Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-67
I have owned a 1996 Grand Am for the past two years. I have had nothing but constant problems with the car. It has been messing up for the whole two years that I have had it. It has really been costly. I have had the water pump replaced three times that equaled out to the cost of around $800. I have had the transmission replaced once. Very, very expensive!! The air conditioner only works when it's cold outside... so what's the point in having it? The container that holds the anti-freeze keeps busting and the anti-freeze runs out in a matter of 2 hours. I have an oil leak that I have tried to get repaired twice. The oil keeps leaking, though. Sometimes the speedometer doesn't work right. My check engine light keeps coming on and I have had things fixed on my engine at least 5 times costing nearly $1,500. I know now that Grand Ams are definitely not a good deal. Do not buy one if you don't want to end up getting your money drained right out of your pocket!
My 96 Grand Am has been fine up until recently. My low coolant light keeps going on and the mechanics couldn't figure out why. Yesterday they told me it was the heater core and I have an appointment in a week. Has any one else had this problem? Should I have them check the water pump too, since that was the problem with some of the other comments? Oh and I have this really annoying leak on the floor of the driver's side. It has been raining almost everyday for a month and I constantly have a puddle under my feet. Is there anything that I can do about that frustrating problem?
Well, I suppose on a really wet day of driving, you could get into your bathing suit and enjoy yourself!!!
Here is a good idea--get a saw and cut the roof off and it would make a nice hot tub!!
I've had a 96 Grand AM SE for about 5 years now, even though it's a 4 door I'm pretty impressed with it's kick. But it's caused me a sh*#load of problems. After reading through all these comments, I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who had to go through all this, haha. I had just recently had to replace the alternator, and the water pump is the first thing that went, and somebody mentioned the front bushings... yep those too, and lights seem to go out periodically whenever they feel like it. I've gone through 3 fog lights so I just gave up on that, and I've recieved another surprise recently, the fule flap release no longer works so the flap stays open. It's a decent car if you're willing to put up with it's quirks. Luckly I know a good mechanic who want mess me around.
I too have a Pontiac. They are lemons and the law should be applied. I have an engine light that has been on for 2 years. The light was on because I took it to a mechanic the first time, he reset it and said there was no problems. The dealer charged me $75.00 each trip to fix it twice, each time no problem. They simply reset it again. I took it to a specialist and got the same results, nothing. Both Windows motors went out same time, now the Alternator light came on and who knows what next week. Yes it is a lemon, Pontiac, you owe me!
My 98 Grand Am Gt has an engine light which comes on intermittently and is accompanied by the engine
shuddering as-if there is bad gas in the car. The engine diagnoses at the dealership does not indicate any sensor problems so I will probably replace the coil and ignition module. This car has already cost me over $2000
when the engine ripped itself free from its engine mounts twice. I will never buy another Pontiac.
Since I bought my 96 Grand Am SE 2.4L Twin Cam 4-CL, I have had frequent problems. When I first bought the car, I had the water pump, water sensor, fuel pump, fuel sensor, hoses, and brakes replaced. It ran fine for about a year, and then I had to invest $3000 in maintenance so far. Over the past three months I have had to replace the entire exaust from the head pipe back, the brake pads and rotors, the sway-bar links, the tires, the serpentine belt, tensioner, A/C compressor, and various other parts. I still need to bring it in for a tuneup due to it misfiring, replace the control arms, replace the front axle, and replace the starter which is on its way out. It's a very dependable car: I can depend on it to break down once a week. I would have sold the car long ago if I knew it was going to have something break on a weekly basis, but it started with one small thing, then another. Before I knew it, I had invested more in repairs than the vehicle was worth.
I have a 96 grand Am and it has been fairly reliable. I do my own maintenance and have been flustered with repairing the anti-lock brakes, these things are useless in my opinion. They seem to eat a set of pads every 6 months. It is also impossible to find the freon fill port when you need to recharge. One problem I have had annoy me is the door locks automatically when you get out of the car forcing me to walk home for my spare key! Watch out for these people that install remote starters, they almost always use piercing type splices which are unreliable and unprofessional to say the least. You will have all kinds of wierd electrical problems.
I have a '96 Pontiac Grand Am GT and I just had the alternator replaced. It seemed to be running fine until just recently. Now, every time I come to a stop, after I take it out of gear, the engine dies. I understand that this is a problem with automatic transmissions, but what about a manual transmissions. Is this an electrical problem (i.e. battery, spark plugs, etc.) or is it a fuel problem (fuel pump, fuel injectors, etc.)? Someone please help me!
I have a 96 Pontiac Grand Am SE. I too believe that it is a lousy car, I had the car for less than 30 days and the alternator went, I had to replace the motor mounts, the Coil pack housing, the brakes, and now I have to replace the Timing Chain. I will never buy another Grand Am. I was under the impression that these were reliable cars.Kristi, Maine.
I'm starting to see a pattern in all these comments. I've had a '96 4cyl Grand Am from the beginning. It's been a pretty good car except for a few things:
1. Water pump. This will go out--it's a lousy design and it corrodes from the inside. I had to replace mine after 4 years. ($600)
2. Fuel door. This just decided to stop working one day. I've noticed this happens to other Grand Ams--all of us seem to be driving around with it flapping in the wind.
