Hi there,

So we got a 2007 GP, and before that we had a 97 Cutlass Supreme.. long story short I have back problems, being in my 20s...

I was used to how comfy the seats were in the Olds... I was wondering if you guys have any ideas on what to use? I've tried 2 inch foam, on the lower part, but find that a bit much... upsets the fixed bump for the lumbar support, I think that is...



Now for the temp gage, I noticed for operating it sits at the lower band, which I drew in the photo, and in traffic, the temp goes to about the top of the range, prob just under. Then drops halfway in the range. Is this normal? Or should it be fixed somewhere?
i'm worried whether a headgasket problem?

I did have to clean out the coolant reservoir as it was messy on the sides..

Another thing I noticed, that the CV joint thread, well where the axle bolt is, is pretty rusted...

Lastly, only after we bought the car, we realized that the front clip has been repainted, as pain is starting to come off around the grills, lights, pontiac writing.... any ideas to maybe remove that layer of paint and have the original show?

I keep forgetting to add things, are motor mounts on these common to go? I find even at idle, some vibration if felt.... maybe I'm looking in this too much...

i feel the vibrations too lol hope you can get an answer for that one , as far as the paint and the cv joint, i don't believe it's been a common problem, only thing i can suggest with the paint is sand it a little where no one can see it to see whats under it, migh just be a crappy paint job someone did to fix a scrape, sorry i couldn't be of more help

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

I actually find our seats to be really comfortable compared to many of the cars I've ridden in, and for the temp, I would say that is normal because when idling or going around town I'm at the 3rd line or slightly above, but when on open roads just cruising it sits at the 2nd line. For your vibrations, maybe replace your motor mounts with new stock ones, but don't go poly or solid because that will just cause even more vibration

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Dthreap wrote:

Yeah make sure your O2 isn't behind lazy, you want nice up and down.

Planeboy18 wrote:

^^Pro tip for more than just O2 sensor signals

@Robodude, its good to know someone else feels the same hehe... so maybe motor mounts? Can they really go bad after 4 years.. and around 58k kms? We're thinking scrapes and crappy repaint hehe..... thanks though.

@JakesGT, thanks a lot for the information, yes I would stick to stock. For the temp, good to know, I know the 3100 on the Olds did this too....
Would a cooler temp t stat help? I've read up about it... I know on our Mazda Protege 5, the temp climbs up and stays fiixed no matter what...

the vibration, i'll have to look into it again surprised that after 4 years they would be finished.. I read online, that motor needs to be jacked up, easy to change ourselves, or have it done?

I've noticed that I can feel the transmission shifts, when I'm focusing it on it... not hard, but just a little bit.

i think this is the brakes, but when putting the car in D, and rolling off, there is a slight sound from the driver left side, and hear it once and thats it... same side with the rusted CV joint thread I know the dealer resurfaced the pads...

If you colder t-stat only go to 180, but without a tune the fans won't turn on until I think 210, and I have heard that the mounts aren't too bad to change, just look at some treads about it. As for the shifts, we don't drive BMW's, we're going to feel a little of the shift, and it's not bad unless it feels like it's slamming into place. And I'm not sure what to tell you about the noise

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Dthreap wrote:

Yeah make sure your O2 isn't behind lazy, you want nice up and down.

Planeboy18 wrote:

^^Pro tip for more than just O2 sensor signals

When I think my temp is running too high, I kick the fans on by turning on the A/C. Within
a few minutes, the temps usually fall to the lower range.

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@JakesGT, thank you, what's the stock t stat temp? As for the mounts, I've seen the engine shake in the bay.. more on the passenger side. On start and shutoff feel the car shake a bit... not all the time. Ya hope the tranny is fine... the noise does happen in D or R, and I think more when the wheels are turned. It's the same side where the CV joint thread is rusted pretty bad.... One day we're gonna check that side a bit better..

To add the rear end is making a squeaky like noise over speed bumps.. noticed this before too. I got this going on in another thread.

@Unstable, thanks for the tip, I did have the AC run and still see it go to regular levels,,, I think next year we have to do a coolant flush.... none of you guys wired up fans to manually switch them on?

Just a general question, I'm getting worried about the transmission, I've read lots of posts online with fellow GP'ers having issues... As for the ATF change, you guys do it yourself or bring it to a shop? When the time comes I'm a little concern that they may put generic fluid in... I wouldn't mind trying it myself, but have to go through the owner...

Thank you!

