2000 Pontiac Sunfire SE from North America - Comments

Hey, recent 2000 2-door sunfire purchaser here. Reading whats posted on here makes me weary of what's to come! Only had the car for (almost) 3 months and I have had work done on it (at the expense of the car dealership thus far).

To the person whose back speakers don't work... I have that same problem too, I was told by my mechanic that the speakers are fine, it is something with the actual stereo system itself -=apparently=- a popular factory issue with these cars.

When I bought my car, the ABS light and check engine light would come on sporadically, as well the "lights on" and "keys in ignition" indicator charm would not come on, and the interior light would not come on when I opened the door... as well the stereo would not shut off automatically. All this dash and bells-and-whistle mishaps were all due to a broken/sticky door switch. Once that was changed, it all works!

I don't know about other sunfires, but I find that when driving, it almost sounds like you are in a wind tunnel. I know that there is obviously wind resistance, and over time, cars get louder... but its pretty loud. I'm nervous that the seals around the windows are giving out! Rainy days, it sounds like you are driving with the windows open. Occasionally there are odd squeaks in the back, resembling the sound of a washing machine on spin cycle O_O...the list goes on...

2000 Sunfire, daytime running lights flicker on startup & then turn off, Service light on, no high beams. Replaced DRL relay & headlamps, no success. Took to dealer, & it's the headlamp wiring harness! They want $700 to replace it. Time for a recall, GM...

'97 Cavalier with VIN starting with '3'

Required rewiring of headlamp harness due to head light problems. The passenger side was dim and running lights were dim. The GM dealer completed one side in June 2005 AND the second side again in January 2006. Total cost $295 plus $ 295 = $590. With this being a wiring problem the car was taken to a GM dealer. This is the first time I was not able to use an independent dealer to repair a standard car problem. This type of apple pie car should not have unexpected expensive problems for those whom can least afford the cost.

My Sunfire was built in Lordstown, OH--no such problems here!!

Jan. 29,2006

I am presently experiencing a headlight problem for the 4th time on my 2001 Sunfire, (92,000 KM). The first 3 problems involved corroded wiring and corroded splices in the wiring harness that caused everything from no Daytime Running Lights to no high beam headlights to no headlights whatsoever. My car was taken to the same GM dealer all 3 times in the past. It has cost me a total of $553.16 so far and I have to take it back for a 4th time! I have e-mailed GM Canada twice- not much help- no recall in sight for this wiring harness problem. I am going to phone Transport Canada in the next day or two. They are responsible for enforcing the Motor Vehicle Safety Act in Canada. I feel this issue is a serious safety-related defect inherent in these vehicles. Transport Canada can be found on the Federal Government web-site, or phone them at 1-800-333-0510. Please express your concerns to them as I am going to do.

Hi. I am an owner of a 2001 Sunfire. I bought this car five months ago and have had my car in the shop seven times because my car would stall or not start. The mechanics just put a new fuel pump in my car today and 120 miles later it stalled twice and wouldn't start once. I am so frustrated with this car.

Has anyone had this problem and if so what did they do to fix it?jalsaker2@netzero.net.

Hi all.

I picked up a 1998 Sunfire GT for about $1000 CDN last month with 128,000km on it. Generally the car runs fine however before it will pass safety, I have the following repair work to do:

- replace corroded fuel tank (I could smell the fumes when the car was fully fueled)

- DRL and headlights do not work surprise surprise! another wiring harness issue!)

- replace seized rad fan (causes SRS light to come on)

And I also have a problem with the motor resistor on the fan speed selector such that the first interval does not work. I have off, medium and high. LOL.

The car drives well - before I bought it from my friend, she had about $1500 CDN worth of suspension work done to the car. This car is going to replace my 2002 Echo which is soon due back after a 4 year lease. I decided to try the whole "fix the junker, no car payment" route for a while. :)

Good luck to all the Sunfire owners out there! Seems like GM needs to recognize the design flaws in the headlight and fan systems. Since I didn't spend a lot of money to purchase the car in the first place, I don't mind spending a few thousand on getting it to run well for the next few years - considering the monthly cost of a lease on a new car. :)

J in Halifax.

I also have some problems to report about the 2000 Pontiac Sunfire I had. I say "had" since I traded it in a week ago with only 56,234 miles for a 2006 Subaru Impreza due to its problems.

I bought my Sunfire new in July of 2000 and between the time I took delivery and the time I traded it in, I had been forced to replace the front brakes three times and the rear brakes twice. Also, I had the same problem with the A/C fan switch everyone else seems to have reported (when I traded mine in, it did NOT work on the "1" and "2" blower positions and "3" was starting to run very slowly).

