96 Grand Am Problems

:smokin: My grand am is a piece of shlt, and i know NOTHING about cars...about 5 months ago i bought a new radiator and it didn't overheat for a while, but then a couple months ago it started overheating like crazy. i would start it up and turn the corner and it would slow down and stop, like someone parked it and i had to restart it, and then it would be fine. when i slow down or stop it overheats, and cools down as i accelerate, i cant drive it for a half hour without having to turn it off for a couple hours. about how long after u fill it up with antifreeze, how long is normal time to have to refill it....i've been putting water in it lately, because it would be so bad and i cant afford antifreeze every 3 days...but now its not losing any water, but i can feel the smell coming from the air vents inside the car. also, if i brake sort of quickly i feel like i'm gonna hit the guy in front of me bc it slows down, then accelerates, then stops...its all screwed up. do u think its worth it to fix a 96 grand am, and if not...does anyone have any suggestions..im looking for an old V6 3.1L just for driving maybe 2-3 hours a day, are there any good used cars out there anyone knows of?

:smokin: My grand am is a piece of shlt, and i know NOTHING about cars...about 5 months ago i bought a new radiator and it didn't overheat for a while, but then a couple months ago it started overheating like crazy. i would start it up and turn the corner and it would slow down and stop, like someone parked it and i had to restart it, and then it would be fine. when i slow down or stop it overheats, and cools down as i accelerate, i cant drive it for a half hour without having to turn it off for a couple hours. about how long after u fill it up with antifreeze, how long is normal time to have to refill it....i've been putting water in it lately, because it would be so bad and i cant afford antifreeze every 3 days...but now its not losing any water, but i can feel the smell coming from the air vents inside the car. also, if i brake sort of quickly i feel like i'm gonna hit the guy in front of me bc it slows down, then accelerates, then stops...its all screwed up. do u think its worth it to fix a 96 grand am, and if not...does anyone have any suggestions..im looking for an old V6 3.1L just for driving maybe 2-3 hours a day, are there any good used cars out there anyone knows of?

Intake Manifold gasket. Pull your dipstick and see if there's bubbles or anti-freeze smell in your oil. There probably will be. And it isn't cheap to fix, either.

I have a 94 GA. It has 142000 on it, I had the whole head and all gaskets replaced at 136000. it cost $1400, pretty spendy for a old car. But i figured that nothing else is wrong, so its better than buying a cheap car and not knowing what could happen with it. But now my car heats up sometimes too. It has a white residue in the oil, and it doesnt go past or even touch the second mark, so i dont know. I also cools down to the first mark when at high speeds, then goes up by the second at stop. do you think that the head could be cracked again. Cause that would suck

1 quick change. the white residue is on the dipstick. I just changed the oil recently, and it looked fine to me, no white stuff at all. SO what could that be from? anyone..

Sometimes there is condensation that will build up in the dipstick tube, this is uneventful. However, if you change the oil and notice a lot of "white stuff", then there is a more serious problem....Mike...