what city state is the car located in?

 

It certainly sounds like everything is on the level, and she's not trying to put one over on you. If everything looks good underneath and it's running good, I say go for it.

The steering clunk is an easy repair. The bad tach is more involved, but for the price you mentioned, I'd buy the car and fix the tach. Bring a flashlight with you and really check for leaks.

Good Luck!

 

The car runs very good and there are no unusual noises from the engine compartment. The tach still works but kind of bounces a little while driving. The front end does shake a little at around 60mph. I'm not sure what that is from. We had to play with the sunroof button go finally get the sunroof to go back and forth. I don't know if that is from lack of use or what. We got up where we could see the tracks and there didn't seem to be anything in the way. Are these sunroofs problematic on these cars?.

The main thing for me is that I don't want to have to fix or spend a whole lot of extra money on whatever I buy. The tranny fluid will have to be changed because the fluid is starting to darken up and the coolant may need to be flushed because it looked kind of greenish to me, not red like Dexcool. Did they still use Dexcool in 2004?

The reason I'm trying to buy a new car is that my 92 Cavalier is giving me problems and I've dumped a ton of money in to it and its still not running right. I'm tired of trying to fix stuff and just want something reliable. Thanks again guys.

Wayne

 

They still run Dex-cool, but some people opt to flush it out and put in the green stuff because Dex-cool has a habit of eating gaskets.

 

you will find out the monty carlo is very reliable vehicle i have friends that own them and there monty carlos never let them get stranded in the middle of no where. about the cavilier sorry to hear about that giving you problems the one that i had i made into a sleeper. putting the ecotech motor and tranny in it befor it got totaled out now i just have every thing ready to put into anouther but its going to be a fun project to do. on the topic you will be very happy with the monty carlo when you get it.

 

I think they last pretty well....

 

Here is an update: I went and looked at the car again. It does have green coolant in it. The Woman's husband didn't know why and I was worried that green had been mixed with Dex-cool which is a no no. She called me later after her husband had come back home and told me that when she was at Jiffy lube getting her oil changed last year, they told her it needed a coolant flush and so she had it done and they put in the green stuff.

I could not find any damage underneath the car so that is good. I did find that the top part of the front license plate was bent and that the paint on the plastic around the license plate had real fine cracks in it and a few other areas were the same. She told me that someone had backed into her car when she was at the dealer one time.

The valve cover gaskets are starting to seep a little oil and come down by the exhaust manifolds and there looks like there is a little wetness on top of the intake next to the valve covers. I don't know if its coolant or oil. It almost looks like dried coolant. There is an oily film on the supercharger snout near the base of it kind of where I guess its the fill bolt. Its not near the end where the belt is but where it comes out from under the plastic engine cover. There are no unusual noises coming from anything under the hood though.

I watched the tach when I started the car and it stayed at its resting place for a few seconds after the car was running and then came up. The sunroof was still working as it should. The rear tires have a lot less tread then the fronts so they probably won't last too many more miles.

When the owner called and told me about the coolant, she told me that she would like me to buy the car because she needs to get rid of it but if I didn't want it, someone would buy it. She has had it listed for three months. She previously had agreed to come down from her $8,950 asking price to $8,500 because I had noticed the wetnes on top of the intake the first time I looked at the car. She won't come down on price any more than she has. She told me its not a new car and it will have a few flaws but its at a good price for what it is.

I did see in the glove box the owner's manual and some other booklets for the car as well as a CD for the car. She also had the framed numbered certificate in the back seat as well as the front license plate cover and some type of Dale Jr bag. She also has the original window sticker and the car cost new around $33,500

Now the big question is should I still buy it with the few things I mentioned above? I told her I would have to think about it. The car is almost six years old and almost 88,000 miles and maybe I'm expecting too much perfection for the asking price and age.

So, lets here some opinions please. Thanks.

Wayne

 

sounds like a pretty sweet deal. great price for the car. the sunroof i guess is an issue, before i bought my 03 SS from the dealer they replaced the entire sunroof system for me. the steering shaft isnt really an issue, about every 6 months it takes about 5 minutes to fix. i just push the rubber boot on the column underneath the steering wheel down, spray some white lithium grease on the column, push up the boot and good to go. not hard at all. i bought my monte at 42,000 miles now it has 68,000....had it two years almost to the date. great car, love it. fun car to mod as you can see lol. hope you enjoy it as all of us do here on the forum.

 

from the way you describe sound like a normal wear and tear to me. the car has 88k and i don't think the valve cover gaskets never been changed. the gaskets are made of rubber and they do leak, mine started leaking at about 35k miles. if the coolant was flush and replaced with green coolant you should be fine. i switched mine to the green coolant 27k miles ago. i never had problem with dex cool, but from what i read people are saying dex cool will eat up head gaskets. the power moon roof probably need to be lubricate that's why it was stuck when you tried to open it at the first time. i doubt if the car been beaten on cuz it was own by an adult. if everything check out ok i think it probably be a good buy for ya.

if you buy it i think you should change all the fluids like: transmission, start using fully synthetic motor oil, supercharged oil, and green coolant (i don't trust jiffy lube)

 

Thanks for the replies guys. The sunroof looks like it has lube on the tracks. I tried it today and it was working as it should. I think the husband told me she hardly ever used it.

She is the original owner and the car looks like it has been well cared for. It appears to have been well maintained. The tranny fluid didn't look as bad as I had first thought. The tranny lines that someone posted earlier that I should check, were dry.

Can anyone tell me what size tires are stock on this car and roughly how much they cost.? I know they are 17" rims. Can someone post a picture or tell me where you fill the supercharger oil and how do you get the old oil out.?

I guess you guys have pretty much convinced me that this car is still a good deal so I'm probably going to get it. I'll let you know. Thanks again.

Wayne