Stock thermostat temp is 195*.
As for transmission fluid, the best thing to do is just drop the pan, change the filter and top off with new fluid. DO NOT FLUSH IT. You can refer to this writeup on a how to, just disregard touching the accumulator.
do-it-yourself-f12/diy-shift-kit-for-under-10-t6463.html

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Thanks Planeboy18, I'm gonna keep this information handy... one doesn't need to replace the transmission pan gasket?

I personally would if nothing else it would be cheaper to get a new gasket than reusing your old one and having it leak because than you'll be out more money because you'd need to drop the pan again and lose all that new fluid. They are like 25 bucks at a local auto parts store.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Thanks Planeboy, have you done it yourself? just wondering how skilled one has to be hehe..

As for the fans I notice they come on at the higher point in the band I pointed out, but both on at full... I thought one was supposed to come on before? I thought I read that somewhere?

I've dropped the pan myself, its pretty simple, only thing I would say is loosen one end more than the other so i t can drain most the fluid, then take it off completely. And install a switch for your fans if you want them to come on sooner

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Dthreap wrote:

Yeah make sure your O2 isn't behind lazy, you want nice up and down.

Planeboy18 wrote:

^^Pro tip for more than just O2 sensor signals

Thanks JakesGT.... good to know that its not too too hard...
fans I may leave them..

But now that its much cooler outside, I notice on the highway, the temp is now above the 2nd bar... much lower than before, but once I get into stop and go, then it goes back to normal under the third line. When its hot outside, it doesn't go to the second on the highway.. I know you wrote back about it, but would the thermostat need to be changed?

Also looks like rad cap is starting to get a bit of gunk on it again, like in the middle in this post:
http://www.grandprixforums.net/2007-gra ... 51794.html

I'm hoping its not a headgasket... coolant level is fine for a month that we have the car.
I once started it up, without the radiator cap to check for bubbles, and the fluid level got higher.... so I had to put the cap back on. Even when the car is warmed up, rad fans running, I do not see any bubbles in the coolant reservoir.

Haha, Jake already answered it but yeah it's easy to drop the pan, just a little messy haha.

The gunk you see on the radiator cap is just Dexcool breaking down. When it get's older (and exposed to oxygen) it becomes a solid brownish as you can clearly see on the side of the reservoir. Blowing a headgasket on a 3800 is quite an impressive task and extremely rare so don't worry your's is fine. Just flush out the dexcool and refill it, or better yet, flush it out really really well and refill with Prestone Yellow or any other none Dexcool coolant.
As for bubbles in the res, there won't be any there anyway even if there were bubbles in the coolant system itself since with the cap on, it's a closed pressurized system and the reservoir is only for overflow when the system becomes pressurized to a certain PSI (don't remember what the caps pop at) hence why the fluid level raised when you removed the cap. You depressurized the system thus causing the coolant to flow towards the path of least resistance aka the filler neck and therefore the level got higher. As long as a solid stream of coolant comes out of the bleeding screw on the thermostat when the car is up to temp, you'll be good. Don't check for bubbles in the radiator with the cap off and checking the res for bubbles won't do any good either.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

You could always get the Comp G rad that Ed Morad has for sale right now

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Dthreap wrote:

Yeah make sure your O2 isn't behind lazy, you want nice up and down.

Planeboy18 wrote:

^^Pro tip for more than just O2 sensor signals

Hmmm I'll be darned. I didn't even know the CompG's got a thicker radiator. That's pretty neat. Learn something new everyday.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Just to make it easy, haha

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005-Gra ... _900wt_883

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Dthreap wrote:

Yeah make sure your O2 isn't behind lazy, you want nice up and down.

Planeboy18 wrote:

^^Pro tip for more than just O2 sensor signals

Oh, now you post it. After I already went and found it a couple minutes ago.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Thanks again guys.. some more questions coming again hehe!

Ya so the in the middle of the rad cap, stuff seems to be appearing again... is it just dexcool... Oil level seems fine... otherwise than that the reservoir is now clean, cleaned it a few weeks ago... The gunk seemed to be at the highest point in the cooling system.. I hope the heater core doesn't or hasn't partially clogged or anything...

For the flush, just regular water, or use prestone flush thingy?

Headgasket, well never know at the dealer how they treated the car.. I'm a little scarred, lol I guess I could after after the Olds headgasket seemed to have went on the car...

Are you guys running yellow Prestone? Safe for the cast iron block, gaskets etc...?

Another thing we we refill the car with the coolant, the way we do it, is fill up the radiator, start the car, and let it run then keep adding coolant... and with bleeder valve open, only one on the GP? by the tstat?

Any procedures in the service manual?

Thank you.

If your heat works and it's not leaking onto the floor of the cabin chances are it's fine.

When I flushed the 150k mile dexcrap out of my girlfreinds 97 I tired the the Prestone Radiator flush stuff, which seemed to help a little. Then I ran regular water (actually I was super anal and used bottled distilled water) and flushed the system 4-5 times. Then drained it completely and refilled with a Preston Yellow and distilled water (flushing you can use regular water, but for the actual fill don't use garden hose water or anything with minerals in it. You want Distilled or Deionized water. It's like a dollar at the store and will save you headaches later on down the road)

These engines have iron blocks AND iron heads so the heat transfer between the 2 are very even, thus why they do not blow headgaskets even if overheated slightly. Usually the only time they do blow is if it's been completely neglected and allowed to overheat for an extended period of time or it's running some crazy boost levels compliments of a big Ol' Turbo But if you did have a blown HG, chances are you'd be blowing white smoke or have chocolate milk looking motor oil.

Yes, it's safe for iron everything and is safe for plastics/nylon unlike Dexcool which is why the plastic LIM gaskets always degrade faster when exposed to Dexcool instead of another type of coolant.

Yeah, pretty much just fill the radiator, let the level drop, squeeze the keep filling, let it drop, etc, until it won't drop anymore. They fill the overflow tank, start the car, let it run with the bleed valve open (yes the one on the tstat housing) until a solid stream of coolant comes out. Let is cool off, open the radiator and check the level and add more if needed and also add some to overflow tank if needed as well.

Document ID: 1523700 is for draining and filling.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Thanks again you two, very detailed!

I think we have some gasket problems with this car.... I checked the oil level today, it seemed fine... actually parked reversed, checked around 2-3 hours after driving, showed more than on a more leveled surface.. then again I checked the car was left overnight...

Today I looked inside the valve cover, where the oil opening is and noticed that the oil looked a little liquidy, so I took a kitchen paper, and made a long pipe like, and dabbed it in, and after bringing it out, it looked like water dripped off of it... otherwise it smells like oil...

The coolant level hasn't gone down, the crud in the oil fill tube was reddish like crud.. I know I mentioned this before but.. I'm not sure now...
I know its been mild the last few days.. the car does get taken on short trips a lot... but today we drove for a at least 30-45 mins.. a decent part on the highway...

Is there any common oil leaks on these cars? I may have noticed some spots in the driveway...

edit - I looked with a flexible mirror, I could only see some gunk near the oil filter adapter, the lower part and underneath the crankcase pulley... I know they shampooed the engine before... so maybe they didn't reach there?
Could the dealer have not even changed the oil for a while.. even though they said they did?


Thanks

Instead of making another thread, I just want to raise the transmission concern, sometimes I will feel the shift 1-2 more than other times, maybe once over an hour of driving..
I think this usually happens when the car is already moving, and I get on the throttle a bit hard, could it be the PCM etc... firming up the shifts?

Or any of these :

http://www.tripleedgeperformance.com/Ha ... P1811.html

From service manual:

#08-07-30-002A: Information on 4T65-E MN7, M15 and M76 Front Wheel Drive Automatic Transmission Valve Body Reconditioning DTCs P0741, P0742, P0757, P0842, Harsh Shifts or Slips - (Mar 12, 2008)

#06-07-30-023B: 4T65E Transmission 1-2 Shift Shudder at Light to Moderate Acceleration (Replace Complete Second Clutch Assembly) - (Jan 12, 2007)

I'm looking into this a lot, because I want to try to avoid problems in the future..esp with the powertrain.. knowing my luck haha

Btw haven't checked the mounts yet and fluid level is fine, the car only has 59k kms.

-edit, if there ever is a transmission code, will the engine light come on or do we have to scan for that?

Thanks

normal handheld scan tools like ones they have at autozone don't read tranny codes. call a local tranny place and see if they will do a scan on it for free

_________________

Dthreap wrote:

Yeah make sure your O2 isn't behind lazy, you want nice up and down.

Planeboy18 wrote:

^^Pro tip for more than just O2 sensor signals

we will do a code scan later this month or the next one...

I was poking around the engine bay and noticed some connectors that are not connected to anything.. I am just curious at what they are..

First one, on top of the tranny towards the firewall.



Then one passenger side front, behind the bumper, the green plug



Lastly on the front fenders, seeing the made in like this is normal?



thx

Only plug I can speak for is the green one. That is for the ambient air temp sensor. If you don't have the 5 button DIC then you won't have that sensor. Its perfectly fine unplugged and won't cause any errors.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

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2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT2
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