I am looking to purchase a 2000 Grand Am 3.4L for my son, but have been reading about fuel issues. It seems the “passlock” safety sytem randomly comes on and shuts the fuel off and the car is unable to restart until 10 or 20 minutes has passed. Does anyone know of fix for this issue? This car would be a sweet deal only if I can correct the fuel issue. Thank you
I don’t think the issue is the fuel, but the security system which shuts off the fuel pump to prevent theft.
Correct the fault and you should be fine.
One main reason the ‘Passlock’ shuts things down is the system doesn’t recognise the key.
Usually the microchip in the key is the culprit since they get a lot of abuse boucing around in people’s pockets and the like. Luckilly, most hardware stores and locksmiths can make new chip-keys relatively inexpensively now-- they used to be very expensive dealer-only parts.
My girlfriend’s mother’s 90-something LeSabre used to do that from time to time-- the first time I heard about it was when she was late coming down to visit us and her story was that it did it right in front of the big casino that’s about halfway between our two towns. I figured it seemed like a very fishy story, but later I heard that they really can do that! Anyways, she was holding off on fixing it because getting a new key from the dealer was very expensive, but once her local locksmith started doing them for 25 bucks a pop she got one and it hasn’t done it since. She’ll have to come up with a new excuse to stop and gamble.
Thanks, I was wondering if maybe the current owner wasn’t using the correct key or maybe a copied version of the original.
GF’s Mom,
“I just stopped to get a cup of coffee. When I came back to my car, I saw that a tire was low, and this nice young man…”