Hi, I'm a new member here and a new owner to a 03 Monte Carlo LS with a 3.4 in it. I've had the car 2 weeks now and I'm having issues with starting it. When I first got the car within a couple days it up and started with the 1st issue of not starting, it was at that point I noticed I could just grab my shifter and put it in drive even with the car not running so I messed with the shifter in the park position and the car eventually started. I took it back to the dealership and they lubed the mech in the shifter and now you have to push the break to shift out of park and the car was going fine but then last night I got out of work and when I got home I shut off the car to check my mail and when I got back in the car it wouldn't start it just cranks over no firing. I pull the key out and try again and nothing and I repeat this a few times and mess with the shifter a little and it starts. I back into my parking spot and shut it off and immediately try starting it again and bamb won't start all over again! eventually I get it started so I decide to just take a drive down the road at 55 figuring maybe something just needs cleaning out cause I live in the city stop and go at stop lights when I get home I shut it off go inside for 10 minutes come back out and sure thing it won't start. I immediately try again and it starts up no problem... So I call the dealership and setup an appointment for this morning, I go out to start it this morning and started first try, I get to the dealership shut it off try to start it and it starts up just fine. They said if we can't re create it then nothing we can do. I assumed fixing the shifter fixed the problem but now it's randomly doing it again Help please!!!

 

Incase you missed it in the other thread, probably a starter solenoid. It will get worse and worse till it goes and it could chip your flywheel. Looks easy to replace on the monties though.

 

The Starter solenoid would make my car not start? The starter is turning over just fine it just is not firing.. I"m not a mechanic so I have no idea

 

The way a starter works is by spiining a very smal gear really fast to make the engine crank. Their is a solenoid inside the engages the starter gear into the fly wheel. So the starter gear ia spinning fine but the solenoid is only working some of the time. So basically your starter is not making your engine turn even though you can hear it spin. Have someone try to start it and watch the crank. Nothing should move if its doing that kind if start fail.

 

OK sorry your misunderstanding me or I didn't explain it well enough, the car is cranking over the starter is working the car just isn't firing. But I just went outside and started it up and it worked fine this time... But yeah the starter is engaging and cranking the car over it's just not firing that's the issue... I've read in some of the threads about cleaning the MAF sensor maybe I'll try that? Idk

 

Ok yeah. When you said not firing I assumed no crank. So you don't eveb get a firing sound? That's strange. It turn the crank without the spark plug firing? If your not firing your spark plugs I wouldn't think that's a MAF issue.

 

It will only happen once in a while, sometimes it will start up no problem in a few seconds other times I'll have to try multiple times, I'll adjust the shifter not sure if its just a coincidence that it then starts or whether it's an issue in the shifter...

 

The start is cranking, not clicking, then starter and start solenoid sound good to me.

I'm not sure if the Park/Neutral safety switch would allow the starter to engage or not, but next time the car does not start, hold your foot on the break, shift into neutral and attempt to start the car. If that resolves it, then you probably need your park/neutral safety switch replaced.
The other issue could be the PassLock system having problems (it's the anti-theft system equipped on these cars). I know there is a thread started by JC Colons on here who is having issues with PassLock and he found some interesting information.

In case you are unaware, PassLock disables the injectors, so crank all you want, you're getting no fuel. I'm not sure that's the case with your situation (normally when it is, you will also notice the "security" message in the message center).

 

OK when it does that again I will give that a try to at least eliminate the NSS, although I've been unable to find 1 online to buy if it was the issue? And I will also look for that thread thanks, I'll update when it happens again.

 

OK I went home for lunch and when I went to leave to come back to work it did it again except it fired at first but did not start. I put it in neutral and it still didn't start I then put it back in park and tried a couple other times and then it started. It started out like low idle tho...