My son was driving our car and parked the car to go for a hike with friends. About 15 minutes into the hike he received a call from sheriff department telling him that his dad's car was on fire at the park. When my son arrived back at the car the fire department and sheriff were at the vehicle putting the fire out. The whole car was destroyed, front tires melted off, everything under hood was melted and destroyed, the whole inside was fried or melted. We lost GPS, garage door opener, his school books, his stereo and cd's and some miscellaneous items. Car was hauled to a salvage yard and did not have full coverage on car so lost everything. Feel gm is responsible for the loss that occurred. Thanks goodness his friends and himself were not in the vehicle at the time.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix engine complaints
Page 4 of 7: complaints 71 to 100 of 166, newest first, as owners wrote them.
2001 pontiac grand prix. Consumer states vehicle caught fire *tgw the consumer stated he drove the vehicle to his sons house and after pulling into the driveway, he turned off the vehicle and went in the house. A few minutes later, his daughter-n-law saw smoke by her front her window. The vehicle then caught on fire. The vehicle was sold as junk for $200. The consumer referenced recall # 09v116000. Gm wrote the consumer a denial letter stating the breach of warranty of limitations in new jersey was four years from the date of purchase.
After driving the vehicle for less than 30 minutes I parked and shut off the vehicle. Within 5 minutes my engine was on fire. The fire department came and put the fire out but the engine compartment and everything in it is a complete loss.
I had driven my car a short distance and came back home, within 30 minutes it was in flames. The neighbors were outside when it happened and called the fire dept. It burned up the whole front end, state farm isn't coming to investigate because I don't have enough coverage. Gm/pontiac doesn't seem to be too interested, but I am very upset. They made this car, they should have to answer for this. Cars don't just burst into flames for no reason.
Exterior lighting:headlights, engine and engine cooling.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 pontiac grand prix. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the contact smelled a burning odor. The contact pulled over into a parking lot. The contact inspected under the hood and noticed flames. The fire department was called and extinguished the flames, which was determined to have originated from the engine compartment. The vehicle was destroyed and towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was repaired prior to the fire under a recall associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number 08v118000 (engine and engine cooling). The repair remedy as mentioned in the recall was not performed due to the left rocket cover gasket availability however, the wire loom and spark plugs were replaced. The contact experienced the consequence of a fire as indicated in the recall defect, as a result of the insufficient remedy previously performed on the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 145,000.
Car, while driving, experienced loss of engine power and began to stall. Small fire yielding smoke began in engine compartment while parked and engine off. Within 10 minutes entire engine compartment was engulfed in flames requiring fire department to extinguish.
I have read numerous reports of pontiac grand prix's from 1997-2003 catching fire. The remedy offered by general motors was to replace the failed valve cover gasket in the front of the engine (radiator side). The problem is that the failure it is not unique to the front gasket, as the front and rear valve cover gaskets are identical, and the rear one fails and leaks just as much as the front. The reason general motors repairs only the front gasket is that it is fairly easy to replace and is easily accessible. The rear valve cover gasket, however, has a myriad of components in the way that have to be removed and disconnected for access to the valve cover and gasket, which is a much more time consuming and costly repair. Gm denies this fact and forces us to believe that it is only the front gasket that is troublesome. I own three grand prix gtp models (1999,2001,2002) and every one has leaking valve cover gaskets, with sometimes the rear one leaking more than the front due to its close proximity to the firewall, resulting is less cooling and airflow, making it more susceptible to damage from heat, especially for a poorly designed or made of inferior material gasket in the first place. Now I agree that the age of the vehicle may be an issue as gaskets dry up and perhaps crack due to the many heating and cooling cycles over the life of a vehicle, but since gm has acknowledged a gasket problem and has redesigned the gasket, both should be replaced as a measure of responsibility on gm's part, and as consideration for the safety of their customer base. Why gm doesn't do the right thing is anyone's guess, but ignoring consumers complaints on such a serious issue is shameful!.
I have had nothing but trouble with this pontic grand prix gt window motors three ABS brake brain leaking coolant I have spent over 3000 dollars repairing this car and now I have coolant leaking in my motor. By far the worst car I ever had shame on you gm you had to know.
Driving to work december 1, 2011, I noticed a burning smell and then a fire through the dash. I immediately pulled over and removed dash panel and threw snow into dash trying to put out the fire. Within a number of minutes the engine fire was out of control and the car was completely engulfed in flames. This resulted in a complete loss of the vehicle. It is believed the underhood fire was a result of the issue of gm safety recall #09047. The safety recall work was performed by a dealership on may 18,2009. I do not believe this "fix" has prevented the underhood fires on many of these recalled vehicles.
