1999 Pontiac Grand Prix SE from North America - Comments

To start first thing was a coolant leak, diagnosis cracked intake manifold.

Second, a tapping noise turned out to be a bent push rods and valves in cylinders 1 and 3.

Third, after this was fixed they noticed the head was cracked and replaced.

Fourth, the timing chain was stretched and the guide was cracked.

Fifth, the fly wheel was cracked.

Sixth, was a mysterious gas leak, no one could find, result was a new plenum gasket and O ring seals for the injectors (not convinced it is taken care of still a slight gas smell)

Seventh, two window regulators have broken both on the passenger side.

Eighth, the radio only works if the car has been in the sun and is extremely hot after it cools off only the front speakers work.

This has been the worst car I have ever had the privilege of driving, I know who ever had it before me must have dogged it hard. I do have to admit now that the engine has been rebuilt four times in the past thirty days it has some power to it. I would consider buying another Pontiac in the future, but it will be new so I know it is the manufactures fault if it goes wrong.

Hi. First of all did you buy the car from a dealer or from a private seller. A lot of people would say this doesn't matter, but it does, because if from a dealer than either the problems where recognized and either they got to busy to fix them or they sold it knowing that the problem was there in which you have good reason to give the car a bad review I guess. If it was bought from a private seller than most likely either the people knew that the car was having those problems and that's why they wanted to get rid of it or it could be possible that since you've had it it has been run extremely hard. These cars are supposed to be more of a luxury car than a sport or muscle car. So therefore they wouldn't respond well to rough driving and such. For that you would need either a sports car or a classic muscle car.

Sounds to me that your mechanic is taking you to the bank. Any time whey start one major repair and they happen to stumble upon another problem by accident, it's no accident. Try taking it to another dealership for a second opinion.

The SE with the 3.1L V6 was the base model for the GP, so maybe the previous owner couldn't afford the more expensive GT or GTP, but he or she settled for this car and either took out his/her frustration over being limited to this choice or simply treated the car as anything but the SE and expected it to perform well anyway. However, it seems the next owner (the author of this review) ends up reaping what the previous owner sowed. What a shame. Just my 2 cents. Anyway, the 3.1L V6 doesn't seem to be quite as good as, say, the 3800 series V6 as so highly acclaimed by GM.

Tip: if you're gonna buy a GP SE and it has this engine, but you want it to last a good while, DO treat it as you would a luxury car, not a sports car begging to be hot-rodded or thrown into corners. Given other reviews I've read here, it seems this particular engine doesn't thrive well on abuse.

I bought a 99 Grand Prix as a demo from a Pontiac Dealer and had some similar problems. I had a coolant leak into the cylinder. I have three window regulators that do not work (two of them are rear windows and get very little use). The carpets show more wear than they should for the year. In addition, the headlights seemed to have some coating on them that has yellowed and now dim the headlights quite a bit, making it necessary to replace both. My previous vehicle was a Toyota pickup and it just ran. The only thing that broke was a heat adjuster cable. That was after 8-9 years. Think I hate not to buy American again, but the quality is a lot better from Toyota.