2002 Pontiac Grand Am SE from North America - Comments

Neither I, nor anyone I know who owns a Grand Am has EVER had the window clip problem.

One of my neighbors owns 2 Grand Am GT's (a 2000 and a 2002) and neither has ever had a broken window clip. My 2001 has never had one (or any other problem).

I am wondering if this problem (which obviously exists, because I see so many comments about it) might be related to cold weather. I live in the Sunbelt and it seldom gets below freezing here.

At any rate, I would encourage legal action against GM if this problem is as prevalent as it appears to be and is not due to hard slamming of the doors. I had never even heard of this problem until I started reading these comments.

Yet another window issue with a 2000 Grand Am. The 2 back windows have been rigged up because of the elusive white clippy things for months, and now the passenger side has fallen prey too.

It has nothing to do with slamming of the doors since the driver side (the only door that has ever gotten used) is the only window still working.

I took a suggestion from this site and found the clips, they're not the ones for my car, but they may be for someone else's... http://www.a1electric.com/images9/br0824.jpg

My neighbor has a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am SE and only one of the four windows in his car currently works... and he's afraid to roll that one down because he's paranoid about it failing too!

He's not very mechanically inclined, so I try to help him whenever he has a problem with the car. The rear passenger window falls into the door if he hits a pot hole on the road, two of the other windows do not roll down at all.

I ran into this forum today, and showed it to him so he could see that the problem is very common with his car, and after reading some of the comments, he has decided not to try to fix the window problem,and will just hang on to the car until he can buy something else... not GM, not Ford, not Chrysler... he has his mind set that his next car will be a Nissan, Toyota, or Honda.

You would think that American car manufacturers would get a clue and build better cars... especially after seeing how well the Japanese cars sell year, after year, after year, even with our poor economic state.

My brother has been a certified mechanic for well over 20 years, and he will never, ever buy an American made vehicle again! I'm going to help my neighbor rig his rear window so it doesn't fall again, and it will be sold off that way when he gets rid of it.

Get a clue, GM, Ford, & Chrysler... if you want to stay in business, then start building something that's worth buying!!

By the time it had as many miles as my current Grand Am, our Honda Civic had more problems than I can even remember. Our 2001 Grand AM is the best, most reliable vehicle we've ever owned. Not a single repair in almost 8 years. By all means, go buy an import. Turning our backs on American industry is a very "in" thing to do these days. Being patriotic is a thing of the past.

My 2001 Pontiac Grand Am Coupe passenger side electric window has been inoperative for more than a year. About 3 years ago, I paid $350 for the dealer to fix the driver side window.

I was reminded that the passenger side window was inoperable today. Went online to see if it was possible to do-it-yourself. I can't afford another $350. Found this website.

Just wanted to stand up and be counted. It's a shame that there is a clearly known defect like this, and Pontiac won't make good on it.

I have the same problem with my 2004 Pontiac Grand Am (driver window). The window still goes up but it doesn't go down. I will open the thing and see what wrong with it. I might have to replace only the plastic clip. Anyway, I will try to fix the window by myself because I can't afford to pay that much money.

Thank you all for the advice

Rafie.

I have written before about fixing my driver's side window motor regulator and now I have also fixed my left rear window motor regulator. It has been eight years and these are the only two problems I have had so no Grand Am bashing here. I just want to share this website, where I have purchased the two regulators and they come with directions on how to disassemble the door and install the motor, pretty simple and only about an hour or so. Can be done by a novice, so please don't take it to the dealer and be overcharged when you can do it yourself for the price of the part which is relatively cheap compared to the dealer price.

http://www.powerupauto.com/GRAM.html?gclid=CND5t8_Xt5ICFQcNIgodXWc5NQ

10:08 makes a world of sense. Dealers will charge you 100 times what a repair should cost sometimes. My friend (a total dummy about cars) just paid a shop $477 to replace his front brake pads. I did this on my GA in late winter at a whopping cost of $17. It took me all of 20 minutes. I see all these ludicrous prices being paid for such minor little repairs and I just have to laugh. My GA is 8 years old and my TOTAL repairs (not counting tires and batteries) is $17. It's an awesome car.

