2002 Oldsmobile Alero GLS from North America - Comments

I have a 2002 Alero. Twice the car has been in the shop due to the power window on the drivers side not working. Beware of the 2002 models and your dash. My two year old car now has a dash that looks rippled. I have since discovered that this defect is not covered on my 5 year, 60,000 mile warranty. The workmanship on this vehicle is poor and my car is falling apart. BEWARE!!!

I also have a 2001 Alero. In the last two years (60,000 miles), I have spent over $4000 on repairs for this car that has yet to hit the 100,000 mile mark. Regardless of the fact that I meticulously maintain this worthless car, I have replaced the brakes 5 times, rotors twice, motor sensor twice, and the lower intake manifold gasket- very common to go on this car according to the dealer, but painful as its at least a $1000 job. Also, my turning signal ceases to work on occasion as does my emergency light.

Most recently they've discovered rust in my coolant (which btw, is suppose to go to 150,000 miles until a change), and today I woke up to yet another bright red light on my dash and am headed back to the shop again this week.

If I wasn't upside down in my loan I would have gotten rid of his car long ago. If you are considering buying this car, JUST DON'T DO IT!!!

I have a 2002 Alero and have experienced many of the same problems. Brakes, wobbling, etc. I now have a strong fuel odor in the car. This is an intermittent problem and I hate to take it back to the dealership in that they will probably find nothing. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I have problems with my 2003 Alero stalling or losing power when going 65 MPH on the open highway. I had my mechanic put it on the diagnostic machine and he found nothing. We did replace the fuel filter,which when removed, would leak gas from one side, but not from the other. This would indicate trash in the filter. Hope this fixes the problem.

I have a 2004 Alero. I like the car, but the brakes are a BIG problem. I have taken it to the dealership and they say it is nothing, but I know that there is something wrong. You can hear the noise with the windows up. The car has less than 3600 miles on it, so the brakes should still be good. If anyone else with a 2004 has had brake issues, please let me know. This may be a factory issue.

Well where do I start? I have a 2002 Alero and the problems that I have had with my lemon are...

1. Power seat broke.

2. Paint peeling off buttons.

3. Interior light doesn't work.

4. ABS and Track light stays on.

5. Rear window defrost does not work.

6. Brakes have been replaced twice.

7. Cup holder broke off.

8. And the new problem with my lemon is driving home from work my car died. No steering, brakes, nothing... "dead".

So here I was pregnant and stuck on the side of the road in a snow storm with no power. As I write this, my car is in the dealer getting a new fuel pump installed. My warranty has expired so with the cost of the tow and repairs I'm looking at almost $1,000 cdn.

Carla : (

I have a 2000 alero and I have had pretty good luck with it except for the front wheel bearings (which are very expensive).I replaced both sides around 60000 miles. I took it to the dealer the other day because the turn signal didn't work properly. It had a recall on it. My ABS light and trac light kept coming on, they said the bearing assembly needed to be replaced. and the car only has 105,000 on it now.

Today my 2001 alero is again in the shop. The intake gasket went and one of the pushrods broke. on top of that one of the lifters is bent. Funny why did the sensors that always come on for no reason not indicate a problem? that is the top of the list with this car.

1. wheel bearings (both twice)

2. speed sensor

3. brakes (more often than I want to mention)

4. dash (peeling)

5. indicator lights (come on constantly)

6. shifter (broke in my hand)

7. wiper motor (twice)

8. noise in the front end.

This is outragous. GM should be made to recall the whole vehicle. I will never buy another gm vehicle again. i purchased a 1999 pontiac sunfire and the engine blew at 120000 km. I will be bringing home my alero and parking it in the lane and only use this 2001 gm product for emergency purposes.

Canadian Ken.

I have a 99 Alero and I regret the day that I ever bought the car! I have had more problems with this vehicle than I imagined. I have always taken care of my car. I have the oil changed regularly, basic maintenance, tune-ups, everything, but I still have a ton of problems with the car!!! The list of problems include:

ABS, Check Engine, Low Trac, Trac Off lights coming on whenever they want to. Low Trac will come on even in dry weather, causing the ABS to pulse.

Rust on the hood and front end of the car.

Brakes and rotors replaced more times than I can count.

Calipers several times. Along with hub assemblies.

My hazard light button fell into the dashboard, never to be seen again, so I can't even use the hazard lights!

The dome light continually falls out. I have finally rigged it so it doesn't move.

The power windows in front passenger and drivers side have been replaced twice. Now the control panel doesn't work on the driver's side, so I can't roll down the any of the windows, but my own.

The back passenger door does not open from the inside or the outside.

The power seats broke twice.

The CD/Radio broke twice.

I have had fan engine for the heater and air conditioning replaced three times.

