2003 PONTIAC GRAND AM spare tire

Section 5 Service and Appearance Care
Service ............................................................ 5.3
Doing Your Own Service Work
......................... 5.3
Adding Equipment to the Outside of Your
Vehicle
...................................................... 5.4
Fuel ................................................................ 5.5
Gasoline Octane
............................................ 5.5
Gasoline Specifications
.................................... 5.5
California Fuel
............................................... 5-6
Additives
....................................................... 5-6
Fuels in Foreign Countries
............................... 5-7
Filling
a Portable Fuel Container ..................... -5-9
Filling Your Tank
............................................ 5-7
Checking Things Under the Hood
.................................................... 5-10
Hood Release
.............................................. 5-10
Engine Compartment Overview
....................... 5-12
Engine Oil
................................................... 5.15
Engine Air CleanedFilter
................................ 5-21
Manual Transaxle Fluid
.................................. 5-22
Hydraulic Clutch
........................................... 5-23
Engine Coolant
............................................. 5-23
Engine Overheating
....................................... 5-26
Cooling System
............................................ 5-29
Power Steering Fiuia
~1-36
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- -- ....................................
Windshield Washer Fluid ................................ 5-37
Brakes
........................................................ 5.39
Battery
........................................................ 5.42
Jump Starting
............................................... 5-43
Bulb Replacement .......................................... 5.49
Halogen Bulbs
.............................................. 5.49
Headlamps
.................................................. 5.49
Front Turn Signal and Parking Lamps
.............. 5-50
Center High-Mounted Stoplamp (CHMSL)
......... 5.50
Taillamps, Turn Signal, and Stoplamps
............ 5.51
Replacement Bulbs
....................................... 5.51
Windshield Wiper Blade Replacement
.............. 5.52
Tires
.............................................................. 5.53
Inflation
.. Tire Pressure ................................ 5-54
Tire Inspection and Rotation
........................... 5-55
When It
Is Time for New Tires ....................... 5-56
Buying New Tires
......................................... 5-56
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
......................... 5-57
Wheel Alignment and Tire Balance
.................. 5-59
Wheel Replacement
...................................... 5-59
Tire Chains
.................................................. 5-60
If a Tire Goes Flat ........................................ 5-61
Changing
a Flat Tire ..................................... 5-62
Compact Spare Tire
...................................... 5-71
5-
1

Inflation -- Tire Pressure
The Tire-Loading Information label, which is on the rear
edge of the driver’s door, shows the correct inflation
pressures for your tires when they’re cold. “Cold” means
your vehicle has been sitting for at least three hours
or driven no more than
1 mile (1.6 km).
Notice: Don’t let anyone tell you that underinflation
or overinflation is
all right. It’s not. If your tires
don’t have enough air (underinflation), you can get
the following:
Too much flexing
0 Too much heat
Tire overloading
Bad wear
@ Bad handling
0 Bad fuel economy
If your tires have too much air (overinflation), you
can get the following:
0 Unusual wear
Bad handling
Rough ride
0 Needless damage from road hazards
When to Check
Check your tires once a month or more.
Don’t forget your compact spare tire.
It should be at
60 psi (420 kPa).
How to Check
Use a good quality pocket-type gage to check tire
pressure. You can’t tell
if your tires are properly inflated
simply by looking at them. Radial tires may look
properly inflated even when they’re underinflated.
Be sure to put the valve caps back on the valve stems.
They help prevent leaks by keeping out dirt and
moisture.
5-54

Tire Inspection and Rotation
Tires should be rotated every 7,500 miles (12 500 km).
Any time you notice unusual wear, rotate your tires
as soon as possible and check wheel alignment.
Also
check for damaged tires or wheels. See When It Is Time
for New Tires on page 5-56
and Wheel Replacement
on page 5-59
for more information.
The purpose of regular rotation is to achieve more
uniform wear for all tires on the vehicle. The first rotation
is the most important. See “Part A: Scheduled
Maintenance Services” in Section
6, for scheduled
rotation intervals.
n 4 J
1
When rotating your tires, always use the correct rotation
pattern shown here.
Don’t include the compact spare tire in your tire rotation.
After the tires have been rotated, adjust the front and
rear inflation pressures as shown on the Tire-Loading
Information label.
Make certain that all wheel nuts are properly tightened.
See “Wheel Nut Torque” under
Capacities and
Specifications on page 5-86.
.
Rust or dirt on a wheel, or on the parts to
which
it is fastened, can make wheel nuts
become loose after a time. The wheel could
come
off and cause an accident. When you
change
a wheel, remove any rust or dirt from
places where the wheel attaches to the vehicle.
In an emergency, you can use a ciorh or a
paper towel to
do this; but be sure to use a
scraper or wire brush later,
if you need to, to
get all the rust or dirt
off. See “Changing a Flat
Tire”
in the Index.
5-55

Mixing tires could cause you to lose control
while driving.
If you mix tires of different sizes
or
types (radial and bias-belted tires), the
vehicle may not handle properly, and you
could have a crash. Using tires of different
sizes may also cause damage
to your vehicle.
Be sure to use the same size and type tires on
all wheels. It’s all right to drive with your
compact spare, though.
It was developed for
use on your vehicle.
I
If you use bias-ply tires on your vehicle, the
wheel rim flanges could develop cracks after
I
many miles of driving. A tire and/or wheel
could fail suddenly, causing a crash. Use only radial-ply tires with the wheels on your vehicle.
I
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
Quality grades can be found where applicable on the
tire sidewall between tread shoulder and maximum
section width. For example:
Treadwear 200 Traction AA Temperature A
The following information relates to the system
developed by the United States National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, which grades tires by
treadwear, traction and temperature performance. (This
applies only
to vehicles sold in the United States.)
The grades are molded on the sidewalls of most
passenger car tires. The Uniform Tire Quality Grading
system does
not apply to deep tread, winter-type
snow tires, space-saver or temporary use spare tires,
tires with nominal rim diameters of
10 to 12 inches
(25 to 30 cm), or to some limited-production tires.
While the tires available on General Motors passenger
cars and light trucks may vary with respect
to these
grades, they must also conform
to federal safety
requirements and additional General Motors Tire
Performance Criteria (TPC) standards.
5-57

Removing the Spare Tire and Tools
The equipment you’ll need is in the trunk.
1. Pull the carpeting from
the floor of the trunk.
I Turn the center retainer
nut on the compact spare
tire cover
counterclockwise to
remove it.
2. Lift and remove the cover. See Compact Spare
Tire on page
5-71 later in this section for more
information about the compact spare.
3. Turn the wing nut
counterclockwise and
remove
it. Then lift off the
spacer and remove the
compact spare tire.
4. Remove the jack and wheel wrench from the trunk.
Your vehicle’s jack and wheel wrench are stored in
a foam tray. Remove the band around the jack.
5-63

A
Removing the Flat Tire and Installing
the Spare Tire
The tools you'll be using include the jack (A) and wheel
wrench
(6).
1. If your vehicle has a wheel cover or hubcap that
has plastic wheel nut caps, then loosen the plastic
nut caps (you may need to use the wheel wrench
to loosen them). Do not pry off wheel covers
or center caps that have plastic wheel nut caps.
Then remove the wheel cover or center cap.
5-64

2. Then use the wheel wrench to loosen all the wheel
nuts. Don’t remove them yet.
/ \-
18 inches (46 cm)
3. Position the jack and raise the jack head until it fits
firmly into the notch in the vehicle’s frame nearest
the flat tire. Put the compact spare tire near you.
Getting under a vehicle when
it is jacked up is
dangerous.
If the vehicle slips off the jack you
could be badly injured or killed. Never get
under
a vehicle when it is supported only by
a jack.
5-65

Raising your vehicle with the jack improperly
positioned can damage the vehicle and even
make the vehicle fall.
To help avoid personal
injury and vehicle damage, be sure to fit the
jack
lift head into the proper location before
raising the vehicle.
4. Raise the vehicle by turning the wheel wrench
clockwise. Raise the vehicle far enough
off the
ground
so there is enough room for the compact
spare tire
to fit underneath the wheel well.
5. Remove all of the wheel nuts.
6. Remove the flat tire.
7. Remove any rust or dirt
from the wheel
bolts,
mounting surfaces
and spare wheel.
5-66