Thread: New 2003 3.1 owner

Hello all, I picked up this beautiful white 2003 3.1 Grand Prix last month and ive finally got around to finding you all to hopefully get some questions answered. I picked the car up with about 230,000 miles and Im running into some hopefully minor issues I can have resolved.

When you have the car running, the headlights stay on. The only thing the switch to turn them on or off does is allow you to use the fog lights.
The blower can be turned on whether the car is on, off, or in accessory mode (Ive ran my battery out twice now for forgetting to turn it off)

I had an issue with the car the overheating and when I popped the top of the rad cap off I noticed Uh...I had nothing in it and the cap was filthy with what looked like rust or some sort of sealant type stuff. I installed the peak flush and fill kit, flushed the radiator and it all came out absolutely clear, no crud. Refilled with water and antifreeze, bled from the fill kits port, topped off the next day and bled again. Seems to be doing dandy.

I may have an issue with the heater, when I turn it on (I mean, I live in Las Vegas and its about to be minimum 90 degrees every day so this isnt too important), itll blow hot for a few moments then back to cold.

I may have an oil leak. Low oil level came on yesterday I immediately pulled over and put a quart in, dipstick is at the first hole. Whats the capacity of oil? I dont seem to be dripping oil anywhere, and my car is running phenomenal but as of yet I havnt really gotten under it maybe its leaking on the skid guard underneath? Maybe the previous owner didnt add any oil? Im worried about doing a full oil change if the previous owner added the crap in to prevent a blown head or something. Paranoia.

Cruise control doesnt work.

Thats about all I can think of right now. I love the car, and I actually got it for my wife and she absolutely loves it.

Thanks for any and all of your help! Im back to searching!

Ben

should have got the 3.8. the cruise control could be a bunch of things like the 3rd brake light being out, abs issues or it could be out of adjustment. the heater blowing cold could be a blend door actuator. the oil capacity is like 5 quarts, and adding oil when the oil light on was a good idea, but it probably could have taken 2 quarts when it is low enough for the light to come on. sounds like you fixed your overheating issue. the headlights pretty much always stay on.

thanks SgtMarshal! I didnt choose the car, I still know next to diddly about the pontiacs, I had a Dodge grand caravan and a windstar (Worst engine ever!) before this, besides my 3 motorcycles. Ill pick up a couple more quarts and add away, and keep a couple on hand for my wife to toss on.

Any ideas on the blower being able to be turned on while the car is off? Should I just pull out the dash unit and wire it to an hot-ignition only wire to solve the problem?

I've never had issues with my car doing that, but if I was going to guess, I would think it's something with the blower motor resister