Tl*the contact owns a 2000 pontiac grand prix. While parked, the vehicle began smoking and then caught fire without warning. The fire department arrived and extinguished the fire. Pictures were taken and a police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an auto shop and the vehicle was declared to be destroyed. The purchase date and powertrain were unknown. The current and failure mileages were 120,000.
2000 Pontiac Grand Prix engine complaints
Page 7 of 9: complaints 161 to 190 of 223, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I made my normal approx. 13-mile drive into work on the morning of october 29, 2007. Park the car, walked into the office and appox. 10 mins later was notified that my car was on fire. Came back to the car and found it had a fairly large fire. Fire department was called and within 15 minutes, most of the engine compartment and the exterior of the engine was burnt beyond recognition. The car is currently being look at for a cause of the problem.
Tl*the contact owns a 2000 pontiac grand prix. The contact's wife started the vehicle and then shut it off to re-enter the house. When she returned, she noticed smoke coming from the hood of the vehicle and realized it was on fire. The contact was able to extinguish the fire. The current and failure mileages were 91,730.
Starting with a maf sensor going out, replaced, caused damage to o2 sensors, replaced ,as soon as these went out noticed coolant level drop then the coolant level sensor went out at tank, replaced, next morning at start up a loud kind of knocking took place at start up for 5 to 10 min and very rough idle from 1500-2000 RPM ,po300 random misfire, so I replaced plugs , wires , and coils. Now ruff RPM range 1000 to 1500 and still knocking at start up. Changing oil and filter after almost every fix to check for water or metal, oil is fine,now a po304 -random misfire on 4th cylynder- but car would clear up for a day or two,also adding injector cleaner and fuel filter to make sure fuel system is ok and using a noid check on each injector all injectors fine, now knocking at start up went away ,but rough idle still percists . Still po304 so I check compression on the 4th cylinder and it only has 70-75 lbs. Of pressure. So I'm done wasting money bring it to the gilroy pontiac buick gmc for tear down and first they saw a burnt exhaust valve on the 4th cylinder , then noticed the water in the valley tray and head gasket is blown and the intake gasket is leaking and the water pump is leaking the same water pump that went out at 700 miles new. So now the only choice I have is to have the head and valve job done, but the water damage would most likely cause pinging after all that moneys spent so now only choice is to pay almost $4500 for a new motor , problem solved.at 92000 mi
Drove car a few miles-went into store and a few minutes later car was on fire under hood---vehicle is the super charged 3.8 w/aprox 147k miles---know of another car same thing happened 1 yr ago- parked car and few minutes later was on fire in parking lot--both fires did not happen while driving-both same engine and both have high miles.
I had a 2000 pontiac grand prix with 120,000 miles, that had been mostly no trouble. We had an extended warranty til 75,000 miles, and all the routine maintenance. When driving home from work (<15miles), I stopped at the grocery store for 20 minutes or less. Before I came out, my car was totalled in flames, and 2 fire departments were there dousing my engine. There were no prior leaks/noises/ warning lights. This occurred in broad daylight, 4:30pm, along a major road. My husband is a certified in arson investigation, and stated the fire began at the front left corner of the engine, where the fuel line is. It was more severly melted in that area. We had the comprehensive insurance discontinued about 2 months prior,due to house insurance up a thousand dollars, etc, from the hurricanes, so I had no fire coverage, and am out of a vehicle. I called gm, and they offered to have an "independent investigator" look at it for any possible compensation. ( I did not call them for money, but called to report the incident, for safety reasons). Their 'independent investigator' reported it was 'ignited from an outside source, underneath the transmission'. I assure you this extensive fire was not started by a cigarette butt, and I do not have any maffia chasing me to ignite my car. I assure you no one in broad daylight on a major road torched my car. I am very angry with gm for making such a claim. I had a vehicle than ran well and was paid off over a year ago, and was in good condition...ask anyone who I work with or any neighbor. I thank god the car was not in my garage when this happened, or my house would be gone, and maybe us, too. Or, on the road in the middle of traffic.
After driving for a short time, 10 minutes, I parked and turned off my 2000 grand prix gtp. Approximately 10 - 15 minutes later a loud noise, explosion, was heard and the engine compartment of the car was entirely in flames. The fire department was called and subsequently extinguished the fire. The car was a total loss. Pontiac investigated and claimed to find no evidence of liability. Prior to this incident the car was running fine and had been regularly maintained.
