Engine Cooling System Problems of Oldsmobile Alero

My Oldsmobile Alero continues to over heat. Every other day I go to the shop and they keep filling it with coolant. They are baffled because I have replaced almost every part on the engine and it still runs hot. I can't even get out of the parking lot without the temperature gauge going straight to the red zone. I always have to pull over, cut the car off, sit for 2 minutes, then start the car up again. I do not have money to continue to replace parts on this car and still have the same problem. On 7/25, I will not be able to pay my car note. Because on this date the mechanics are going to replace my radiator to see if the problem will cease. In my mind, I don't think so, but I am getting tired of going back and forth to the car shop and I am quite sure their getting tired of trying to figure out what is cause this problem. I need help in paying for my car in getting fixed, or tell me that I don't have to continue in making car note payments. My problem has been going sense April. I am getting tried of the car shutting down in the middle of the street every time it starts getting to the hot zone on the gauge. I am so nervous in driving this car on the freeway. The last time I drove it on the freeway was in June. This was because I spent $374. 00 on a water pump and then in a week, I spent more money on another water pump. Tune-ups, oil change, radiator flush has been done and I am still having the same problem. On 7/25, they are going to put a new radiator in the car. The car also acts like it doesn't want to stay started once you cut the car on. I would turn the key, start the car and wait. The car would start shaking and then cut off. I would start it again and the car would idle up, then down. I would really like to get someone to resolve this problem by helping my in paying for these issues that I should not be having. It is also giving a headache.

See all problems of the 2004 Oldsmobile Alero 🔎.

Gas gauge is always off, I have to fill the gas tank up atleast 2-3 a day. Maybe there is a leak from recall, or the recall form the gas tank. Also spent $700. 00 for a recalled intake manifold gasket.

See all problems of the 1999 Oldsmobile Alero 🔎.

Existence of engine oil appearing in radiator system coolant.

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Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6) I bought a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero about 3 years ago, I noticed at the beginning that the turn signals nor the hazard lights worked. We have done everything from changing bulbs,checking fuses and ground wires to no avail. I recently started having another problem where the oil has backed up into my oil reservoir, my car has not overheated and no oil leaks. That is how I came to find out that there had been a recall on the hazard switch on the Alero. I contacted gm and gave them all the information that they needed. After being on hold for about 15 minutes, they then told me that it was not my make or model that had been recalled. The description on their website pin pointed my problem to a tee! and they are telling me that it is not their fault. My car has 91,000 miles. VIN: [xxx]. I feel that gm should be held accountable for this defect in my vehicle, just because it was not my make or model as they are stating does not mean that it could not happen. I believe that it is a defect that they should be held accountable for.

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Our 2003 olds Alero gl 4-dr with 3. 4l v-6 and 75,000 miles had a blown intake gasket. We were having to add coolant to the car once every 2 months, but thought nothing of it and figured we had some kind of a leak in the reservoir. It began to make a rattling noise, which was when we took it to our car dealer. We were told that coolant has been leaking into the engine ,and will now have to spend $1300 to replace the gasket. There was no guarantee that this will fix the problem.

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I have had an 99' Oldsmobile Alero for 7 years. It has had almost every problem listed on this website. It has had an over heating problem every year since I got it and I have spent thousands in repairs for the cooling system, fuel pump, poor interior manufacturer, ac/heater blower motor settings failure, fuel gauge failure, transmission leakage, poor springs/struts, gear slipping, hard starting, water leaking in from rain under glove compartment, off alignment (set three times in year), poor gas mileage, overheating or running above normal temperature and sudden overheating without notice of gauge lights or sounds. Has had front right caliper failure locking brake pads down against rotor causing burnout of pads,rotor warping, caliper cylinder damage. Has had power steering pump leakage. This car is a lemon and gm should not be allowed to get away with selling unsafe, worthless vehicles. The only reason I still have mine running is because I have put a lot of personal as well as paid labor into its upkeep over the years due to that I cant afford another car.

