I just bought a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am and saw there is a leak at the coolant hose as soon a ss I bought it. The mechanic said it is a intake gasket leak that oil is mixing in with the coolant. He said that GM should have recalled this issue but, never did. He said there is a class action lawsuit that I could get back some of the money that I have to pay to fix this problem. I will have to play about $700.00 to fix it. Does anyone who owns a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am know anything about this? How can I get reimbursed for this repair that GM should have recalled?
The mechanic also said that Dexcool that GM recommends causes alot of these problems. What coolant is best to use? Does this mean I am going to have these gasket leaks repeatively after getting it fixed?
Best for you is to Google DexCool settlement.And yes you can switch to standard green coolant
This is a known problem with GM. Been going on since the early 90’s. They are having a very very high intake manifold gasket failure rate. It was not limited to Pontiac Grand Am’s…ALL V6 AND V8’s manufactured by GM had this problem. Friend of mine who owns a Pontiac/GMC/Nissan dealer in upstate NY had hired 2 extra mechanics just to address this problem.
GM did recall this. But the previous owner probably never got it fixed.
As for the Dexcool. There were serveral problems with the manifolds. One being the Dexcool reacting with the silicon gasket material GM used for their intake manifold gaskets. The Dexcool actually disolved the gasket.
If anyone had a similar experience and filed a claim to get reimbursed from a class action lawsuit for this issue or if anyone knows where I can go to submit my claim, I would appreciate if you could provide the info to do so.
Here you go:
Note that no V8 engines are included in the settlement.
Thanks for the help.