I drove about 3-4 miles from my work to pick up my newborn son from my mother, who was babysitting. I parked my car in the parking lot of the school and went inside (car was not on). I had enough time to use the restroom and change my son's diaper (10 minutes) and we got a phone call from the main office on the 1st floor to tell us that my car was smoking. I ran to the window and saw black smoke billowing from my hood. I ran downstairs to the 1st floor, but by the time I got near enough to see, I could see orange flames underneath the car. I didn't dare go near the car to retrieve my belongings (purse, car seat, cd's, etc) for fear that the flames would spread to the gas tank. By the time the fire department got there, the flames were 5-8 feet high. The car is a total loss, but I have not gotten a quote my insurance company as of yet.
Tl*- the contact stated that the 2000 pontiac grand prix caught on fire while driving to work. She was driving about 35 MPH and noticed smoke coming from under the hood. The contact stated that she didn't have the heat or the cruise control on. The contact stated that she pulled vehicle to side of the road and called for a tow truck. Meanwhile the hood started buckling up, and flames came up from under the hood. The contact then called the fire department, who came and put the fire out. The vehicle was towed to ervin's auto body in newark, ohio. The contact stated that the insurance company did an investigation and couldn't find what caused the fire. The vehicle was taken to dealer for all regularly scheduled maintenance. The failure mileage was 62,000 . *ak the consumer states insurance company deemed the car as totaled. Consumer has provided an automobile claim report, a report from the fire department, a news article that pontiacs are under investigation for engine fires. Update 5/3/07
Tl* the contact stated that after parking his 2000 pontiac grand prix gtp, he returned to the vehicle and found that the front end caught fire and the fire department extinguished the fire. The fire department stated that "the fire started in the engine compartment". The vehicle was towed. The current and the failure mileage is 89,000.
While driving my 2000 pontiac grand prix gtp, the ses lamp suddenly began flashing. I pulled over and the engine burst into flames. The car had been running fine beforehand. The car was totalled.
Drove 2000 pontiac grand prix gtp approximately 3 miles. Parked in home driveway. About 20 minutes later a man came to the door stating the car was on fire (he had already called 911). Fire dept. And police on the scene as well as fire investigator who stated it appeared to have started in the engine compartment under the hood at about the front driver's tire. Cause unknown. No problems driving that evening, no service lights on. Oil changed approximately 2 weeks prior to incident. From windshield to front completely destroyed. Heavy smoke damage also inside car and in trunk. Front tires and front end of car melted to driveway. Gas tension rod from hood "exploded" and shot through garage door (luckily no one was standing in its way).
Drove 2000 pontiac grand prix gtp approximately 3 miles. Parked in home driveway. About 20 minutes later a man came to the door stating the car was on fire (he had already called 911). Fire dept. And police on the scene as well as fire investigator who stated it appeared to have started in the engine compartment under the hood at about the front driver's tire. Cause unknown. No problems driving that evening, no service lights on. Oil changed approximately 2 weeks prior to incident. From windshield to front completely destroyed. Heavy smoke damage also inside car and in trunk. Front tires and front end of car melted to driveway. Gas tension rod from hood "exploded" and shot through garage door (luckily no one was standing in its way).
Trac light comes on, tac goes to 0, car stalls. This could easily result in us being rear ended. The car is moving along and just stops. Replaced computer and ignition module problem still persist. Garage and dealer is unsure of the problem. At this point it is process of elimination costing us a lot of money.
2000 pontaic grand prix gtp great vehicle until I drove 30 minutes came back from lunch and parked; 10 min later the engine compartment completely on fire! The hot spot seem to be on top of the engine near the supercharger and more on the passenger side. There has been many many complaints about this same thing happening to the gtp's. Vehicle had no other problems before this, no check engine light on, all fluids perfect and serviced by myself a mechanic of 15 yrs. People need to know about this before someone dies from this.
Oil pan rusting out .. Gm called but they would not fix as it was past the 3 yearwarranty.. Extended warranty would not cover rust damage sanded off pan,applied industreal primer,bedliner coating.. Hope forthe best. Cost to repair rusted oil pan would be $800.00 plus
Oil pans rust out on pontaic grand prix.
