Any one know anything about Pontiac grand ams??

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

f***in s*** boxes. Its not my car but I'm stuck trying to fix it. It starts half the time but as of yesterday it wouldn't start, it turned over, and if it did catch it would just s*** out on me. Its not the fuel lines, or the injectors, it has a brand new battery in it, it just had a new ignition put in it. 2004 Pontiac grand am...i don't know the specs on the motor or anything seeing as its not mine but i can find out the next time it acts up. I'm trying to get her to sell the thing and spend her money on something that runs.

any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

[snwbrdr435]

Burn it problem solved

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

Burn it problem solved

im tempted to I really am, the thing is not worth it. all those cars are nothing but problems

[naladude911]

Crappy GM's FTL

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

she just wants it fixed but i think she should just sell it and buy something useful. I'm so sick of cars lately, we have three and my dads GF has the pontiacwe have a jeep, a jag and a ford f350 the jag is costing more then its worth the jeep has 178,900 miles on it and its going to last much longer and the ball bearings in the truck are going. (my friend has a 2009 nissan 370Z and this is technically his account but i made it so im going to be on it a lot more then him.)

[4cefed]

Are you sure the fuel pump is working? I had to replace the pump in my wife's grand am because her a$$ uncle put in a junk yard fuel tank without cleaning it out first. I pulled the pump to see the intake sock all shimmery like. I then dumped about 1000 bodies of house flies out of the tank. The wings had become detached from bodies and coated the sock and starved the pump.

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

first of all thats stupid and down right gross, and secondly yes it has to be because its running now. the thing has a mind of its own. correct me if im wrong but if it wasnt working then the car would run at all.jacob (zomg.sr20) said something about the spark plugs, but im thinking that would be the same idea

[MaximA32]

If you're in a cold climate, check the ground plate for the ignition coils. They have a tendency to corrode pretty bad. Clean it up, put some dialectric grease on it and see how it goes.

[Bubba1]

Well, if you're looking for confirmation that a Grandam is not one of GM's better models, you came to the right place.

In fact Jags have similar reputations for being less than reliable, even worse than than the Grandam..

IS it worth keeping? depends on how serious the repair is and how much is owed on it. I have a friend that had bought a grand am against my advice. It turned out to be such a POS he traded it on a Subaru Legacy.

if she wants an american sedan to replace the Ponti-yuk, she might look at a new Chevy Malibu or Ford Fusion.

[Mr1der]

mhmm.

both are very nice cars.

I give the Fusion the edge in the looks.

the Malibu has a very nice interior though

[ZOMG.SR20]

its a 3.1L v6 POS i say kill it with fire, but their XJ8 is ghey also

it gets fuel, air, spark IDK its f***ed

[ADDirishboy]

Burn it problem solved

+1

Don't even bother. My mom used to have one and that POS was in the shop every other week. Not worth the hassle.

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

its a 3.1L v6 POS i say kill it with fire, but their XJ8 is ghey also

it gets fuel, air, spark IDK its f***ed

*cough* uhh have you ever even seen the jag? i love the jag it hasnt ever had problems the check engine light even shut off by itself along with the traction control light) the only thing that sucks is that you have to fill it with super+ and it burns a hole in your pocket.

the grandam on the other hand if it were mine i would take your advice and get rid of it. we are trying to get her to buy a jeep but it wont happen

edit

If you're in a cold climate, check the ground plate for the ignition coils. They have a tendency to corrode pretty bad. Clean it up, put some dialectric grease on it and see how it goes.

they were corroded but not badly i cleaned it up but i doubt that was the issue thank you though
Modified by asaintinatimeofsorrow at 6:50 PM 7/26/2009

[4cefed]

first of all thats stupid and down right gross, and secondly yes it has to be because its running now. the thing has a mind of its own. correct me if im wrong but if it wasnt working then the car would run at all.jacob (zomg.sr20) said something about the spark plugs, but im thinking that would be the same idea

When a pump starts going bad, sometimes it will start working again, but for a short time. When the one in my SRT-4 was going it stuck me, then I got it working long enough for it to strand me on the interstate. that's what my money is on anyway.

