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~thank you very much
Does anyone know of a manual method to pull the diagnostic codes from a 1998 Grand Am (not using a diagnostic tool)? For example, for my Durango, you click the ignition from 'off' to 'on' 3 times and the code will read in the odometer. Is a similar method possible for the Grand Am? Thanks in advance.
This happened on my 99 some time ago, and I had it repaired by changing the ignition switch.
Then suddenly last week, while I was on the freeway, suddenly I heard a strange sound from the car, just like the sound when any car goes over a bumpy road, except I was driving on a smooth road. I immediately took the exit and drove on the surface streets. I am beginning to see this problem more often now, and sometimes, the steering wheel also shakes. Do I have a faulty engine mount? Please help...
I drove the 2003 SE1 package with the V6, but it seemed to have less power than my wife's 99 Grand Am with the 4 cylinder. The car also had significantly less options on the package and just seemd like another econo box. My wife's Grand Am has a higher level feel to it.
Now I have a question... my GA has the 2.4 TwinCam engine, now is this engine prone to the same problems as the old 2.3 Quad4? So far the only problems I have had have been minor and nothing to do with the engine *knocks on wood.* I hope it isn't prone to the same problems because I love my car!
Has any one heard of any incentives to get current Gm leasees into a new car before their lease is up. A Saturn dealer told me that Gm will allow people to bring their cars back if their lease is up between now and Dec 2004 with no penalty. Could this be true ?
1. How often should I ? Just follow the maintenance schedule in the owners’ manual. If you don’t have one, buy one-it helps if you can read (not everyone graduated from Southern Cal).
2. How many miles will my car last? Most any car will last forever (longer than a young mans morning timber) provided you follow number 1.
3. What kind of oil should I use? See number 1 above (remember, not all engineers graduated from Georgia Tech).
4. How fast can I make my car? Money=Speed-the more money you spend on real motor parts (the stuff below the intake) the faster you go (do you really think a “tornado” will improve gas mileage and add 10 more hp).
5. What kind of air filter should I use? Whatever you bought-provided you follow number 1 above (just make sure it stops the dust from the GTO in front of you).
6. What kind of oil filter should I use? Whatever you bought-provided you follow number 1 above. I use my hands to put it on and take it off, without the fancy tar on the end.
7. What kind of tires should I use? See number 1 above. GM/Tire engineers collected large amounts of data and research about the kind/size of the tires on your car long before it came to market. Any time you change from the owners manual strange things like noise, rubbing, sliding down the road upside down, etc happen (remember, not all engineers graduated from Va. Tech and work for Firestone).
8. What kind of plugs should I use? Whatever you bought-provided you follow number 1 above. After all, it’s the size of the gap that matters-like all things in life.
9. What kind of fuel filter should I use? Whatever you bought-provided you follow number 1 above. Remember to also use Texaco/Shell gas, and put isopropyl alcohol anti-freeze, Marvel Mystery oil, and Techron fuel system cleaner in your tank 4 times a year. They keep the carbon deposits down, get the water out of the fuel, frees stuck things inside your motor, and makes the brown stuff inside your injectors/carburetor disappear (so you don’t have to use the “tornado”)
10. What kind of wax should I use? Maguire’s-he really is a car guy, has a great show on Speed, and if you buy his stuff he’ll keep his show on Speed.
Thanks.
My wife's April 02 Alero 3.4 has a problem with the Dexcool Antifreeze in the expansion tank. The car has done 36000 miles and each week when I check the expansion tank level, there is brown sludge on the base of the cap and at the top of the tank. I flushed the expansion tank and refilled with 50:50 solution as instructed of fresh Dexcool to no avail. As Dexcool is supposed to last for 150,00 miles or 5 years I'm confused. I've never used Dexcool before, surely this sludge should not happen. Can anyone help? There is no fluid loss by the way.
My Alero 3.4 has 47K and 4 years on it now with the original Dexcool. I don't see any intake manifold gasket leak or sludge on the cap yet, but I will always keep an eye on it. Next year when I hit 5 years, I will have the engine flushed and new Dexcool installed for another 5.
First I'd like to buy a coupe w/ std features only
i don't need the performance package
My target price is $16,000 (plus fees and tax)
and I think I could get it.
I was just quoted $17000 something after all the cashback and incentives but I think by July they'll be an extra hidden incentive in order to push the car out the door
But I may have to order the car I want.
When does production stop?
I heard May and I heard end of July.
The salesmen won't tell me of course.
The Alero is a cheaper alternative..but I don't feel good about that car.
The grand am and Alero are the only coupes in which I like the chassis.
I understand your comments about the Alero as that will have the same problem with residuals as Olds is being phased out of course. But, you can get a great deal on the Alero V6 now. We bought one for my wife. 15 months old, 20,000 miles for $10700 (factory warranty too). Inevitably it was an ex-rental, but we are very pleased with it. We had a 2.4 Grand-Am prior to that (1996), my wife loved that car too.
we just recently installed new fuel pump and spark plug wires and spark plugs and fuel filter, and we have pressure in the intake fuel rail and very strong spark at the plugs,
this car always ran excellent and it just died and hasnt ran since, is not injecting fuel so we are now stumped, maybe its the cam sensor ?
we ruled out failure of crank sensor since it is receiving spark at proper times and is a hot blue spark.
i was told if resistance is wrong in one of the injectors then that none will get signal from ECM to fire, is this true ?
thanks for anything i appreciate it
fastr68@yahoo.com
It's far better to just make your email address public in your profile and invite folks to check it. Members have to be logged in to see other members' profiles and that fact hides the information from the spam bots.