I was driving my car in a suburban area at approx 20 MPH when I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood. I immediately turned onto a side street and within 15 seconds of noticing the smoke there were flames shooting out from under my hood and the drivers side wheel well. I threw the car into park and got out. A passerby was already calling 911 and within less than a minute of my exiting the vehicle the entire front end was on fire. The fire department arrived and put out the fire and stated that there was so much damage to the front end of the car that they were unable to give a definite cause, but suspected electrical. The entire car is totaled, the fire was so hot it melted the driver window and the windshield and destroyed it within minutes. No electrical issues were noticed immediately prior to this incident, only change noted was that the passenger window rolled up a bit more slowly than normal.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 pontiac grand prix. While parked, the unoccupied vehicle unexpectedly ignited into flames. The fire department extinguished the flames and advised that the fire originated in the engine area. The failure recurred three months after the recall remedy repair was performed on the vehicle under the federal safety agency campaign id number: 08v118000 (engine and engine cooling). The vehicle was declared destroyed and towed to a savage facility. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.
Our 2001 pontiac grand prix, which has roughly 125,000 miles on it, stalls and dies at various speeds. It is not supercharged, but it does have the 3.8 liter series ii engine. The vehicle will shudder momentarily and, if the car's going fast enough, the momentum of the torque convert spinning manages to restart the engine in default, allowing it to keep running. However, the tcs "trac off" light comes on and the tachometer drops to 0 until the car is shut off and restarted. Sometimes, the car will stall at low speed and, minus the shudder, everything else occurs as described above, except that the car simply dies. The ses light has lit up a few times, but there is no clear reason for it to do so, since, once restarted, the engine runs just fine. Occasionally, however, idle is a little rough; the engine sometimes drops to almost 400 RPM when sitting with the engine running, then slowly climbs back up to about 600-750 RPM. More alarming personally, however, is the fact that roughly 11 days ago, the car completely died twice on the same day, in a 15-second period. While coming home from work on the freeway, the car completely died (the oil pressure light came on and everything). Having pulled onto the shoulder and restarted, I did not travel more than 100 feet before it happened again, this time on the freeway off-ramp. I restarted again, and it drove home normally. Lately, the car is sometimes next to impossible to start. Depending on the circumstances, one of two things will happen; either the engine will turn over but not run; or the engine will not turn over, and the starter solenoid will simply "click" behind the firewall. The battery was replaced less than a month ago, and no serious electrical faults have occurred since it was replaced, aside from the above problems.
I drove my 2001 pontiac grand prix to work , within a few mins after I arrived work , parked my car, went into the building my car just went up in smoke.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 pontiac grand prix. The contact stated that after receiving repairs under the federal safety agency campaign id number: 08v118000 (engine and engine cooling), the vehicle caught on fire. The fire department was contacted and no one was injured. The vehicle was declared destroyed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance since the statue of limitations had expired. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 140,000.
I have a 2001 pontiac grand prix that had a recall for an oil leak. They did the recall on 6-6-2009. Yesterday about 20 to 30 minutes after driving it the car erupted into flame primarily on the right drivers side of the engine. Looking at the internet it looks to be identical to others who had this problem. What should I do?
I bought the car in december 2006 from lafontaine 4399 highland rd, waterford, mi. Some time in february/march I took the car back to them do to the service engine light on. I never was told what was wrong because they said that did not fall under my warrant and plus my warrant supposedly expired. With in the next month my car started to leak oil really bad, I have to put at least 2 quarts in it with in about a week time. Come to find out when I went to get my oil changed I was told that my oil pan looks like it is rusted through. I spoke with a gm employer and was told that the only way an oil pan would do that is if the metal/material used to make the pan is defected, other than that, an oil pan should last it s life time. On top of the them telling me this, I was also advised that it looked like someone had tried to use something to stop the leak, like some sort of weld. Not sure what they meant by that. Next is the wipers, my wipers turn on when you start up the car and then stop at an upright position. I am being told that the wiper motor is going. Come to find out every time I see someone with my type of car, I just have to ask if they have any problems and they do especially with the wipers. I called ponitac on this and for them to consider fixing it, I have to go pay for the dealer to inspect it, then fax it in, and they may cover the fix, but it is not a guarantee. I priced what it would cost and it is a lot of money over 1300.00 for all to be fixed. I do not have this type of money, so for now I just keep putting oil in it, push my wipers down, and hope it does not ran, because the wipers get caught up, and hope the car last. I still owe money so I will do what I can to keep it running. I believe that someone put a quick fix on the oil pan and it was never revealed until I found out myself the hard way. If it is a defect part I do not think I should have to pay to get it fixed.
