At 100,000 miles or so the alternator blew for the first time in the cars life time, understandable in my case as I have a 600W system in the trunk, 150 for repairs and a lifetime warranty.
117,000 miles the Blower Motor failed and I replaced it myself cheaply taking a blower motor from my old grandam, a 94 SE with the Quad 4.
117,234 Check Engine light popped on and I discovered that Cylinder 2 was misfiring, I replaced the spark plugs myself and the problem was gone.
120,000 I hit a curb and put a bubble in my front left tire, my fault, but keep in mind tires are very expensive for this thing! 85 dollars a tire even for cheap ones.
122,435 The engine began to run a little to warm with the A/C on I had a coolant flush done and the problem was gone.
124,432 The engine started knocking occasionally, but only at idle. I took it to my local trusted mechanic and it is a wrist pin knock which is common in the 3100's. His son has a grand am with 198,000 miles on it and it has the same knock since about my engines age. It is nothing to serious to worry about.
I bought this car in 2004 with about 90,000 miles on it. When I bought it the interior still looked like new and I had the dealership look over the engine. The only problems it had when I purchased it was that the Intake gasket was 'seeping' and there was a leak in a transmission line, not a major leak, but a slight drip. I replaced the transmission line myself and was told that intake gasket still had 30-40k miles left on it. To this day the intake gasket has not been replaced and I admit that I am not easy on my car all the time. I have raced it more than once and love the acceleration it has even with such high miles. I change the oil every 3k miles and if I'm late its no more than 500-1000 miles late and I still check to make sure its full. Overall this is the best car I have ever had! I have read many reviews of this car stating that its nothing, but problems, but in my opinon if you take care of it, it will take care of you.
Great car for a single person and I would definitely buy another one! If you are considering a Grand Am the negatives would have to be this. The Quad 4 or 2.4l TwinCam is a joke, I had one of these and so did one of my friends and neither of us could keep them running. The 3100 V6 is a much better engine however I'm disappointed to not be able to find one with a manual transmission. The interior looks nice, but is cheaply designed and likes to rattle as the car gets older. The gauge cluster in my opinion is nice, but I wish they would have kept the full cluster (that is the cluster with oil pressure and battery gauges) from the the 95 and older GT's. The intake gasket is bound to go out eventually it is one of the few common problems with the 3100. About 300-500 dollars to get done when it finally does go out.
I have a 97 with the 2.4 but I have done some modifying So its faster than the stock 2.4.
I own a 97 Grand Am GT 3.1, I am a DodgeLover, but nothing comes between me and my baby. I love this car!
Very close 2 157,000 miles on it and only spent 5 bucks to fix a bad sparkplug wire LOL. It's been the best three years with this car
The 2.4 quad 4 twin cam is a far better choice in a used Grand Am. It's more reliable, VERY maintenance free (no timing belt like most 4's) requires virtually zero maintenance before 100,000 miles and is extremely strong and responsive.
My 8 year old quad 4 has run perfectly since new, and never required a single repair or even changing of the spark plugs.
I've added a cold-air induction system, and mine easily leaves most Civics, Corollas, Focuses, ALL pre-2007 Camrys and most other 4 (and many V-6) cars in the dust.
My mind is definitely made up to purchase a local 97 Grand Am GT with the 3100 V6. I had an Alero of 2001 ilk, and she treated me very well though 70k miles of horribly rough pizza delivery driving (probably about 250k worth when you consider it's all stop/go and in-town driving!) This car is $1500 and looks in great shape aside from a few cosmetic scuffs and some minor paint fade in a few places. The first test drive went well, but was entirely too short due to not having dealer plates and not wanting to get any tickets we didn't go very far at all. Going back for a REAL test drive tomorrow - I can't wait!!!
Good luck with your GT, hope it's still out there rolling and kicking!
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