2002 Pontiac Grand Am: engine overheating

Filed Feb 18, 2012 · Brakes, Electrical · AZ

After having the 2nd catalytic converter in 2 yrs put on the electrical went haywire. The ABS,trac off & service engine lights come & stay on for no apparent reason. I've had it serviced and nobody knows why this is happening. I had the brakes inspected and given a clean bill of health so to speak & yet at random times I have no brakes even after having them inspected by professionals. The car now overheats due to the dex cool I was told to use because it ate thru the cheap gaskets put on by the dealership which they will not cover. The blinkers have a mind of their own and only work during the daylight hours, I've had those checked & new ones installed as well and they still only work in the daytime and finally the plastic window clips on the passenger side(both) break constantly. I've had everything replaced even he engine! This car has cost me over 20,000.

Filed Sep 22, 2010 · Engine · 142,000 miles · PA

I have a 2002 pontiac grand am with a 3.4 litre engine. The vehicle overheats. I did some research and found out that general motors installed plastic gaskets on these vehicles and recommended dex-cool. The antifreeze eats the gasket up from the inside out and causes the vehicle to overheat. General motors refuses to fix my vehicle even though they knew about this problem for years.

Filed Jul 21, 2010 · Engine · 46,343 miles · MI

This is a second vehicle with very limited mileage, which is driven by my wife. The car was purchased new from a pontiac dealer so I can verify mileage and that it was maintained. The first indication of a problem was while I was driving on the expressway the temperature gauge shot into the red zone. Fortunately, I was near an exit and able to pull off the road before car stalled out. Since I had already started to slow down I was able to control car and to get it stopped safely without having power steering and power brakes. Car was towed to a local mechanic who pressure test cooling system and informed me of the problem and told me that gm was aware of problem and that they might help with repair cost. Gm insisted that vehicle be checked by one of their dealers before anything could be done. The gm dealer did verify the fact the intake manifold gasket cracked causing car to overheat, and stall out. This problem is a result of the anti-freeze gm uses, dex cool, which reacts with intake manifold gasket causing the gasket to break down. Gm has issued a service bulletin #03-06-01-010, back in 2003 to its dealer, but did not notify vehicle owners. It seems when the manufacturer installs bad parts or incompatible parts/fluids like this, that they should offer a solution that is reasonable and except the responsibility at the very least.

Filed Apr 4, 2007 · Electrical, Engine · 37,796 miles · FL

I have a 2002 pontiac grand am. I bought the car one year ago. The car now has 38,000 miles on it. A few months back, the car started doing this thing where sometimes it would start, other times it would not. I was left stranded with my son in the car numerous times. But, when I would get the car towed to get fixed somewhere, the car would start right up. Finally after weeks of frustration, the locale pontiac dealership replaced my passlock module. The car has been starting since. But now there is another problem. The car is overheating. I have had it in and out of the shop three times now, getting different things done, and it is still overheating. This car is just one problem after another. I have spent a total of 2000 on repairs, tows, and car rentals. The extended warranty hasn't paid a penny,(and it's supposed to be the best you can get), and I am now out of money, can't drive my car, and still have 3 years of 325.00 a month car payments. I am very disappointed with pontiac. I will never buy another pontiac product. They are extremely unreliable. I am not the only one having these problems either. There is a website, (edmunds.com,) where you can read about all the other people with grand am's, having the same problems.

Filed Jun 11, 2006 · Engine · 83,000 miles · CA

First, the car began with overheating. I had to continually replace the coolant to keep the car from overheating. It would not leak out of the car. Upon visual inspection the leak from the coolant did not leak out of the vehicle. The vehicle finally failed after driving. The temperature gauge reached a high level and the vehicle shut off. The vehicle was clearly overheated with again the coolant levels low. Was repair began, it was found that the all the gaskets within the engine had blown. This caused water and coolant to leak into the engine. Causing the engine to work more due to the build up and causing overheating. This also caused the water to leak out of the intake manifold. Finally a build needed to be flushed out of all the hoses and engine itself. A build up mixture of water and oil.

Filed Feb 7, 2005 · Engine · 42,000 miles · PA

Coolant leak - internally.... Blew head gasket. Car brand new!! Service records indicating that car was 100% properly maintained by owner. Service department at perruzzi pontiac in langhorne, pa. Is keeping a tight blindfold on this known defect in this car and all other grand am gt 2002 models that have reported the same problems.

Filed Nov 23, 2004 · Engine · 52,000 miles · NE

I replaced the lower intake manifold gasket in my pontiac grand-am (2002) at a cost of $700. The problem was well-known amongst the mechanics I saw and I was informed that this problem needs to be addressed. The mechanics could not believe that gm had not fixed this problem. I was told this was due to faulty gaskets and that the quality of gasket used was quite poor. I researched the problem on the internet and ran into numerous individuals with the same problem. The problem is common to the v-6 3.1l and 3.4l engines. It causes rapid oil loss and coolant leaks. This made the car undrivable and damaged the engine. My car is only two years old and this damage happened outside the warranty. I was treated rather rudely by pontiac and offered no help. This issue is ripe for a class-action or recall scenario. Very dangerous to the driver and car. High cost of repairs for a twenty dollar gasket. No accident occurred, but was stranded.

Filed Jan 1, 2003 · Engine · 10,396 miles · IL

I have a 2002 pontiac grandam gt. I purchased it in the end of 2001. Within my car reaching 10000 miles there were problems with it. The car started to overheat and there were performance problems. After taking it in I was told the the intake manifold need to be replaced and it was on back order. They finally replaced the manifold after two weeks. But the car has not performed the same. The car still slightly overheats and the dealership mentions that it is okay that the car runs slightly warm. And at time I smell the coolant when the car is running. I feel that if the manifold was fixed then there shouldn't be any other problems with the car. I also found out that alot of other gm vehicles are having problems with there manifold. I feel that after the warntee is over that the car will have problems later.