Yup, I bought a used vehicle. A 2003 Monte Carlo SS.
Man, I love this CAR. I researched reliability, asked people about their Montes, researched more about the 3800 L36 and drove a few competitors, drove a used SS and bought it.
The problem is, after 7 months I've only driven my Monte 3,000 miles. I should have bought a truck.
I dont know exactly what I expect from posting this, but I have to rant somewhere......
When I bought the car I purchased a $2,000 service contract, I'm an equipment mechanic and I understand the complexity of vehicles.
I recently took my Monte in for a tire balance at the dealership where I bought it, when I went to pick it up the service advisor informed me that the "tech" was driving my car trying to get the "low tire pressure" light to turn off. I gave him my pattented dumbass look and told him to simply flash the parking light switch 3 times. (thanks MC forum) After showing the tech how to do it and paying for the balance I noticed a note on the bottom of the invoice stating "intake seeping". I questioned the service advisor about it and he replied "ohh, ummm, it might be a valve cover leaking or something" so once again I pull out the dumbass look and tell him to go ask the tech exactly what he found wrong. The advisor returns to simply tell me that the intake has a leak. Maybe I'm **** about my car, maybe I know more than the average Joe, but the advisor seemed to think that an intake leak was insignificant. I didnt.
The next day I called the local Chevy dealership and requested an intake gasket replacement quote, 900-1100 dollars. OK, time to use that $2000 dollar warranty! NOPE! I purchased a 1-4 warranty that covers drivetrain and transaxles. And that makes sense to me???? I called the finance guy that sold me that warranty and requested a copy it, in detail. He agreed that an intake gasket sahould be coverd. Which brings me to my next rant...
As I said before, I have a shop, I've been working on vehicles for some years now. An intake would possibly leak antifreeze, no antifreeze anywhere. I took out a can of carb cleaner and shot it around the entire intake and throttle body while idling, no change. There is a vacuum leak, and my cheap code reader told methat I had an evap leak somewhere, so I'll track that down. No, I'm not a tech, I maintain and repair hydraulic systems,heavy equipment,weld and fabricate, and try to maintain a fleet of nine 2005 Ford trucks. So I made an appointment at Chevrolet for a diagnostic.
The tech that didnt know how to reset a "low tire pressure" light made me doubt myself, and I find out that I paid 2 grand for a warranty that only covers an internal engine breakdown after I researched and am well aware that the 3800's are a 200k engine. If I was a one-legged man I'd be on the floor right now.
The Chevrolet service advisor listend to my (short compared to this post) story and immediatley told me what I already know. I need to take it in for a diagnostic, with people that know the ins-and-outs of my Monte.
I'm still hot about the whole "warranty" thing, and I'll never trust a "Saturn" dealership to inspect my Chevy.

 

What a bunch of dumbasses. Tells you the kind of people that work for the dealerships now adays. Certified on paper but not competant. As for your evap system, I just had my car scanned and I have a bad purge valve. Get someone with a scan module that can determine in depth your problem. Purge valve is a $22 part on my car. Ill be replacing that tomorrow. Good luck with your car, hopefully you can get someone with some actual knowledge to help you out, other than the saturn dealership idiots.

 

Well, the dealership confirmed that the intake is seeping a bit. And, after a few phone calls and trying my best to be as polite as possible it is in fact NOT covered under the service contract. Alright, so I got to spend a grand on a car I really like, thats not too bad in the whole scheme of things....
Or I could install the gaskets myself, the intake gaskets are 40 bucks or so, the valve cover gaskets are under 20, and a good Chiltons shouldn't be more than 20. I was planning a coolant flush as my next immediate maintenance, so I'll re-fill it with DEX (I don't have access to a coolant flush machine) drive it for a bit to make sure everything is groovy, and then take it n for a much less expensive service- coolant flush. I'm looking at this in a whole new light! Under 300 bucks and I could be out of this.
Ohh and the evap leak was the gas cap, I kinda figured that was it because the o-ring was cracked and weathered. Live and Learn.
Well, thanks for bearing with me on this. I was a little worked up about the whole thing especially because I had just put a major dent in my savings the day before to get the kids ready for school, and if I would have had to pay a grand to get the car back to snuff I would have had to buy Pabst or Old Milwaukee for a while, that was SCARRY!

 

First congratulations on the "new" to you Monte.

I can tell you I love my g/f's '03 Monte SS. It handles great.

Sorry to hear your area dealers are like those in my area. Well, so far I haven't had to spend one cent on my '06 LTZ Monte. Other then the essentials. But I barely drive it too. Still my Chevy dealer tried to pull a super fast stick it to me while I was signing the papers to finalize the deal. See I felt I would be money ahead (or maybe) to buy the extended warranty. That's when they bother to tell me there was a $100 per visit out of my pocket any and every time I brought the car in.It took a few phone calls and visits but they finally saw things my way.

Please post some pics of your new baby for us.