"NaturallyAspirated" (NaturallyAspirated)
02/02/2015 at 12:15 • Filed to: Fixes, Grand Prix, Radiator
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"NaturallyAspirated" (NaturallyAspirated)
02/02/2015 at 12:15 • Filed to: Fixes, Grand Prix, Radiator | 1
| 7 |
I spent a few hours on Saturday swapping the radiator out on my brother's Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. Everything went really smoothly. The radiator that I put in a month or so ago was for the naturally aspirated Grand Prix, and the one I swapped in on Saturday should be the correct one. In the picture, you can see pretty clearly the difference between the 5/8" thick core of the NA rad, and the 1" core of the FI rad.
I also did a thorough flush of the cooling system, including a chemical flush and two flushes with a "flush 'n fill kit," replaced the thermostat and radiator cap, and switched the car over from Dex Cool to Peak Global Lifetime. The car is at ~95k miles now, hopefully the cooling system will be good for another 5 years with this work.
Honestly I had originally thought that the Grand Prix was a pain to work on, but the deeper I get into it the more that opinion changes. The radiator was a simple affair once I got over the fact that yes, I had to remove the cross braces, battery, intake, and filter box to get the radiator out. After that, pop the Jiffy-Tite transmission cooler lines off, remove the upper and lower hoses, unbolt the fan shroud, lift the shroud out of it's clips and out of the car, lift the condenser out of it's clips, and the radiator came right out. Installation the reverse of removal.
As a bonus, I got to hoon it just a little on the post-work test drive. Revel as my brother's aftermarket catback and pod filter intake completely blow out the mic on my smartphone.
Nobi
> NaturallyAspirated
02/02/2015 at 12:33 |
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There's only 3 things on a Grand Prix of that vintage that will kick you in the nuts.
1) The transmission. It WILL blow up. You WILL have to replace it eventually. It's not a hard affair. With a lift and the right tools, you can swap them in 4 hours or so, but just the fact that it's gonna blow is a pain.
2) The water pump. This guy will probably start to leak from the bearing seal right behind the pulley. The fun part? It'll take out the belt tensioner which comes as part of
the bracket the alternator sits on. You'll have half of the front of the engine torn apart to replace it, and don't you dare forget the stupid plastic L-shaped tube that goes from the bracket to the intake manifold. It will leak, and you'll have to remove everything all over to replace it, or you'll have to remove the...
3) Lower intake manifold. Not hard to do, fairly straight forward, just a pain to have to do. For whatever reason, all the GM V6's of this era hate their lower intake manifold gaskets and will spit them out at some point. The S/C 3.8 is less prone to it, but it'll happen eventually.
I kinda miss my GTP. Too bad the transmissions aren't worth their weight in scrap or I'd snag another one. They're ridiculously easy to maintain and effortless to get great power out of.
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NaturallyAspirated
> Nobi
02/02/2015 at 12:48 |
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We changed the LIM gaskets a few weeks back, and replaced the coolant elbows with metal ones while we were at it. The water pump is in good shape, I inspected it thoroughly while the intake was off. No leaks, bearings tight, moves water well.
The car is a 2004 MY with the Comp G package, so it has the 4T65E HD with the TAPShift valve bodies, and it's been taken good care of with regular fluid changes, so I'm optimistic about the transmission life. When I had the cooling lines off doing the radiator, I did notice that the fluid is a little darker than I'd like to see. This time I'll see if we can get it refilled with Dex VI, which is supposed to really help these transmissions out.
I have noted that the GXPs are really cheap these days, probably due to the fact that they've all eaten their transmissions by now. :)
All this Pontiac work has made me much more open to owning a late model GM product. I wonder if I could get a Holden Pontiac GTO as my next car?
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Nobi
> NaturallyAspirated
02/02/2015 at 13:02 |
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That's exactly what I did. Once my GTP got to 183k, I traded it in for a down payment on an '04 GTO.
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NaturallyAspirated
> Nobi
02/02/2015 at 13:08 |
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How did the GTO hold up?
Firewrx234
> Nobi
02/02/2015 at 13:15 |
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When I went trade in my GTP with 176k miles, I was looking for a GTO. I never found a decent one so I ended up with Charger R/T :)
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Nobi
> NaturallyAspirated
02/02/2015 at 13:17 |
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Bought it in 2010 with 52k on it. Already had shorty headers, a full Magnaflow exhaust, and evidence of other goodies that were removed. I'm sure the last owner wasn't nice to it at all. As of now, it's got 116k on it, I've tuned its PCM, put a B&M deep sump transmission pan on it, and lightened it up a bit by removing various bits and replacing other with light weight components. I drive it spiritedly, don't fully beat on it, but I don't drive it easy either. So far the only non-maintenance things I've done to it were replacing a faulty throttle position sensor that was making the transmission not want to shift, and an oil pressure switch that didn't let me reset my oil life indicator. That's it. Most reliable car I've ever owned.
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Nobi
> Firewrx234
02/02/2015 at 13:36 |
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I got lucky when I found mine. I hounded them until they caved.