Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-66
For the 1997 grand prixs the reason your getting water in the car is because a strip of weatherstripping has fallen off the car. you need to remove the windsheild wipers and pull off the plastic tray the sit on. underneath that is the weatherstripping, put that back on the car towards the passenger side with some caulk. that will stop the water from getting inside the car. and getting inside your blower motor too.
I have read all of the comments regarding the 1997 Pontiac Gran Prix and feel that I must have the only one that has been problem free. I have owned mine since purchased new and it now has almost 190,000 miles on it and still gets 30 miles per gallon. I commute a 100 miles a day to work and back. I just have routine maintenance done such as oil changes, filters, belts, ect.
I've had to replace the struts, battery, tires, belt, wiper blades and the things that just normally wear out. When it gets detailed, looks like a new car.
Fortunately (knock on wood) I haven't experienced any of the other problems that have been referred to. Since mine has performed so well I had been considering a new Pontiac when I was ready to purchase another car, but now I will certainly consider what everyone else has shared about their experiences.
I own a 97 GP gt never really had problems until the past year. for everybody with the coolant problem its usually the upper intake. i replaced mine and the car runs great. if you do replace it use a doreman product because its so much more durable.
My 1997 GP has had most of the problems mentioned. With only 78,000 miles I have replaced several items more than once including water pump, alternator and passenger front wheel bearing assembly. The radio display is acting weird now (the "Fonzie" whack fixes this). I have replaced the fan blower resistor pack (they have a new design now), headlight covers fell off (dealer said that was rare, yet had them in stock;- (. Just today the key seems to be stuck in the ignition. The auto-dimming mirror slowly died (I bought a $10 one on-line). It still looks new at 10 years old, so at least the paint is good! For the guy getting bad millage, take a look at the coil/spark plug wire connections, two of mine were rusted. I was planning on giving car to my 16yo daughter, now I'm not so sure...
I have owned 2 grand prixs, one a 97, the other a 98. Although both have had a couple minor maintenance issues, I feel that overall they are decent cars. Apparently so do many others. There are thousands upon thousands of grand prix owners out there, and less than 50 bad comments on this site. Any car is going to have problems, and if you survey enough people that own any make of car, you will find at least 50 people with bad experiences. Machines aren't flawless, some will break.
I agree withthe above comment, I'm thinking of buying a used grand prix "1997" you all have scared the crap out of me tho.
I own a 97 GP which I purchased new. I've had the alternator replaced and had the blower motor fixed. I also had a power window fixed. Other than normal maintenance repairs, it is has been a good car. I am experiencing problems now with the radio controls on the steering wheel. When I touch or turn the steering wheel the radio and tape player volume blasts. The lights on these controls have not worked for a about 3 years. I have 140,000 miles on the car and have been happy with it overall.
My 98 Grand Prix GT has barely 60 000 miles and has had most of the problems listed above. Lost both headlight covers, replaced the water pump, wipers not parking properly and possessed radio. A few years ago, I had the climate control fan replaced because it was making a chirping noise. Now the new one has developed the same problem. I have also replaced a broken rear coil spring and have just recently replaced the AC compressor and condenser.
The car has very little rust, but has one large spot under the gas filler door, where the metal is completely rusted out. There seems to be problem with moisture getting trapped behind the sheet metal. I have seem other GPs with the same problem.
I had the power steering rack repaired under the recall. A few months later, the steering locked up while I was turning into a parking lot. I had to have the entire rack and pinion assembly replaced at my cost. The dealer said it was not related to the recall issue. It seems to me that this is exactly the problem that the recall was supposed to fix. I haven't felt 100% safe when driving this vehicle ever since.
1999 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. This car has ran great for me up until now.
It has 120k on it and the blower (speeds 1-4) have gone out.
On top of that, the "low coolant" is now on and "service engine soon" it's in the shop today. I've added coolant to the reservoir and let the car run for 5-10 minutes and it isn't leaking anything. But when I drive it, the temp skyrockets and almost overheats. I'm stumped. Anyone run into this problem?
I have a 97 Grand Prix GT and I had the problem described where the fan blower will only work on high speed, but not on speeds 1-4. This also made my headlights turn off and the dash lights as well. It turned out to be the ignition switch harness. It seems to be working fine now. This seems to happen to almost everyone I know who has a Grand Prix.
I bought my 1997 Grand Prix GT new and I should have returned the car for good when two weeks later my windows wouldn't go up and a couple months later the passenger seat was stuck. I have replaced 3 alternators along with at least 6 batteries,1 wiper motor,1 water pump, 2 relays and the blower still doesn't work right, every part in the steering wheel column has been replaced once some parts twice, headlight covers fell off, radio control in steering wheel is possessed, half my dash lights are blown including my clock, of course windows are slow moving and yes just today my rpm's are going up and down. I used to really love this car, but after today it's got to go. I don't recommend this car to buy, actually, I would not give it to my worst enemy to drive.
I have not had what I would call a major problem with my 97 GP until the steering recall was done. After 2 new racks, It's worse than ever. There were NO problems until the recall was done. It's now back at the dealers fro the 4th time and they can't find out why it's exhibiting the symptoms that the recall was supposed to fix. It's now at 107,000 miles and up til this time has been a reliable car. I have had to replace the upper and lower manifold gaskets twice, but that's it except normal wear.
I Just wanted to say that I have the 97 GT, and I too have problems... where to begin. For starters, my gas tank gauge doesn't work! I have had the problem with the window switch not working and the drivers side window not going up, not to mention that it takes forever for the windows to close. The blower on the A/C just decided to stop working. I am also having troubles with the ignition, I turn the vehicle off, and the key doesn't come out. I have to keep starting the car until it finally works. My coolant light also kept going on and off, but isn't happening anymore. I don't understand why there aren't recalls on these things, if so many of the 97's are having the same problems?!?!?
Problems with my 97 Grand Prix SE, hmm where should I start?
-No Heat or Air
-Gas Gauge doesn't work
-gets about 15 mpg
-Windshield wipers stopped working while driving in a snow storm, bought a new wiper motor for $90
-Oil leaks
-Coolant leaked, and I had to refill every 4 days which has now amazingly stopped for some reason. I put probably a tablespoon of sealant in the radiator, but stopped because it was overflowing so I don't think that fixed it.
-Fuse center corroded and all the warning lights are always on.
-Replaced water pump twice
-About once every 2 months the car starts, but when I press the gas it stutters and dies, I run a diagnosis to clear all the errors and everything works fine.
Now worse of all, its just dead... either the fuel pump, a fuse, maybe the fuel filter, or something else, but I don't know what. No money for a mechanic now so the bus is my new ride...
But you know what, it lasted a good 197,000 miles and what more can you ask for?
I bought a 1997 grand prix gtp about 3 months ago. 1st thing to happen was aircondition went out. 2nd water pump went out. fix all this. then noticed a blown left head light that is on when the car is running in the day light. so I decided to replace it. new one lasted about 2 weeks then the day running light part blew again. only on the passenger side oh as before. then we started noticing the guages was acting funny like a power surge or something was going on. when you throttle out the temp light and the rpm guage works perfect. but when you let off the gas the rpm gauge drops to 0 and the temp light goes as fas as it can past the highest number on the gauge. when you give it gas again its OK till you let off again then it does it all again. so last night I tried to reset the computer by unplugging the hot battery cable for a couple hours. when I hooked it back up the same problems and not the electric seat want work. and also before I did the battery cable thing our cars horn was going off 3 times around 5 am every morning for some strange reason. now does anyone know how to fix these problems cause I would love to be able to fix them.??