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Att. All Gto Owners. Please Read. Electrical Problems

64K views 109 replies 61 participants last post by  GTO JUDGE  
#1 ·
I AM PROUD TO SAY I HAVE TAKEN MY GTO CROSS COUNTRY, FROM CT TO ARIZONA. ALONG THE WAY I HAD SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE CLUSTER. SOMEWHERE IN PA. IT STARTED TO GIVE FALSE SPEED READINGS. I SHUT THE CAR OFF AND RESTARTED THE CAR A FEW TIMES BEFORE IT WENT BACK TO NORMALE. LATER SOMEWHERE IN OHIO IT STARTED TO GIVE FALSE FUEL READINGS AND SPEED AT THE SAME TIME. AFTER THAT I DID THE SAME THING AND RESTARTED THE CAR A FEW TIMES BEFORE IT WENT BACK TO NORMALE. I DONT KNOW WHAT MADE THIS HAPPEND AND WHEN I GOT TO AZ THE RADIO WOULD SHUT OFF. AND WHAT REALLY DID IT WAS THE SEAT DOES NOT MOVE FORWARD ANYMORE. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER SHIP AND IT WAS PUT INTO THE COMPUTER AND IT CHECKED OUT NO PROBLEMS FOUND OTHER THAN THE SEAT NOT WORKING. SO THE PART IS ON BACK ORDER AND IT CAN BE ANYWHERE BETWEEN 5 DAYS AND 4 MONTHS. GREAT!!!!!!! SO I LOVE THE CAR IT HAS JUST BEEN A NIGHTMARE. SO IF ANY ONE KNOWS ANYTHING LET ME KNOW. THANKS, UR FELLOW GTO OWNER
:confused
 
#3 ·
Hello!

I'm sorry about your troubles. Luckily I may be of some help.

The GTO I took out for a test drive had the same problem. The tach was bouncing all around, the speedo was indicating anywhere from 60mph-120mph on a road where I was travelling 40mph at the fastest. I didn't pay much attention to anything else which was or was not working. I was very lucky that the salesman was in the car with me at the time, and he noticed the same problem with the electronics. He had me pull over, shut the car off, and restart to get on our way back to the dealership.

After the test drive, we pulled the car into the service bay, and it was back on the lot the next day. Apparently, there is a short somewhere around the glovebox area. I believe they were saying something about the ground for some of the wires was funny, so they will fix it free of charge.

If it was me, I'd take the car to the dealership whenever possible, and have mention the problems you are having. I guess it's a 15 minute fix at the dealership as long as they find the actual problem.

I'll check with my dealership on Monday, and let you know EXACTLY what they did to fix my demo car.
 
#6 ·
You wouldn't buy a car over a 15 minute fix?

Like any new car, there will be the occasional bug to fix. I had a water leak in the trunk of the car. Evidently, a weld had cracked and was allowing water inside. I guess they should probably fire that darn robot that did the welding.

From everyone's feedback, it appears the GTO has been very reliable. I for one say this is the best built GM product I have ever driven.

And when I had that water problem, the dealership was more than willing to offer me a 2005 GMC Envoy to drive for a couple of days. That is the type of customer service that I like to see.
 
#7 ·
catchmeifucan said:
You wouldn't buy a car over a 15 minute fix?

Like any new car, there will be the occasional bug to fix. I had a water leak in the trunk of the car. Evidently, a weld had cracked and was allowing water inside. I guess they should probably fire that darn robot that did the welding.

From everyone's feedback, it appears the GTO has been very reliable. I for one say this is the best built GM product I have ever driven.

And when I had that water problem, the dealership was more than willing to offer me a 2005 GMC Envoy to drive for a couple of days. That is the type of customer service that I like to see.
Well, at as long as the reliability is OK. Sounds like the electrical problem could keep recurring though?
 
#8 ·
Whiteshadow said:
Hello!

I'm sorry about your troubles. Luckily I may be of some help.

The GTO I took out for a test drive had the same problem. The tach was bouncing all around, the speedo was indicating anywhere from 60mph-120mph on a road where I was travelling 40mph at the fastest. I didn't pay much attention to anything else which was or was not working. I was very lucky that the salesman was in the car with me at the time, and he noticed the same problem with the electronics. He had me pull over, shut the car off, and restart to get on our way back to the dealership.

