[Guest]

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.

 

[westell]

ok, adearmas, sent email to pon-pon. did'ya notice you have select "make" and GTO is not an option

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.

 

[wick]

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...

 

[stucker]

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.

 

[Guest]

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.

 

[Guest]

I am going to pay a visit to the Australian LS1 site and inquire about electyrical problems there. Will let yopu know what I find.

 

[westell]

I am going to pay a visit to the Australian LS1 site and inquire about electyrical problems there. Will let yopu know what I find.

good idea, man. when i emailed pontiac i just went to bottom of screen at "contact us", didn't go through owner's site, but VIN was required and voiced our concern. i did receive a return email confirming they got it.

one thing i'll note further, when i did get the spike and alarm on the temp. gage, was right after i washed the car in the driveway :confused

 

[Baron Samedi]

I doubt VERY much that there's ANY concern about fire. Since the cluster issue seems to temporarily resolve itself with an engine shut off/restart, the likely problem is a programming glitch in the Body Control Module. Like a PC, a shut off/restart "re-boots" the operating software in all the vehicle control units and starts from scratch.

It's a good thing Microsoft doesn't make cars. For some reason people are perfectly accepting of PCs that freeze and applications that crash, but give 'em a vehicle moving down the road and packed with glitchy control units and they freak out.

 

[stucker]

Baron is right. If the power wires to the cluster were shorting then the cluster would be going completely dead and we would all be blowing fuses left in right. So it is either a programing fault in the BCU or possibly the wires that connect to the gauge's sensors are shorting. Either of these would cause the strange readings that we all seem to be observing.

 

[TexasRealtor]

Could it possibly be caused when GM converted it from right hand drive to left hand drive?

 

[Tuxedo Mask]

I doubt VERY much that there's ANY concern about fire. Since the cluster issue seems to temporarily resolve itself with an engine shut off/restart, the likely problem is a programming glitch in the Body Control Module. Like a PC, a shut off/restart "re-boots" the operating software in all the vehicle control units and starts from scratch.

It's a good thing Microsoft doesn't make cars. For some reason people are perfectly accepting of PCs that freeze and applications that crash, but give 'em a vehicle moving down the road and packed with glitchy control units and they freak out.

i can accept a p.c. freezing because computer nowadays cost about $700. We are talking about a $30,000 "freeze" for the GTO. That is what scares me.

 

[Baron Samedi]

Tuxedo.

I see your point.

Not an excuse, but many vehicle manufacturers have problems similar to these. Whether it's a $30K car or a $100k car. Whether its an engine control unit or body control unit or whatever. The exact nature of the programming error and the number of units in service usually determines how frequently the problem shows up in a service shop and whether the manufacturer does anything about it.

Don't know about the GTO BCM, but often these types of problems can be corrected by "flashing" the offending module with new software. Usually downloaded from the GM Tech 2.

 

[qonoximiento]

I experienced the same temporary problem!

My analog indicators went waco...I mean I thought my alternator and battery went bad!, Yet I noticed that my digital indicators were working fine. The problem went away after I stopped and shut/restarted the car. It happened right on I was on my cell phone.

I notified my Pontiac Dealer in NJ USA and scheduled an appointment while still experiencing the analog display craziness...it seemed as if they knew the problem before hand...since they told me that it was a 20 min fix.

I have not experienced the problem since. It did not affect the overall performance of the engine at all!

 

[GTO TOO]

I too have had the analog issue. The digital functions still work while the analog go "goofy". I too would guess at a BCM issue that right now does not seem to have a solution. A re-set (power down ) and back on makes thing right so as others have said it is not a short is is software or the digital and engine would not continue to run normally.
The radio going silent is another issue altogether. THAT IS NORMAL. The system is designed to shut down to protect the amp. I have only had my radio cut-out twice and both times I had the volume way up. There is a service bulletin advising dealers not to replace the radio as it is functioning as designed. I have disabled the distortion through the programing mode. that seems to be why the radio cuts out at high volume.

 

[Whiteshadow]

Sorry guys, I will for sure try to check with the dealership tomorrow on the electrical issue.

I know that simply pulling over to the side of the road, and shutting the car off did NOTHING for my demo car.

But in the car I finally chose, I have had the radio spike up on me a few times. I rarily listen to the stereo at all in the car, but when I do I get the volume to jump up for an instant all the time. Pisses me off. But as mentioned before, this is one of the reasons that it is a BAD idea to buy a new model car...

I am not gonna complain though, I'll just fix it. I like my car, it's hard as hell to beat, and it's something you don't see every day.

 

[westell]

Here's what I got back from Pontiac

Dear Mr. Westell,

Thank you for contacting the Pontiac Customer Assistance Center. I apologize for the electrical concerns you have experienced with your 2004 Pontiac GTO.

Since you have provided your telephone number and based on the nature of your concern, I will be following up this e-mail with a telephone call, tomorrow, Friday, November 12, 2004, in an attempt to provide a timely resolution. If I fail to reach you, please contact me at 866-952-4368 ext. 58743, Monday through Friday between the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Eastern Time.

If you should need to contact us in the future, simply reply to this message or call our Pontiac Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-762-2737. Customer Relationship Managers are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Eastern Time. Your service request number is 1-277035036.

Again, thank you for contacting Pontiac.

Sincerely,


Ashley Petit
Customer Relationship Manager
Pontiac Customer Assistance Center

For more information regarding the maintenance and care of your vehicle, please visit https://www.mygmlink.com/main/US/en/gm/home?cmp=occallctr. This free online service offers vehicle and ownership-related information and tools tailored to your specific Pontiac.

 

[Jon Baumgardner]

Electrical Issues

Let me know what you find out at the Dealer. I have my guages go "wild" and the volume spike up on the radio and the car start up fine only to immediately die. After a few re-starts, it runs fine.

I know there electrical issues somewhere I just know it won't happen when I take it in to the dealer.

Thanks,
Jon

 

[dstiner]

Same here. My temp gauge spiked and the alarm sounded about 30 seconds after starting the car the second day I had it. It stopped after about 5 seconds and didn't happen again until yesterday.

 

[Guest]

Gee, Westel, I am glad you got an answer. I never got a reply except to say they recieved my message.

 

[westell]

Gee, Westel, I am glad you got an answer. I never got a reply except to say they recieved my message.

They called me today, like they wrote they would. We discussed all the issues in this thread and I mentioned there were over a dozen at this forum with same problems They girl was typing all the info I gave her as we spoke, as you could hear the keystrokes.

Would not speak of any known, widespread problem, and wants the car to go to dealer. Dealer in turn calls the Technical Assistance Center, which I guess is SOP. No big deal to them.

She'll call back next Thursday to see what happened at dealer.