27th Feb 2003, 15:34

I have a 98 GT with the 3.1L. I agree with the problems that you all have had, but I can top it. My car has 102,000 miles on it and I just dumped the motor. I firmly beleve in keeping your car in good shape and change the oil every 2000 miles. know matter what. I hate this car!

2nd Mar 2003, 23:45

1996 grand am : problems.. ABS light always on. replaced sensor and they are on again. 500.00 on a master cylinder. now the radiator. now a heater core which cannot be bypassed easy due to metal lines with fitting like on a air conditioner. 1,500 dollars in 1 year. and the car is taken care of. I can only wonder what would happen if I abused the car.. buy a ford v-8! they never die!

12th May 2003, 14:32

I have a 1998 Pontiac Grand AM SE 4 cylinder twin-cam.

I bought the car in March for $4500. The person that had it before me said he replaced the engine once because he blew it, and the back right window is off track, but those are the only problems I've found. I got an awesome deal for the money, too. It came with lowered suspension, 16' rims, a wing, performance exhaust system (illegal), and a 1600 watt Rockford System. It has snake eye lights on the hood and strobe lights in the headlights both hooked up to toggle switches, too.

29th May 2003, 09:19

I have a 99 Pontiac Grand Am GT, I had to replace a water pump, I only have 47,000 miles on it, and now the Service Engine soon lights are coming on and low coolant, as I write this I am having wires and plugs put in, fuel injection problems and and intake gasket, a total of $700. I can see I'm in for a lot of problems, I thought I was getting a good car, big mistake. I will never buy a Pontiac again.

Lori.

6th Jun 2003, 21:40

I have a 1998 Pontiac Grand am SE 4 door.

I bought it used from a Toyota dealer of all places! lol.

It's been a really great car to drive and has been consistently reliable.

First, the cons:

The drivers seats are really uncomfortable for long-distance trips. It's fine for driving around town in, but when your on a 200+ mile trip, your back can really feel it.

Now that my car is payed off, I can afford to buy some nice leather racing seats with the lower lumbar support.

My drivers side window is having problems rolling up. It's probably my fault, because I've taken the door panels off 3 or 4 times to install my stereo system, but the scissors lifting mechanism that lifts the window are bent. It's going to cost me 299.00 if I get a new one at the dealer.

The oxygen sensor needed replacement because I was getting a poor idle. That's not a problem though, because it's a 15.00 part that I could get and install myself from Kragen Auto parts.

The alternator went bad after about 4 years of owning the car. That cost me about 300.00 to replace.

The outside ribbed door panels look tacky. I found that an outside parts company is selling non-ribbed replacement panels for this model and year car.

And the pros are:

Great gas mileage! I've gone on a trip from Petaluma, CA to Redding, CA round trip with one full tank of gas.

Peppy car! This car hauls butt on it's factory 2.4 liter four banger! On a 1/2 mile stretch, I got it up to 110 before I got to a curve in the road and had to slow down.

ABS system really helps to slow this puppy down fast and safe! (Like going 110 and having to slow down for a curve in the road! lol!) See previous paragraph;

ETS system helps in wet weather to help keep the tires moving independently if there is a loss of traction. I've had the tires start to slip in the rain, and the magic ETS light comes on, and the car stabilizes. Bravo!

Power Steering makes it so I can drive with the palm of my open hand if I wanted to.

Daytime running lights help to improve visibility to other drivers on the road. (In some states, you have to drive with your lights on in the day anyways.) Light sensors turn the headlight on when dusk begins. I haven't had to physically turn on the headlights since I bought the car! They come on by themselves.

I love that the console color is red! Red is the best color for night-time driving, because it's lowest on the light spectrum, (Other than purple or ulraviolet.) and your eyes don't have to adjust to the dark after looking at it. (That's why the Coast guard uses red lights in their ships at night.)

The A/C has never quit on me, and I've been enjoying ice-cold air for each HOT summer I've owned it.

The price was right. I got it for 10,000.00 with 27,000 miles on it 5 years ago. The engine was barely broken in.

I did some more research on recalls for my car, and the other year grand ams had recalls on them, except for my year! 1998 baby!

Not too spacious, but not too small interior. I'm 6'0", so I need a little space for my head not to bump into the ceiling, this car has just enough room for me.

I got a nice stereo system installed, but I left the rear 6x9 stock speakers in the back. They have really good sound. It cracks me up though, that the stock stereo was a tape deck. Tapes went out in the 80's man! I've replaced the stock stereo with a Blanpunkt 55w x 4 CD player. (The CD player has red lights, so it blends in with my red console in the car.

I've replaced the stock rims with some 18" alloy rims and some racing tires. Much improved sporty look!

I've also had some 80% tint installed on the back windows to cut down on the glare of the sun, which definitely helps during those hot summer days. An added bonus is that those yokels driving their pickup trucks with their brights on at night behind me don't bug me anymore, because my tint takes most of the glare away!

Now all I want now that I've paid off my car is a 2004 Grand am GT or a 2000 Trans Am. I'm sold to Pontiac's for life!

Wow, you read all of my comments! Thanks for listening.

11th Jun 2003, 07:25

1998 Pontiac Grand Am GT.

Where to start?

It all started when we bought the car 5/01. It went in the shop to have the radio changed out (the display would go wacky now and again), and it had a problem where occasionally it would stall out upon ignition. So we had an upgrade on the computer done and replaced the serpentine belt.

We've had the car now 2 years and have replaced the brakes 3 times and the rotors twice with a turn down on them once. We've replaced the ignition module, fuel filter (three times), water pump, which in turn made the 1-year-old serpentine belt need replaced again. We replaced the exhaust system and catalytic converter, O2 Sensor (3 times). We've also replaced the control arm and some assembly that was causing a bad rattling in the front end. We've had numerous diagnostic tests and no one can seem to figure out why the check engine light has been on for the past 6 months. The most recent "fix" was done yesterday to our fuel pump, replaced that for $775 and now guess what not even 24 hours later it's back at the shop cause it was stalling out once again!!! Seems like we've had that problem every summer since we've had it.

I bought the car in 2001; from day one it's been nothing but problems. Don't get me wrong I love the look and the sound (especially with the High-Flow cat and Flow master Exhaust system). However, after this experience I must say I don't think I would ever purchase another Grand Am. And about $5000.00 later we can't even trade it in cause they will only give us about 1/2 of what we owe on it. We are Stuck!!

Christine.