1995 Grand AM Overheating Problem

[phatTweaker]

I have a 1995 Grand AM with a Quad 4 that I bought about 8 months ago. It has 136,000 miles on it and ran perfectly up until about 2 weeks ago.
When I would first start it up in the morning it would miss out for about 5 minutes or so until the engine warmed up then it would run fine.
I thought maybe it needed a tune up and was planning to do one in January when money wouldn't be so tight.

Anyways I was driving it yesterday to a town about 20 miles away and noticed the temp gauge was going up. I stopped on the side of the road and let it cool down and checked the coolant level and it was full.
I started it back up and drove about 2 miles and it got hot again so I stopped and let it cool off. I repeated this until I got to the town I was going to and stopped in at a service station.
They looked at it and said it possibly was the thermostat, but they were to busy to look at it any further.

Next I took it down the street to a GM dealership and they said that it could be an air pocket so they said they would pressurize it and check it out.
After the guy checked it out he said that when he put pressure to the system it caused the engine to miss and most likely I had a bad head gasket and or head. He said they would be happy to replace the head gasket for $1500.. OUCH! if it was the head that was bad it would be around $2000 plus parts. It about made me sick to hear all that especially this being a tight on money month with xmas and all.

After the GM guy done whatever he did to it the low coolant light came on even though the coolant level was full.
I then drove back the 20 miles or so to my home stopping every couple miles or so to let it cool off.

Before I bought the car I was told by the owner that he had recently replaced the water pump, heater core, and thermostat.

Is it likely that it is a head gasket or cracked head?
Even though it would over heat it never puked coolant.
I have not found any signs of coolant in the oil nor any oil in the coolant.

Should I try changing the thermostat first? If so on a 1995 is the thermostat on the back of the engine under the exhaust manifold?
Is the thermostat hard to replace as far as being able to get to the bolts? ( I replaced one on a ford tempo and it was a nightmare).

Any thoughts, suggestions, or ideas would be a big help.

thanks

[crys36]

Geeez ya got yourself a tough 1 there. The head gasket and/or head could be leaking coolant into the cylinder itself causing your misfires til they clean themselves off especially with the miles involved. The loss of coolant could be minimal and still cause problems. The overheating is obviously something the other owner may have run into since he changed all these parts. I would'nt let a dealer change these things since they get top buck. You need to find yourself a good local guy as I have found. Good used intakes and heads can be found. The newer aftermarket head gaskets are soooo much better its rediculous . Its the labor on these things that kills ya once you find the problem. I'm sure others will post for U other options. Good luck welcome to GA fantasy world.

[skibum1111]

Start looking for a head. Its either the head or the gasket, might as well change both of them. When I pulled the head on my 95 quad I found 3 cracks in the head as well as a blown gasket. If you have a place to work on it its not that tough of a job to do, just labor intensive. It took me about 12 hours to change mine, and the most difficult part was getting the head to come off the block. Stay away from the dealersh*ts as they charge waaaay too much money. Good luck.

[phatTweaker]

I forgot to mention in my first post that I recently had my exaust fixed.
They left the resonator on, but said my cat was bad so they cut it out and put a piece of pipe in it's place and said that since the oxygen sensor wasn't in the cat that it would not cause a problem.
It was shortly after this that I started to notice the miss when starting the engine cold.

I've been thinking about my overheating problem and was wondering if it was the head wouldn't the heater still blow warm air as long as the system was full?
Another weird thing. The check coolant light stays on even though it's not low.
I think I'm going to change the thermostat first just to eliminate that possibility.
How hard is it to change on a 1995 quad4?

thanks

[skibum1111]

The thermostat on the 94 and 95 quads sucks to change. It's on the back of the motor under the exhaust. To change it you need an 8mm socket, extension, ratchet and wrench. There is a bolt on the metal line leading from the thermostat housing to the radiator, its located on the bottom of the motor beside the oil pan. Good luck, but I doubt its the thermostat if you are not getting heat and its overheating.

[phatTweaker]

Well it's definitely not the thermostat. Had my local service station check it out. He pulled the plugs to see if they were wet, they wasn't. He checked all the fluids to check for signs of leaks, nothing. He then said that he would change the thermostat to eliminate that possibility, but he said that since it had a cold miss it would more then likely be a bad head. He said that the Quad4 were notorious for developing a cracked head.
By looking through the recent posts on here it would seem that allot of others are having problems with over heating and/or no heat.

I don't know if this is a common problem specific to Pontiac and the Grand Am or what, but I'm beginning to think most of the small/mid size cars from the big three were designed to be disposable.

Anyway, to fix my Grand Am is going to cost more then I paid for it to begin with so it looks like I'll probably buy a different car.
What would be a good brand mid size car that should last longer?

thanks

[borninabarn]

Originally Posted by phatTweaker

Well it's definitely not the thermostat. Had my local service station check it out. He pulled the plugs to see if they were wet, they wasn't. He checked all the fluids to check for signs of leaks, nothing. He then said that he would change the thermostat to eliminate that possibility, but he said that since it had a cold miss it would more then likely be a bad head. He said that the Quad4 were notorious for developing a cracked head.
By looking through the recent posts on here it would seem that allot of others are having problems with over heating and/or no heat.

I don't know if this is a common problem specific to Pontiac and the Grand Am or what, but I'm beginning to think most of the small/mid size cars from the big three were designed to be disposable.

Anyway, to fix my Grand Am is going to cost more then I paid for it to begin with so it looks like I'll probably buy a different car.
What would be a good brand mid size car that should last longer?

thanks

Just try to trade it off and get something like a 3800 v6 good motor!when a someone replaces the water punp in these they screw up the timing chain and the timing if they dont know what they are doing.The tensioners are bad make sure you get the updated one that just come out if you decide to keep this gem.It will break you for sure.Problem is most places know that these motors are junk.good luck.

[diannakiser]

I have a 1994 Grand am and have replaced the head, head gasket, water pump, 4 thermostats, and still over heating. Can take thermostat out and no over heating problem. So like you I do not know where to go from here. Am watching to see if anyone can offer a solution.

[Hoags]

Unfortunatly the heads in the Quad 4's were prone to going bad most of the time they develop cracks, from what you are describing it does sound like a bad head or gasket, but like one of the other posts stated you can find good used heads or you may be able to pick up a re-maned somewhere on the net.

Good luck.

[skibum1111]

How is your heat? If no heat, the heater core is probably clogged, that will cause the quads 94 up to overheat (another one of gm's wonderful designs.)

[darrell328]

I had a 92' and it overheated also. I didn't have any heat either. I replaced the thermostat and it didn't fix anything. I replaced the heater core and that seemed to fix it. But I also had to place the fan cause the fan motor was shot. Never had it overheat after that.