david-b's 2001 Grand Am DD fix

As you probably know I picked up a 2001 Grand Am 4cly as a DD and winter car. I got it for real cheap from a buddy because it doesn't run. He said a blown head gasket, but wasn't 100% sure. Also, pretty much every dash light is on.

The goal is to spend as little as possible on this car to get back and running, and be my DD while the Talon becomes a beast. The tires and battery are brand new, which costs more than what I paid for the car. He wanted it gone, so we had a great deal of $250.

This was the car when I got it towed by his brother to my street.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/P8180008Medium.jpg

Today I got her to my parents house and diagnosed the problems. Crazy amount of coolant was mixed with the oil... blown head gasket. So I started tearing her down.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0822091513bMedium.jpg

And the motor.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0822091514aMedium.jpg

This all this with no books and just the help of my bro. I got pretty much everything off of this thing, minus the timing chain. I need to rent a pulley puller and get that all squared away, then the head will pop right off. Going to order all my stuff tonight and see how to all turns out.

This is a budget build, so will update with total amount spent.

Total spent so far on car: $250.00

Nice start. I was under the impression that it was a V6. Because those are the ones that are so bad for popping HG's. Keep us updated.

The 4s also had problems too from what I've been reading. I ordered everything I need and should be getting it all by mid week. Update the pricing later. Still nice and cheap.

Looks good man. Make sure to check the head to see if its warped.

Will be checking everything as I'm pulling it. All my parts are coming in and should be here by Wednesday looks like so I'll be working on this all week. Plus I'm broke now so I won't be going out. I'll be doing nothing but working on this thing.

The one thing I love about this car so far while working on it is that all the nuts and bolts are intact. I haven't broken, stripped or cracked any nuts/bolts yet. Everything is coming out very easy. Nice change of pace considering everytime I do anything on the Talon, at least 3 bolts break each and everytime. Got to love the "newer" cars.

I'm planning startup being on Sunday. The the Talon will be ready to go under the knife.

Awesome. That thing should run great when you get done.

+1. Always been a grand am fan. Comfy cars to drive and they look good also. We have had many different grand ams. All GT's. Had a 01 and 2 98's

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0829091531aMedium.jpg

Worked on it today. Ran into some problems, so this is as far as I got so far. 2 more bolts (that I can't get to right now) and the head is off. Working more tomorrow.

Progress...I like it!

I still plan on startup being tomorrow, but I'm going to the Creed concert tomorrow night so we'll see how much work I can get done. I'm going to be out there bright and early. And if not done, I'll be working late Monday on it and everyday this week until it's done. Then, Talon will be filling up the garage.

Looks good man. Shouldn't take to long to put it back together

Looks like a good time.

lol a good time? well damn com put my car back together since u enjoy it so much

That was the motor about noon yesterday. I had to drain the cylinders since they were filled with fuel from trying to start and left over coolant and oil and then relubed everything.

Right now the car has the head on, cams most of the way in, and a lot is back together. I was trying to do the timing chain but was having problems, and called it quits when I ran my finger between a cam gear and the chain when I left go of the tension. Ouch.

Got a new O2 sensor in there. Head and block are flat.

Tonight I'm headed back to my parents with my buddy and we're going to finish it up. Startup was supposed to be yesterday, but I'm pretty conifdent it will happen tonight.

You putting a new chain on it while its down? Or atleast guides?

You putting a new chain on it while its down? Or atleast guides?

New chain, guides, tensioiner, and cam gears. It was a timing chain package that came with everything... I believe 6 or 8 parts. Also have a whole engine gasket set where I've been replacing everything possible.

I'm pissed. While tightening down the cams, 2 of the bolts which were the right bolts went through the cam cover and cracked the lower cam/valve part of the head on the exhaust side. Not happy. Now I have to find a new piece and I'll probably have to pull it from a junkyard. I got it all timed, closed up, and was probably about an hour out from startup, and bam. Son of a...

That sucks. It always seems to happen. When I was putting my motor back together I broke off one of the last cam cap bolts.

Thats the nature of the beast

The car is all back together as of last night. Took awhile to get the part in since I broke the lower cam holder. Went to start last night with no luck. It turns, but doesn't fire. So going to check on the fuel and spark and see what's going on in there. It seems like it wants to, but just missing something.

What's the best way to check for spark? This thing doesnt have wires... just clips built into the valve cover. It's stupid, really. I'm going to spary some starting fluid in the intake and so I can see if fuel is working or not.

So far it's holding oil and coolant with no leaks, but then again it hasn't started yet so won't see leaks til then. HOPEFULLY I can get it squared away tonight.

Check all your plugs, make sure they have a good connection. I had the same problem last time I put the motor in and it ended up being the crank angle sensor had a bad connection.

So it doesn't have spark, and not sure if it's the coilpack or the security system. Trying to find the answers now. Resetting the security didn't work, so I don't know. It's all back together though.

Worked on this weekend. The security system shuts down fuel, not spark... so that's not causing the issue.

