This car has a fully rebuilt engine, which was done at 200,000 miles. The car will rapidly overheat, even after driving just a couple of miles. The temperature gauge will go from normal to red zone in just a few seconds. The radiator was replaced over a year ago. This is the car my daughter drives, so every time it happens, she gets stranded somewhere until the car cools down, or we or AAA can get to her to help her with it. We have checked the system for leaks, and none were found.

I had the recall work done where they replaced the front valve cover and gasket just a few months ago, and this started happening within a couple of weeks. We didn't correlate the two at the time, but after it happened to another vehicle of the same make and model but different year that had also recently had the front valve cover and gasket replaced, we figured there might be a connection. The valve cover recall work was done about a month apart on the two vehicles, and the over heating problems started about a month apart. My mechanic said that the gasket has disintegrated, and there was black flakes in the fluid in the system, including the radiator.

An investigation needs to be done on this matter. The valve cover gasket used in the recall is apparently defective.

Update from May 22, 2017: The valve cover gasket that was replaced by the dealership disintegrate and clogged up the system. The gasket had to be replaced, and the system flushed out from the black crud that was clogging it up. This has happened to 2 vehicles, both Grand Prix GTP's different years, within a short time of having the warranty repair on the valve cover gasket done.