For the past few months I have been noticing my car temperature hot when it is suppose to be cold and vice versa. I checked the anti-freeze and placed more in the car. In the past month I notice that the car started to overheat and I checked the antifreeze once again. I then learned that my manifold intake needed to be replaced and it is very common for it to have to be replaced because it is plastic. I paid over $700. 00 to get it replaced and it is a common fact that it is replaced often due to the manufacturers choice to use plastic for the part.

4/18/lower intake leaking badly, replaced lower intake gaskets & cleaned all parts under warranty. Coolant in oil. 6/24/advised that coolant leaking into oil again. Advised of need to replace upper intake and valve cover gaskets.

See all problems of the 2001 Oldsmobile Alero 🔎.

In the last six months three out of 4 windows on my vehicle are now held up with duct tape so that they don't fall into the channel and I can't get them up. Luckily, only one of them managed to do that and a friend managed to get it back up for me. That occurred at the end of January 2006. I could understand one- maybe- but three!!! no. This is definitely a safety issue. I suspect the only reason that my one working window, the back passenger side, is still working is because I haven't tried to put it down- or the result would be the same. I am sure that is going to be expensive to repair, so I guess I'll go with the duct tape for a while. I have also had a problem with the intake manifold, the gaskets on that were replaced in January, 2006. I was losing antifreeze from the overflow tank, and having to fill it every day. Took it to the dealer, and they found the water pump leaking and the intake gaskets leaking. They were replaced at my expense. And. . . The intermittent turn signal is also a problem. That has been going on for about a year now. It should be recalled for that, like you did for the 2000- 2001 vehicles. The vehicle has 70,000 miles on it. The interior trim on this vehicle is shoddy, and that is being kind. The car was purchased brand new with 23 miles on it when we got it to our house in June, 1999. In less than a year a door panel had to be replaced because it had come apart. The dashboard has been peeling for about 11/2 years because they used cheap glue to hold the covering on the plastic. I realize that you consider that cosmetic, but it shouldn't be happening: I check every Alero I see in a parking lot and there are a lot with peeling dashboards. Gm should be responsible for fixing that- they caused the problem. Gm caused multiple problems on this vehicle by doing it on the cheap. It is very costly to the people who own them, and it shouldn't be. I don't mind paying for routine repairs, I expect that, but these problems are not "routine".

I have had a number of problems with my Alero, including the turn signal issue, water leaks in the interior of the vehicle, loss of coolant due to a problem with the manifold intake gasket, water/coolant leaking into the oil, excess oil burning and oil leaks. I am particularly concerned about the problem with the manifold intake gasket as I took my vehicle in with regards to loss of coolant while it was still under warranty and the service form states that evap system was performing to spec. I plan on complaining again, but probably to no avail. I am considering litigation.

Friday, 7/15/05, I took my 2002 olds Alero to jeff schmidt in fairborn, OH for service of the passenger side power window not working. While at the dealership, I was informed that my intake manifold was leaking and must be replaced. This was covered under warranty as well as the window. Immediately after leaving the lot, the car smelled like something was burning. I park in the garage at home and did not notice any spills on the floor and assumed it was just overflow where the service tech did the repairs. Thursday, 7/21/05, I parked the car in the garage and the smell was really bad. I popped the hood and found a puddle of coolant inside the car down on the frame (I think that's what it is called). I also noticed inside the car the dash at the windshield was ruffled/wrinkled. I thought maybe I had had a fire or something really got hot. I took the car to the same dealership this morning and learned that I had two broken hoses at the intake manifold where the hoses were reattached after the initial repair. I had to pay to have these repaired because it was not covered under warranty. Funny I didn't have any problems with this until they told me I had a problem last week. I was also told that my warranty, I have 6 yrs. 60,000 miles, did not cover the dash. It was considered cosmetic. Well, needless to say, I can't believe this. I've worked for gm/delphi for 28 years, have had 7 vehicles in this time period, new ones, and have never had a dash to come apart. Also, I've never heard of a intake manifold going bad on a car with only 38,000 miles. Gm should be responsible for fixing the dash where the leather has come apart from the frame.

