1997 Pontiac Grand Am from North America - Comments

Very few over entire life of vehicle. The one's I recall are:

1) Radio volume control knob has a mind of its own, @ 50,000 miles.

2) Radio display illumination went out @ 75,000 miles.

3) Replaced original battery at 80,000 miles (which is not normal I suppose)

4) Received a recall notice on a bad ignition switch, but never took it in for replacement because my switch was fine.

5) Recent major headache - water pump!! I haven't done the job yet, but it looks like half the engine must be disassembled to get to the pump.

Can someone please tell the engineers over at Pontiac to join the 21st century and check under the heading of 'Maintainability' in their textbooks?

This is going to cost a bundle - and that's presupposing that I don't bungle anything doing this job in my driveway!

In spite of the above items, I'd buy this car again all day long. I put all 100,000 miles on it, and do not have any reservations over the performance, reliability, comfort or maintenance.

Some of the service history, most of which was done by me:

1) Changed the oil at 3,000 miles very faithfully.

2) Checked all the other fluids, rarely added any, never serviced transmission - very good up-shifting, and no slippage.

3) Replaced front brakes a couple of times, replaced rather than turned original rotors since they we beginning to flutter, got very good length of use from original and replacement pads.

4) This car doubles as a pick up truck for me - hauls all kinds of iron and tools in the trunk, and often in the passenger compartment. The suspension must be made of Krypton! Interior has held up very well.

5) Very good traction, handling, good turning radius and steering geometry, very good in snow.

6) I ran USED tires all around from 60,000 to 100,000 miles, with very good performance (lately have been replacing them with new rubber, just to avoid the hassles of keeping an eye on them).

Overall? Good unit, but this water pump thing has me a little perplexed. Will let you know how it goes with the replacement. I hope the local parts store guys have all the answers for me!

I also have a 97 grand am and I just replaced the water pump at a gm goodwrench service plus the total bill $698 good luck!

I took my 97 Grand Am to have the water pump replaced three days ago, and my mechanic is still trying to get everything back in place and working properly. My cost is up to nearly $700. He's replaced the timing chain tensioner, but the chain still rattles in idle. It's a nightmare!

Hey man I to have a 97 grand am and my radio volume broke too. Has your's shut off while driving before?

I have a 97 Grand Am (Just bought it used at 91,000 miles.

The light on the PRDNL123 doesn't like up to let me know what gear I have it in. The whole shifter lights up at night, but only number 1 lights up. Anybody else had this problem. I tried another PRNDL unit from a junkyard and it was either bad or that part just doesn't make it light up.

I replaced the water pump at 91,000, but it wasn't really that expensive for me. $50 for the water pump and my husband installed it (took him about 10 hours), so if I had to pay a mechanic it would have costed me dearly.

Also my clock on the radio doesn't light up, anybody know how to fix this. They have used radios for the car on Ebay.

I have a 97 Grand Am I got it at 65,000 miles the window didn't go up or down so I replaced that motor now the passenger one is going. Sometimes the engine cuts in and out, the radio volume knob works when it wants pretty much also my radio doesn't show time or station it is on, over all I like the car.

I have a 97 GA GT 2 door, the only problems I have had are the radio does have a mind of its own, but the clock on the radio not working is cause there is a little light that is just inside the radio itself that makes this work, I just jiggled it around and it has worked ever since, the window motors are going bad and those are going to be replaced. I have 120000 on it and still runs great. No complaints at all, I actually am very fond of this car and it does hold up very well under lots of driving conditions. It has been cross country 3 times east to west, and more than I can count from NYC to Florida.