Coolant

[greggilby]

Let me start off by saying I know very little about cars. I do know enough to say that something is not right.

In about late October the low coolant light came on. Ever since then I have been topping up the coolant reservoir every two weeks or so. I am just going out to buy my third jug of coolant since then. By the way this car has 106,000 KM or 67K miles on it. Occasionally I smell coolant residue coming off the engine. Three weeks ago I took the car in for a pressure test (It wasn't to the dealer though) and they could not find a problem except for that some hose from the water pump was cool and it should have been warm. This week while having the heater on a couple of times a aweful odor filled the cabin. The vechile is a 1999 Grand Am SE with a 4 cylinder engine. I have decided to take it in for another test this week to a pontiac dealer.

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything to this extent and if so what the problem may have been

[Chameleon-kat]

Coolant smell inside cabin would tend to make me think heater core. What year and engine do you have? (intake manifold also possible on V6)

[greggilby]

Originally Posted by Chameleon-kat

Coolant smell inside cabin would tend to make me think heater core. What year and engine do you have? (intake manifold also possible on V6)

Sorry there chameleon-kat that was my first thread.

The vehicle is a 1999 Grand Am SE with a 4 cyclinder (Don't really know the size). Also I could remember the mechanic saying that there was a small bit of residue at the water pump, however the pressure check was good.
Thanks for the info

[tara-tackett]

Well I hate to be the one to tell you that you're about to spend around $600 to fix this problem with your car. I also have a 1999 Grand Am, but mine is a v6 with a 3.4 liter engine. I don't know a whole lot about cars, but I do come from a family of mechanics, so even though I am a female, it might be worthwhile to listen to what I say. I was also adding coolant almost constantly it seemed. I was told at first, by a dealership, that a hose was leaking and it just needed tightened. However, the problem continued, and I was up to using over 1 gallon of coolant per week when it overheated on my way to a college class. I pulled over and had it towed in to my uncles shop, and sure enough, he found that it was a LEAKING INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET. As if the fact that the repair costs hundreds of dollars because it requires a lot of labor, the gasket was on backorder from GM, because it was defective. If you browse online, you will see MANY with the same exact problem. If I had to guess, I'd say that you're probably experiencing the same thing. http://www.petitiononline.com/GMcnsmrs/petition.html If you view this webpage, you'll see it's a list of over 5,000 people who have had this problem, but has GM recalled it? No, of course not, because it would be costly. Anyway, if I were you, I'd take my car to a mechanic and ask him to check it for this problem. The coolant on my car would leak out of a bolt hole on the right side of the motor, so you might look for that, although I'm not sure how the 4 cyl. motor is set up. Try and get it fixed as soon as possible, because if that is your problem, then right now, coolant is leaking into your oil system, and of course the new GM APPROVED dexcool coolant you absolutely HAVE to use doesn't separate from oil, so it turns your lubrication system into a pool of sludge and you might start hearing a loud clicking, which will be your lifters chattering because of the oil mess. It's just an all around bad deal and it's made me so mad I don't think I'll ever buy another GM vehicle again...for "the world's largest vehicle manufacturer", you would think they'd care enough about customer satisfaction to fix this problem instead of the money coming out of our pockets.

Originally Posted by greggilby

Let me start off by saying I know very little about cars. I do know enough to say that something is not right.

In about late October the low coolant light came on. Ever since then I have been topping up the coolant reservoir every two weeks or so. I am just going out to buy my third jug of coolant since then. By the way this car has 106,000 KM or 67K miles on it. Occasionally I smell coolant residue coming off the engine. Three weeks ago I took the car in for a pressure test (It wasn't to the dealer though) and they could not find a problem except for that some hose from the water pump was cool and it should have been warm. This week while having the heater on a couple of times a aweful odor filled the cabin. The vechile is a 1999 Grand Am SE with a 4 cylinder engine. I have decided to take it in for another test this week to a pontiac dealer.

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything to this extent and if so what the problem may have been

[bouches]

I just had the same problem with my low coolant light coming on and it was due to a crack in the lower intake gasket (Which is a $706 CDN job). Luckily I bought the extended warranty on this lemon of a car. But the dealership just had to make some money and told me that the serpentine belt got soaked with oil and when they tried to clean it off, it made the belt squeak and I needed a new one, not covered under warranty at $77CDN. They will ALWAYS get a way to do you over.

[shyguy5885]

2000 Grand Am GT here with 58,000 miles. I recently figured out my intake manifold gasket was leaking. It's been leaking for a while due to various coolant stains on the driver's side, and a few oil streaks on the left. I pinpointed the leak to be coming from around a bolt all the way to the right and front of the lower intake manifold. I have not noticed oil in my coolant, or coolant in my oil in the past, but I'm sure that'll soon happen. Also, it appears that oil has actually leaked out the valve covers at one point or another. Hopefully, I can get this fixed under my extended warranty, otherwise, I'll have to tackle the job myself; I'm not paying $800 for the dealer to change it. Just thought I'd share my situation in case someone has a similar problem(everybody has the leaking gasket).

[bouches]

I'm very sure that the extended warranty company will cover this. They covered mine.

[shyguy5885]

I found out that the intake gaskets are covered under the extended warranty.. yay! On the other hand, my rear windshield has started to bubble in spots, and ripple in another. The plastic inside the glass is what i'm talking about. The service guy told me that it would not be covered under the extended warranty. That's bogus cuz it's eventually gonna get so bad, that u can't see out the back window. Is this something that I should try to negotiate with them.....like i'll pay part if they pay most? Thanx for any input.

[bouches]

I would make them cover the manufacturer's defect in the windshield. This should not bubble or ripple or do whatever......Make them pay it in full, even if you have to contact GM directly.