Just a suggestion...
Yeah..but I only want a black coupe
that may be hard to locate in the Tri-state area
They may give me a better deal on a different color just to get it off the lot, but I'll turn it down.
I spoke to the salesman, he said..alright i'll call you back in June, he explained he'd be making about $75 commission at the least, but a sale is a sale.
He said he could take about $1000 off the MSRP
Okay...So July is a good time to buy , not June..I'm afriad the incentives will vanish
new tires, allignment, and other accessories because I had to travel 200 miles to a different state. The car drove pretty good, except at the highway toll, the engine stops running and I had to start the engine to have the car running again.
Afterwards, I wanted to return back to my original state, so I took my car to the mechanic to have this problem fixed. He changed the brakes, shocks, sensors for gears, complete tuning, oil change,
etc, etc, and charged me more than $1400 for parts and labor. Now, the car problem that I orginally had is even worse. Now when I stop at the toll, the engine turns off, and after I start the engine and the moment I put the car in the gear, the engine turns off again and it continues unless I put my left foot on the brake, and right foot on the gas, and give a lot of gas at the same time that I change the gear to drive, while slowly releasing the brake. Then the car zooms forward and then it runs normally until the next toll on the highway, or at any other stop, hense I have to drive the car on the right lane only.
I can also correct this problem by putting the car in reverse gear
while one foot is on the gas, and the other is on the brake, for
even an inch, and the problem gets corrected.
If the car is driven on the highway for more than 50 miles per hour,
even for couple of minutes, this problem occurs because it thinks
that it is at the highest gear and that's why if I reduce the speed to
5 miles per hour, it starts giving jerks and eventually, the engine
turns off. Could you advise me on how to get this problem fixed.
Other than that, the car drives exceptionally well, and the car looks
pretty brand new.
Your help is greatly appreciated,
-peace out
at $19,012 (this includes all rebates) before tax, fees, registration. White with dark gray interior, 4 dr sedan.
There's a lot of good competition out there, but I tried it and even though they advertise more refined higher HP under the hood, they still don't have the low end grunt that the old OHV V6 does. It reminded me of driving my old 2.8L 280SE Mercedes, it will move but you have to keep your foot in it. I don't buy this complaint about no manual option available with the V6. It just doesn't seem necessary with the performance of automatics today, at least on the road.
It's my third GA (still have the 95!)and I know it won't be completely problem free, but then what isn't?
I looked the GTO over real hard (impressive), but at 41K (5K dealer mark up!)it just wasn't a viable daily driver for me.
Anyone know how to do this?... Thanks, nickper.
Original message:
"I bought a used 1993 Pontiac Grand Am Se, 115,000 original miles, six
months ago for $2000. Once I bought the car, I spent $1,000 for
new tires, allignment, and other accessories because I had to travel
200 miles to a different state. The car drove pretty good, except
at the highway toll, the engine stops running and I had to start
the engine to have the car running again.
Afterwards, I wanted to return back to my original state, so I took
my car to the mechanic to have this problem fixed. He changed
the brakes, shocks, sensors for gears, complete tuning, oil change,
etc, etc, and charged me more than $1400 for parts and labor. Now, the car problem that I orginally had is even worse. Now when I stop at the toll, the engine turns off, and after I start the engine and the moment I put the car in the gear, the engine turns off again and it continues unless I put my left foot on the brake, and right foot on the gas, and give a lot of gas at the same time that I change the gear to drive, while slowly releasing the brake. Then the car zooms forward and then it runs normally until the next toll on the highway, or at any other stop, hense I have to drive the car on the right lane only.
I can also correct this problem by putting the car in reverse gear
while one foot is on the gas, and the other is on the brake, for
even an inch, and the problem gets corrected.
If the car is driven on the highway for more than 50 miles per hour,
even for couple of minutes, this problem occurs because it thinks
that it is at the highest gear and that's why if I reduce the speed to
5 miles per hour, it starts giving jerks and eventually, the engine
turns off. Could you advise me on how to get this problem fixed.
Other than that, the car drives exceptionally well, and the car looks
pretty brand new.
"
"Reply to #1782 of 1788 Re: Pontiac engine turns off when waiting to pay toll on highway! [mrspongebob #1781] by polysaturate04 Apr 21, 2004 (12:08 am)
I currently have a 92 chev cavalier wagon that had that pronlem with the gear locking and the engine shutting off. What the problem is (and i guess its a older gm cars) is that the relay for the auxilary drive is bad. The aux. drive kicks in once the car is warmed up and is travaling more than 40 mph. When i got the part its was pretty cheap and a quik mechanic fix. Hope this helped you and if it doesnt u cant say i didnt try...lol..
-peace out
"
What this guy was talking about was the TCC solenoid, Torque Converter Clutch.I don't remember the price but not bad, you have to remove the side cover of the transmission to access it. Not good on prices I do my own work but $150 sticks in my mine for trans shop.Hope this helps.
The low coolant light came on. So we added the drexcool antifreeze. While driving a couple days later...I pulled into a gas station and noticed all this antifreeze coming out of my car. It was coming from the resevior overflow hose. I haven't taken the car to a mechanic yet but I am wondering why this is happening...any sugestions?
Have a 2001 Grand Am SE with the 3.4 V6, the other day the HVAC fan quit working on settings 1-4 but works on the highest setting. Any idea's what this could be? Switch? Fuse?
Thanks
Bill
Unfortunatly this is the 2nd time its gone out on me, I can't remember what it was the first time it was a warranty repair and I can't find the paperwork. Its well out of warranty now mileage wise now...I can do without the A/C its not something we think about much here in northern NY.