2000 pontiac grand prix gtp super charged v6 engine 2-door with approximately 43,000 miles and well maintained -- fire in engine compartment destroyed most of engine compartment. Car was parked in parking lot for about an hour before fire started. Police called fire dept to put out fire. No prior indication of any problem.
Dt*: the contact stated while accelerating, the engine stalled. This occurred 9 or 10 times in the past month. Two dealers have been unable to repair the problem. The first dealer replaced the crankshaft censor, however the problem recurred. A second dealer was also unable to determine the cause of the problem. The contact expressed concerned about the possibility of a future accident due to this problem.
Driving home around 5 30 in the evening, exited off the garden state parkway at exit 91. Came up to the first light and the service engine soon light came on and flashed a couple of times. After that there was a puff of white smoke that came from the hood. Then the light went out. At this point I was about a 1/2 mile from home. As I continued to drive the car began to hesitate. Turning onto the street I live off the car died, no steering, no brakes, nothing. I had to forcibly turn the steering wheel, avoiding on coming traffic and luckily without incident steered the car into a vacant rite aid. Where I pulled the keys out of the ignition and exited the car. Popped the hood and saw a flame spark around the plastic supercharger cover. After seeing the flames I ran as far as possible and called 911. Police and fire department arrived shortly after. The car's engine was completely engulfed in flames. I am lucky that I was not injured, imagine if I was traveling on the parkway and the car died out. I might not be typing this letter right now! Something for gm to think about. Stop the problem now.
Shortly after I bought my used 2000 pontiac grand prix with 52,000 mi. In may 2004, I noticed it was going through an unusually large amount of engine coolant and oil. I took it to 2 different shops after having my low coolant light continuously come on between oil changes. Both shops told me that it needed a new intake manifold gasket, which was around $700 to repair due to there being so much labor involved. (and said if I didn't get it fixed, it could lead to my engine overheating and blowing up!) by the time we realized what the problem was, my warranty had also ran out. I got it fixed once the problem was identified in nov. 2004, when the car had 61,000 miles. After doing some research online a few months later, found that this seems to be quite a common problem in pontiac's around that year, once they get to around 50,000 miles. Or so (which my car was at when purchased) I don't feel that a 4 year old car with mileage that low should already have such an expensive problem that needs to be fixed, it seems to me that it is a manufacturing problem, they put in faulty, temporary intake manifold gaskets in their cars and they should pay to replace them.
3.1l gm v-6 pontiac grand prix se - leaking intake manifold gasket. Causes leak out of coolant, migration of coolant to oil and oil to coolant reservoir damaging internal components and hoses as well as running vehicle low on fluid levels and making a general mess of everything around it. Gm is fully aware of this defect yet refuses to act on it in the form of a recall. There are numerous tsb's regarding replacement of the gasket with a newer metallic version created due to the fact that the plastic versions in so many gm vehicles fail. A recall is demanded.
Dt: the consumer states she was in her vehicle driving on an incline, when she smelled something hot once the vehicle was turned off. Smoke was coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The consumer raised the hood. She stated that there was a fire underneath the hood behind the engine while awaiting for response from a local dealership. She also is waiting for someone from pontiac/gm to get back with her within 48 hours. *nm *sc
Numerous issues 1. Heater core went out around 60,000 miles. 2. Dexcool "gelled" and caused the above. 3. Stereo has malfunctioned since 36,000 miles. 4. Tie rod end wore out around 30,000 miles-took to dealership a couple of times and "they couldn't determine cause" of "noise and rattling". I took it to a tire company/service center and they fixed the problem. 5. Numerous interior floodings-water comes in at the firewall and floods the interior carpet-has mold, and deterioration from it. 6. Headlamps are yellow and nontransparent-the lights are not working properly because it can't shine through. 7. Headlamp assemblies are holding water. 8. Fog lamps went out right after purchasing the car and one of them burned the plastic assembly that holds it causing it to not work at all, disfigured now. 9. Rear spoiler is not attached correctly and seems to be the cause of water entering the trunk lid.
The consumers vehicle caught on fire while it was parked. *jb there was a grayish smoke coming from the engine along with a hissing sound.