I drove to the grocery store, parked,went inside. Five minutes later I walk out to the fire department putting out a fire under the hood of my 2001 pontiac grand prix. The car is completely totaled and was told by the fire department and numerous people that there is a recall on this vehicle for doing that. As of now nothing has been done to correct the problem.
While my mechanic was checking tie rods on the car they noticed seepage from the intake manifold. Luckily it was caught very early-no mixing of oil and coolant. Intake manifold, elbow and assembly replaced; original gm gasket design and materials were inferior however the gasket redesign takes care of the issue. Plenum was also weak; something he said he commonly sees on my series of 3.8l gm engines because of faulty design and materials. $943 job when all was said and done.
Vehicle intake manifold gasket failure. Cheap and defective plastic manifold gasket broken causing antifreeze to leak into engine and mix with oil of vehicle. Caught before major damage occurred like engine failure.
There is a recall notice sent out by gm regarding the possibility of an engine compartment fire for the 2001 grand prix (among other date for the same model). Tonight when I started the car there was an explosion and the engine burst into flames. The fire department was called and they came to extinguish the fire after the car was engulfed in flames. The assistant fire marshall arrived and before he said anything else he said "this was caused by an engine compartment fire." I the n advised him that pontiac has just sent a recall notice for the same issue. There are hundreds of people online who have filed a complaint with gm. Yet, they insist they are not responsible. Why did they issue a recall then if they are not responsible? Unfortunately for them, our attorney general is going to take action. I'm not the type of person to sit back and watch when an injustice was done. I had to drag my handicapped son from the vehicle. This, as well as all of the complaints points to disaster. Something must be done now. My son could have been killed if I was unable to act quickly enough to save him.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 pontiac grand prix gt. The vehicle burnt while it was parked at her place of employment. The fire and police department were present. The police report number was 20094185. The fire department report was not available. The fire initiated in the engine. The vehicle didn't have any prior failures and was always serviced as required. The vehicle didn't have full coverage; therefore, the insurance company will not investigate the cause of failure. She will notify the manufacturer. The failure and the current mileages were 88,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 pontiac grand prix. The contact stated that after receiving recall number 09v116000 (engine and engine cooling) she made two attempts to have the vehicle repaired and was unsuccessful. One dealer advised the contact that she would need to have the engine cleaned to have the recall performed which she refused to do. Three months after the contact was denied the recall repair, the vehicle caught fire. The vehicle was parked for approximately 5 minutes and as she proceeded to her vehicle it was in flames. The fire department was notified and extinguished the fire. The fire department stated the a component in the engine caused the fire. A report was filed and is available. The insurance company was notified and paid for some of the expenses. The vehicle was destroyed. The contact filed a claim with the manufacturer. After a couple of months the contact received a letter stating that no compensation would be offered. There were no injuries. The failure mileage was unknown. Updated 11/06/09. *lj updated 11/10/09
Catalytic converter failure , drive shift failure and o2 sensor failure while driving..complete loss of vehicular power , car locked up.
My 2001 pontiac grand prix gt has had problems with the car stalling and dying without warning. It is very random. Typically, the car hesitates/stalls then the "tcs off" light comes on and the RPM meter hits 0. I have twice changed the catalytic converter because of this problem at the pontiac dealer's suggestion.the problem still exist. What can be done as my car will shut off at any speed and will not restart immediately. This is a safety issue that needs to be addressed. What can I do to get this defective condition fixed or repaired properly? Does any other 2001 models have this problem?
My 2001 grand prix was having a cooling and engine malfunction..cause the engine to overheat causing a potential fire hazard..my grand prix is not supercharged however, the same problem described with the supercharged happened to this vehicle...
At approx. 65 miles per hour the catalytic converter collapsed causing me to lose all power on the interstate and nearly causing an accident when it died.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 pontiac grand prix. The contact received a recall notice for the federal safety agency campaign id number 09v116000 (engine and engine cooling). The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and the recall repair was performed. The following day, the vehicle erupted into flames while parked in a parking lot. The fire and police departments were called to the scene and a police report was filed. There were no prior warnings or injuries. The engine compartment was completely destroyed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The contact is in the process of notifying the manufacturer. The failure and current mileages were 121,000.
Tl*the contact owned a 2001 pontiac grand prix. The contact stated that the front wheel hubs kept detaching from the vehicle and had to be replaced several times. In june of 2006, the vehicle caught fire and had to be towed from the scene. A fire report was filed. In january of 2008, the vehicle caught fire again at a rest stop. A police report was filed for this incident. There were no injuries. The vehicle was unable to be driven after the second fire. The failure mileage was 40,000 and current mileage was 140,000.
2001 pontiac grand prix caught fire in 2006 at ellensburg, wa and burned to the ground in 2008. Pontiac now says they are not responsible because the car was originally bought as a fleet vehicle. What? Does that make them fire proof??
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