I was very happy to be introduced to this site for obvious reasons. I own a 1997 Pontiac Grand AM SE. I will be making the final payment on it next month and now my problems have begun. Brought the car used. I have had to replace the brakes twice, a new heater coil, and radiator. Just the other day while driving all of the dash board gauges went dead, therefore I can't tell how fast I'm going or when I need gas. The gas light stays on now and the ABS light. Its in the shop right now and I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting to see how much its going to cost me. Fuses were checked, they all seem to be working. I am one to get regular oil changes and thought I was doing all the right things. Oh I failed to mention that the knob to turn on the AC and heat broke of year's ago, something insignificant, and the speakers for the radio aren't working properly. Sometimes I have to keep turning the knob so the volume can come up, and if I hit a bump to hard it won't play at all. If anyone has the answer to why the dashboard gauges aren't working, please add it to the comments made. Thank-you.
I got one of the good ones, my car is right at 71,000 miles and it’s a 97 SE 4 door with the 2.4 Twin Cam motor. The car was a rental car from Hayes/Avis in Dallas Texas before I got it.
The door inserts “cloth part is a little tweaked” but its almost 10 years old now and you can replace it with other material that fits better with the inside of the car so that’s not a big concern for me. All of my gauges still work in my car “counting blessings there on that one”
The only issues I have had from my car besides the pure driving pleasures I have got from it having such a bad rep and being able to pick it up really dirt cheap were the heater core and the fuel pump, which was both covered under the service contract when I got the car from the dealer “6mo-6k miles” I also got a add on one that only covers the motor and trans and such so I am covered on them until 2008 or 98k.
I agree that all cars even of the same make and brand tend to different from others and not all of them are great cars and not all of them are bad ones, I am sorry for anyone who has got a bad one as its very annoying and a Hugh pain in the wallet or pocket book.
I had this issue with a brand new car before it went out of the factory warranty it was in the shop on a monthly time schedule for anything from blowing lights out to the trac/ABS light to the radio saying phone and the dealers still have no ideal why the radio would say phone across the display at times “98 Volvo S70” all the other Volvo’s we had were great cars thru the years, but the 98 we had was a lemon and then the 2000 we got was a dream come true and had no issues at all well over 165k.
Yes, I've had some of these typical grand am problems myself on my 97 GA GT, but amazingly enough my car has 340,000 miles on it, I know hard to believe, but it does, I do all my own work and still has the original engine and transmission, and I don't even change my fluids regularly, I love my grand am and would buy another one tomorrow, thanks, ron.
I have a 97 Pontiac GrandAm with 120,000 miles on it and my instrument panel just went out. The fuses are all good. Does anyone have any idea what how to fix it?
Oh boy, where do I start? Of course I own a 97 Grand am GT 4 door, bought it used last June with 98000 miles on it. Since buying it, My CD player will not read a CD at all, my volume knob, does not work, unless you put a little pressure on the left side. I have replaced the water pump, 3 months after buying it, I was driving home from work at 4 am, went through a green light at about 35 miles per hour. The car suddenly backfired, and stalled out. I got it off to the side of the road, and tried to start it again. It would not start. Does anyone realize how hard it is to get a ride at 4 am? cabs weren't running, all my friends were sleeping. anyway, I got it towed home the next day, thinking that I had lost the timing chain, that wasn't it. Took it into the shop, and they took it apart, only to find out that the crankshaft had snapped completely in half. After waiting for 2 weeks they finally found a motor for my grand am. I once owned a 95 grand am with the quad four, and had nothing, but problems with it, everyone I talked to said that the quad fours were a bad design. So I figured that the 3.1 GT would be better, But I seem to be running into a lot of problems with it also. Right after I bought it, I have replaced the radiator, water pump, and a motor. I thank god that it was still under warranty, but I still had to pay a percentage of the cost. (NOT CHEAP) As for the radio, I am just going to get an upgrade, because my rear speakers don't work half the time either. I have another year of payments left on my GT, and I can only hope that I don't have all the problems that I have just read about. I am not a hard driver on my cars, most of the time I have my children in the car with me. So I guess I will sit back and keep my fingers crossed. This is so Ironic, my Fiance just called, she was at a stop light, went to take off, and the car jumped she said, now my ABS light is on, my airbag light is on, and so is my battery light. what a coincidence. wish me luck.
Well I've had my 97 grand am gt since new. The car itself is alright. I've had my share of problems with it, but I haven't met an owner of any car that didn't have problems somewhere along the line. Like every good 97 Pontiac Grand Am the radio knob stopped working properly many many years ago. I need new breaks at least once every 2 years, more often once a year (I don't even put more than 15,000 on it a year.) As I was driving home last night my battery light came on, and as I suspect it is time for a new alternator again. This would make the 3rd replacement alternator in about 5 years. 2 in two years. Hey at least it warned me the last 2 times. The first time it went, I didn't even get a warning light. Just as I was at a gas station filling up before a long trip. Header gasket went, driver side window motor is shot, paint peeled of the side mirrors & CD player no longer works (that's OK I have Sirius anyway. I currently have 102,836 miles on the car. It ran like a champ for the first 4-5 years before the problems started. It has performed well over the past 10 years, but I think Pontiac and I will be parting ways when I decide to purchase a new car.
