Radiator or coolant leak on the 2001 Pontiac Aztek
When radiator or coolant leak gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Pontiac Aztek report radiator or coolant leak at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 133,909 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
33% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,745 miles | 13,745 miles | 43,130 miles | 147,654 miles | 147,654 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $350–$1,900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure, every year of the Pontiac Aztek
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The consumer stated she saw fluid leaking from under her vehicle in her driveway. She says she took her vehicle to the mechanic, who said it was her radiator. She then took the vehicle to somewhere else to get a second opinion, that mechanic told her that the problem was the radiator, air conditioning, and the engine intake manifold. The vehicle was leaking coolant into the intake manifold. She says her vehicle is not old enough to have this kind of problem. Front brake rotors are rusting and must be replaced. *jb *sc
The consumer stated she saw fluid leaking from under her vehicle in her driveway. She says she took her vehicle to the mechanic, who said it was her radiator. She then took the vehicle to somewhere else to get a second opinion, that mechanic told her that the problem was the radiator, air conditioning, and the engine intake manifold. The vehicle was leaking coolant into the intake manifold. She says her vehicle is not old enough to have this kind of problem. Front brake rotors are rusting and must be replaced. *jb *sc
Coolant leak on pontiac 2001 aztek. The lower intake manifold gasket failed. I did not have an accident, but it could have seized the engine with out warning. The low coolant warning never came on even after I was one gallon low. Dealer replaced gasket for cost of $730. Pontiac would not help with pricing. I did a web search and found a tsb on the gasket where gm/pontiac aknowledges the problem. I am also a member of aztekfanclub.com and other memebers have had the same problem and have had pontiac help cover the cost of the repair.*ak
Also reported on the 2001 Pontiac Aztek
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
Air conditioning failure
Other electrical problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does radiator or coolant leak happen on the 2001 Pontiac Aztek?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is radiator or coolant leak on the 2001 Pontiac Aztek?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed