How do you fix or where do you start to fix a 1997 Pontiac grand am 2.4 liter engine that has a bad miss with little power and shakes the car and motor?

Answer 1

when you start the engine after a few seconds the service engine light should blink on and off if you keep pressing on the throttle. on a 97 grand am has no spark plug wires. it has a rail or some people call it top hat or coil pack assembly. this is what happened to mine. everybody makes up there own definition for this part. anyway right on top of the motor you will see you will see a cover with 4 bolts and underneath the bolts are ceramic washers. the cover has a arch to it so it covers the dual overhead cams. also this cover houses the ignition modual. if standing in front of car look to the right of this cover underneath you will see a electrical plug. fist unhook the positive cable off the battery. then unplug the ignition modual do not yank on the wires coming out of that plug.there is a tab in the center of that plug push down lightly to release plug. now take the four bolt off. careful not to lose those washers underneath those bolts. carefully lift that cover straight up. once off you will see the coil pack housing underneath. the best way to solve your problem is to call junkyards to purchase this whole housing.donot disasemble buy right off another motor should cost about 50.00 dollars. install in the oposite order with the battery cable last. i own a 97 grand am i had a dealer ship fix my car 1year later the car did the same thing come to find out they did not replace the coils. one of the coils was burning the housing. good luck PS also that car is only suppose to use platinum spark plugs.