We bought our 97 Grand Am 2 years ago for $2,500. We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of it. My husband just uses it mainly to drive back and forth to work. I have read the other comments and wondered if anyone had an answer to the instrument panel problem. Ours went out 2 days ago. Oh, we also have the radio knob problem and the power windows don't work, but we can live with that. Also, sometimes when you turn the car off, the key will not come out of the ignition for about 30 minutes. That is pretty aggravating! But the worst thing right now is not knowing how fast you are going or how much gas you have! Somebody HELP!! And for the record, this is the first and last Pontiac we will ever have!
I just bought a 97 grand am today acutally, (2,500) and the ABS light is on and the cold air doesn't work...
I'm just hoping I got a nicer one than the rest of you..
<3.
I bought a 97 Pontiac Grand Am for my daughter in April. The girl I bought it from had the steering column all apart because her boyfriend tried to fix it. She said it would start, but then the Anti-Theft light would come on and then the car would shut off. Anyway, paid $450 for the car because my boyfriend is a mechanic so figured he could fix whatever was wrong with it. Over the summer I bought a new steering column (had to get keys made), brakes, tires, pvc valve, fuel filter, changed the oil and filter, etc. My daughter drove it to school and back 1 week and then went to start it yesterday and none of the dash lights will come on. It will start and run for about 3 seconds and then shuts right back off. We've checked all the fuses. I called Auto Zone and they said since the Check Engine light won't come on their diagnostic tool can't figure out what's wrong. HELP!!
Actually I do have a solution to that. There's a recall on the ignition switch so any shop or dealer will do it for free, it's quick and painless. Burnt up my hand rigging it so I could drive in tears a couple miles, then had AAA tow it for free the rest of the way xD.
I got the car at age 18 and now I'm 20. Learned auto repair on my own, from a chilton repair manual, and by bugging my dad. I put 30k miles on it so far.
Surprised nobody mentioned the coolant leaks in the 3.1, but after my 2 month attempted repair (gasket) I found out the only fix is that aluminum stop leak stuff. It even fixed a free-flowing leak recently, I thought it was the end, but after a month it hasn't lost a single drop.
Mine has 140k and still gets 23 city 27 highway. I tell by filling it full, resetting the trip Odo, and dividing a ratio of used miles and used gas next time I fill up so it's miles per one gallon.
I've replaced: Power steering pump, water pump, lower intake manifold gasket, accessory belt, passenger-side motor mount (flopped more than I liked when revved), A/C compressor, O2 Sensor, front brake pads (after at least 30k miles), at least the driver window motor, and I treated both front wheels to curbs in two separate snow related incidents, but only one needed $500 to feel better, the other just hums intermittently (it's soothing) at high speeds. This humming wheel was damaged in the incident where my front end snapped a 4x4 and gobbled up a plastic mailbox. You can't tell I hit anything, really, which is good. Elected to leave my phone number and fix it.
A/C refrigerant all leaks out within a month or so, so I gave up on it.
Overall, I feel confident I can find a way to keep it running because so many crazy things have gone wrong with it and the last reading was 27mpg. I'm impressed it has survived all these issues. It's been reliable despite them, and I'm sure if I didn't know the warning signs of cars so well I'd have surely lost my engine on several occasions from coolant loss. It's got some acceleration and purrs nicely, too. Good luck, guys.
I have a 1997 Grand Am Gt 3.1 L and have had no significant problems with it. I am the original owner. The car has over 125,000 KM on it. I can't believe the people complaining about radio knobs and power windows. Those are not mechanical and don't drive your car. Every one knows that power windows are useless in any vehicle, not just the grand am. My air conditioning still works. People are surprised when I tell them that I still have air in my car after 11 years. My CD player did die after 6 years of constantly playing a CD in all variables of weather conditions, since I live in Southern Ontario. This is to be expected. Now, mechanically speaking I have had to do the regular maintenance like oil changes and brakes, tires, etc. I replaced the alternator and battery only once each. Replaced gas tank last year and 1 of my mufflers. All other parts on my car are the original-engine, transmission, radiator, water pump, even the shocks and springs. I have found this car to start on the 1st turn even in sub zero temperatures. I am disappointed that they don't make the grand am anymore because I would buy it again. I love my car and have no complaints.
I just read the Pontiac Grand Am is no longer being made, and a really good thing, too. I own a 1996 Grand Am and it has been a real money pit as far as maintenance. GM had a really great design in the Grand Am. It's a very attractive and sporty vehicle, really fun to drive. However, the cost of maintaining this vehicle has been a nightmare. And, you can never really know if, when or what else is going to go wrong with it next.