I purchased the car & immediately had to have the brakes fixed by the dealership. In 3/05 had complete look at car -at chevy. Dealership, they flushed radiator, clean fuel lines-things along those lines "to make my car run better". In June of 05 I started noticing a small puddle of water under my vehicle & it started overheating. Was told my repair man that radiator cap needed replacing. That seemed to help a little. By October 05 the car was leaking antifreeze from under the car. Didn't have the money to have it fixed so I didn't drive it because I was a stay at home mom. Dec 05 I went to work and its been downhill. My car now will overheat if it idles for very long, leaks antifreeze (I have to add coolant every morning), and we was told that it was the probably the intake manifold gasket gone bad which will cost about 900. 00. This is just 1 of the many problems we have experienced since the purchase.

My Alero's (2000 3. 4 v6 60,000 miles) coolant light came on. I checked the coolant and added what was needed. A couple of days later I noticed a pool of coolant on my driveway. It turned out to be the lower intake manifold gasket - aparently a common porblem and design flaw by gm in a number of their vehicles. I have not fixed the problem as of yet because of the cost involved and I am not currently driving the vehicle until I can get it fixed. I am unaware of any other problems as a result of the gasket at this point - will have to wait until it get fixed.

"low coolant" light continually "on" for nearly 2 years, despite repeated attempts to refill it. When took car into the shop for separate issue, was informed that the intake gasket was faulty, resulting in $700+ of repairs, and concerns over possible enging damange done by leaky coolant in engine. I understand this is a common issue faced by many gm owners, and urge gm to issue a proper recall for this part.

Intake manifold gasket leaked coolant internally and externally.

1999 Oldsmobile Alero (out of warranty) began to have problems with transmission "slipping" occasionally during the summer. I was told no problem could be found. While driving home last evening, the service engine soon light came on as well as the "trac off" light and it was very hard to get the car to go more than 30 mph on a 50 mph highway very nearly causing an accident. By the grace of god, that did not happen, but now I am told that the transmission may "possibly be bad" or it "could be several other things. " in either case, it would seem to me that someone should have found the error before. Additionally, the car has less than 65,000 miles on it and though it was sluggish from the time I bought it and would occasionally lurch forward when pulling away from a stop, it was not until the summer that it became a frequent as opposed to a rare occurrence. I truly believe that there is some flaw in the transmission. Of note also is that the driver's side window only rolls down on occasion and sometimes will not go back up, the fan only works on the highest 2 settings and the entire wiper blade assembly (some sort of sensor) had to be replaced 1 month out of warranty. What a piece of junk. And, the air conditioner no longer cools the car and I was told I had a slow leak.

1. I started to get loud popping noises when turning my steering wheel in either direction. . Coolant leak getting progresssively worse and I am smelling ethylene glycol in the interior of the vehicle. I have looked up both items and found them to be inherent problems with my 2000 Alero. The first is related to the steering arm/gear problems and the second is to the plastic intake manifold gasket defect. I am facing nearly $1600. 00 in repairs. I wish I would have researched these items before buying this car used even with 35,000 miles on it. It has just turned 60,000 miles.

The 3. 4l v6 engine regularly lost coolant, and the reservoir had to be refilled about once a month. Also noticed thick white goo on the oil cap (but not on the oil dipstick), and heard a ticking sound after starting the engine, which went away after the engine warmed up. The dealer said the head gasket was leaking, and the repair cost $1,100. The engine had 53,000 miles at the time of the repair, which is well beyond the warranty, but this type of problem would have developed several thousand miles ago, before any symptoms were noticeable. It is very disappointing to have major engine work done with so few miles (also had to have serpentine belt replaced), especially when the Alero's sales brochure brags about "long life fluids, including coolant, that will last up to 100,000 miles or more. " when the dealer replaced the head gasket, they said that replacement part is the same as the original (gm had not made any design changes to the part), so this will most likely be a recurring problem for the life of the engine. Overall, Im happy with the cars design and performance, but its upsetting to have such high cost repairs on a car I plan to drive for several more years.

