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Comments
thank YOU
By the way, my very frugal father has been happy with his newer GT Ram Air V6 for several years, so that has inspired me to look at these cars. Sounds like I should buy his GT sometime, since it has had no problems and has been treated well. I just have to talk him into it! If there is a large aftermarket for the 3.4 V6 that will certaily influence my decision.
:sick: :mad:
If this is a high performance car that is being raced then you may see the benifits of the Bosch plugs.
Just my opinion
Any others having the same issues with solutions would help.
Thanks
Is there a forum that I can go to for cross referencing parts from other cars. I know Hollender has a book,(big bucks), but I have went to free web sights in the past but can't remember where they were. getting old I guess
I don't remember it costing that much to repair on my 99, I think it was about $375.00. Don't know why your keys would have anything to do with it, the lock cylinder doesn't have to be replaced, only the Hall effect sensor on the ignition switch typically.
No recalls that I'm aware of for this, but there's most likely TSB's out about it.
In December, my husband and I bought an 02 grand am se. It's got 180k miles and we bought it used from a dealer, only warranty is 6 month/6k miles with a $100 deductable. We haven't really had any problems with it except for a few "minor" things like the display on the radio/clock doesn't work and you can only see it when the sunlight hits it just right or the turn indicator won't flash but clicks sometimes. During those times, my husband has to click the hazards on and off a few times and then the turn indicators will begin working.
However, we had this huge cold snap come through (Pittsburg, KS) and there's all this snow that we're not used to having and the temperatures have been below freezing. Anywho, my husband works 3rd shift and was on the highway at 11 pm going to work when the car suddenly died while driving down the road. He coasted it over to the side of the road and kept trying to get it to start. Most of the time it wouldn't, though sometimes it would start and he could drive for a couple of miles before it would die again.
It acts like it's out of gas: sputters, stalls, then dies. At first (this has been happening for the better part of a month now) it would crank over but not start. Now, it won't even turn over after it dies.
No lights came on and no codes popped up on the diagnostics from Auto Zone. The first time he had a major problem with it, he came home from work at 8 in the morning and took our oldest daughter to school. He went in to talk to them at the school and when he came back out it wouldn't start. Same thing, crank but not start. I called the dealership because of their warranty and spoke with the mechanic who was going to send a tow truck to pick it up. He informed us it would be several weeks before he could get to it. My husband eventually got the car started (after close to two hours waiting on the tow truck driver) and brought it home. We called the mechanic back and he said to bring it in so he could look at it. Got it there and he wanted us to leave the car for about a week until he could look at it. My husband about had to scrape me off the ceiling.
It went a couple of days before it happened again. That time it was rather short in comparison. The mechanic still wasn't able to look at it. We went to Auto Zone. They hooked it up to their machine again and no codes came back. The worker told us that he'd just experienced the same thing with his car. Water got in the gas whether because of a leak or just watered down gas and then in the freezing temperatures it froze, then when the gas tank was under a quarter of a tank, the fuel pump would suck up a piece of ice, clogging it causing the car to act like it's out of gas. We needed to wait for the ice to melt and then it would be alright, which was why we could let the car sit and then it would eventually start. O-kay... never in my life have I heard of that before and I've come acrossed some pretty weird things with cars.
He suggested keeping the car on a full tank to avoid this issue. Later it started happening even with full tanks of gas. It was then suggested that we treat the fuel to remove the water completely. We bought the highest gas we could which had ethanol, got the fuel treatment, and fuel injector cleaner. Didn't help.
Back to Auto Zone because the mechanic still couldn't see us. This time, it was a bad 02 sensor. Alrighty, which one? Keep in mind that nothing shows up on the diagnostics at all and absolutely no lights show up on the car: no check engine light or anything.
We hunt all over the internet to try to find out where an 02 censor is, how to know which one it is, what all we'll need to get and how much it will cost. We're just getting ready to get both 02 censors even though we don't really know if that's the problem or even which one could be bad, when the car totally went ballistic. He's once again on his way to work at 11 pm and he doesn't even make it back home until around 2:30 am. This time, the check engine light came on.
When the car died, he had to let it sit for about 20 minutes, then it would start and he could drive it maybe 10 mph for about 2 or 3 miles before it died and he had to sit for another 20 minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat for several hours until he made it home. At the end of that round, it got to where if he slowed down or let off the throttle at all it would die, so he had to gun it (it maxed at 35 mp in a 65 mph zone) just to get it home. The check engine light stayed on the whole time.
