2002 Grand AM Chug on incline low MPG

[Vicki7]

I was just telling DH yesterday that my cat was posted forever ago but he was being told by everyone it was the tranny. He is the mechanic for goodness sake! He said the cat was the next thing on the list. Dork! LOL Oh well, I have one smooth runnin tranny now

Thanks for all the advice. I really miss the days when my hubby would say just bring the car in and he had all those handy machines to check it out, but since he felt the need to switch professions, maintenance has been KILLING us!

[xeroinfinity]

If you dont want to look through all those TSB's you can call a stealership and they can tell you if your exhaust was covered under the extended warranty, to 120k miles.
Due to Premature Cat failure because the insides were crumbling apart.

[Vicki7]

My local dealership said covered to 80,000 and I am well over that. UGH!

[xeroinfinity]

Might have just been a 2001 model issue with the cat then.
Might can a different dealer just to varify though.

[grfnkl]

Originally Posted by Vicki7

I was just telling DH yesterday that my cat was posted forever ago but he was being told by everyone it was the tranny. He is the mechanic for goodness sake! He said the cat was the next thing on the list. Dork! LOL Oh well, I have one smooth runnin tranny now

Thanks for all the advice. I really miss the days when my hubby would say just bring the car in and he had all those handy machines to check it out, but since he felt the need to switch professions, maintenance has been KILLING us!

Isn't stubborness great? , J/K I can sympathsize with you on the situation though, I went through the same thing with my Grand am, but the mechanics could not find anything wrong, that even when the trans began acting up, I was told everything was fine. I finally brought mine someplace else, to have a quick diagnosis of the problem as well as a comment of " I'm not sure how you were able to start the car let alone drive it.... it wouldn't have lasted much longer" Comforting thoughts I felt...

On to the warranty, as far as the TSB that XI is talking about with the extention to over 100k miles... you may want to try to fight it with when the car was built. Look on the sticker on the driverside door it will tell you the date when the car was built. If it was built in 2001 up until i think the begining of 2002 you have at least a fighting argument, since they didn't change the "weak" parts until halfway through the production of the 2002 model year. Thus the 2002.5 grand am's. right before i traded mine in they sent me an extention to a recall to now cover my car for the hazard switch ( which by then was already replaced) But some of the early model 02's had the same problems as the 01's. Just a thought to keep in mind, and you won't know until you try.

[Vicki7]

Mine was covered, according to the VIN from 2-10-02/2-18-2010 or 80,000. My car is at 93000

[Love Cars]

Well at least your not going crazy trying to find the problem. Just trying to pay for the fix. (Don't know which is worse)!
Still chasing my tranny prob.
Good Luck

[Vicki7]

retracted, stupid question

[xeroinfinity]

neither a new pcm or a new cluster would change it.

[Vicki7]

Well looks like this dealership is getting $300 of my money ...Dangit!

[Love Cars]

Have your mileage checked thru the computer. My company owned 02Aztec cluster was damaged by a mechanic and had to go to a dealer to get replaced. Went in with 150,000mi and came back with 133,000. When I asked they said the computer said 133,000.

Sounds like what happened with Honda. Pushing the + or - 4% regulation. Let the odometer run 4% faster than actual to push cars out of warranty faster. They lost the law suit and had to pay. You may have fewer miles than you thought!

I'd say if all the manuf. were checked they all do it. If they give them 4% accuracy to play with they will use it to their advantage. The law was more than likely set with the older mechanical odometers. I'm sure the computer age made them alot more accurate.

[Vicki7]

Just wanted to update

After $235 for a new cat, we have found the issue. The cat converter. LOL It took a good $500 of guessing at which part was bad and found it today. I have my car and power and gas mileage back! Finally!

Thank you for all of your help!