1997 Pontiac Grand Am GT from North America - Comments

The water pump went out at 37000 miles. The alternator went out a week later. Those two problems alone cost me a total of $1100.00. The paint started peeling off the mirrors at 39000 miles. Both sides of power windows stopped working at 40000 miles. The air conditioner died at 53000 miles. Periodically throughout the ownership of the car it would just die out of the blue. This went on from 39000 miles till I got rid of the car. The dealership said it was the fuel pump and after replacing the fuel pump 3 times in 18 months I decided they were wrong. A non-partisan ASE mechanic told me that the computer had a defect in it and that it would be cheaper to replace the car than the computer. After hearing this I decided he was right and did so. This spiratic dying of the engine has almost gotten my wife and I killed on over 12 different occasions. The car has died in the middle of busy intersections with traffic moving. It has died with 18 wheel trucks tail gating us which made us drive off into the ditch to avoid them.

I would not recommend this car to an enemy much less someone I cared about.

I had the same problem with my truck awhile back - a 1995 ford ranger. At around 190,000 miles, it started dying for no apparent reason, and at the worst times, often on intersections, or even while it was in motion, one time at 65 mph! Fuel pump, coil pack, spark plugs were all replaced. After three weeks at the ford dealership, it turned out to be a relay under the hood whose contact points had rusted. This relay was tied into most of the electrical system, so naturally it made the car die. Once it was replaced, the car ran fine until I traded it in with 230,000 miles on it. Not to say that it's the same part, of course, coming from different manufacturers and all, but it could give an idea of what to look for.

Have you ever heard of the "Lemon Law"..? You didn't mention what kind of driving conditions you subjected the car to... I have heard of the window problem - My '91 Grand Am's windows don't work and they're not power either; But, That AC system still impresses people even after 135,000 miles. It's red and I bought it two years ago with 58,000 miles for $1600 and now I'm Buying a '96 GT with 60,000 for $4500 - This has been the most problem free car I have found.

An alternator and water pump $1100? At Auto Zone the Alternator costs about $120 with life time warranty. The water pump is less than $20. I think you must have a very wealthy repairman if he can make over $1000 for 2 hours work.

I have a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am, Gold. I brought this car with only 20,000 miles on it. I have had to replace the alternator, water pump and the coil pack. The quote that I did get for changing my water pump was 800.00 dollars. I have had my car for going on four years, and nothing really major besides those things I mentioned at the top have went wrong. I can truly say my car is doing great.

Worst car I have every owned! I had the same "death-trap" experience on a 1996 Grand Am I bought new. Right from the beginning the computer had a thermal intermittent that would cause it to stop randomly (usually in the middle of an intersection or in a freeway on-ramp). Since it only happened every few months and the problem would go away after 20 minutes, Pontiac's service dept claimed I had no problem and Pontiac headquarters refused to do anything about it. Needless do say, my wife drove one of our older vehicles. The computer started to fail consistently 2 weeks after the warranty ended; but Pontiac did finally replace this since the ugly history had been on its service record many times. This was only the beginning of endless problems. The car is poorly designed (water pump is an example) and poorly made. It is like a cheap toy. This is the last GM car I will ever own!

I'm just disgusted with my 1997 Grand Am. First few years are ok, then everything goes. Maybe bad years for the line, but I'm staying away from similar GM products in the future to be sure. I've had similar electrical problems that come and go on their own and some behaviors are simply bizarre. I replace my alternator about as much as my oil and the window motor mounting rivets broke off on driver and front passenger doors. The ABS light comes on for no apparent reason and basically kills the battery (never see a battery light either) only to act fine for a time before freaking again. On one of these episodes, I had the accelerator decide to climb to 6,000 rpm on it's own in park. You can plan on getting your key stuck a few times. You can lose power at any speed and have the steering lock. This car is a complete hassle and a potential death trap.

My 97 grand am gt has been the best car I owned ill never own a differnt car.

I've had almost every motor go wrong on this car. I have already replace the drivers side window motor, am currently working on the sun roof motor, and the passenger side window motor is about ready to go. and all at 66000 miles.

My '97 Grand Am has had the exact same problems, fortunately I found someone that would replace my water pump for only $450. My alternator just went bad and I was hoping that was the problem with my drivers side window (which has decided that it doesn't want to roll up or down with me having to wait for something to recharge for it to have enough power to do so), but that wasn't it and now I am looking at another $50 just so I can find out what was wrong with it. The only good thing I can say is that my car only dies right when I have just started the engine.

