i got a 1994 grand am gse..i needed a strut but didnt want to sink a lot of money into the car..so i went to the junkyard and found a good one for $12.00...but it is out of a 1996 grand am...will it work...what if i install it..what problems will i face

struts are cheap, get a new one. But that strut wouldnt work anyways, the suspenion is different from 95-98 then 94 and i even think that there is a difference between the 92-93 and the 94. So your best bet is to go buy a new one, might be like 30 bucks.

If you can find a Hollander exchange manual, it will advise on whether the years are compatible.

I would go with 97's thinking though, the strut itself isn't very costly, and if you just swapped out of a similar year ride, you still have a used strut that likely will fail shortly also.

No to mention that their are different suspenion setups, like FE2 and FE3 for these years.