Possible daily driver 02 Grand Am help.

[4spdragtop]

A good friend of mine is selling his 02 Grand Am. He is willing to sell to me cheap and take payments...so its pretty hard to beat that. It has 227k on it. It has the 3.4 v6, a/t, 4 dr. pwr everything including sunroof. The known issues are front suspension needs replacing, pass side front window is out of the track...he thinks the track is shot, so I would have to replace the track. Also a coolant leak...dont know if its water pump, rad or cyl head. Plus some paint peeling at the wheel wells....nothing major, I can rattle can it. My questions,
1 How hard is it to replace the front suspension??
2 What about the door track??
3 Water pump, a ***** to replace??

Thanks in advance 4 the advice

 

[demon seed]

Those 3.4's were notorious (ask me how I know) for leaking intake manifold gaskets at the coolant ports. Yes coolant into the engine and bye bye engine. :x The window may have broke loose from the shoe its glued into at the factory. There is a resin epoxy, mix A+B, out there that works on glass (ask me how I know).:x:x

I almost forgot, the 3.4 is also legendary for cracks across the threaded spark plug holes on the aluminum heads.POS

 

[Robbie2734]

Those 3.4's were notorious (ask me how I know) for leaking intake manifold gaskets at the coolant ports. Yes coolant into the engine and bye bye engine. :x The window may have broke loose from the shoe its glued into at the factory. There is a resin epoxy, mix A+B, out there that works on glass (ask me how I know).:x:x

I almost forgot, the 3.4 is also legendary for cracks across the threaded spark plug holes on the aluminum heads.POS

X2, the intake seal is awful! I had mine off twice, the second time I had it surfaced at the machine shop. The front ends always need work, tie rod ends and rack and pinion, power steering pump. All of which I replaced. Brakes go through pads every 12 months here (I live on a mountain). Make sure the fuel filter is new, or it'll take out the pump. I started it this morning and the lifters are noisey so I have some SeaFoam to add to the oil. This is Pontiacs last FU to the public.

 

[RedFish]

The fan support would melt and let the fan rub through the radiator
( might have been the 98 model only ). The p/s fluid cooler was underneath the car and subject to hazards causing leaks.
Can I say anything good about a Grand Am ? The heater core was fairly easy to replace. Original heater core had long plastic tubes through the firewall. Aftermarket replacement was all metal.

 

[4spdragtop]

My buddy has owned it since new and had the dealership replace the intake gasket. Any work done to it for the most part has been dealership work. I forgot to chk the eng oil for coolant, I will chk that. I will also chk the fan shroud and rad. Him and his gf both have good paying jobs, so they went out and bought a new Humpme Tucson, plus they have a 06 Hemi Ram, so he basically offered it to me for scrap price, which he told me he would get $300 for it at the wreckers. If the coolant leak is a relatively easy fix as well as the pass window I might get it. My truck 01 F150 Super crew gets about 22 mpg, so I think the grand am has 100k of life left and better fuel mileage....I hope!

 

[RedFish]

I just remembered when the balancer came apart which wrecked the crank position sensor too. All the time something with that car.
Almost certain it was a 98 model though. They all break. Some more often that others. Good luck with it.

 

[LJS30]

My buddy has owned it since new and had the dealership replace the intake gasket. Any work done to it for the most part has been dealership work. I forgot to chk the eng oil for coolant, I will chk that. I will also chk the fan shroud and rad. Him and his gf both have good paying jobs, so they went out and bought a new Humpme Tucson, plus they have a 06 Hemi Ram, so he basically offered it to me for scrap price, which he told me he would get $300 for it at the wreckers. If the coolant leak is a relatively easy fix as well as the pass window I might get it. My truck 01 F150 Super crew gets about 22 mpg, so I think the grand am has 100k of life left and better fuel mileage....I hope!

Is that 02 Grand Am really going to give you that better of gas mileage? It sounds like you have a lot to fix and an already decent daily.

 

[capnz]

the guys hit most of it on the head
for the window you also need to see if the sash(s) (the things glued to the bottom of the window) are broken or not also.
another regular problem for these cars is the ign cyl.find out if it's ever been replaced and when. they are notorious for binding up or the passlock sensor going bad which can leave you stranded.
just keep in mind it does have over 200k on it
i can personally say i can't remember the last time i saw a grand am or malibu
with that many on it in either of the shops here.

 

[4spdragtop]

Ign cylinder has been replaced approx 3 months ago and just like you said, it left him stranded. Not a cheap fix either!!
I figure I dont need the truck as my daily driver, my plans were on selling it, I hate to, it has been super reliable and have had no issues with it. If I sell it, I would get a mid 70's truck that I could be more comfortable working on and using the GA as my dd. Still up in the air as to what to do.....

 

[LJS30]

Ign cylinder has been replaced approx 3 months ago and just like you said, it left him stranded. Not a cheap fix either!!
I figure I dont need the truck as my daily driver, my plans were on selling it, I hate to, it has been super reliable and have had no issues with it. If I sell it, I would get a mid 70's truck that I could be more comfortable working on and using the GA as my dd. Still up in the air as to what to do.....

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! I see your plan and I think it's pretty nice!! Are you thinking mid 70's Dodge or Chevy? Either way those trucks are very simple to work on and heavy duty at the same time.

 

[4spdragtop]

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! I see your plan and I think it's pretty nice!! Are you thinking mid 70's Dodge or Chevy? Either way those trucks are very simple to work on and heavy duty at the same time.

I havent decided on the make of truck yet, but am leaning towards fargo if I can find one LOL. My current truck (01 f150) is at 233kms and like I said runs like a top, but we all know that wont last forever. Any head work on this truck will require the cab to be lifted,,,big $$. So I sell the truck....hopefully between 4-5k. Buy an old truck between $1500-2500 hopefully from the south. I will give the grand am another once over paying attn to the spots that members have mentioned. I dunno......

 

[TylerW]

Sounds to me like you would just be diverting that Grand Am from going to the junkyard where it belongs.

Keep looking. I recently bought a 1995 Buick Riviera supercharged 3800 and '91 Bonneville SSE 3800 for $400 each.

Both needed some work but mechanically fine. Riviera has 143,000 and B'ville has 133,000.

 

[Dusterdude72]

depending on what you could buy it for.....it could be a decent deal. if cheap is $2,000.00 ? then I say no....pass the deal up, but if cheap is $400.00 then I say take it.

I had a 2000 grand am GT ...same body style same engine and everything.

and it got pretty good gas mileage and was pretty peppy.

parts for them cars arent to expensive and there is an abundance of them and you can find most parts you need at the junk yard.

window tracks on them cars are very common....I don't find doing any car window tracks "fun" so its all the same to me lol.....probably like $60.00-$80.00 for a new motor and regulator set for the window.

and when you say it needs suspension parts......like? a set of struts?,all new bushing? anything else?

none of that stuff should be to hard to do and wouldnt be TOO expensive.

as for the coolant leak, like others mentioned....look it over real well because they were known for intake and head gasket leaks.

good news is......that they are not that bad or expensive to do.

I think when i did head and intake gaskets I got the entire gasket set,oil change,coolant and new spark plugs and a few other things all for around $100.00 and did the whole job in a couple hours.

like I said....if you can get it cheap for like $500.00 and you are ok with putting maybe another $500.00 into it to make for a nice reliable driver......then your still getting a nice newer car for $1000.00 all said and done which is still a pretty good deal.....but if you have to pay like $2,000.00 or something for the car initially it may not be such a good idea.