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Is my 2008 Grand Prix a LEMON???

M

mcdavidhome

New member
I am trying to figure out if my 2008 Grand Prix 3800 v6 is a lemon or not. This car currently only has 60,000mi and was purchased in 2009 with only 10,000 mi. I swear seems like every year for the past 3 years I have had a different major problem with this car. The 1st major problem was the ignition coil shorting out which caused the control module to short out at the same time. Car only had 42000 mi at the time.

2ND problem was a short in wiring harness inside door panel that caused half of my electrical system to stop working; power windows, door locks, seats, windshield wiper and trunk..

3rd problem was catalytic converter stopped up. Car only had 54,000 mi at the time. Fortunately the CAT was still covered under the manufacturers extended warranty.

And now today all of sudden the car will turn over but wont start! Have no idea what this could be other than a Ignition control module again or crank sensor. So tell me does this qualify my car as a lemon??
 


if thats a lemon drop it off by me please lol

ive done way more crap than that list, in a shorter amount of time. and less miles thet ive put on it since owning it.
 


stealthee said:
You obviously have no idea what the definition of a lemon is. What you have is a used car.
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Well ofcourse, I realized that its a used car but sir I have owned dozens of used cars in the past and have never experienced mexhanical problems of this nature with such low mileage like I have with this pontiac. I've owned pre-owned cars that were late 90's models and the coil packs and control modules didnt burn out until 80,000 miles or more not 40,000 miles..
 
The car appears to either sit a lot or it's doing a lot of NYC type driving. Sitting.. doesn't do a car any good and neither does putting a lot of run time on the clock w/o moving.

Although the coil shorting and the door electrical aren't very common.

You don't have a 5-6 year old lemon.
 
Not a lemon, looks like mostly common issues with some not so common ones. None of them are major either.

In the last two months, I've lost my heated seat, fuel gauge, parking brake, and license plate lights. Fixed all of those things by myself for very cheap. These cars just need some love once in a while, but they will be loyal and comfy DDs for years to come.
 


Not a lemon. Being the car guy at work everyone comes to me to tell me / ask me about their car problems. Most of their new cars under warranty have more problems than that. It just makes me keep my old cars longer and not want to pay big $$$ for a new shiny car that's always broken.
 
Mine has had its fair share of issues as well. I've had the car since November 2011 and the car has been a bigger pain than the 2004 Malibu Maxx I traded in for it. On the other hand my Dad has a 2006 Grand Prix and hasn't had any real problems, aside from a transmission that has an intermittent slipping condition. Both have the same approximate mileage. His 110k and my 2008 96k and yet I'm already on my second hard failure of the transmission, failed brakes, and bad hub bearings on the car. That doesn't include the air bag issue that has caused the light to be on for the past 20-30k miles.
 
But at this point I will drive it until it's paid off since the car is basically worthless and owe more than I could get for it.
 
GPmanter said:
Mine has had its fair share of issues as well. I've had the car since November 2011 and the car has been a bigger pain than the 2004 Malibu Maxx I traded in for it. On the other hand my Dad has a 2006 Grand Prix and hasn't had any real problems, aside from a transmission that has an intermittent slipping condition. Both have the same approximate mileage. His 110k and my 2008 96k and yet I'm already on my second hard failure of the transmission, failed brakes, and bad hub bearings on the car. That doesn't include the air bag issue that has caused the light to be on for the past 20-30k miles.
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I can understand you having problems out of a car with over 100,000 miles, but i certainly should not be experiencing these major problems on a car with 60K miles or less. I guess they just don't build them like they used too or shall I say they don't build them as good as foreign automakers.
 
LeadfootCJ7 said:
Not a lemon. Being the car guy at work everyone comes to me to tell me / ask me about their car problems. Most of their new cars under warranty have more problems than that. It just makes me keep my old cars longer and not want to pay big $$$ for a new shiny car that's always broken.
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In my opinion, no one should be having major problems out of vehicles with 50k miles or less. Its crazy for coil packs and Ignition control modules to be going bad on a vehicle with 40k miles on it. GM should invest in better quality parts on their vehicles like most foreign automakers.
 


mcdavidhome said:
In my opinion, no one should be having major problems out of vehicles with 50k miles or less. Its crazy for coil packs and Ignition control modules to be going bad on a vehicle with 40k miles on it. GM should invest in better quality parts on their vehicles like most foreign automakers.
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How do you know the previous owner didn't mess with those parts before you bought it? Maybe they misdiagnosed it and put junk quality parts in it?
 
Weren't all those repairs covered under warranty? I thought 3yrs/60k was the standard warranty from gm. Did you buy from a reputable dealer, obtain a vehicle history report, have a mechanic inspect the vehicle, did you personally perform a thorough inspection of the vehicle?

Look up what a lemon is on Wikipedia. Untimely and unwanted repairs don't mean you have a defective vehicle.

I also have a 2008 (purchased with 30k miles), and while I did have some major and minor items repaired under warranty, I have been pleased with the minimal maintenance my grand prix has required since.

Sure, you may not have fairy tale story but were any of those repairs an excessive cost to you? Maintenance is part of owning a vehicle and lack of proper maintenance is where I feel problem cars typically stem from. Also, maintenance on foreign vehicles is typically higher so pick your poison.

If you haven't already, search the site for the issue you're experiencing. I'm sure you can find some useful information.
 
My Grand Prix has yet to hit 100k. The transmission first had issues at 35k, and again at 95k. It's been nothing but a major pain. As for my Dad, his transmission has had the intermittant slipping issues for about oh, 15-20k miles. He just wasn't motivated enough to get it looked at until after the warranty expired.
 
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