I have a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero GLS. The car is less than 3 years old and has less than 40,000 miles on it. I noticed that the coolant light kept going on. I looked under the car initially and did not see any leakage. I added 50/50 dex-cool to the resevoir. All was well for about two weeks. Then the light came on again. This continued for the next month. I started noticing leakage. After reviewing where the leakage is coming from, I have determined that it is right abive where the thermostat where there is a bolt that attaches the intake manifold to the engine.

Engine abruptly overheated. After immediately pulling over, the engine began smoking. Car was towed to nearby service center where it was discovered the engine lower intake gasket was faulty.

99 Alero with what appears to be common problems. First it was a faulty water pump and now there is a lower intake gasket failure.

Due to gm defect to date I have had to replace intake manifold gasket, water pump, thermostat, serpentine belt and am now looking at replacing gas tank and heater core. .

I have a 1999 v-6 Oldsmobile Alero and it continually overheated. My mechanic told me a number of people have been having the same problems and that it had to do with a faulty gasket.

Coolant leaking around the engine. Mechanic says this is common for the 3400 engine because there is no gasket, just a bead of caulk.

Automatic transmission failure at 750 miles. Atained speed of 65mph for a few seconds then acted as if it slipped into neutral, I manually downshifted to 3rd gear at 45mph and proceeded to next safest place to stop. After stopped I shifted to d and then took off and it would not shift out of first gear. I stopped again and waited a few second then took off and it begain to shift normally again. I went directly to the dealer, they did a dianogstic test and it said nothing was wrong. Problem has not happened since. At about 24,000 miles I noticed a pool of antifreeze on my garage floor and evidence of it leaking onto my front right drive shaft. I took it to the dealer they filled my antifreeze level back up and did a test and said they could not find a leak, they said it might of came out of the drain hole where it would normally leak when the bearing in the water pump goes out. . . . Have not noticed any more leaks, sometimes smell burnt antifreeze. Also at about 25,000 miles the numbers and letters on the buttons on the radio were becoming wore off, which seems way too early for that to happen.

The engine leaked coolant from the intake gasket.

Automatic transmission will not shift into 3rd or 4th gear, anymore. Roars loudly rather than shifts. When I take my foot off the accelerator at 30+ mph car acts like cruise control is on - decelerates extremely slow. Rpms stay at 2200+ at 35 mph. Also now a little higher on temperature gauge.

I have a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero GLS. On or about 1/3/04, the fill coolant light came on. I refilled the coolant level. Since then I have put 2 and 1/2 containers of coolant in the car. The car was the losing coolant quickly but it was not leaking in the ground. I had it checked by two separate mechanics and was told that the coolant is running into my oil and my engine has blown a head gasket. There is no warranty on the car. I don't understand how a car of 4 years old can blow a head gasket. The car is still reasonable young.

My 1999 Oldsmobile Alero has had a major problem with 1. Manifold gaskets leaking. 2. All of the windows failing by falling off the tracks or the regulator itself failing. Three times for the drivers side window! 3. The turn signals have stopped working correctly, clicking constantly. 4. The gas gauge stopped working 5. The interior leather curled up on the dash, which I notice on many other Alero's I've seen.

Failure of head intake manifold gasket on 1999 Oldsmobile Alero due to dex-cool engine coolant / faulty gasket design.

Water pump was defective.

Water pump is leaking some kind of liquid, and engine is always getting hot. Contacted dealer, and the dealer can't do much about problem.

I join the ranks of sorry from gm, I really can't believe that gm can get away with the junk they now produce, I know they test these vehicles way in advance,and should of known of the faulty head gasket the Oldsmobile Alero is in my opinion the junk. When will gm be held accountable for the junk they produce, my complaints have gone unanswered for years OH well should of bought a Toyota! shame on you gm.

Consumer is requesting reimbursement for repairs made to a leaking water pump and radiator, consumer also states that there was a large puddle of coolant found on her garage floor.