Solve this myriad of problems :)

Hey guys, my first post here – please try not to rip me a new one if questions are lame. I had found some nice and useful info here before, but now I must act proactively.

About 5 yrs ago I bought my mom a 2001 Grand Prix GT 3.8 and it just crawled over 100k. I am using it for a couple of weeks now and will be using it for the next month and will not be able to deal with certain annoyances I am facing. Now to the problems:

1. I guess from the start cruise control did not work, even though everything else on the lever has for the past 5 years without problems. I would not mind having that since I will be going up and down the East coast a couple of times and it would help a lot. I can always try changing the whole thing, but if I don't need to spend on diagnostics I'd be happy.

2. For the past year the car has been experiencing some problems with clock display on the radio, now it is simply blank with 1 sign of life – I can see the display if the sun shines right on it. Radio itself functions fine and I can use it by looking on the windshield display. I had read that ignition switch could be culprit and wonder if any other problems I am having relates to that.

3. Last week after a thunderstorm I noticed that I had a couple of water droplets on my passenger side mat and subsequently isolated that there is a leak where one's leg would be stretched out. It only happens during the storm, not sunny days that I use my AC. Today I got silicone sealer, but need to find where exactly to snoop for it...

4. * ...maybe 3 days later my AC (manual) made a screeching sound and now only operates in “5” position. AC is something that I definitely need to fix and do not know if it is the motor or the relay switch or maybe again the ignition switch.

5. * I noticed that lately, maybe a week or so (cannot remember if it was before my AC problem or after) I get problems accelerating. It just does not want to go. AC is off, stereo is off, nothing else is hooked up and I can barely go up a hill. It is annoying, frustrating and embarrassing at this point. What could that be? Spark plugs and wires were changed 2 years back.

6. * Another major problem is that when I try to gas up the car, the nozzle shuts off after 1 or 2 gallons and is really bad especially when reaching the tank limit. I twist that nozzle back and forth, take it out, put it back, barely insert through the “hymen” and squeeze the handle just barely to offset whatever mechanism is at play for auto shut off.
The story behind that is a mechanic was changing “something dealing with fuel”, but not the whole gas tank (maybe pump, maybe something else) and after he finished this started happening plus the check engine light. She was told to come back in and check if they connected something wrong or crossed wires or whatever else, but it never got done and now I am dealing with it. Is it the float, the tank, the pump, a sensor or everything all at once.

I checked the fuses, all are fine. DRL working fine. Wipers are fine. Driver window is a bit sluggish, but do not know when that started. I got a P0440 fault code this morning, but I do not know about accuracy, since the light had been on for a while.

7. It is time to change oil and I wanted to upgrade to 15k M1 synthetic, as I have in my '01 Xterra with 150k. It seems to work great, but was wondering about GM models.

8. And the last bit – can I use Seafoam through the Evap line or I should not bother?

Thanks for reading and even more thanks for coming up with the answers that will fix my problems with least money. If you need clarifications, please ask. Waiting for your suggestions.

Welcome to AF!!

As for the first question you probably need to replace the control as you stated but it could be a fuse so check the cruise control fuse to see if it is blown. Question#2--learn to live with it unless you want to replace the radio. Or purchase a cheap clock at the local store. The back light is out and it is almost impossible to repair. #3--Pull off the wiper blades and cowling along the bottom of the windshiled. Not hard to remove. There is a channel that runs across the area above the air box I suspect it is coming loose. Glue it back in place and then replace the cowling and the wipers. #4--The noise is from the bearing in the fan motor. You can remove it and lube the bearing by using some 3 in 1 oil. This should take care of the noise. While you have the fan out replace the blower motor resistor. It is bad and that is why the fan only works on #5.

As for #5, I have a question for you. Does the engine rev and it doesn't move or does the the engine act like it doesn't want to rev up? If the engine doesn't rev up you probably have a bad cat. By that I mean it is plugged and will need to be replaced with a new one. You can get a magnaflow for about 90 dollars from several places. If the engine revs but the car doesn't move then you have a tranny problem.

#6--caused by a blocked hose on the tank relief. The small hose. Look under the car and you will see it. Probably just has a kink and it easy enough to fix. Three possibilities--gas cap not on properly, purge solenoid bad or the charcoal canister is bad.

#7 Nothing wrong with Mobil 1. I use it in three of my four cars.

#8 Forget the seafoam for now.

Good Luck!

Does the car have a sunroof? Clogged, cracked, or broken sunroof drains is usually a pretty big cause for interior leaks. Just had to replace mine in my Grand Am. Passenger floor used to fill with water. New drains and the leak is not non existent.

