A few issues

Hey, I'm glad I found this place, seems pretty cool :) My car is a 2001 Grand AM, V6 3.4L with 111k miles.. It used to be my dads work car, but since they got new ones, I was able to get this one from him. He had a bunch of work done on it (all new fluids, spark plugs, PCV valve, fuel pump, fuel injectors, etc.)

My first issue is gas mileage... While my dad drove it, he averaged about 30mpg, however I'm only getting about 20. I do more city driving than freeway, but while I was driving our minivan all the time (V6 3.3L, pretty big and heavy), I was getting about 21-22mpg... What can I look at for getting better mileage? I don't drive it hard at all.

Secondly, I had my car serviced this morning, and the PCV Valve was pretty clogged up (I'd guess around 75%) so I had it replaced. It was replaced 1,500 miles ago, why/how would it get clogged up this fast?

One last thing which I hope will fix itself.. The coolant has run low since being serviced 1.5k miles ago, and I've had it filled up twice. I had a pressure test ran on it for a while and there didn't appear to be any leaks, but this morning the guys servicing my car said my radiator cap was pretty screwed up and threaded badly - could the coolant have been evaporating? I'll be buying a new cap later today.

Thanks in advance for answers :)

Hey, I'm glad I found this place, seems pretty cool :) My car is a 2001 Grand AM, V6 3.4L with 111k miles.. It used to be my dads work car, but since they got new ones, I was able to get this one from him. He had a bunch of work done on it (all new fluids, spark plugs, PCV valve, fuel pump, fuel injectors, etc.)

My first issue is gas mileage... While my dad drove it, he averaged about 30mpg, however I'm only getting about 20. I do more city driving than freeway, but while I was driving our minivan all the time (V6 3.3L, pretty big and heavy), I was getting about 21-22mpg... What can I look at for getting better mileage? I don't drive it hard at all.

Secondly, I had my car serviced this morning, and the PCV Valve was pretty clogged up (I'd guess around 75%) so I had it replaced. It was replaced 1,500 miles ago, why/how would it get clogged up this fast?

One last thing which I hope will fix itself.. The coolant has run low since being serviced 1.5k miles ago, and I've had it filled up twice. I had a pressure test ran on it for a while and there didn't appear to be any leaks, but this morning the guys servicing my car said my radiator cap was pretty screwed up and threaded badly - could the coolant have been evaporating? I'll be buying a new cap later today.

Thanks in advance for answers :)


yea man, Ive noticed the city driving is way lower than highway... even when I try and not drive hard with a lead foot lol... just sucks the gas stopping and going...

The pcv valve, ...... dunno :screwy:
Didnt even know it gets clogged lol, but I myself do need a new one

Uhhh the coolant, I JUST got done a while back dealing with some leaking issues.... if there werent any pressures or w/e causing it to come out I dont know what to say ... if the guys told u the cap is all screwy, it doesnt hurt to get a new one .. $15 or so... Mine 'was' screwy and they didnt even have to tell me or question it... just told em to get me a new one... my old one was factory original and mines a 99 and was just replaced few months ago =p so yea....

anyways, my coolant problem was that were the heater core is... the 2 hoses that go in/out .. one of the hoses (both of them have it) has a quick connect to disconnect the hose easy and basically ... THAT broke inside of the hose .. so coolant would only come out when my car was needing more coolant and it'd seep out thru the cracks of that plastic connector and onto something hot and it'd steam up but only noticed in cold weather (thank you winter) or I would of never seen it...

Before all of this happend, I had (most) of my coolant hoses replaced cause they were original from '99 and were messed up inside... with the heater core problem & leak.. I had those changed out and new quick connects installed and my problem was fixed... asked for a gallon of dex-cool to take home (brought my own milk jug) and left happy =D

Hope all this helps

Yeah, thanks for the reply :) I went out and bought a new radiator cap ($8) and just put it on. When I got back from buying the cap, I did notice quite a bit of steam coming from the hood which scared me. It's fairly cold here today so hopefully it's nothing. It smelled kind of bad - I have no idea what to smell for - but nothing was leaking onto the ground. I might start thinking about finding a place to check the hoses out and all. Better to be paranoid than let it go :dunno:

Hey, so once again today my low coolant light came on for a few seconds then went off. Right away I pulled over and looked at it.. it looked like the coolant tank was empty - I didn't take the radiator cap off or anything, just shaking it a little. This is the third time I'll have filled the radiator up in 4 months, any other ideas what it might be? I might have my guy take the engine apart to see if it's leaking in there or what.

Check the oil & make sure its not grey, check all hoses, look under water pump for for stain around drip hole. Your coolant is going somewhere find the problem or pay to have the problem found before the problem gets too big and your looking at the price of a motor. Do you smell any coolant inside the car when the defrost or heat is on? Does your windshield steam up when heat or defrost is on? Good luck finding the problem & don't let the car overheat!

I'm definitely no mechanic, but I had a very similar problem recently. (My car is identical to yours only with less miles on it) In my case I did see fluid on the ground, turned out the water pump was shot. Maybe in your case it's just leaking in a slightly different spot and evaporating on something hot. Anyway, thought I would post that, hope it helps.

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