9th Mar 2009, 15:47
Well I am with everyone else on this. I bought my daughter this car used with 38,000 miles on it. It now has 100,000 miles.
I have the blinker that has a mind of its own. I have two broken windows that I fixed once and now that can stay that way.
Had to replace the head gaskets.
The dash fell apart, and last but not least, when you get up to about 40 mph the stupid thing sputters, but not all the time.
It is now parked, and she went out and bought a new 2009 Nissan. We have had it for six years.
I have a 1995 Toyota Camry SE that runs just as good as the day I bought it, and the only thing I done to it was replace the starter twice. Go figure.
Think I will shoot the Pontiac now, after reading all this I don't suppose we will get anything out of it.
9th Apr 2009, 13:28
My 99 Grand Am needs a new head gasket and other random gaskets because of GM's brilliant idea of Dex-Cool has eating away at my head gasket since I never switched the coolant like they say you shouldn't. They said 600, can I get it done any cheaper than that? My advice: Switch coolants!
16th Apr 2009, 14:38
Well.
After reading all of these horror stories about the 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, I think the my love affair with my own 1999 Grand Am SE is coming to a close.
Bought the car brand new in April, 1999. So far, I needed to replace the battery (failed at 13,000 miles), then the brakes (failed at 17,000 miles),then the fan switch quit working on 1-4 (only 5 still works) and now I see I have a slight leak from under the engine somewhere. I am thinking it is the power steering hose as the fluid is low in the reservoir.
All of my windows and door locks work very well, as do my gauges and electronics on the dash. Even my radio works. All of my exterior lights work, even the lower backup lights.
My car is still as shiny and black as the day I picked her up. The interior still smells new, and is flawless. This car has been garage kept its entire life, and driven no worse than an old lady that just drives to church. I am very gentle on the brakes, steering, and acceleration. Everyone passes me.
Even with this stringent babying, I am starting to regret ever purchasing this car. It is beautiful to look at, and still drives very well, but after reading all of your horror stories I think I'd better cut and run. All of this and only 30,000 miles on the odometer.
Wish I still had my old Rambler American 220. That car ran like a top and sat outside it's entire life. Was very dependable. I guess I just needed to vent a bit here, and sympathize with all of you other people who were unknowingly taken to the proverbial cleaners with this junky GM car. This will be my last GM car, as I have my sights set on a Ford Ranger pickup or Escape. I am almost afraid to sell it through the paper and have some other poor unsuspecting soul try to live with it. Might see what I can get with a trade in.
1st Jun 2009, 10:09
I have had a 99 Grand Am GT for about 5 yrs now. Bought it used for 6,200 with about 68000 miles on it at the time. It ran amazing for a year or so then. Ohh man where do I begin..
1st my gaskets went because of the dex-cool. After I fixed the gaskets, 2 months later my engine got a rodknock from the new gaskets letting in water into my engine. So step one was replace my engine, which I did, and it was a lot of freakin money.
Since then my alternator and waterpump have both went twice and been replaced.
My passenger side window also was broke and would squeak so bad it was awful, so that got fixed, which is now broken again.
My fans under my hood don't work unless my airconditioning is on, which needless to say is ridiculous, and my engine runs hot because of this.
I have replaced so many sensors it's absolutely unreal.
Also I have replaced my thermometer and I had to take my catalytic converter off cuz it was plugged up and would cause my car to lose power while I was driving. It still doesn't have full power, and now I'm told my "mass air sensor" might be the problem for the sputtering, but those are like 130 dollars, and to me that's too much money to waste if the mass air isn't the problem.
When I hook it up to a computer, it says my intake air is -38, which is not good, but every shop has no clue as to why it is saying that, and no shop can figure out how to fix it.
Needless to say I hate this ride. It gets me from A to B today, but tomorrow it could EXPLODE ON ME!!. GM is garbage, and strangely enough today they filed for Chapter 9, well keep making garbage rides that might look good but fall apart in a few yrs and chapter 9 is what is gonna happen.
Don't buy GM, at least not 99 Grand Ams with a 3400 engine in them. Those engines are pure trash and are good for nothing but taking your loot. I'm getting rid of mine as soon as I can, and hopefully I won't have to worry about something like this again.
6th Jul 2009, 16:13
I bought a 99 SE 2.4 for 300 bucks... I got it from a kid down the road who said the tranny was going out. 2 quarts of fluid later it drove fine. Same usual crap wrong, blower motor, clicking, window motors, radio, leaky water pump. My Grand Am has 203,000 miles on it and I drive it back and forth to work 80 miles a day, and it drives great. 32 miles to the gallon and I can't beat that. Perfect car for $300! I'm going to run it until it falls apart completely!
22nd Feb 2009, 16:52
By all means, I want you to be safe, but sometimes mechanics and service departments will try to scare you. It is VERY UNLIKELY that a bad shock or strut could EVER cause "anything bad" to happen. A worn out strut or shock just alters the car's ride and makes it a bit "bouncier". It WON'T cause the car to violently veer out of control. I once blew out BOTH rear shocks getting airborne over a rough railroad crossing at 80mph in my old Pinto. It actually rode BETTER with the blown shocks, so I drove it like that for 2 more years before selling it.
I'm a mechanic, and I'd say that if your brakes checked out OK it might be a bad strut. You might also check all the bolts that hold the struts on. these ARE important and CAN cause an accident if the bottom ones somehow get loose. If the bolts are OK, I'd say ignore the clunking and enjoy the car. Old cars make LOTS of odd noises. Most are harmless. My suggestion to people who complain about noises in older cars is "turn up the stereo".