Mine has the Quad 4, which is a very reliable and powerful engine. The only modification I have made on mine is a very free-flowing custom fabricated cold-air induction system. It gives the car a bit more power (probably 5 to 8 hp) and makes it more responsive. Mine does 0-60 in the mid-7's and easily blows away stock Civics. I highly recommend a good used GA for its great ride, good power and reliability. Mine is the best car I've ever owned.

2002 Pontiac Grand Am. I replaced both of the windows clips and regulators and was charged 450.00/window. Broke at the same time. I look up my VIN history and saw that the previous owner also replaced the left window motor, regulars and clips...twice, while it was under warranty.

900.00 is a lot of money to put into a car I bought used. I'm the second owner, and I bought it just out of the 3 year warranty time.

Fuel pump has also been replaced two times, once at 9,000 miles and once at 65,000 miles.

Also, the heating cooling temp setting only works on setting 4 and 5 so in the summer I freeze myself out on the A/C and in the winter the heat gets too warm or I'm constantly turning it on and off. That is annoying too and I've had several friends complain of the same problem in various Pontiacs.

I'm in the club also. I got this 2002 Grand Am SE about 18 months ago. I've already replaced both left side regulators and today I ordered a new reg for the front passenger side from E-Bay. It was cheaper than just the clips at the dealers. The car is nice for it's price range, but, GM doors are lousy and always have been. I can remember my 72 Monte windows breaking in the winter because of the plastic tracks. We'll probably never get satisfaction from Gm.

I did shame the dealer into giving me a good discount both times I went there. They should be. With 50,000 miles it shouldn't go through this.

So, make sue you let them know how you feel, politely please, if you go there. Or let them know you would rather support the businesses on E-Bay than pay there trumped up costs.

Just had my window regulator replaced on 2001 Grand Am for $466. The repair shop manager gave me a hint to prevent this again. He said not to roll down windows when the car is really hot because the weatherstripping swells and the mechanism can break as a result of opening window. He said this is also true if window is icy. So, if it's really hot in the car, let the A/C cool it off first before opening window. Not very convenient, but worth trying.

I have a 2002 Grand Am GT and this problem (window falling into the door) has happened three times now--driver's side twice, and just today the passenger window. This time I think my husband is going to try to do the work himself if I can find a good site with the instructions and proper part numbers for the clips. Please post a link if you have it. thanks.

Great to read all the comments on this trouble. My 2003 GA-GT/55,000 miles had the driver side window stop working yesterday, today its fixed. The window motor would go but the window stayed up. So I followed the advice on this site, opened the door panel up and there were the broken sash clips. I purchased them at the GM dealership in town for $18.50 (Canada) each. (GM part #22689012) It took a novice like myself about 1.5 hours to get the entire job done. I used a heat gun to remove the old sash's pushing with a putty knife, a hairdryer may work. Very easy and satisfying not to give the dealership $300-$400 for the same job.

This is definitly a design flaw, why not use a metal and composite piece.

I have been very happy with the car,fixing only 1 wheel bearing, brakes once and just got new tires after 55,000 miles in extremely harsh Canadian conditions. I still think Toyota is the best for reliability though.

I live in the Sunbelt where it is seldom below freezing. I drive an 8-year-old Grand Am SE-1 and belong to a Grand Am club. I've never had ANY window problems (or any other problems) and no one I know that drives one had ever even HEARD of it until I told them about the comments on this site.

Some of these cars have over 200,000 miles on them. Comment 23:46 mentions very cold winters, which makes me wonder if most of these problems are happening in very cold areas (cold makes plastic much more brittle). It is very obviously a problem that exists, but until I saw so many comments on here I had never heard of it.

Here is the solution to all most all of your window problems. When your window falls down partially or all the way or when you say your clips broke, DO NOT take it to the dealer. The dealer will tell you it will cost $300 because they are not allowed to replace the clip. All they can do is replace the entire assembly.

SOLUTION: Go to Autozone, O'Reilly, Napa and buy A $10 SASH KIT. It will fix 1 window. Follow the procedures to removing the door panel. Take a heat gun/hair dryer and remove the old clip with the heat and a scraper (careful not to damage the window). Replace the clips! Back in business in 1 hour and $10 later.