Sup guys, just introduced myself so hoping to get some help here.

My 2004 Monte Carlo SS runs great, never any problems until today. Hopefully I can explain what is going on in enough detail with boring ya'll, here goes.

When I got in my car and tried to start it it turned over fine and started...for about a second then it faded away. Right now its at the point where it wont even start like that, it just turns over and then fades away. I was lucky enough to be by an advanced so i walked over and a few guys came out to help me. We did our thing and they said I must have gotten some bad gas (I got gas yesterday so it was very fresh) and it might be a bad TPS. Now they say that because We got the car running and they manual adjusted the throttle at the throttle body and saw the rpm's jumping up and down. So the car was running for a few, I then drove it to a local CVS to pickup some Iso Propyl 91% to hopefully get the moisture out of the gas and maybe to increase the octane rating (I was ready to drive 200+ miles to burn the gas in my tank). At the CVS I shut the car off and went inside to get my stuff, come back out and now again my car wont start. I tried the throttle trick they did before but that wont even work now, so I ended up getting the car towed to my house. Now im out $125, about 6 hours and still not sure what to do.

I am thinking of replacing the TPS tomorrow, incase someone doesn't know TPS stands for Throttle Position Sensor. The local advanced has them in stock so i can grab one and install it, but i rather not if someone here has a better idea. Also the men at advanced mentioned how a very bad TPS can make the car not start, it will just read nothing and the car wont idle at all. So if anyone has any ideas please let me know, I am glad it is a weekend though since I have school during the week (College)...so I am hoping to get this fixed without spending a million dollars and before monday, thanks everyone!

 

even though no one posted on this thread i figure id just say that it was the Mass Airflow Sensor that was the problem, replaced it and everything is fine.

 

Wow, sorry I didn't see this thread. I read your first post and instantly thought of a bad MAF. I had very similar symptoms when mine went bad.

 

hey sorry for bringing this back to life but i changed the maf and iac still having trouble with long start times, it cranks for about 5 secs sometimes. i posted this issue a once or twice and no one shed any light...shud i grab a tps from an auto zone and try it out, or are these one of the sensors u have to by original like the maf, i had to go thru 2 of them (non oem) until i sucked it up and payed 275 for the oem one

 

It could have ben something as simple as a MAF sensor vs replacing the whole thing....

Try removeing the TPS...clean it and then reinstahl it...
That maybe all the issue was?... Sometimes its the simplest of things that throw ya for a loop!

Also while your under the hood...
Clean the IAC..(Idle Air Control) and reinstahl it also.....