I also smelled gas fumes from it, and a nasty burning oil smell due to a leaking valve cover gasket that cropped up about six months ago. Also, the exhaust system straight pipe below the engine was beginning to rust out.

And, on top of all of this, the radio/CD player occasionally refused to work, the pink gauge lights behind the tachometer on the dash went dead as did the lights in the automatic transmission shifter console, and, finally, two weeks ago, the digital odometer began to flash and give me weird messages that resembled Egyptian heiroglyphics!

My wife and I considered the cost of repairs that were beginning to pile up and we talked it over and decided to trade this old baby in. I still got $3000 in trade, believe it or not, even after I told the Subaru dealer about all of its ills. I guess they were sympathetic- they said they will fix it up and eventually have it on their used car lot. Even though this was a Lordstown, Ohio built car (the VIN began with a "1") I think the next owner of this poor Sunfire (which still looks nice and runs nicely despite its ills and annoyances) deserves our prayers!

I bought a 2001 sunfire 4 doors sedan made in Mexico in december 2000. I had most of the problems everyone talked about.

For the blower, it wouldn't work in position 1-2 and 3.

As someone said, it was a fan resistor located under dash passenger side. Cost me 15$ to repair it myself. Would have cost over a hundred if repaired by the dealer.

I also had the 2 recalls, one about fuel gauge and another one about ignition.

I changed my radio/CD player a few times in the firsts months.

My car started stalling for no reason someday and they changed an oxygen captor, but it did not solve the problem because I stalled a few more times after that.

I also have the headlights problems right now and trying to find a way to solve it. Lights will flicker on and off and then I got no daylights.

Both turning signals don't work properly anymore.

I have a 2000 Sunfire with almost 80K miles and am very glad a purchased an extended warranty for it when I bought it 3 years ago. In the last 6 months I have had AC problems. 6 months ago I took it in and they said nothing was wrong and they just recharged the AC, they also fixed my fan then, my fan didn’t work in the first position. My first bill was $350 the warranty only covered $50. Then 2 months later the AC was not working again. This time they said I needed my evaporator core replaced; this was a $1250 fix of which my warranty covered $1000 of this. Now I’m having problems with the AC again. Reading online it might be the AC/Heater door that is not functioning correctly when I move it over to the cold side. I still have 20k left of extended warranty or 2 years which ever comes first and it has already paid for itself. Luckily I have not had any headlight problems with my car as of yet. Might get that checked when my warranty is about to expire. Has anyone else had AC problems like mine?

I got the same headlight problem on my sunfire 2000 I would like to know if any one had news from GM for a recall, I call them 4 times so far and told me to pay for it and maybe later on if and only if they got a recall they will study the case if the will repaid me, if anyone got news from GM on this problem could you EMAIL me at: alacha1@msn.com.

Thank you.

I just traded in my 2000 Sunfire (less than 50K miles) and feel the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders!

The air conditioning has been dead for several months (I had the blower repaired before, but now it's the compressor), the oil is leaking, the trunk is full of water and the radio lights are out. I could actually live with these things.

But a few weeks ago it stalled on the expressway; I thought it was something I did (low on gas). But then it did it again! I can't say how scary it is to be alone on the side of the expressway with your car not starting. I traded it in the day after for non-GM car. I felt bad about not getting another GM, but I've really had enough.

Sorry it's too late to help you, but I hope you didn't act mistakenly in haste. My aunt also had a Sunfire and it would have mysterious starting and stalling problems. What it came down to was the gasoline. For some reason, the fuel injectors became badly clogged when using gasoline with a high ethanol content. She changed the station where she got gas, and the problem went away.

HI,

My wife has a 2000 Pontiac Sunfire with the daytime running light problem as well as the #1 fan setting.

Is there anyway that we can organize ourselves and force GM into a recall?

Hi fellows sunfire owners

i purchased my 2002 sunfire in march of 2003 with only 6700 miles on it. 2 months after my CD/radio wouldn't play, got it fix. now it's summer in the big city I need cool air tried a/c didn't work took back to dealer found that can't remember the name, but it cost $700. 1 month later my rear turning light won't work took to dealer again found that the socket that the light sits in was damage replaced it. less that a month later my running lights blink off and on then stays off. can only driver with brights. wait I all most forgot service light stays on. is there any way we can get together and force gm to have a recall on these problem. if anyone has any suggestion email me at coratheone@aol.com.