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$500 97 Grand Prix GT Repair Progress

Not really, it does look like an electrical cord, but at the end is just a cap with a clip holding itself together, similar to the clip I saw on the headlight assembly. That said, it could still be that, but the plug/cap looked to small to have an extension cord/AC adapter. It's about 10:30 right now, so I'll give it a closer look in the morning. I didn't see any labels that identified what it was for, it just hangs down on the front left side.

I'm leaning toward the block heater cord, I'm assuming there's some kind of adapter that's supposed to go on the end of it, but again I'll take a closer look in the morning. :th_thumb-up:
 


dont roll the car pleasee! get a used buffer and some rubbing compound and buff it. itll shine right on up. then a wash then a nice wax~! then sell it :) lol jk man..
 
Update: Had another problem. At some point I guess the exhaust hanger mount came off (I only had one on, there's supposed to be two). The weight of it caused the left muffler to fall off. The whole exhaust scraped against the ground for awhile, and caused a piece to break near the exhaust hanger. I jacked it up and the area where the bolts connected the exhaust together broke (A friend of mine who was driving behind me said he saw a piece fall off when the exhaust fell off). I bought a 1 7/8" exhaust connector and connected the two pieces together, put the left muffler back into place, reconnected the exhaust mount, and got a metal strapping kit to give the muffler some extra support to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm going to get another rubber exhaust mount and some JB weld to seal the connector, but it's doing a pretty good job so far. No loud noises or noticable leaks anymore, and only $6 for the exhaust connector and metal strapping kit.

Anyway, I had the car jacked sideways, and when I put it back down and checked everything, I noticed some coolant leaking. Looking under the hood, it looks like the water pump is leaking. When I give it gas, coolant spurts out near the water pump. I'm not sure if it's related to having the car jacked up, I'm hoping I don't have to replace the water pump, but it's starting to look that way.

Ahh well, I've only spent $46 so far fixing this thing. My dad's car needs a freon charge, so we're going to split the cost for that and I'll end up spending about $13 for the freon and the gauge. Just hope there's not a leak, but with my luck I'm sure there will be. Still debating whether or not to use stop leak. I've heard bad things about it, but I doubt it'll make things any worse, compared to most of your cars mine's a Grand Prix of crap.
 
make sure to check the coolant elbows to see if that is actually what is leaking or if you are replacing the water pump, you may want to do this right away while you are in there.
 
What's the technical name for a coolant elbow? I looked online and couldn't find it by that name on Autozone.com. Right now this car is my only mode of transportation, so once I get everything apart I won't be able to go to Autozone to get anything I need.

I uploaded a short clip of the water pump leaking. Sorry for the horrible quality, I took it with my cell phone. You can't even really see it leaking from that video, except when it hits the belt.
Water Pump Leaking

Here's a higher quality still pic showing roughly where it's leaking from.
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/40/l_d34e19f9afde43ad853b490f1ca97a7a.jpg

Am I going to have to take it out completely to figure out if I can replace just that one part, or is that enough to figure out the problem?

Also, if it is just the elbow (I think it's called a water outlet?) will I have to take the entire pump out to replace it? If so should I drain the coolant first? I've been trying to find instructions online, but it's difficult since I don't even know the name of the part I'm looking for.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?
 


They are actually called coolant elbows as far as I know. That is all I have ever heard of them being referred to as. Only you will be able to tell what all needs to be replaced once you get in there. You wont have to drain all of your coolant for just the elbow or water pump replacement but you will definitely need some to fill it back up after the job is complete. Do a search on coolant elbows in this forum and you should find lots of threads with more info. I know I have seen plenty. I just dont know what they are called off hand or what exactly may help you otherwise I would provide a link. I do know that there are two coolant elbows that many have replaced and the total cost is less than twenty dollars for them. They are famous for going out on the grand prix's. They might even be $10 or less, depending on where you can get them from...good luck.
 
some of these links may be of interest to you:
http://www.grandprixforums.net/f81/coolant-elbows-for-2000-gtp-18200.html
http://www.grandprixforums.net/f18/please-help-me-guys-20250.html
http://www.grandprixforums.net/f17/engine-overheats-heater-blows-cool-air-19853.html
"Get these elbow(s) replaced, part cost is about $11 each from the dealer. It is called a upper and lower thermostat bypass pipe assembly (same part # for both)"- This is info I found in a different thread from a post in the thread here:
http://www.grandprixforums.net/f71/overheating-loss-of-power-13343.html
I hope this has helped........and I hope it is just the elbows, water pump or something external that is leaking and that is all.......
 
Go to advance auto parts or autozone or whatever other place you want, they are a HELP! item, made by motormite.

elbows.jpg
 
So I just changed my front and rear brake pads. Rotors seem to be fine, so after $30 for the pads, I paid less than 10% of what the mechanic wanted to charge ($400) to do the pads and rotors.