There is signal at the harness, but the ICM or coils are not firing so I found a cheap used one on ebay. Hoping to get in by Thursday/Friday and see if that works. Can't think of anything else. Car is full of fluids and ready to go. I have my brooms and cleaners all ready to go so once I wheel that thing out, clean it up, and tow the talon in.

Actually thinking of putting a little hitch on this car and a tow thing on the front of the Talon. I have a feeling with having a DD now, the Talon will be "towed" around much more.

Hopefully that fixes your problem man.

Just wanted to give an update on this...

After playing around with this thing for too long, thinking it was the security system locking the car down, I called my old mechanic to check it out.

After we did a compression test, it was: 120, 25, 0, 0

I towed it to his garage and he started tearing it down. This is being done in his spare time, not at the shop he works at. Doing this to save some money. Somehow the water pump seized up and the last time I tried to start it the timing chain skipped 2 teeth. So now he's checking the valves.

Hoping to have back to me before the year is out.

Wow, never heard of jumped timing on a chain....thats crazy. So the chain drives the pump? Was it a new pump?

Yea thats weird. Hopefully the head isin't damaged

Ya the chain connects to the water pump. I decided not to buy a new pump when I first did it... now I believe a new one is on.

Just got a text this morning from him. Valves checked out good from what he could see. Was going to put it all back together and check compression. I still think that there's something else off, but we'll see.

Grand Am is up and running and back in my hands. The head was warped so bought a totally rebuilt one off ebay and got it all taken care of.

He said compared to having it at his shop, I saved about $600 just on labor alone, plus the price of all the parts would have been more. Got those at cost.

The Talon will now be headed to the garage will it will be stored and worked on from time to time. And driven when the snow is melted or nearly gone. I still have lots of work left for it so it's good to be out the way and off the snow and not being used as a DD. I do want to get on the dyno for a tune and some numbers when it's still stupid cold, just to take advantage of that nice dense cold air. But now with having the DD running, Talon is going away.

That's cool, at least that's one less thing to worry about.

Thats awesome man. Are you driving it yet?

:useless:

Yup been driving it since I picked it up the other day. Put over 100 miles on it just last night :) Thing has bee great. Noticing some small issues here and there with just the car in general but it's all basic fixes. I'm going to clean it up some today and try to get the passenger side mirror back on. All small stuff, but the car is filthy inside so I want to really clean it up.

Thursday night when I got her home. Notice all the crappy snow
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0107001941Medium.jpg

New Head
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0104001736Medium.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0104001739Medium.jpg

Still has some lights on yet. Mostly because the ABS wire or connector on the passenger side wheel hub got destroyed. That causes 3 of those lights to be on. I'll get that fixed and that should take care of it. I hate dash lights so I want none lite. My boy who owned the car before really didn't care if they were on or not.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0108002323Medium.jpg

And how the Talon looked Thursday night after 8-12" of snow
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/david-b/0107002033Medium.jpg

She still looks good, the Talon I mean. I hate dash lights too, and you've got a few of them. Is it easy to fix the ABS wiring? BTW, we've about the same amount of snow here.

Speed much?...

At least you got one car running finally...

I didnt even realize I was going that fast. I did get her up to ~90 for awhile, all with no radar. Limit was 55 too... oops :) Car takes forever to get up to speed. So used to that instant power.


At least you got one car running finally...
Well I wish this were still true. Yesterday noticed some little oil leaking. Checked to see what was going on and didn't look bad. Drove all day yesterday and car started to run like shit and you could smell oil burning. I kept checking it out making sure I was good, didnt see anything though. Filled up oil. Was driving around with this girl and noticed the oil smell starting to get stronger, and the car died right outside my house. Oil light also came on. Let it cool down, filled it up with 4 quarts drove her home late night and smoke was coming from under the hood. FML

Drove literally a block to a gas station got some oil, found a flashlight and saw foamy coolant down the back of the block FML x2. Oil was near bone dry again. Filled up hoping to baby it home. Pulled out from the parking lot, and it died before I got to the light (and the station is on the corner). Got her started, and pulled into a hot dog stand across the street and noticed that the whole street was all smoked up. FML x3

Made some calls and after freezing in the 8* weather with 0* windchill, I got a ride back to my place. So right now the car sits at a hot dog stand and I need to get it towed somewhere. I have to call my mechanic buddy and see if he'll take it back, which he better. I'm so pissed right now it's not even funny. I'm just glad this didnt happen on the tollroad on Friday night. I would have been really screwed then.

Man that really sucks. I hope you didn't damage any of the bearings running it that low on oil. Your daily driver is less reliable then your talon. Go figure that one

Ya tell me about it.

Car got towed to my mechanics place again. He took it back and going to tear it apart this week and see what's up. Thank god for free towing. This car has seen more tow truck time in 2 months than the Talon has in 2 years.

On the upside, I got the Talon to crank today. Torched the starter and that seems to break it free. Sweetness. Sadly battery was dead though.