Thanks for the responses.
I do have the sunroof, but the water droplets are coming from where the passenger's left leg would be.
As per #2, would replacing the lamp fix the problem or it's not that. I am still inclined to change the ignition switch, since it seems some problems I am having could be caused by that.
#5 -- I guess it is the cat. I push the pedal all the way and it barely responds (very prominent going uphill)
#6 -- Where do I look for that kink and where can I look up info on replacing purge solenoid and charcoal canister? Is that P0440 code related to this issue?
#7 -- I was thinking about the synthetic 15,000 mile oil, is that the one that you have?
#8 -- No Seafoam, got it. But any specific reason? It cleans great my 150k-miler.

1. I guess from the start cruise control did not work, even though everything else on the lever has for the past 5 years without problems. I would not mind having that since I will be going up and down the East coast a couple of times and it would help a lot. I can always try changing the whole thing, but if I don't need to spend on diagnostics I'd be happy.[/puote]

check the easy things first...have you checked the fuse? if not...you may have a vacuum leak

[qoute]2. For the past year the car has been experiencing some problems with clock display on the radio, now it is simply blank with 1 sign of life – I can see the display if the sun shines right on it. Radio itself functions fine and I can use it by looking on the windshield display. I had read that ignition switch could be culprit and wonder if any other problems I am having relates to that.

as weird as it seems, AC delco never went with an LED display for either the DIC, or the radio. it is just one little bulb that lights up the radio display. so you've got 2 options, either tear apart the radio, or simply find a used one.

3. Last week after a thunderstorm I noticed that I had a couple of water droplets on my passenger side mat and subsequently isolated that there is a leak where one's leg would be stretched out. It only happens during the storm, not sunny days that I use my AC. Today I got silicone sealer, but need to find where exactly to snoop for it...

this is a common problem. there is a seal that is right next to the blower motor that goes bad. there is a TON of threads on this. i am trying to find one that shows the replacement procedure but I'm not having any luck.

4. * ...maybe 3 days later my AC (manual) made a screeching sound and now only operates in “5” position. AC is something that I definitely need to fix and do not know if it is the motor or the relay switch or maybe again the ignition switch.

the screeching was the blower motor going bad. as for only working on 5...is it only when you are running your AC, or is it for the heat too? its most likely a bad blower motor resistor

oops...double posted, and the Edit button isnt working? :confused:

My personal philosophy is that 15k oil is not smart money spent.

1. You will use oil...no piston rings are perfect and production engines are not torque-plated prior to honing the cylinders. 3-5000 miles/qt is average consumption with no damage to the cat or anything else. So at 15k you could be 3 quarts low ??? I don't check oil, simply change it at 4k.

2. The oil acidifies over time due to combustion byproducts which accumulate there (again, piston rings aren't perfect and you get blowby...more the faster you rev the engine). PCV systems aren't great either, some actually "reverse flow" at high rpms because they simply can't handle the volume of blowby. There are additive packages to deal with the acidification, but what do you know about the packages? I know next to zero. Most oil companies advertise a synthesized molecule (IOW synthetic oil) where every molecule is the same and not an average of a petroleum distillate. That's great because you don't have a "bell curve" of performance but what are you really buying in terms of an additive package. Again, I personally don't want to do the long-term durability testing. I just use the SJ petroleum oils, always Castrol in my particular case and the engines keep running.

oops...double posted, and the Edit button isnt working? :confused:

I didn't have any problems....:uhoh:........... :lol:

But seriously we are still having the posting, new post notification and PM notification issues on AF. :mad:

The double post has been deleted.

Funny no one has metioned the radio display fix that can be found in the tips and maintenance subforum. It even lists part numbers for the bulb and is actually a relatively easy fix if your patient.

Update and more questions (scary one). But first, thank you for your help.

About 10 days ago I changed my catcon and the car flies beautifully -- uphill with full load -- no problem. After I got my car my 'service engine' light had gone off and I took the opportunity to check if I can fill up without auto-shut off kicking in. It did not and I was even more happy. But over the weekend the light is back and I am not able to calmly fill the tank due to the annoyance. I did not check the 'kink' yet, but how come with the light off all was fine? Is it a computer problem more than a physical one?

Aside from that I went in and put silicone onto the rubber and metal lip to prevent water from seeping in. I think I did enough, which was not complicated, but I put some extra of the clear stuff just to make sure there is a nice seal. Next week are the thunderstorms, so it will be a moment of truth. If it is clean, I'll change the blower relay resistor.

Exactly a week ago I went back for an oil change. I put in 80-20 blend (80 being synthetic) and that is all dandy. When they were checking my fluids, they pulled the transmission dip stick and showed me the color...

... It was a shade away from complete black. I remembered that no one ever changed ATF and decided to change it. They ran the machine twice to drain it and put nice pink stuff in there. Everything was fine until this morning. When I accelerate, the shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd gives me a jerk. Is it the new oil, the transmission or whatever else? The car was fine before the change and for a week afterward. I will definitely take the car to the shop for them to check the levels, but WTF -- should I have just skipped the change and ran with 102k on original tranny juice? :banghead:

When they were checking my fluids, they pulled the transmission dip stick and showed me the color...