After the test drive, we pulled the car into the service bay, and it was back on the lot the next day. Apparently, there is a short somewhere around the glovebox area. I believe they were saying something about the ground for some of the wires was funny, so they will fix it free of charge.

If it was me, I'd take the car to the dealership whenever possible, and have mention the problems you are having. I guess it's a 15 minute fix at the dealership as long as they find the actual problem.

I'll check with my dealership on Monday, and let you know EXACTLY what they did to fix my demo car.
Here's a little more information to help identify the cause:

I have read that the BCM ("body control module" ?), supposedly behind the glovebox, is susceptible to shorting out or interference because of improper shielding and can cause false readings.

Good luck.
 
G
#9 · (Edited)
I had the experience that my driver's side window all of the sudden stopped working properly and acted very erratic. Long story short, I left it alone and the problem went away after a couple of weeks. I have met at least four other GTO owners here and at LS1GTO forums with the same problem, which seems to be electrically related. I have had no feedback on the other guys. I have seen other forum threads reporting exactly the same problem you are reporting so definitely the GTO has a problem.

Affected GTO owners should contact Pontiac at www.pontiac.com on this for the incidence is such that I think a recall is due before someone here has his car catch on fire, hopefully not with his family and kids inside the car. I already did and you will need your vehicle vin number to submit e-mail.
 
#10 ·
Electrical Problems Here To

I have had several electical issues. pull up to a stop lite and the mph goes to 200mph, the classic fuel gauge misreading, the latewst and scared the be-jesues out of me, last night just listen to the exhaust with a bud, then all of a sudden the Hot / Cold guage went all the way up and I got the beeping noise showing a temp guage reading hot on the dash.

A restart of the car fixed all issues, however after thinging about this I am going to up the priority to take the car in the Dealership. ANYONE else have simlair, what the fix???? :shutme
 
#11 ·
Electrical Issue/ Did not search site yet!!!

I have had several electical issues. pull up to a stop lite and the mph goes to 200mph, the classic fuel gauge misreading, the latewst and scared the be-jesues out of me, last night just listen to the exhaust with a bud, then all of a sudden the Hot / Cold guage went all the way up and I got the beeping noise showing a temp guage reading hot on the dash.

A restart of the car fixed all issues, however after thinging about this I am going to up the priority to take the car in the Dealership. ANYONE else have simlair, what the fix????
 
#12 ·
Windows & Cruise

adearmas said:
I had the experience that my driver's side window all of the sudden stopped working properly and acted very erratic. Long story short, I left it alone and the problem went away after a couple of weeks. I have met at least four other GTO owners here and at LS1GTO forums with the same problem, which seems to be electrically related. I have had no feedback on the other guys. I have seen other forum threads reporting exactly the same problem you are reporting so definitely the GTO has a problem.

Affected GTO owners should contact Pontiac at www.pontiac.com on this for the incidence is such that I think a recall is due before someone here has his car catch on fire, hopefully not with his family and kids inside the car. I already did and you will need your vehicle vin number to submit e-mail.
I had the same problem with the driver's side window after parking in sun for 2 hrs. later in the night the problem went away. I will send email to Pontiac about window. Although i do not plan to use cruise control , it would not work so , technian , tried to remove part from showroom car and broke the brake switch. so answer is to just use right foot.
 
#13 ·
My speedo jumped to 200mph a couple times the other day. The three times it happened, I was just taking off from a stop. The third time it stuck on 200mph. I shut the car off and started it back up after 60 sec. and it seemed okay. I was also running on fumes for gas, so I thought maybe it was doing that to get my attention. Filled the tank within a few minutes of this happening and haven't seen the problem recur.
 
#14 ·
I had the "heat spike" incident x 1 after cold start - that'll wake you up in a hurry.

sometimes the fuel gage seems inaccurate not going all the way to "Full" mark.

no speedo problems, yet.

first one out of the box is always going to have a few bugs and we'll just have to work through them.
 
#16 ·
I guess I'm not the only one. I have had the speedo and the temp problem myself. I've also had a problem with the radio going full blast by itself and then returning to the previous volume setting. I'm assuming it has something to do with the auto volume adjustment via speed. This has happened more than once.
 