My girlfriend has a 1997 Grand Am and I have become it's caretaker. When it was new she had constant front brake problems (solved by installing none OEM rotors). At about 60,000 miles the water pump went. It's the four cylinder model, so yeah it was in excess of $600 to repair. The A/C blower motor has gone twice. Now at 120,000 miles the water pump is gone again. Thinking about trying the fix this time myself. All I can say is GM must be consistent. Each water pump lasted almost exactly 60,000 miles. I joked to the service manager that it was strange that GM started putting coolant designed to last 100,000 miles in a car with a pump that wouldn't pump it for more than 60,000.

I just bought a 97 Grand am SE in March of 2003. On April 1 I made the mistake of using the emergency brake while parked on a hill. I could not get my car to shift from park and the ABS, emergency park light and check engine light came on. We finally got it to drive and the car felt like it was dragging and the RP-M's were really high. The problem was a fuse that kept blowing every time I shifted it from park. Finally last month I took it to an electrical shop and they "fixed the problem". One week after that my ABS light came back on and now the battery is dead. So Far I've spent more time on a city bus than driving my car.

My girlfriend also owns a 97 Grand Am GT, and it has had most of the same problems. The alternator has gone out once going up a very steep canyon, leaving her stranded; and now it has just gone out again! Alternators should never go out, there must be something in the wiring? Also her passangers side power door lock went out several months ago. So far the "dying" problem has not come, and for her sake, I pray it never will.

I recently purchased a 1997 Grand AM with the 4 cylinder. I have a huge problem with the car that I cannot figure out. The car starts for about a second and a half then dies immediately. It will not start again without turning the ignition off then back on. Any help is appreciated. Any ideas? Please e-mail me at japhaxer@hotmail.com.

Good advice for everyone.

My sisters boyfriend gave me his 97 Grand Am GT. It had a blown motor. The front and rear bumper had pressure cracks all over. The after market radio was stolen. The rear passenger side (small permanent) window was smashed out.$250 dollars installed. Facing the back of the car, the drivers side exhaust was gone. I didn't think much of this all I knew is I needed a car NOW. I knew my income taxes would be coming and expected to put 1,000 dollars into an engine. I saw power locks, power sunroof, dual air bags, GT, traction control, anti-lock brakes etc. Well just because a vehicle looks nice does not mean it is worth fixing. Now that I have read these reviews I am really worried that my money, time, and efforts were in vain!We, my wife and I,and two,and four year old ended up finding a motor with 76,00 miles on it. It was $1,000.00 dollars with unlimited mileage on it. I never heard of this before so I bought it. With 3 years labor on engine replacement. It cost $500 dollars to install it. It needed both struts replaced. Brake pads, drums, rotors, and one caliper. One of the factory rims was missing and we ordered custom rims and four new tires all 16 inch.$720 dollars. The long block is all that is warranted so we had to put new plugs and wires on it to fix an (afore article mentioned miss) which we still haven't resolved. Both front drive shafts were shot replaced them too. I wish now I would have put a new water pump on the motor before we installed it. Too late now. Had to change the tranny fluid and filter along with the fuel filter. The car has 220,000 miles on it. What difference does it matter now I practically have a new car at least for 60,000 miles. These articles are very help full as I know what to expect and will keep my eyes on it. I gave the car to my deserving wife. She is happy, but also complains of poor handling on snow. I told her it is because it is so light. My soon to be brother in law did try to talk me out of it, but the car looked nicer than anything I ever owned. Guess looks can be deceiving. The exhaust scared me the most. Pontiac wanted 340 dollars for a 2 foot piece of exhaust pipe, and 380 dollars for the muffler and tip to match the other side. We had to go after market with dual tips on each side.$150 dollars later. I like the cars looks and performance, but am not looking forward to all the costly maintenance. The front end was aligned twice. The car can't make up it's mind whether it wants to pull to the left, or right. I found I can fix the problem by turning sharply in a circle while mildly accelerating. The car then pulls to the opposite. The amount of acceleration depends on the amount of adjustment done to the alignment. It really does work!Too bad Pontiac couldn't build a more reliable front end. You will have to experiment with it. I guess looking back on it now I would have spent my money on a different vehicle. I put 1000 dollars into my 1990 APV Chevy Lumina van. Not sure it was worth it.