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Vehicle

Pontiac Grand Am

The high-volume compact that preceded the G6, and the car most likely to be the oldest Pontiac somebody is still running. The 2.4 Quad 4 and the 3.4 pushrod V6 both have well-known head-gasket and intake-gasket histories, and the 3.4's lower intake gasket in particular produces coolant loss into the oil with no external sign — worth establishing before reading anything into an overheat or misfire code.

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Pontiac Grand Am
Greg Gjerdingen · CC BY 2.0 (external)

Generations

  • Fourth generation 1985–1998

    The Quad 4 era, an engine with a well-known head-gasket history that presents as coolant loss with no external leak.

    Body styles
    Sedan · Coupé
    Platform
    GM N-body
    Engines
    • 2.3 four-cylinder — LD2 · petrol · 112–135 kW (150–181 hp) · Quad 4
    • 2.4 four-cylinder — LD9 · petrol
    • 3.1 V6 — L82 · petrol · 251 Nm (185 lb-ft)
    • 2.0 turbo — LT3 · petrol · 123 kW (165 hp) · 237 Nm (175 lb-ft)
    • 2.5 — petrol · 67–82 kW (90–110 hp)
    • 3.0 V6 — LN7 · petrol · 93 kW (125 hp) · 203 Nm (150 lb-ft)
    • 3.3 — LG7 · petrol · 119 kW (160 hp) · 6-cylinder, US market 1992-1993
    Transmissions
    5-speed Isuzu manual · 5-speed Getrag manual · 3-speed THM125 automatic · 3-speed 3T40 automatic · 4-speed 4T60-E automatic
    Drivetrain
    Front-wheel drive
  • Fifth generation 1999–2005

    GM N platform; the 3.4's lower intake gasket leaking coolant into the oil is the failure to rule out before believing an overheat or misfire code.

    Body styles
    Sedan · Coupé
    Platform
    GM N
    Engines
    • 2.2 Ecotec — L61 · petrol · 203 Nm (150 lb-ft)
    • 2.4 Quad 4 — LD9 · petrol · 112 kW (150 hp) · 210 Nm (155 lb-ft)
    • 3.4 V6 — LA1 · petrol
    Transmissions
    5-speed Getrag F23 manual · 4-speed 4T40-E automatic · 4-speed 4T45-E automatic
    Drivetrain
    Front-wheel drive

Information, not instruction

CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.

Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.

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