I purchased it used with 11,000 miles on it and still under warranty. It's been in and out of the shop from the very first year I have had it. I have had to replace the alternator twice, the water pump, two brake jobs, all kinds of small parts that cause the check engine light, the battery light and other dashboard lights to go off (all of this under 55,000 miles.) The shift assembly has had to be totally replaced twice at a cost of almost $500.00 each time (and both repairs within a two year period.) The quality of the GM, brand-new replacement parts for the Grand Am are abysmal as well. They do not hold up very well with about a 1-3 year lifespan.
And yes, I am very conscientious about maintaining my car. Just a year and a half ago I spent about $1500.00 dollars in "preventive maintenance" (by GM-trained dealership mechanics) so I would not have car trouble. Since then, every 3-6 weeks like clockwork, I have had nothing but trouble with this car. The transmission immediately started leaking after I had the transmission "serviced." I should have left well enough alone because since then, it has cost me almost $3000.00 to have repaired. Two visits to have the leaks repaired, and then just recently $2000.00 to have the transmission rebuilt (3-6 weeks after repairing the leaks) by ATRA-certified mechanics who fixed the second set of leaks. I also had to have leaks repaired due to the DexCool eating away the seals (google DexCool.) And when I say leaks, I don't mean tiny little drops. Think pools. I have had to keep a large pan of cat litter on my garage floor.
And now, 3-6 weeks after this transmission rebuild, I am having either an oil-burning problem or oil-leaking problem that I have never had before. So, it's difficult to say if most of the problems with the Grand Am are actually car-related or mechanic-related. If the price of repairing this car doesn't get you down, having to rent a car or a taxi to get to and from work while the car is in the shop will. (As of this date, this car only has 88,000 miles on it.) It's a major inconvenience as well to be without your car when it's in the shop so much.
Of note, my car is used for highway and in-town routine trips to work and shopping. No trailer-pulling, horse-pulling, or racing.
I have had so much trouble with the Grand Am that it's a joke in my office and my coworkers are talking me into buying Honda. Right now, I have to keep driving this car a couple more years until I can afford another one (because of recent repair costs.) After it's Carfaxed, however, I do not think I will even be able to give it away. I found this forum by googling to see what others are saying about their Grand Am's. After reading about other Grand Am experiences, I am pretty sure my next car will be a Honda. Good luck with yours (but get out while you can.)
Oh, by the way. The only really good things I can say about this car are really great paint job (no rusting out after 12 years of winter driving) and decent average gas mileage at about 25 mpg.
I have a 1998 Grand Am SE with a 2.4 twin cam. It's been a very good and dependable car. I’ve driven it for more than 221000 miles.
I went through two transmissions, however that was my own fault for driving the car so hard. Nothing like smoking the tires on wet pavement:)
I've had a few minor issues that bother me a little bit, but nothing too serious. The ABS light has been on now for about 4 years, every now and then the ABS system will enable, but only briefly after I start the car. The windows go up slowly. What do you expect from a 10 year old car?
One major downfall of this engine is the #3 bearing tends to become starved for oil at high rpms. It loses oil pressure at high rpm's. The upside is I drove 114 miles today and only had to put three gallons of gas in when I got home. That's 38 miles per gallon.
The bottom line is this: If you drive like a maniac or if a maniac drives your car, it will wear out fast. Eventually all electronic sensors and motors will stop working. If you take care of it and keep the kids away from the knobs and window buttons, they may last a bit longer.
I have a Pontiac grand am se 2.4 nightmares is an understatement. I have the same issues as all of you report and right now mine's off the road again. I recently came across a couple of 2007 recalls which I hope will be of some help. Fuel sys regulator was recalled. and also replacement fuel regulators were manf. without o rings! geez no wonder! lol I coulda had a v-8.
$4,000 in for repairs engine lights on nobody home at the shop where they fix it. they know me all too well as dun dun!" the black pontiac...
Window motor
cat converter
fuel press reg
02 sensor
a/c sys replace
ign parts galore
ect.ect.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
OK I have been sitting here reading these posts, and first things first the break issues..#1 if you find yourself having to say you aren't a hard breaker? guess what? YOU ARE..secondly, breaks are very very generic parts, the grand am break parts fit many many GM models for many years, so its all about the quality of parts you buy.. for those of you who say you aren't hard breakers? i'd suggest black hawk full metallic brake pads, you can find them at your finer racing supply house's..
My next thing is all these repeat part replacements, 3 alternators, multiple starters.. these parts very so much in quality that has nothing to do with your grand am. the only pontiac's to have the heat deteriorate the alternators faster than normal were the fiero's, so if your buying the orilley specials? you bought junk. your best bet is always NEW.. remanufactured parts more often than not they replace only what went bad for the last person to have that part, not recondition them to new. also? suspension componets are very generic amoung diffrent models, manufactures, etc. so the only varriable than is where some of you drive your grand ams, and how you drive them..
There is no problem one can have with just specificly a grand am as opposed to other pontiacs or GM, they are all cut from essentually the same materials/process's/parts bins.. its called cost efficent mass production. your grand am is the same thing as a chevy beretta, an olds calas, chevy celebrity, all of um, just diffrent sheet metal and frillies'...there I'm DONE peace..