of water in the backseat/trunk area, I'd have that window looked at.
 
A very minor problem I found with my 2001 GT is this bizarre noise that occurred this weekend while driving on the interstate. Occasionally I would hear a noise that sounded like a very distant air horn. It wasn't particularly loud (I had passengers so the radio was off, may not have even heard it with the radio on), but a little worrisome since this is a brand-new car. It seemed to be coming from the rear of the car, and my backseat passenger said she felt the rear window vibrating when the noise occurred (differently from normal driving with no noise, so it wasn't due to normal road vibration). It was an extremely windy day, about 20-30mph winds with gusts of about 40mph. Anyone else experienced this problem? We figured it was probably the wind, maybe gusting under the spoiler or something, and making a really weird sound. I didn't experience the noise on the trip back home; the wind had died down and it was pouring rain. So it seemed to support my wind theory...
 
Otherwise, no other problems with my GT! I love my car.

#756 of 2588 Good Riddance! by rpm9

Mar 06, 2001 (9:48 pm)

Well, I had to do it. I just recently voluntarily repossessed my 00 GA/SE-1/V6 coupe because I no longer could handle the payments. There goes my credit, but oh well. Anyway, I have to admit that I don't really miss it at all because overall, I didn't like the light steering, the so-so handling, and the ribbing started really getting on my nerves. Due to my financial situation, I went and bought a 94 Mazda 626/V6 for $6K and I have to admit that even though this car has 99K miles and that it's seven years old, that it rides and handles much better than the GA. I'm very happy to be back driving a Japanese car again. They truly are better cars than the ones made by American manufacturers.

Messages Page 76 of 260

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