1996 Pontiac Grand Am SE 1 from North America - Comments

I've read the comments regarding the 1996 Pontiac Grand Am Se, and I must say the comments regarding the panel lights and water flooding are right on target. I have never had so many problems with a car like I am having with this one.

I have had so much water damage from leaks into my car that my carpeting is ruined. My mechanic told me the bottom of my car has an extreme rust condition.

In addition to that, five panel lights continue to remain on. 1. air bags, 2. ETS, 3. ABS, 4. seat belt, 5. engine light.

To add insult to injury, the other day, I like many others received a letter from General Motors pertaining to the water leakage that many of us have been and are still subjected to. General Motors states that excessive water entering this vehicle will soak not only the carpet, but the air bag controller.

General Motors states that a damaged air bag controller can make the driver and passenger's air bags inflate, even though there is no frontal impact or crash. Apparently, there have been several accidents. General Motors indicates that injuries have been sustained because of air bag deployments, and this happened after the car had been flooded or exposed to water for a long time. Apparently, driving a car in a condition such as this poses a great danger for us as well as General Motors, which is why General Motors is sending out letters to car owners. If the air bags are flooded, they become useless, along with all associated sensing equipment.

But, it gets even better; if the air bag readiness light comes on, it means the air bags might not deploy in a crash or that they could deploy without a crash. General Motors tells those of us with this problem to have our vehicles service right away if the air bag readiness light stays on after we start the vehicle. For many of us, we want to know who is going to pay for this costly procedure to install new air bags and sensor equipment. It is obvious that General Motors don't feel it is their responsibility to pay, and they say it is unlikely that our vehicles will ever be exposed to significant water entry that soaks the interior. Well! They need to read the comments on this website and they will see that they are entirely wrong.

I called the Pontiac Customer Assistance Center at 1 800-620-7668. I wanted to know if they were going to pay for the replacement air bags and sensing equipment that I need, and the reply was no. They want me and others like me to assume this expense, which is costly. I like so many others who have expressed their disappointment in this car feel as if I have spent more than enough in costly repairs. A factor is that I don't have the money, so I am wondering what legal recourse those of us placed in this situation might have?

I have a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am, and I wanted to share my experience.

Up until now the worst problem I've had is when three years ago the compressor completely died, so it hasn't had AC. Bad in the summer, but it's bearable and has always run well.

I have had a leaky passenger side for about 5 years now. After a few hundred dollars of mechanic bills trying to look for it, I gave up.

Now, the air bag light is on. I just read online about this letter people are receiving and called GM. They transferred me to a dealer who said that there is no official recall so I'd have to pay for the repairs myself, and recommended I wait for the official recall, but wouldn't offer reasoning as to why. I called another dealer who said it would cost roughly $600 to fix the problem and I shouldn't drive it.

Then, GM called me back. They want to speak with the owner and record the conversation to have a record of it. I am not the owner (another family member is) so they took his number and said they would call him.

If that weren't cagey enough, I read here: http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/tp/tp14665/v200702/menu.htm

That the Transport Canada warned of this problem is 2003. That was five years ago. Why are we just learning of this dangerous problem now? This car is over 12 years old now!

If anyone else is experiencing this, please continue to call them and post here!

I am having the same problem with my daughters 96 Grand Am as far as the flooding, and yes the SRS light stays on as well. I can't believe that if GM is well aware of this problem, that they don't do a recall to fix the problem. Do people have to die from premature deployment of air bags before GM takes notice?

I guess it will be too late then huh.

I have a 96 Grand Am that has had it's share of problems.

It's been running fine until about a week ago. I was simply driving at about 55 MPH and out of the blue, the Check Engine light and ETS Off light both came on. I tried to resolve the ETS light by pressing the button on the shifter, but the ETS Off light remains on.

Driving it since, I've noticed that acceleration of the car is very inconsistent. I constantly have to remove my foot from the gas, then reapply pressure to the pedal to continue acceleration.

Also, there is a strange vibration of the car while idling at a stop light.

Any ideas on what might be causing these problems?

I am the owner of a 1996 Grand Am and had all similar problems as almost, it seems like, everybody... the ETS light, ABS light, and also various other weird supposedly expensive dealer only repairs.. ha ha!!!

I took it on my own "being a backyard mechanic". I replaced the dash cluster head "instrumentation gauges and idiot light cluster"; much easier than you might expect, even for the novice. There are only four phillip screws holding the trim panel around the cluster on. The four star screws holding the dash cluster... after that it just has two plug-ins... no-way to get them wrong. The cluster cost me $40.00 bucks at the junk yard, and about two hours of my time..!!! And it solved my problems... and didn't cost $875.00 from the dealer with no guarantee...

Signed

Much much happier.

I agree with you all, and have some off the same problem, and was wondering if any one could tell me how to get the ETS and check engine light to go off, along with I changed a front wheel bearing and all the front brakes pads, and rotors, and now have a scraping noise. I'm wondering if anyone could tell me how to fix these problems.

Thanks Shawn

If anyone could tell me how to fix these problems please email me at w0093467@nscc.ca

We bought a 1996 Pontiac GrandAm 3 years ago. Great condition and ran very well. Last year the water pump went, it cost me $1100.00 to replace since the water pump is very hard to reach. We also started having trouble with the brakes. They grab when you first start the car and try to reverse or move forward. This really concerned me since I have had the entire system checked out and they found nothing wrong. Then I went to the internet and found an article explaining that the ABS system tests itself in this way. Who knew...? After all the money I have put out to try and find the issue. Wish my mechanics had checked the web!

To 10:29: I sympathize with you about the $1100 to replace your water pump. Unfortunately ALL front-drive cars are a real nightmare to work on. That's a lot to pay for a $50 part!! I've had incredible luck with my 2001, and at 70,000 miles I've only replaced the front brake pads and 1 battery.