[seang]

its a 3.1L v6 POS i say kill it with fire

3.1's make good beater cars, my 1991 z24 was worth the $200 I bought it for, I kind of wish I still had it. They aren't that bad.

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

3.1's make good beater cars, my 1991 z24 was worth the $200 I bought it for, I kind of wish I still had it. They aren't that bad.

until you spend 8 grand on a engine rebuild because she wont give it up ehh oh well

When a pump starts going bad, sometimes it will start working again, but for a short time. When the one in my SRT-4 was going it stuck me, then I got it working long enough for it to strand me on the interstate. that's what my money is on anyway.

Thats true, I will check it out and get back to you

[zerepdivad]

Hmm well since nobody really tried to help you troubleshoot it at all i'll start.

Does the security light flash on the dash when it doesn't start? I've worked on a few of these pontiacs and i can tell you that they have lots of issues with ignition switches as well as their passlock systems.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

XJ's are solid cars if treated properly and drive like nothing else on the road. Unfortunately, most folks get into them because the are cheap and "It's a Jag!" and henceforth treat them like s***.

Oh, and sounds like a bad crank sensor to me.

[Jesda]

PERSPECTIVE: I've spent more time, money, and sweat dealing with crappy Nissan fuel pumps, injectors, and electronics than any other make of car.

What 4cefed said about intermittent fuel pump failure mirrors what happened to one of my Q45s.

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

Hmm well since nobody really tried to help you troubleshoot it at all i'll start.

Does the security light flash on the dash when it doesn't start? I've worked on a few of these pontiacs and i can tell you that they have lots of issues with ignition switches as well as their pass lock systems.

i know exactly what your getting at and i know its not that because her had been locked out before and we had to put a new ignition switch on it. the damn thing locked her out like 8 billion times. pontiacs should dieim bringing it to a mechanic seeing as i dont have the time or patience to deal with the f***in thing...be interesting to see what the problem is

thanks for the help though

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

brought it to get fixed and he said there was nothing wrong with it that he could see. it needed something fixed behind the wheel because it made a clunk and a few things to pass inspection (1200 bucks worth) but that was it. what a waste of f***in time

*fixed
Modified by asaintinatimeofsorrow at 7:32 PM 7/28/2009

[Jesda]

Something fixed 'in the tire' that cost $1200?

[zerepdivad]

haha don't take this the wrong way but you got f***ed in the a** by that guy......

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

Something fixed 'in the tire' that cost $1200?

1 it wasnt my money in the first place so i really dont care, and two there was more to it but i dont actually remember what it was, im not looking at what he did and i didnt even ask i just handed him the check and got the key and left

[rb25det250sx]

OP-- check the cat. make sure its not pluged. that happend to my cuzins car, and its a 05.

[zerepdivad]

So in other words you wouldn't know what you were looking at? haha just messing around...

[Jesda]

Part engineering failure, part operator error. Good lord.

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

So in other words you wouldn't know what you were looking at? haha just messing around...

if i didnt know what i was looking at, why would i be on a car forum?and i couldnt care less what is wrong with it just so long as i dont have to hear about it, now that the problem is 'fixed'
Modified by asaintinatimeofsorrow at 7:45 AM 7/29/2009

[sorrowfulkiller]

List of things that will make the car not run

main fuse/relay/circuit breakerfuel pump fuse/relayignition moduleignition fuseignition switch (may or may not be part of the lock cylinder)corroded ground wirescrank position sensorcam position sensorskipped a tooth on a timing belt

[asaintinatimeofsorrow]

List of things that will make the car not run

main fuse/relay/circuit breakerfuel pump fuse/relayignition moduleignition fuseignition switch (may or may not be part of the lock cylinder)corroded ground wirescrank position sensorcam position sensorskipped a tooth on a timing belt

its got nothing to do with the ignition, or anything electrical, fuel is getting to it, as far as the timing belt goes, idk. The car was running fine for like a week and like what happened to 4cefed it just stranded her on the side of the road in east butt f***... just another 2 grand right?

my bet is something to do with the fuel pump/injectors/filter if thats not it im clueless.

and as far as the cat. goes, i would think they had to check that for it to pass inspection.