The trunk now sticks. Sometimes it won't open. Other times, it won't close so I'm stuck in parking lots with a trunk full of groceries or shopping bags fighting to get the trunk to stay closed.

The newest problem is my wheel bearings. I can't even drive the car because of this new problem and have to have it towed to my mechanic's. The only bright spot with all of these problems is that my mechanic is a friend and has cut me enormous breaks on the prices.

In a way I'm happy that other people are having the same problems - it makes me feel like my car isn't the only lemon out there!

I first had to replace the brakes at 36,000 miles. The display on the radio stopped working at 45,000 miles. Just yesterday, the service vehecle soon, ABS and traction off light came on. Also, a roaring noise from the front end. If any suggestions please let me know.

Rbtburks@aol.com.

I have a 2001 Alero, and thus far have been relatively lucky. While under warranty, they replaced the A/C Compressor, had the problems with the windows getting stuck, and the magical electrical ghosts everyone seems to have. I have around 65K on my car now, and of course, the constant warning lights, and my one headlight only goes on when I hit it...I'm close to break even on this piece of garbage, so it shall be sold very soon and I will never buy another American car ever again.

Some of these comments are not exclusive to GM... I work as an auto mechanic, and I see many comments for "Strange front end noises" and "tire noises" There is a problem with Goodyear tires where the sidewalls flex causing a rubbing type of noise, something I have also seen on other makes, so you can't exactly blame GM for that. I wonder how many wheel bearings are replaced for this problem?

One comment I read says that the timing belt broke... only problem there is that Alero engines use chains which almost NEVER break.

The low tire light coming on... possibly caused by performing a tire rotation and not knowing that the light must be reset whenever tires are rotated, replaced, or pressures are adjusted. Can't blame GM for that.

Brake pulsation... OK I'll agree that GM has a bad front brake design here, but some of these complaints stem from overtightening of lug nuts with an air gun. Trust me, it occurs less often when using a torque wrench to tighten lug nuts.

I know several people who have Aleros, and what I have seen is that if regular maintenance is performed the cars have few problems. Ignore maintenance and the problems pile up.

I am fit to be tied with my stupid Alero. It is an 02 GLS and I actually asked GM to take the car back at 5000KM and they wouldn't. What proceeded to be a 6800 dollar mistake on their part, as this is how much in warranty work the car had up until the 60 thousand KM warranty ran its course. I solved the braking issues by simply replacing all 4 rotors, callipers and pads with aftermarket parts... only cost 1400 dollars!! I am so tired of this car and now today I find out that I need a new wheel hub assembly...again. This car was a mistake from the start. GM is notorious for their braking issues and has never dealt with it, only made it worse by dropping their nickel content in their rotors (causes warping), using their own hub assemblies (AC Delco makes them as well and I have to say I haven't had one issue in three years on the hub on the front left that was replaced at my cost with the AC Delco part) and their incredibly faulty designed callipers. The radio, replaced twice because the paint peels off. Paint peels from just about everywhere that has been painted on the car. Rust on every door and the hood because they didn't seal one seam on the car. GM needs to look no further then right here as to why Honda, Toyota and even Hyundai are putting better cars on the road. GM could fix the hub issue with using an AC Delco part, but they would probably charge an extra 5000 dollars for the car off the lot. These guys are crooks and I am tired of it. I have compiled a service record with exact dates profiling what GM referred to as "standard maintenence" on a new vehicle and at almost 34 grand for the car, they should be taken to court and made to explain their actions. I read some of the posts about the "never had any issues with my car" and I am not accusing anyone on here, but I used to be paid by a Fortune 500 company to find comments that were negative on the internet and post "positive" feel good posts to help counter the complaints. My mechanic laughed at the notion that any vehicle made by GM has not gone through some type of service every 5-10 thousand KM's. He said without GM and Ford, he'd be out of business.

Some please tell me where I can get an AC Delco hub assembly that isn't 450 dollars like up here. Email me at nospamnavycross@yahoo.com (remove the nospam when emailing).

Rob in Ottawa.

I also have an 02 Alero GLS and have suffered the same problems listed above. Has anyone determined the cause of the ABS Tract lights staying on? Did replacing the rotors and wheel bearing include replacing or cleaning the ABS sensors? I've heard good and bad things about Aleros, but the road noise seems to be getting louder with time. I had very poor fuel mileage until a quick lube outfit did a fuel system cleaning. The mileage increased to close to 650 kilometres per tank. I agree that GM should have addresses a lot of the problems years ago, but the mechanic was right in stating the he would have gone out of business if it weren't for suggested service periods and breakdowns. Please email me if you have any suggestions on the ABS light fixes kenjisr@telusplanet.net

I have found the best way to fix the stupid ABS light on and Traction off light is by popping the fuse panel on the drivers side and hitting the reset button you can read more about it in your owners manual.