1995 Pontiac Grand Am SE from North America - Comments

I just bought a Pontiac grand am 95 and in less than a month I replaced the head of the motor, the a/c compressor, he driver side window motor, and now I have coolant leak from heater core. Long live quad four.

Mine is a '95 GT with 3.1 V6. Same window problems as everyone else. Had a GIANT rust hole in the area under the "vents" at the bottom of the windshield that let rain water pour into the driver side floor, fixed that with roofing caulking. Also had the ign switch replace under the recall. Now it is doing the weird, wild swings in the engine temperature, just finished replacing the thermostat. That was much harder than any other I have ever done, and it still fluctuates wildly in just a 15 minute drive. Yes I bled the air from the cooling system using the air bleeder valve. I suppose it is the head gasket, but see no coolant in the oil or visa versa.

This is probably the smartest comment on this board --

You can't possibly blame the manufacturer for the problems that you are experiencing with your car. First of all, it's 11 years old so there are going to be all sorts of issues, secondly there was probably a reason why it was a "good deal". Take a car to an independant mechanic to have him verify it's condition. Don't make statement's like "I'll never buy a Pontiac". This could happen to you with any brand of vehicle.

I have a 1995 Grand AM SE 4 door Auto. Bought it in june of 04 with 140,000 miles for $500. It has been an OK car. In order to pass emmissions I had to replace the EGR valve, $173. It ran for 2 years with minor problems -- I lost a coil pack for cylinder 1 and 4 - $25 and the ecm (the module that controls the coil packs) $85. I purchased a Chevy venture van in june of '06 and parked the grand am. Low and behold, the water pump sprang a leak into the crankcase so now my van is useless (until I replace the engine) There sat my Grand Am in the driveway. A new set of rotors ($24 each) and new brake pads ($12) and I was back on the road. Failed emmisions though, so replaced EGR again, now $210. Replaced the O2 sensor - $80. Still failed. Took it to a shop and for $380 they found the 1&4 coil pack failed again and plug one was junk. The EGR valve was probably OK, the pipe that returns exhaust to the heads was blocked so bad they had to create a tool to release the blockage. All in all, I have put maybe $1500 into the car. I haven't had a car payment ever. You can either pay WAY TOO MUCH for a brand new car in the form of a monthly payment (plus interest) of a loan and HIGH insurance rates cause the loan requires comprehensive coverage...

With the "beater" cars I have driven in the last 15 years, I am still THOUSANDS ahead of those people that have to have a brand new car.

My point was the other comment. REALIZE what your getting. You are buying a used car cheap. You could buy a 1992 Nissan Maxima and have the same problems 3 days after you buy it. Cars are built to break around 100,000 miles nowadays, take what you can get above that. I have a GMC Jimmy with 180,000, my grand am is now at 197,000 the venture van has 150,000. I have a nissan maxima with 120,000, a ford tempo with 200,000+. All these vehicles have allowed me to drive for 15 years and spend less than $20,000 in the same time frame. Not bad since most new cars are $16,000 - $30,000 and depreciate about 10,000 as soon as you leave the parking lot.

Some used cars aren't cheap. I saw one post for a 1995 Grand Am purchased in '04 for $5000. Dang, you are probably better off getting a KIA, they do financing for $99 a month. Don't buy a 10 year old car for more than $1000. I wouldn't pay more than 500. The other rule of thumb, never buy a car from a dealer named by the street they are on. Chances are in a year, they will be on a new street selling the same poor quality vehicles for the same over-inflated high prices.

Good Luck and safe driving.

Boy oh boy, do I ever absolutely agree with 9:21! I could have written that one myself.

I never paid more than $2,500 for any car up front, although I did spend money on repairs over the years. I saved so much money by never in my life having a car payment that I was able to pay off my house after six years.

When my most recent car was about to die, I had been prepared to spend $20,000 on a new Jeep, but instead I bought a 2002 Explorer at a repo auction for $3,750.

With the other $16,000 I started an IRA and bought a mutual fund. Why would you make a $500/month car payment when you could be making that money instead??? Buy an old beater, and spend the couple hundred bucks every few months to keep it going. There is no such thing as being nickel and dimed to death. You will save so much money fixing a cheap, old car versus making the same monthly payment on a new car.

Maybe you've seen an article on the web: "Is My Old Car Undependable?: The Myth of Being Nickel and Dimed To Death." The author documents costs per mile and costs per year, and puts ownership cost in terms of comparison to a monthly payment. It's amazing -- $80/month to keep an old car on the road versus a new car payment of $500/month.

I bought my 1995 Pontiac Grand AM GT new from the dealer, and like most was very excited, and have spent since then a lot of money fixing this junk, to the point my wife argues with me about it.

For starters, I've had every window problem imaginable, shelling out thousands of dollars fixing them.

Then theres the heater core, replaced three times, the belt tensioner twice, the A/C compressor three times, frame bushing, fuel pump three times, fuel injector once, broken cruise control and high beams, oil sensor once, the alternator twice, and those knobs for the heat/air control keep cracking and falling off. Come on, this is nuts!

I will never buy a Pontiac again in my life, infact I've lost faith in American cars. Well other than that, right now my car's intake gasket is leaking oil; not surprised considering I've had it fixed once already.

