'97 Grand Am GT - Coolant light keeps coming on

[PeteyPete]

My pontaic is a 97 GT w/ the inline-4 engine...Just recently the coolant light came on but when I checked the reservoir the coolant level looked fine. As the car warmed up the light went away.

Two days later the light came on and hasn't gone off since, i don't notice it losing any coolant...is it just a bad sensor or should I be concerned?

[PeteyPete]

Opps...Just rechecked...Looks like I am loosing coolant

Should be fun finding out how much this is going to cost me.

[dschild]

This seems to be a consistant problem with the Grand Am. Mine did the same. Also problems with heater cores. You can put pepper in with your coolant as a temporary measure. People used to use sawdust, but it doesn't breakdown. Pepper will break down eventually. But in the end you will still need to get this fixed.

[aztec]

are you using Dex-cool "coolant" (the orange color one,grey botle with the orange cap) if your not that may be your problem,get rid if your coolant and fill it with this tipe, it may take a cuple of days for your car to recognize it but that lite will go off for sure, (i own a 97 grand am gt and i add a similar problem)

[urweak]

well if you know what your doing you can get a heater core off ebay for like 30 bucks, mine went no less then a month ago. it was like 200 bucks but that was from a friend of the family, so maybe double that.

[jcl27]

first thing i would check is the water pump ,these are known to
leak on the quad 4 engine.hopefully it isnt,very time consuming
it is run by the timing chain. check this first

[joshuajkelly]

I own a '95 grand am 3.1 I also have a buddy that works as the head mechanic for g.m. I was lossing coolent alot also. the first time it was my water pump, that was kinda hard to do, but for somone with middel range knowledge of mechanics I did it in about one and a half to two hours. The next time it was my heater core. The problem was a lot bigger this time around. I was very intimadated after about two hours I had torn out the hole dash of my poor car but it is not that hard you really only have to remove the first center console panel[the console peice under the heater knobs] then once that is off you take off the heater core cover unscrew the four[I am pritty shur it is four] bolts that support the straps that hold on the heater core. Jack up the car and disconnect the two hoses that connect to the heater core from under the car. ther will be a drane nosel that comes out under the car also. Pull on it untell it comes out. Oh ya my secret of geting that stuped LOW COOLENT light to go out. This will work in any situation you see when your coolent gets low enough to expose your scencer to the air and then fill it back up with water an air bubble stays in the littel scencer area and keeps on telling the scencer that there is water in the refill. The trick is to fill it up, START YOUR CAR,don't forget to start your car or this will not work. Then get a heavy tool and tap on the scencer untill that air bubble gets unstuck and walla no more LOW COOLENT light worrying you to deth. This is not going to fix the actual problem though, I recamend checking your water pump and or your heater core if this is the problem you will proble get some water on your floor board and or a smell or radiator threw your heater vents KEEP A EYE ON YOUR TEMP> GAGE thanks for reading JOSH

[jeter1955]

i had the same thing with my car, when the leak is fixed just tap the sensor on the reservoir so it can reset then the light will go off

[Anaudiophile]

I would then if going for those on up the way too!!

Holy hooked on phonics!!!

[Slade901]

Same thing happened to our 1994 Pontiac Grand Am, it was leaking and I could not find where it was leaking from. I have to leave it running for 30 minutes and then the leak started dripping from the water pump.

It was pain to remove the water pump as I have to remove the exhaust pipe, exhaust manifold, etc.

Don't forget to replace the thermostat while you're at it.