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JJEH

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Guys,

my Z26 is already sold and tomorrow i have a look at a 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix 4dr. Sedan with 175k mls, cuz i need a new daily driver.

What do you think about the car or rather the mileage?
There are any Problems with the 3.8 V6?

Thanks for your help!
 
intake gaskets tend to go bad!
 
Mileage is good, dependent on the miles on the car, how well its been looked after etc.

other than that one of the best fwd platforms gm has ever put out, intakes on the 3.8s are not as common as the 3.1/3.4 and for those that can change thier own gaskets its a very minor repair.
 
I had a 98 Grand Am with the 3.8, I loved that car. I beat it on a daily basis and it never broke down. Only issue I had was it threw a spark plug once, just screwed in a new plug and it was fine. Went great in the snow too.
 
Jochen my 98 GP GT 4 door sedan I passed on to my son. It now has a little over 100,000 miles. Been a great car for us. The 3.8 is a really solid motor. The only areas I've had troubles with over the past 10 years:

Upper intake manifold crack, this shows up as a coolant leak on top of the motor. $110 for an improved Dorman upper intake manifold will solve your problem. Many of the 3.8 are prone to this.

Wiring harnesses, had multiple failures of power windows, nuetral safety switch, solenoids in auto shifter and ignition switch solenoids fail. The problem in every single case was not the solenoids or power window actuators (except for one drivers side power window actuator mechanically failed) it is the wiring harness connector block terminals. GM farmed these out to Mexico and the spring contacts in the harnesses have zero spring tension, they are highly mallable like you see in very thing soft copper and once they bend or are subjected to heat and cold they no longer make contact with the components terminals the block is connected to. I cut the terminal blocks off and soldered the wires directly to the ignition switch, window actuator, ect and in every case the failure never repeated. GM doesn't explain why they built their harnesses with defective components. The Gm dealer and techs keep wanting to sell me hundreds of dollars worth of electronic components when there is nothing wrong with them because they all say they've never heard of this. I think they just want to take my $$$. They've got to know there is a problem with the wire harnesses in these vehicles.

The tailpipe exhaust hangers stretch and you'll need to replace them, very easy and inexpensive, they are rubber and they stretch.

Radiator had to be flushed every two years until I got rid of the Dexcool coolant and went back to Prestone green. The Dexcool turns to sludge very quickly in this car for some reason. But not my 04 GTO, can't explain it.

As I mentioned did have a drivers side power window actuator fail. The plastic parts simply broke and failed. The bracket is made in Korea, the motor in China and the wiring harness in Mexico. American car right?

Headlight switch failed a year ago, simple fix to replace it.

No problems with the heads up display and I'd recommend it.

Been a good car for us. The wiring harness issues are my only concern with these cars.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thanks Guys!

Dave, thank you for your posting. I was watching the car today with my girlfriend and we will buy it. The seller goes down to $2600,00 for it - yay!

Here is the VIN: 1G2WP52K1VF285303

Carfax found 15 Records. Maybe anyone can do the carfax?
I will appreciate this!

The car has some failures, but nothing special. We need it maybe for 2 more years, then we can start with our plans hopefully.

That's a pic from the seller:
Image


We need a pair of Taillights, some Wintertires - latest in October, a rear mirror and some cosmetic...
 
Don't park it too close to your house...

That platform has had issues with engine fires. Two in my neighborhood, one Regal and one Intrigue, caught fire and burned the houses down.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recall...alls/results.cfm?rcl_id=09V116&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=email
This recall is because people spill oil on the valve cover when filling and it runs down and may get on the exhaust manifold. The 'fix' is a plastic deflector that runs the spilled oil out over the manifold.

No spill, no worries.

Mark
 
I looked for another one for those models, but could not find anything. But like I said, one Regal caught fire in the garage; owner drove home from work, was in the house 5 minutes or so, and smelled smoke. Made the mistake of opening the garage door and woomph!

The other was an Intrigue, driven to mother's house and parked near the carport. Within 5 min, Intrigue caught fire from engine compartment, which spread to the end of the house.

I don't know if there is another defect that caused those two fires, or if GM doesn't have everything accurate in the recall. Both of the above cars were driven hard (both drivers are "late brakers"), so oil splooshing onto the manifold could have happened, I guess...

Never seen a little oil on an exhaust manifold cause a fire though. Wouldn't millions of small block Chevy's with valve cover leaks have been causing fires all over the place?
 
Eric

It does make you wonder. I guess after several years of oil changes and sloppy filling practices you could build up enough oil and gunk behind the manifold heat shield to have a fire.

My daughters '08 Grand Prix has the little deflector shield in the front of the engine. I looked at it as GM's fix for my '99 Grand Prix and said forget it. My engine is clean and I'm not going to spill a bunch of oil down the front of it.

Mark
 
Very good dependable cars. Not to expensive to maintain either. Ive seen 2 3.8L cars with 200k+ on them already. One had the original transmission.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Guys,

thanks alot for your advise :thumbsup:

The pre-owner said there is a "new" Goodwrech plate in the Transmission.
So i guess there is a replaced one onto the car.

Maybe anyone can do the carfax? Cuz there are 15 Records and maybe we found some interesting stuff...

I will appreciate this - and spend you some ice-cream while we are in the States in June :D

@Don I will keep things simple - but not here in Germany ;)
 
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