Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (engine, cooling system, oil leaks, timing chain, exhaust).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Tl* the contact owned a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. While driving at various speeds, the contact heard an abnormal noise coming from the vehicle. The contact pulled the vehicle over and noticed the temperature gauge rose abnormally. The contact also observed smoke and flames from the front end and evacuated the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a salvage yard. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V701000 (engine and engine cooling); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The fire department was alerted and extinguished the fire. A police report was not filed. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 125,000. Updated 06/21/17 contact stated her brother who happened to be the owner of the car was handicapped and became ill and passed away on May 21,2017. …
Tl* the contact owns a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. Thirty minutes after driving back to his house, the contact noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment. There was no warning indicator illuminated. The contact opened the hood and the front end of the vehicle burst into flames. With the help of his son, the contact extinguished the fire. There was no police or fire report. Two days later, the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V701000 (engine and engine cooling). The contact notified a local dealer who came to the contact's home and towed the vehicle to the shop for investigation. The manufacturer notified the contact that the investigation showed that there was no evidence the fire was caused by malfunctioning of the vehicle. The failure mileage was 130,000.
Tl* the contact owned a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH, the contact noticed smoke coming from the vents without warning. The contact pulled the vehicle over and upon further inspection noticed the vehicle was on fire. The fire was distinguished by the local fire department. A police report was not filed. There were no injuries. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was destroyed. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V701000 (engine) two years after the vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000. The VIN was not available.
Tl* the contact owned a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. While the vehicle was parked, it caught fire. The witness stated that the fire started underneath the hood of the vehicle. The fire department extinguished the fire and a fire report was filed. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The contact stated that there was no police or injury report. The vehicle was completely destroyed and was towed to a tow yard. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 09V116000 (engine and engine cooling) after the failure occurred. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000. Updated 01/06/17
Tl* the contact owned a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. After the vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic and parked, it caught fire. The contact noticed black smoke under the hood and an abnormal fuel odor inside the vehicle. The mechanic was able to extinguish the fire. There were no injuries. The fire department was not notified and there was no fire report filed. A diagnostic test was not performed. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the fire. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was included in NHTSA campaign number: 09V116000 (engine and engine cooling). The vehicle was destroyed. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.
Car was parked in driveway after driving to town and back. About 20 minutes later my boyfriend heard a pop sound from inside the house. When he looked outside the car was on fire under the hood. Fire department was called to help put out the fire. Car was completely burned under the hood, tires/front part of car were also burned. Damage was a total loss, engine was burning so hot it was white. Nearly caused a house fire and luckily no one was injured. Car had some oil leakage in engine/manifold area but recall was fixed about 5 years ago for this issue. Car was in good condition and no serious problems before this fire occurred.
I was driving on sh 249 and I was going 50 MPH when my car had smoke coming from under the hood of my car. I pulled off to the shoulder and raised the hood and I saw a fire as long as my arm coming from the spark plug wire retention channel on the front of my engine. I took my car to parkway Chevrolet and they told me that it was my fault. I would like to know what I can do for my car because I am without transportation for now. Would like to have it fixed because I just put about 4,000 dollars into this car. This is my dad's car and he was about to give it to me but now since it has fires, he says that there will be no way!
Tl* the contact owns a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, heavy smoke emitted from under the hood of the vehicle. The contact pulled over and exited the vehicle. The contact mentioned that on another occasion, heavy fumes of smoke was noticed coming from the exhaust of the vehicle. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was included NHTSA campaign number: 15V701000 (engine and engine cooling). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 138,000. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, smoke started to emit out of the engine compartment. After inspecting the vehicle, the contact noticed that all of the oil had leaked out of the engine. As a result, the engine compartment started to catch on fire. The contact extinguished the fire. The vehicle was towed to the contacts residence and it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The contact recently received a notification for NHTSA campaign number: 15V701000 ( engine and engine cooling). The failure mileage was 120,000.
Tl* the contact owned a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix. While driving 50 MPH, the contact noticed smoke coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was pulled over to the side of the road where it caught fire. The contact exited the vehicle and the fire department arrived to extinguish the fire. A police report was filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was destroyed and towed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000. Updated 04/13/16 consumer stated she has been without a car since the incident. Dealership did not fix recall parts on the car. Updated 06/05/18
Related recalls
Engine and engine cooling › Exhaust system › Manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 1998-1999 Chevrolet Lumina and Oldsmobile Intrigue, 1997-2004 Buick Regal and Pontiac Grand Prix, 2000-2004 Chevrolet Impala, and 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo vehicles.
Remedy: The remedy applied under recalls 08V-118, 09V-116, and 15V-201 did not adequately remove the safety risk. Under the improved remedy, dealers will replace the engine's front valve cover and gasket.
Engine and engine cooling
General motors is recalling 1,497,516 my 1997-2003 Buick regal, my 1998-2003 Chevrolet lumina, monte carlo and impala, my 1998-1999 Oldsmobile intrigue, my 1997-2003 Pontiac grand prix vehicles equipped with a 3.8l v6 naturally aspirated engine.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the engine's front valve cover and front-valve-cover gasket with new parts of an improved design and remove the engine's plastic cover and plastic oil-fill-tube extension, free of charge.
Engine and engine cooling
GM is recalling 207,542 my 1997-2003 Buick regal and Pontiac grand prix vehicles equipped with a 3.8l supercharged v-6 engine. These vehicles have higher front rocker cover gasket temperatures, creating the potential for earlier degradation of the front rocker cover gasket and eventual oil seepage.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the engine's front valve cover and front-valve-cover gasket with new parts of an improved design and remove the engine's plastic cover and plastic oil-fill-tube extension, along with the 1-3-5 spark…
NHTSA investigations
Engine compartment fire
On January 29, 2007, the office of defects investigation (odi) opened a preliminary evaluation to investigate alleged non-crash fires originating in the engine compartment in certain model year (my) 1999-2002 Pontiac grand prix gtp vehicles equipped with the ?l67? Supercharged version of the general motors (GM) 3800 series ii v6 engine.to date, odi is aware of 121 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles…
Engine compartment fires
Engine compartment fire
By letter dated March 12, 2008, general motors corp. (GM) has notified the agency that it will conduct a safety recall (identified by NHTSA recall number 08v-118) to address a defect in approximately 207,542 model year (my) 1997-2003 Buick regal gs and Pontiac grand prix gtp vehicles equipped with the l67 supercharged version of GM's 3800 series ii v6 engine.the recalled regal gs vehicles were built from August 1996…
Engine complaints in other Grand Prix years
Frequently asked questions
How common are engine problems on the 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix?
NHTSA has 201 complaints about the engine & cooling of the 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix, 49% of the model year's 412 complaints. The component named most often is engine (34 mentions).
Is there a recall for 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix engine problems?
Yes — NHTSA recall 15V-701 (manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe, Oct 26, 2015); NHTSA recall 09V-116 (engine and engine cooling, Apr 8, 2009); NHTSA recall 08V-118 (engine and engine cooling, Mar 12, 2008). Recall repairs are free at authorized dealers.
At what mileage do 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix engine problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 118,000 miles, and 3% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 1 crash, 104 fires and 4 injuries and 1 death to engine & cooling problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.