I own a 95 pontiac grand am se 2 door standard 110,000 miles. most of the problems that seems to be happening to other people hasn't happend to me. I don't have power windows so no problem there. but after a year of owning the vehicle. my car also started to overheat. after checking out the car it was found out that it was the heater core that went bad. decided to bypass getting it fixed and took it out. then my clutch totally burned out one week later, took over a grand to fix. only small problems besides that.. my hazards don't work also my reverse rear lights and now when I press on my brakes theres a weird thumping noise and it jerks a little. if anyone knows what that might be please let me know. email niener80@yahoo.com.

But all in all I enjoy my car.

I have a 95 grand dam 2.3 I have figured out were my leek came from on the drivers side and have fixed it 3 times. it was thermostat housing its not to hard to change it over heats when drove if I put it in nutueral n rev it up it will cool down some one help me I just paid 4,000 n have had it a week. anyone with any ideas contact me at romejarrott@aol.com PLEASE HELP!!!

What a laugh reading all the comments here. I've replaced the motor on the driver window 3x on my 95 GT which I bought new (the passenger hasn't worked in years). I too have sat in my car patiently rolling the window up a 1/4 inch at a time.

I replaced the oil pan 5 yrs back when all the oil blew out of the engine one day :) Last weekend I went to put it in reverse and the gear shift broke in my hand - a repair that cost me 1000! But I look at it this way - if I get another two months of life without any further fixes I will have done better than dumping it.

Now it is 12 yrs old and has 110,000 miles or so. The car has been very dependable otherwise and I've have no significant mechanical problems (no overheating, leaking, etc). Its solid as a tank and I like it for that. The mechanics are always amazed at how good a shape its in. Maybe I got a good one because it was special ordered standard shift grand am GT. Fingers crossed I get another year out of it. I'm definitely thinking of buying used for less money than going new.

PS: Your dealership will install after-market parts which are often much cheaper than GM- ask them about it before they sell you an expensive part.

I bough my 95 Grand a SE Coupe with the 3.1L V6 about 3 weeks ago. It has made me never want to buy one again. 400 miles down the road (12 days) the head gasket blew and the head cracked. Most of my other problems were electrical such as:

1. Door Locks needed to be replaced and fuses changed...Done

2. If you have the air on in the highest setting and have the radio on and head lights, you lose your head lights...FIXED

3. The ABS may or may not be a good thing, my car sometimes shudders to a stop and the ABS light comes on.

So now I'm probably gonna replace the gasket and head, sell the POS and buy a Dodge Daytona.

I'm wondering how to remove the driver's-side interior door panel on my '95 Grand Am. The window motor is crippled: it works for about 5-10 seconds, and then the power window won't budge (the passenger window works fine). I want to avoid yanking and jerking the panel, for fear that I'll shatter the panel and window. Many thanks for sharing your expertise.

I just want to know where are the spark plugs in my 95 Grand Am and how do I get them out?

I have a "95 Grand Am. I've loved it and fixed all that needed fixing, but, I can't figure out now why the LOW COOLANT light is on after I've added coolant and it seems as though the engine fan isn't coming on. What would cause this?

I have a "95 Grand Am. I've loved it and fixed all that needed fixing, but, I can't figure out now why the LOW COOLANT light is on after I've added coolant and it seems as though the engine fan isn't coming on. What would cause this? oh, I've got 220,000 miles on it...:)

Hi,

I just purchased a 95 Gram Am 148,00 miles on it. On the way home the ABS brakes weren't working right and it lost power going up hills, the guy we bought it from had come down on the price of the car because he thought it just needed a tune up and the brakes bled, we paid 800.00 for it.

The first trip to the garage, power booster for the ABS $72.00,replaced the belt 18.00,hoses and put the idle wire back on. He ran a diagnostic on it and a quad driver code came up. went to step 2 and just replaced the computer 75.00 to try and save time, the whole thing cost 305.00, still not too bad, cost of one car payment. Brought it home it ran like a new car, couldn't have been happier, went to take it out 20 minutes later he fell flat on his face, pushed on gas pedal, lost all power, it took 20 minutes of starting and stalling to get it running well enough to limp him home. Tried to get him running the next morning to go to the Pontiac dealer (thinking that their diagnostic equipment would be more advanced) Couldn't get him running had to have him towed, (thank God for AAA) Part of the problem was the brand new belt slipped off. They replaced the belt, the tensioner pulley, said it was fixed and I could pick it up, I asked if the tensioner pulley had anything to do with the quad driver code, obviously not because they had to do a diagnostic, (the quad driver code popped up plus some other code) after 20 minutes of running time it stalls and does the same thing to them that it did to me, starts and then stalls. They are now replacing the crank position sensor. so far I have racked up 545.00 and still going. They explained it can be three things for this other code the crank sensor, or some other sensor or the computer. but they have to follow the steps in the book, process of elimination (which mind you so far has been very expensive) and they haven't even addressed the quad driver problem yet, for the love of God can anyone out there help save me some money. My husband said the first 300. was just 1 car payment so far I'm up to at least 3 payments and still counting and I have only had the car for a week HELP.../

To the above commenter:

You paid $800 for a 12 year old car. Surely you had to expect that it would take at least twice that amount of money just to get it into a reasonable running condition. There was a reason that the previous owner was willing to part with it for next to nothing.