... It was a shade away from complete black. I remembered that no one ever changed ATF and decided to change it. They ran the machine twice to drain it and put nice pink stuff in there. Everything was fine until this morning. When I accelerate, the shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd gives me a jerk. Is it the new oil, the transmission or whatever else? The car was fine before the change and for a week afterward. I will definitely take the car to the shop for them to check the levels, but WTF -- should I have just skipped the change and ran with 102k on original tranny juice? :banghead:

A transmission service should have been performed well before the GM recommended 100K miles.

What shop or servicer was this? Obvious they used a fluid exchange machine or flush machine. :shakehead

You should have performed a pan drop service only which is drain the ATF and replace the screen filter only. As a result you are now getting the hard/harsh upshifts because sediment has gotten into the valve body and the pressure control solenoid (PCS). Using a trans capable scanner or one capable of reading GM extended codes see if a P1811 (max adapt, long shift) DTC is stored.

You can try using Seafoam transmission additive and see if the hard shifts go away. But no guarantee that will work.

A transmission service should have been performed well before the GM recommended 100K miles.

What shop or servicer was this? Obvious they used a fluid exchange machine or flush machine. :shakehead

You should have performed a pan drop service only which is drain the ATF and replace the screen filter only. As a result you are now getting the hard/harsh upshifts because sediment has gotten into the valve body and the pressure control solenoid (PCS). Using a trans capable scanner or one capable of reading GM extended codes see if a P1811 (max adapt, long shift) DTC is stored.

You can try using Seafoam transmission additive and see if the hard shifts go away. But no guarantee that will work.
It was fluid exchange.
Will doing the proper way now make it good or all is lost? I do not care about another change as long as I can return the car back in normal condition and do not have to change the whole thing by the end of the year.
Is it regular Seafoam or special one? I use white can for everything.

There are two Seafoams commonly used. The engine additive and tranny additive. Use the tranny additive only. Use about 8 oz which is half the can and do not worry about being overfilled after adding it.

If that doesn't work then I'll let you in on a work around fix to get rid of the hard/harsh shifting which does not warrant replacing the PCS solenoid.

There are two Seafoams commonly used. The engine additive and tranny additive. Use the tranny additive only. Use about 8 oz which is half the can and do not worry about being overfilled after adding it.

If that doesn't work then I'll let you in on a work around fix to get rid of the hard/harsh shifting which does not warrant replacing the PCS solenoid.
You will probably kick me in the precious, but this is what happened. I went back to the shop and explained to them the whole thing and was offered another change using the machine. I agreed due to the following...

He told me that the machine they are using is not the same that gives horror stories -- it uses almost no suction (ie. minimal) and therefore very slow and will probably not bring anything from the bottom, the machine also waits for old fluid to come up after each of the times it feeds it with new one. It also siphons it from the top of the transmission and does not bring anything from the bottom, just the top. And whatever is on the bottom should be protected by the filter from coming back. I reluctantly agreed after he told me I had nothing to lose and if it does not help he will do the change the "proper" way, I will just pay for the filter. He changed about 6.5 of fluid, added anti-friction and 1/2 a bottle of Seafoam tranny.

When I was asking him about the solenoid, he said that when it is engaged the clean fluid should come in and clean out "possible" debris and the additives will help with that.

I have not really driven the car since we did that, but whatever I noticed is much better than before. I will drive for another week and bring it in for them to check it again.

Now, can you hint at what is possible to do without changing the solenoid? And whatever he told me -- do it make sense or was it just a bunch of BS?

Thanks.

Thanks for the update. It sounds plausible. Sounds like a Wynns servicer which is a fluid exchange only but it never hurts to replace the screen filter.

Best thing to do is drive it more frequently and give the anti-friction and Seafoam additives a chance to work. If it gets better and the hard upshifts disappear then you should be OK.

Was the shop able to run a scan to see of a P1811 DTC (max adapt, long shift) was stored?

Well, it has been a week after changing the tranny filter. It seemed to help and no problems were observed until I started driving in stop-n-go traffic. After driving in those conditions after about 10 minutes I feel the car jerk once again. It is still between 1 and 2 and 2 and 3, but especially noticeable 1 --> 2. I think that the guy who did the change the first time around screwed it up for me, but I doubt anything else can be done. They already changed the oil 3.5 times for me.

What else can be done to fix it at least somewhat? Will it ruin the transmission all together with time or will this just sit there without worsening?

Thanks.

Did you ever try the Seafoam? See link located at our Tips & Maintenance forum below which may help. Covers use of Seafoam and a possible inexpensive fix.

Click here (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=920671)