I also had some electrical problems and used a wrench to disconnect the battery. Wrench slipped and I cracked the hose that connects to the engine coolant overflow. I was originally going to buy a new hose, but instead I just cut off 2 inches from the hose, and still had enough play to put it back on. Didn't cost a cent. :th_thumbsup-wink:

For some reason my water pump stopped leaking. I'm going to keep an eye on it, but everything seems fine right now. My oil low light just came on though, so I don't know if I'm leaking oil somewhere. One problem ends, another starts. No complaints though, I've fixed quite a lot for $70 considering it's a $500 car. Still going strong, no major problems except the tranny JUST started to slip. Not much, but it's slipped maybe twice, but both times I was racing so I think the tranny should still have plenty of life left in it.
 
those elbows go to your local murrays or o reilys auto parts and they have them on the shelf for you :) tust me i know hahaha 2.89 i think ha autozone and advanced didnt carry then around me.
 


InfidelRebel said:
So I just changed my front and rear brake pads. Rotors seem to be fine, so after $30 for the pads, I paid less than 10% of what the mechanic wanted to charge ($400) to do the pads and rotors.

I also had some electrical problems and used a wrench to disconnect the battery. Wrench slipped and I cracked the hose that connects to the engine coolant overflow. I was originally going to buy a new hose, but instead I just cut off 2 inches from the hose, and still had enough play to put it back on. Didn't cost a cent. :th_thumbsup-wink:

For some reason my water pump stopped leaking. I'm going to keep an eye on it, but everything seems fine right now. My oil low light just came on though, so I don't know if I'm leaking oil somewhere. One problem ends, another starts. No complaints though, I've fixed quite a lot for $70 considering it's a $500 car. Still going strong, no major problems except the tranny JUST started to slip. Not much, but it's slipped maybe twice, but both times I was racing so I think the tranny should still have plenty of life left in it.
Click to expand...
Do a tranny pan drop and filter change now and top off your tranny fluid(about 7 or 8 qts) your tranny will thank you for it and last much longer. Do it before you have more damage done. I am assuming that you have checked the tranny fluid level-while the car is running and warm-and the level is OK. The low oil light is towards the front of the car in the oil pan area...
 
Update: So as was mentioned before, I found that a coolant elbow was leaking awhile ago. After awhile the leak literally just stopped, then a week or so later I found that I was losing coolant. My car started to overheat once so I pulled into Walmart and bought some coolant. The next morning I checked the levels and my coolant was empty. Refilled with water, eventually found that the coolant elbow was leaking again. I couldn't find the part I needed anywhere, so everytime I drove I refilled my radiator and overflow tank with water. Finally I found the elbows in O'reilys, they're the only ones who carry the part in Vegas it seems. Spent about an hour replacing it (Was a ***** trying to get the new one in), put some water in, didn't see a leak, so I went on my way looking forward to changing all my fluids since I fixed the leak. After driving I parked, popped the hood, and found water dribbling out near what I'm pretty sure is my thermostat.

This is very possible since it's the first thing I ever changed since getting my GP. I don't believe the gasket was leaking when I changed it, so my guess is that when the elbow started to leak, I lost enough fluid that my engine overheated which distorted the gasket, leaving me with a leaky gasket AND a leaky coolant elbow. Sound right to you guys?

On the plus side, despite being a huge PITA, this whole problem will be fixed for a total of about $24 including both times I've had to buy coolant, the gasket, and the elbow, assuming the gasket is what's causing this other leak.

Autozone's closed, so in the morning I'll get a new gasket and see what happens.
 
So I ****ed it up once again. When putting the new gasket on, I didn't align it correctly which caused the bolt to go in crooked. Having a fever and being pissed off at having to go to work sick, I used too much pressure and cross threaded it. Now the bolt's ****ed up and so is the housing. Any advice? Would a tap and die set would work in this case or am I screwed?
 
I would think that it would work, if it didn't you would not be any worse off. Make sure none of the shavings get into the coolant lines or in the intake at all. you will probably have to go one size bigger on the bolt hole that is all boogered up now.
 


i just got a gp, gt a few months ago and am on a SUPER tight budget! i love the car, but it has starting issues any ideas?
 
InfidelRebel said:
So I ****ed it up once again. When putting the new gasket on, I didn't align it correctly which caused the bolt to go in crooked. Having a fever and being pissed off at having to go to work sick, I used too much pressure and cross threaded it. Now the bolt's ****ed up and so is the housing. Any advice? Would a tap and die set would work in this case or am I screwed?
Click to expand...
Did you end up fixing it yourself, or did you have to break down and take it in?
 
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