That's it! I think hubby's gonna say "scrap it". After last year when we had problems with the car running without my foot on the gas pedal (we got reimbursed for 1 of the 2 separate charges by the dealer) and numerous little problems, coming home two nights ago I heard knocking sounds coming from the engine. Car is in the shop- I'm told it could be just a replacement of the rear cylinder head rocker arm stud (that is the best scenario where they would be able to repair it without taking it out) at $550 or take it out to be able to look on the other side, which would cost around $1000 or worst case scenario, the engine could need to be rebuilt, which would cost upwords of $3000?

I really think this car is cooked but would love to hear comforting words such as "the cheapest option would do!" The transmission slips on it too, which could signal another expensive fix in the future (added an oil though that made a difference) so maybe it's not that big of a problem...yet..

apparently the rocker arm steel studs were over torqued and it weakened the aluminum. The studs "fell" out at 62,000 miles, the aluminum threading was still attached to the screws ( I have pictures). Of course, the car ran like crap and the service engine light flashed continuously. The independent auto repair had never seen this happen to this engine before; however, the Pontiac service manager has repaired 6 (six) 2002 - 2003 engines with this problem this past year.

This is a manufacturing defect!!! This is a town of only 10,000 people, how many more similar problems are out there!!!