I have a 2000 grand prix with a 3.1 liter engine. It has the typical "upper/lower manifold leak". The symptoms are slight smell of burning coolant, temp gauge not steady, in cooler days it doesn't get up to 180 degrees, on hot days it goes to 220. Also low coolant light every week, needs coolant in resovoir. Also has a crusty orange buildup in resovoir and radiator cap. I discussed with gm customer care and I have to pay a dealer to fix. Then submit a reimbursement claim. The agent for gm/pontiac said he would cover the first half and work to get more...but no premise's. While researching on the web, it seems that a lot of issues with the gm product intake manifold is an ongoing issue. I believe I should not have to pay for any of this repair due to the significant number of complaints and defect investigation.
My car caught fire 6-5-03. General motors sent an investigator out. On 7-2-03 I received a call from gm. They told me the report was my problem they would not take any responsibilty for the fire. I drove my car aprox. 15 miles that morning to my kids daycare. I pulled up to the front of the daycare and cut the car off and it started smoking and flames came from under the hood. Everything under the hood is melted no brake lines, fuel line or wires. I have not done anything to the car but change the oil. The oil was last changed aprox. Two months before that. Cars are not designed to just catch fire. I put my kids and a daycare full of kids in jeopardy that day. Just to add a little to my complaint. I have left about 6 messages since july 3 for the gm rep, kevin drew, to call me without success. When I purchased my car it only had 51,000 miles. I had trouble with bill heard dealership from day I drove the car off the lot it had problems. It took 4 months (1) the pistons was making awful noise. (2) the security light was flashing (3) the cig. Lighter had a burning smell when pushed in. I have a copy of the complaints , findings and action taken on a service report provided by bill heard. In that report it states that they found burnt and melted wire they removed the wiring harness and replaced wires. I left a message for kevin drew asking him to call me because I know for a fact that the wire going to the fuse box was melted. Everything under the hood is melted no wires, brake line or fuel line exist anymore. The region of the fire is the area of all the wires, computer box etc. In the middle of the hood at the center up toward the top close to the windshield.. This happened at a daycare. I was parked no more than 3 feet from the building.
Engine cooling-smell of engine coolant-two visits ago my car was taken to dealer to fix the recall for coolant leak problem-upper manifold. Month or two later I returned to the dealer for a routine oil change, and to correct a "service engine soon light." dealer informed me that my car "needed new thermostat." thought this was a normal condition-but even after recall fixed my car "smelled like engine coolant!" my car has never missed a required service--I "over-service" my car! The needed service completed by dealer replacing thermostat, bad temperature sensor, and required routine oil change. After picking up the car from the dealer-my car overheated-blowing smoke out of the hood. It smelled like coolant, I thought car was going to burn up! I had to have car towed to dealer-where dealer informed me-they spilled coolant-and that the coolant spilled was smoking!--I think there is a huge problem with the cooling system with this series engine. I feel that gm is covering up a larger problem with the 3800 series engine-I am afraid that this condition will cause more damage-I feel that gm does not want to admit there is a large problem, and simply fix my car! -rather the dealer states "there is nothing wrong." I like my car, and just want it fixed right. I am afraid the damage has been done--it is one oil change out of the original warranty-I feel that I am stuck with a lemon.--ebrock
The intake manifold gasket on my 2000 grand prix se (3.1 litre v6 - 60,000 miles) has begun to leak. I keep up to date on maintenance of my car regularly, and it has never been subjected to any extreme condition. I observed no noticeable puddles of coolant around my car or in the garage it is kept in. The problem first revealed itself while driving at expressway speeds (55mph) for about 5-10 minutes into my trip. The engine coolant low light came on, then the temperature reading began to rise sharply within 5 seconds (nearly to redline). Upon investigation on the spot, nothing was found. No puddles, no wet coolant around the engine. Mechanics could not find the problem at this point, even running the engine and cooling it repeatedly. I continued to drive with the replaced coolant thinking it was a one time thing. Then I begin noticing puddles, and the coolant is leaking out rather rapidly now (allowing the mechanic to finally find the problem). Once I found that it was the intake gasget, I found thousands of other owners of vehicles with the same and similar engine have the exact same problem. Due to the sudden nature of the symptoms of the problem, and due to widespread occurance of this issue on relatively low mileage cars, I find this to be a very dangerous and expensive problem that seem to happen to even the most well maintained cars. If I had not seen the temperature reading rising (as I'm sure most people dont watch their temp guage) I would not have known there was a problem and continued driving, this problem could have directly caused my vehicle to fail at high speed and no longer be under control endangering me and possibly many other safe drivers on the road.
Coolant loss from heads and,orintake.
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