96 Grand Am sounds like a diesel.

I'm by no means an expert but had the same problem with a car of mine. As it was an older car, I had some thicker oil in so it wouldn't burn as easily. It was like mollasses in the engine and run dreadfully after first starting. It would even stall on me at junctions before the engine had a chance to warm up. Needless to say, I'm more careful what I give my car to drink now!

It sounds (from your description) as though you either have problems with your lifters....or possibly the timing chain tensioner. It could be an oil pressure problem (both items rely on oil pressure to work properly). I guess the best advice would be to get it properly diagnosed. I'm assuming that you've already checked the basics like you have oil in the engine?

Ian

I've never done much with Pontiacs, but diesel sounds can sometimes mean piston slap when coming from the engines I'm used to handling. I don' know how prone Pontiacs are to it, but it happens when the piston rattles around during operation. It can be caused by excessive wear, or piston skirts that are too short. From what I've heard, a case of piston slap generally reduces the life of the engine by about 10%.

I had the same sound in my Grand Am on really cold mornings (-40F) with recommended oil grade. Since I don't expect it to be that cold at your place right now, I would check your oil grade, level, filter and if all looks fine it might be your oil pump going bad.

The 2.4 is a notoriously crappy engine, based on the old Quad 4 *shiver*. I say your timing chain is soon to go. Just a guess, as I own a 2.4 in a Sunfire GT (fool me once, shame on you...etc...) with 93000 km on it.