2002 Pontiac Aztek review from North America

My A/C isn't blowing cold.

My door locks and rear hatch work intermittently with either remote or interior switches.

My "service engine soon" light is illuminated.

I'm a professional automotive technician at a reputable dealership in NJ. Our product is mainly Ford. But, my view is a car's a car. So I attempted to repair these issues myself in the shop, on my own time.

First thing I checked with the A/C was the clutch. Jumped the relay (pins 3+5) and verified that the circuit was working. OK. Still not blowing cold. Time to break out the A/C machine. Recovered about a half pound (system holds around 2 pounds), give or take, from the system. Vacuum tested for 15 minutes, and then let stand for another 10 under full vacuum (-30lbs.) Next, I fully charged the system and viola, everything is working. A/C is ice cold... for about a day. The next day, I go through the same procedure to find out why its blowing warm again. Same thing, low on refrigerant. Since the vehicle passed the vacuum test, I could only assume that the leak occurred during operating pressures. Further research has pinned the preverbial "tail" on the condenser. From what I've read, getting this covered under warranty is 50/50. Either they'll replace it free of charge, or give you the old "looks like impact damage from road debris" excuse. Which, at that point, it would be coming out of your pocket.

To not be totally defeated, I decided to replace my remote batteries. This didn't cure any of my door/hatch issues. So needless to say I had to walk away from this one, with the logic in mind to let the dealer handle this, being that the car is less than 3 years old and currently pushing 23000 miles.

My "service engine soon" light is on the display. I own a global O.B.D II scan tool, and so scanned my vehicle's ABS, and Engine Management modules, but failed to come up with diagnostic trouble codes for any of the three. At first thought it could potentially be from my scanner not being brand specific, but further investigation into these "common" Aztek problems leads me to believe the B.C.M (body control) could be faulty.

The Aztec is going into the dealership this week. (July 30, 2005) I should have an update soon. Hope I could help.