As for the anti-lock brakes, YES, your shop should have known about the ABS self test, but the slight grabbing SHOULD be almost too slight to notice. At any rate, if the car brakes OK and doesn't make strange scraping sounds it should be OK.

I have a 1996 Grand Am. About a year ago, all four of my floor areas began to get wet. None of the water ever dried up, winter or summer. The back left passenger side actually had a puddle inside the car! A mechanic took a look and told me he could not tell why it was happening. Nonetheless, the car drove fine.

Two months ago, my airbag light came on and stayed on. About a week later, I received the unsolicited letter from GM. I contacted GM and was told that repairs were to be at my expense. I have been unemployed since March and have no money for repairs. I also clearly consider this to be GM's responsibility.

I filed a complaint at the NTSB site, and I also filed a complaint with the IL Attorney General. They took the case for mediation (this means that they represent neither me nor GM), and referred it to GM for response.

When I heard nothing in thirty days (and had been without a car to drive for just about two months... I was NOT going to drive this with the airbag light staying on), I contacted my state representative's office. They contacted their GM liaison, and though there has been no formal response from GM yet (even with a ten-day extension given to them by the Attorney General to respond), their liaison said they will not do anything. The preliminary response is that I was a second owner (I bought the car many years ago), and that the water could have come from anywhere, including leaving a window down! It is unfathomable to me that they are trying to dump it back on the owner by saying that water is on all four floors of my car for over a year because one possibility is that I might have "left a window down." State rep's office also pointed out that because GM is suffering financially, they are less likely to offer to repair this at their expense. Also, under the law, GM does not even HAVE to respond, because mediation is voluntary.

I unfortunately need to sell this car now for some funds, have no car to drive, have no money to fix it, and am paying $125 to park it every month in my building's parking lot. Further, how am I supposed to sell it when someone can't even take it for a test drive?! Other than this, this car has low mileage, extremely minimal rust... and I'm supposed to junk it or sell it for parts because of this?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as to what I can do next in this mess.

I am having almost all the same problems you people are having too. It started off with the wet floors and actually having massive puddles in the back seat. Now my Air bag light is on and has been on for the last few months. From time to time I get check engine light too. Also my theft sys light is on all the time as well.

I have a 1996 Grand Am too, and I was told that if my air bag light was staying on, that I should pull the fuse so that way it will not go off in my face going down the road.

I also think that we should start a petition against the GM dealer. If interested in doing so, please email me and let me know at w0093467@nscc.ca and maybe we can see what we can get done.

So what you are saying is that moisture can damage the airbag/seat sensor? Like if you detail your car and they over-saturate it?

I just had my car detailed, and the buckle seatbelt light stays on as well as the airbag light.

Well my Mom thought it would be wise to buy an older car to get out of a car payment... So she bought a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am SE.

At first the car ran great, and then about a week after purchasing it, things started going wrong. We have replaced both tire rods, rotors, struts, and numerous sensors. We had MANY problems with the check engine light.

We have replaced belts and chains almost everything that could be replaced in a car has been replaced. We had to purchase a whole new undercarriage in the car practically, and it has drained us financially and emotionally.

I have to say I am very disappointed in Pontiac/ GM for making something this carelessly. All together we have put over 8 grand into the car. I haven't had the flooding problem or the ETS problem, but hey that might be next.

Update as of yesterday, we were pulling out of the parking lot and the car made a very strong vibration, and it felt like the whole under part of the car fell (like a huge crash). We got out to look at the car and it seemed to be leaning to one side... has this ever happened to anyone before? If so, please post on here thanks.

Hello everyone.

I have also had the ETS and check engine lights on in my car for a while, as well as the flooding.

Please be very careful with the flooding and the airbag. For any of you that live in Illinois and experienced the rain and floods this past weekend, you will understand how bad my car flooded. My whole floor was covered in puddles and puddles of water.

Monday morning I skipped work and tried to clean the water out of my car. I started by soaking as much water up as I could with old towels and proceeded to use the water vac to clean the rest. I spent half the afternoon doing this, and every time I thought I had gotten most of the water up, when I went back to the front or back there was yet another puddle.

I then decided to take it to the mechanic to find out where the water was coming in, so on Tuesday morning I dropped my teenage daughter off at school and was on my way to take it to the shop. Two blocks away from the school the airbag exploded in my face and almost caused me to run into a pole. By the grace of God I missed it, but my mouth was left busted, I was dazed for about 15 minutes, and the right side of my face was swollen because the bag really landed a hard punch. There was smoke coming from the steering wheel and I thought the car was on fire.

Fortunately, this was all that happened, but what if I had been on the expressway with my children in the car.

I plan to call a lawyer. Not to get rich, but I think that GM should be held accountable, so that this hopefully does not kill someone.

Ngee22.

As you all have said before, I "had" leaking into the front drivers side compartment. I recently got so disgusted with having to empty the water out by a cup, I finally found out where the leak was coming from.

Step 1, take off the protective plastic at the bottom of your windshield (you'll need to take off the wipers).

Step 2, look all the way towards the driver side corner and see where the reservoir leads to (all of the water that runs down your window, goes into this reservoir and emptys harmlessly into your engine compartment).

Step 3, right where you see the 4 in rectangle that allows the water to drain into your engine compartment, I had a huge rusted out hole that was allowing water in. I bought some liquid steel from Autozone and job finished. My airbag light is on and it also wrecked the sensor for the seatbelt but it's DRY! Also it messed up the wiring for my instrument cluster and tails, so I got the tails going and I'm saying screw it with the instrument cluster. Hope it helps.

Email - number2guitarist@yahoo.com.=