3. Window. Mine is manual, but somehow it doesn't roll up properly any more. I may have messed this up on my own...
4. Clutch master/slave cylinder. It just went out this week. I'm still not sure if it's the master or slave. It's probably the slave which costs $900 to fix rather than the master which costs $300.
Judging from what I read here, it looks like my alternator and A/C will go next...
Overall, I've been pretty happy with the car. Until the clutch, I'd gone 6 years spending only $600 on repairs. Not too bad considering it cost $3000 less than a civic. Consider the time value of money, and that's worth $5000 to me now. It's still a hassle to worry about the next repairs coming up though...
Wow, so I'm not the only one with a psychotic '96 Grand Am SE...
*The random dying thing. Typically once a week or every other week last fall, it would die while on the road, typically at a shift point, and the dash would freak out with trippy lights and gauges flapping in the breeze. My mechanic took it for a weekend, driving it around here and there, but never could duplicate the problem. I took it to another mechanic, and he said I had a misfiring spark plug. Replaced the plug, seemed okay for a while. I think this was an unrelated problem, because a month or so later, it died while on the highway.
Typically it dies when I least need it to... I was half an hour late for 2 of 4 exams in one of my college courses last fall, due to having to wait up to 40 minutes to be able to restart it and head back out.
This morning, it died on my way to work (a 20-mile commute), the day after I promised my boss I'd be in earlier today to help out with some stuff before our students arrived.
The second time it died this morning (about seven miles down the road), I managed to coast into town, park, push it into the ditch, and walk the rest of the way to work (bawling and cussing along the way, naturally). When my boss drove me back to my car at noon, it started up fine. It also got me home without a problem.
I thought I self-diagnosed the problem as an interference with the compressor (somehow). In retrospect, I realized that it typically died when I was running the defroster. Today, I was running the AC (on hot, since it has never been an issue before) when it died. The second time it died in this trip, however, the blowers were completely off. I am convinced that this car simply hates me.
*My driver's side window regulator is broken as well. I was told it would cost $300 for parts and service. I decided I could drive without rolling down my window unless absolutely necessary, because I can push it back up into place if need be; it just takes a lot of time and patience.
*I had to replace the ignition coil and spark boots a couple of months ago, after it started vibrating wildly on the highway. Stupidly, I drove it the rest of the way home, but I got there safely.
*Also, my entire ignition cylinder (I could have the name wrong; where the key goes in) had to be replaced two weeks ago after the car would not turn off due to the anti-theft system wigging out. Another $300 I didn't have.
*The back brakes were replaced last year; they were leaking fluid. The front brakes are in pretty bad shape, but those are the least of my worries right now. I just want the stupid thing to run.
*And yes, my heater smells like antifreeze, too. I called it 'maple syrup' the first time it happened, till I realized what the smell was. So I'm a dunce, forgive me.
I'm currently somewhere around 140k miles on this beast. If it hadn't been a gift of sorts, I'd have traded it long ago. My mother still has the title, though; but once I get it, I'm trading this sucker in. Even if I only get $500 for it and have to get an old Metro, it couldn't be worse than the unpredictability and sheer unreliability of this hunk-o-junk.
I have a 1996 Grand am se. I noticed that the headlights are allways on, even when it is bright out. There is no way to turn them off. I know it has daytime running lights. But these are all the lights because the dash lights and tail lights are on. I cannot locate the sensor for the lights. The manuel says it is located on top of the dash. I don't see it anywhere. If anyone knows how to fix this let me know.
I just like all of you have a 96 Grand Am, mine an SE. First, I bought the car with 111,000 miles on it. The first week I had it the ignition started messing up. My father is a mechanic and had to take out 5 of the 9 tumblers in the ignition in order to turn it over. Next, my window also gave me problems, but we took off the panel on the door and sprayed white litheum grease into it and it seemed to work fine. This can be done without taking it to a mechanic. It more less pops off, just be careful. My fuel door sometimes opens with the latch inside, and sometimes I have to work with it. Seems to do it more when it is cold out. Someone mentioned that when driving the car seems to shudder like it has bad gas, can anyone tell me for sure what the problem is? My car is starting to do the same exact thing. The lights do come on sometimes, but mine go out after about 50 times on and off. It doesn't die out on the highway yet. Also, my oil is changed on the dime all of the time, someone took good care of it before me. I've had the car about 1 year now, and it has 136,000 miles on it now. None of you said at what mileage yours started going crazy at, I just wonder. A friend has a computer so when mine started putting lights on and seemed like it had a mis fire we just put it on there and reset the entire computer in the car. thanks, pa.
OK look, I have owned two Oldsmobile Achievas, a 92 and a 94, they are built on the same platform and powertrains as the Grand Ams. I love them, you take care of them and they take care of you in return. To the person that said they're exhaust smells like gas, you have a misfire and are spewing unburned gas into your catalytic convertor thereby killing it and making it smell like eggs. There is no V-4 just an inline 4, the Quad 4 was upsdated and renamed the2.4 Twin cam. Yes the Quad 4 SOHC engines had problems, but only if they over heated, once again take care of it and check fluids every so often and you'll get 200,000 miles out of it. So in conclusion, take care of your car, if you beat on it, you will have problems, if you neglect it you will also have problems. Common sense here people, geeze.