G
#18 ·
Gee, so many GTO's with electrical problems!!!!!! Please, go to the www.pontiac.com site and click on CONTACT US section and e-mail them a complaint. You are not alone in this regard. Many, mant GTO owners having electrical problems with windows, dashboard components and the like. There has to be some common problem like poor insulation, poor quality wires, poor quality electronic parts, and who knows. Pontiac should take a deeper look into this issue. Iof you don't complain with your vin numbre on hand there's little that cxan be done. I already e-mailed Pontiac with my complaint. Everybody else with past or present problems please contact POntiac.
 
G
#19 ·
Each one of you do e-mail Pontiac on the issue. We at the forums have the advantage of sharing with each other our experiences. Most other GTO owners do not and would just go to the dealer as an isolated case. We should stand up and let Pontiac know what is happening. With your vin number go to www.pontiac.com, contact us section and e-mail your problem to them. There has to be some common denominator here like poor insulation or poor quality electronic components or just a bad design or configuration. Let them know!!!! I DID.
 
#20 ·
1stGTO said:
We just paid $30.000 for a new car, we should't hav eto "work through them." :shutme
Mercedes just went down the toilet with quality concerns and similar problems throughout the model line.

My partner has a new 7 series beemer and the thing chews tires (4 sets), won't hold an alignment (never hit a curb once - never wrecked)

it can always be worse, but i hear what you're sayin'
 
G
#21 ·
A seemingly innocuous and almost insignificant electrical malfunction without known cause that manifests itself on the windows, gauges and meters could be the tip of an iceberg. Electrical problems and some electronic ones, as well, are potential fire hazards. Can you imagine your wife driving your goat with the two babies on the rear child seats at 60 miles per hour when all of the sudden a short occurs where wires burn? In case of fire she won't be able to save your kids. When I was a teenager I installed my own cassette player provisionally. I went for a drive to enjoy my new sound system. Could not wait till I finished connections permanently. I had to listen to my new car stereo. Well some wires got loose and as I tried to put them together while driving; instead, I shorted the wires and all hell broke loose. In a matter of a fraction of a second the whole car was full of smoke and I could not see two inches from my nose. Had to pull to the side of the road blind and luckily enough I had a fire extinguisher on board by the drivers seat. I was lucky then but I can foresee the extreme fire hazzard potential here. Something is wrong with the electrical GTO system and it has the potential of being fatal.
 
#22 ·
ok, adearmas, sent email to pon-pon. did'ya notice you have select "make" and GTO is not an option :mad:

Anyway, would suggest NOT to mention this website by name.

I dunno, don't want to get them in trouble.

I just mentioned that I'm a member of a GTO enthusiast's internet forum, etc.. and several members reporting problemts, etc...

imo, they'll never admit to widespread problem, but in a few months there could be a recall.
 
#23 ·
A lot of stuff stems back to the ignition sw. You would be suprised how many things get there referance voltage from the ignition switch. Have you taken it to the dealer yet???

Adearmas have you had that many problems with your GTO?? I have only seen one pull across the drive with a problem. It smoked the rear diff, litterly. THe guy like it just started making a noise on the highway, the diff cover was white, my butt it just started making noise. I never got the if it breaks I am going to make sure they can not fix it.

You can not complain to Pontiac, if you do not give the dealer a chance to work on it 1st GTO...
 
#24 ·
I have had a few electrical mishaps myself. Once with the speedo, it pugged out at 200mph them started swinging erratically. Another time my tach froze. Twice the radio controls on the steering wheel acted up, any button I pressed on the right side turned the radio up. In every case stopping the engine and restarting it fixed the problem. It has to be a short in one of the wiring harnesses.
 
G
#25 · (Edited)
Hello, Westell. If you look at the upper left hand corner of the Pontiac website there is a small heading (goes almost unnoticed really) that says "OWNER CENTER". Clicking on that link it will take you to a page where you can register as an owner and, yes, there is an option for Pontiac on a scroll down and then there is another scrolldown where you can select GTO. There's no way you can register without your VIN number. That will limit input to GTO owners and filter out all non GTO owners. There's no need to mention this or any other forum. Actually, I navigate through several GTO and LS1 forum websites daily and the electrical problem is of epidemic proportions.

It is a real concern to me. I don't take my kids for a GTO ride anymore. In case of fire I know I won't be able to extract both kids out of the car. Car fires spread real fast. As we are all aware, it is difficult to reach the rear seat. Hopefully I am wrong.