The next morning he got ready to go to Auto Zone. The check engine light was back off. He had no problems with the car getting it to Auto Zone. However, this time when they hooked it up to their diagnostic it coded misfire on two or more cylinders. They suggested changing the spark plugs and cables. Ok, I don't know who had this car before us, but you'd think the dealership would have done routine maintenance and at least a minor tune up on it before selling it to us, but those spark plugs were n a s t y.
Didn't work. The mechanic talks to us again and says that it could be because of running the enthanol gas that our car may not be configured to take it and that if the gas were the problem, Auto Zone would be liable for the damages if any caused by recommending it to us. He said to run the car as far out of gas as possible and go back to the cheap-o stuff, but that he could finally see the car today but it would need to stay in the shop for about a week.
My husband ran it completely out of gas, where it died and wouldn't start then poured 5 gallons that he had in a gas can into it to get to the station and fill up with the cheap stuff. It's still doing it.
Now the mechanic says that he'll need to keep the car for several weeks until he can get to it, so needless to say it's in my driveway right now.
I've seen on other forums that it's the ignition module, it's the fuel pump, the fuel injectors, the 02 censor, the crank shaft, and then one of my husband's co-workers said that he went through the same thing with his car: he said that he got the exact same treatment with everyone telling him exactly what we've been told and that his problem was the coil pack.
Has anyone else gone through this problem at all and how on earth did you fix it? I hunted and there isn't even a Chilton's book for this model. We're totally stumped and tired of this car breaking down on us more than our last p.o.s.
Your first mistake was buying a car with 180K on it, especially this model.
Your probably just throwing money at it with what your doing.
I suggest biting the bullet and taking it to Pontiac and at least having them diagnose it for you. Those guys at Autozone, etc, can put code scanners on it and read diagnostic codes but unless your knowledgeable about what they're telling you you're just chasing your tail.
as to the diagnostics from auto zone or the mechanics that have seen it, no codes show up at all and the only code that ever did was the misfire readings.... it sounds like no one, not even pontiac knows what's wrong with a grand am when something goes wrong with it... I agree with you, my first thought was something with the fuel filter, pump, or injectors then thought to check the gas too... after everything I've heard from all these other people it could be something in the ignition module ... I just have no clue where to even look, and even though I'm female, I'm not clueless when it comes to cars, I used to do all of my own maintenance personally, including tune ups and oil changes. So I'm not completely inept but even certified mechanics are stumped by this...
thank you for responding though, I appreciate all help
My boyfriend thinks the throttle position sensor needs to be replaced, my friend, Marvin, thinks its something else, maybe a transmission electrical relay problem, the engine is getting too much gas, etc. I have noticed that the car is using more gas than normal but the RPMs are a little messed up due to this problem so that might explain the extra gas usage. Worst case scenario its the fuel pump but the problem doesn't seem to be that. We replaced the spark plugs and the boots and the fuel filter and that nothing for the problem.
Any help with this would be great!!!
Thanks
Kat :sick: :confuse:
Every time it gets really cold where I live, when I turn left, my left front tire makes a grinding kind of sound. Usually to get rid of it I start my car up and warm it up and it goes away. Today was just like any normal day, started the car, warmed it up and all is well. I took my sister to school and didnt realize that they just placed speedbumps and I cruised over the first one pretty fast and my front end hit the ground pretty hard. I noticed the second one in time and went slow over it. Everything seemed fine. Car still runs smooth, trans isnt acting funny. Looked under the car in case I scraped something badly to cause leaks, none. But as soon as I made a left turn, a heavy grinding sound appeared by the left front tire. This time it was louder than the original. Its only on left turns. Right turns are quiet. Again, everything drives smoothly, shifts smoothly, brakes fine. Just a nasty noise turning left. It doesnt bother me, just would like to know what could be wrong and get it fix when I get money saved up and from tax returns.
Car Info: 99 Grand Am SE, 2.4 Liter twin cam, 101602 miles.
Again thanks for you all your guys and girls in helping this "not so great with cars" person.
Thanks for your inputs.
Oh and its total cost was like $658
Thanks,
Mike
I know I wasnt of much help, but Im just telling you what happened to me and what sounds liek the same issue. Hope sommone with awesome car knowledge helps you
I am having the same exact problem with my Pontiac Grand Am. I just called the Pontiac dealer and they gave a quote of $550. Did you find other alternatives or did you go with dealers quote?? Did they tell you what the exact problem is?? My car has stopped on me twice and I had it towed to 2 different body shops. My light is continuing to come on that is why I called the dealer. I had a new key made and NO luck
I am also writing a letter to GM
Julie
Julie
i have an 99 olds alero with the exact same symptoms you have, including the diagnostic codes. i am sure the problem has nothing to do with the evap systems, but most likely a bad ground or relay. i am trying to figure it out.
have you determined the problem?