01 Grand Am won't start

I have a 2001 Grand Am V6 that will not start every few months. It began acting up about a year ago when I had to have it towed from work. It then decided to crank after about a week of trying. It ran for a long time until I was in the mountains and the car would not start, so I had it towed and I was told it was a ignigtion switch, well 300 dollars later it wouldn't start to leave the shop. Finally the next day it started. I ran for about 2 months and then it wouldn't start for a whole week, so another mechanic towed it to his shop, and said it was the fuel pump, and wanted 700 dollars. I towed it back home and then it cranked up, and is now running fine. I changed the fuel filter twice, and the last time it wasn't clogged at all. When the car decides to not run, it won't even run on starter fluid sprayed past the MAF, it just backfires.

Has thier been any warning lights on in the dash?
Like the security light on or flashing?

No lights come on.

it does sound ignition related orthe engine control system its self.
One other thing it may be the Crank shaft postion sensor(CPS).
You may hav to bite the bullet and take it back to a shop.
For all those tow bills , probly should just hav taken it to the stealership :eek:

OK lets start at the beginning....is this a Engine CRANKS but will not start or a Engine will not turn over issue.

Whoops didn't read the last thing you posted...sounds like a spins/no start issue.
The next thing to do is find out if you are losing fuel or spark.
Typically on that model, the FP relay will stick and cause that problem..if it happens again, swap the FP relay with the A/C relay and see what happens.

OK lets start at the beginning....is this a Engine CRANKS but will not start or a Engine will not turn over issue.


I believe he stated its an "Intermittent" problem.

Whoops didn't read the last thing you posted...sounds like a spins/no start issue.
The next thing to do is find out if you are losing fuel or spark.
Typically on that model, the FP relay will stick and cause that problem..if it happens again, swap the FP relay with the A/C relay and see what happens

Haha, sometimes the AC relay sticks too :eek:

You are right about those relays I had a whole a/c system overhaul and it turned out to be the compressor relay.

hmm, could the crankshank position sensor be a problem if the engine tries to start and backfires?
This is one of the strangest problems I've seen. Could the EGR valve be an issue? I have had one fail in an Isuzu rodeo, and the problem was fixed by plugging the line with a nail. Or could it possibly be the catalitic convertor be clogging up?

Yes briantedder, the CPS could be the culprit, thats why I mentioned it :)

I hav seen the wires broken down by hte Crankshaft, usually when it gets hot the wires loose connection and if it isnt reading the Crank then the spark would be off.

I was searching through the GA threads, I know I had writen down the test procedure for that, but I cant find it :mad:
Its fairly long, so didnt really want to type it all out again.
I'll check again later tho!!

hm, that is interesting, I will try to look that up as well.
Thanks again!

Car has been traded. Thanks again for your help!

:uhoh:

:confused:

OK!

I had the same thing happen with my car... there was a couple different reasons it wouldnt start. First I had the fuel pump replaced, but if you can put your hand on the bottom of your fuel tank and feel it vibrate a little then thats fine. Then I replaced the fuel filter. That was really easy on my 01 Grand AM, one thing that I thought was really dumb was I heard that GM has problem with the end s of the cords that hook into your battery becoming extremely corroded. After I did all those things and fixed all the fuel problems a few months later I had the same no start problem and all I had to do was really clean of the ends of those cords to get my car up and running fine. Antoher thing is there is this security thing that can be activated and it wont let your car start but you can reset it by switching your to the on position and waiting like 10 seconds, then switching your car to the off postion then starting it. Oh, and you might wanna run some of that fuel system cleaner stuff through when you fill up your car with gas... when I pulled out my old fuel filter I noticed that the fuel lines were hella clogged, almost to the point of not being able to pass gas through them. I've ran that cleaning stuff through a few times and checked on it and its A LOT cleaner now.

But after all that my car starts fine now. Most of it (besides the fuel pump) was really really cheap and easy to do. Im not actually convinced that I ever really needed a new fuel pump to begin with. But I didnt know how to check to see if it worked at the time, so I guess I'll never know. :)

I have a 2002 Grand Am SE with the 4 cylinder... My wife was driving to work, she said she hit a small speed bump and the car just died ( dont know if the speedbump had anything to do with it or not ) Afterwards she let it sit.. started it and continued on.. Drove home that night, drove it the next day... On her way home the next day she said she came through a small dip in the road and the car just quit and has been dead ever since... battery is taking a charge, but absolutely will not start. IT DOES CRANK BUT WILL NOT FIRE ! So far, Ive replaced the Ignition control module, checked for spark, check for fuel and fuel pressure, replaced the Crankshaft position sensor, checked all of the relays and fuses, and still nothing !! I know its not the security passlock thing because the security light comes on at start and then goes off,,, not flashing. What the hell could be wrong with this piece of trash !!??

If it's happening when hitting bumps, you need to be checking connections, like grounds, on the motor and on the frame.

Next time, start your own thread, don't steal other's threads that are also dead.

But yeah check for lose connections. Also check the crankshaft sensor wiring and harness (some car have 2 sensors I've hear).

Might want to use a test light to see if you get any sparks.

Might also want to remove the spark plug and see if they are wet (could be a flooded engine since you keep cranking (read dumping fuel))

Be sure that the battery terminals are well screwed (you shouln't be able to move them).

Also, check to be sure that no fuses are blow (who knows, doubtfull, but could happend).

But start by the sensors... some small animals love to chew on them, specially the section behind the engine.