Consumer Complaint Detail

PONTIAC / GRAND PRIX / 2000

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 003251840 Incident Date: Dec, 07 2003
Consumer's City: BOLINGBROOK Consumer's State: IL
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: General Motors, LLC
Model Name: GRAND PRIX Model Year: 2000
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling:cooling system
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 1G2WJ52J1YF Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Dec, 30 2003 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Nov, 16 2001
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 6 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: The intake manifold gasket on my 2000 grand prix se (3.1 litre v6 - 60,000 miles) has begun to leak. i keep up to date on maintenance of my car regularly, and it has never been subjected to any extreme condition. i observed no noticeable puddles of coolant around my car or in the garage it is kept in. the problem first revealed itself while driving at expressway speeds (55mph) for about 5-10 minutes into my trip. the engine coolant low light came on, then the temperature reading began to rise sharply within 5 seconds (nearly to redline). upon investigation on the spot, nothing was found. no puddles, no wet coolant around the engine. mechanics could not find the problem at this point, even running the engine and cooling it repeatedly. i continued to drive with the replaced coolant thinking it was a one time thing. then i begin noticing puddles, and the coolant is leaking out rather rapidly now (allowing the mechanic to finally find the problem). once i found that it was the intake gasget, i found thousands of other owners of vehicles with the same and similar engine have the exact same problem. due to the sudden nature of the symptoms of the problem, and due to widespread occurance of this issue on relatively low mileage cars, i find this to be a very dangerous and expensive problem that seem to happen to even the most well maintained cars. if i had not seen the temperature reading rising (as i'm sure most people dont watch their temp guage) i would not have known there was a problem and continued driving, this problem could have directly caused my vehicle to fail at high speed and no longer be under control endangering me and possibly many other safe drivers on the road.