04 monte carlo ss s/c problems
 

i have a dale jr. edition monte carlo and my fiance thinks the wheels bearings are going bad. it sounds like an airplane goin overhead when your under load but not at idle. and also if i take off one of the dog bones to do the front valve cover gasket will the other one hold it and be fine. i need some input on this asap

Is it like a groaning sound? Does it get worse if you slightly turn the wheel one way or the other? Does it do it in neutral while the car is moving? If you answered yes to any of these I would say its a wheel bearing. Probably just one side tho. And I think you should be able to remove one dog bone without the motor moving. You may want to support it with a jack just in case tho.

yes it does sound like a groaning noise and i would do that anyway i was just wanting to make sure that if i took the one off by the coil pack that it would be held up fine. the oil leak problem just started tonight when i started the car. it has been sitting at my mom and dads house because of the groaning noise i didnt want to make it worse

In my experience, others may differ, I would replace both wheel bearings at once for peace of mind.

When you say load, do you mean when the car is in motion or when in gear stationary? If it doesn't make noise when stationary but does when in motion I'd say wheel bearings or brakes.

As for the mount question, I wouldn't do it. I've broken several mounts that way. It's no fun either they're like $75+ from the dealer. The reason it does this is without equalizing the torque on the mounts the engine will twist under load and with the mount brackets being cast aluminum it doesn't take much to snap them like twigs. Of course this is dependent on your mod/hp/torque level.

As far as the dog bones, are you talking about removing both of them in order to do the valve cover gasket, or are you talking about leaving one off after the job is done?

If you're talking about removing both just in order to get the valve covers off, then by all means do it. As long as you're not driving, they are fine both being off at the same time. I can't honestly imagine leaving one on to do the rear valve cover, as it makes it really easy to get behind the engine if you take both dogbones off and rock the engine forward.

If you're talking about leaving one off after the job is done, then why? They take all of a minute to install. You'd be fine with only one holding on as long as you're not punching the gas at all, but you still risk breaking one as pacer mentioned.

-Riggs.

well i only need one to get to the front valve cover gasket. im not gonna leave it off im not stupid im plan to upgrade those dog bones. i always replace both sides because i dont know what the other side is and i dont want it to break and then got to do it all over again so just do it all at once. the question was can i take one of them off to do the valve cover and then put it back on would it hold the weight of the motor fine with no load or nothing just changing the valve cover gasket

Yes, you can take both off to change the valve covers. The dog bones aren't holding the motor up, it's still supported by the engine cradle and is bolted in to that. Basically they just keep the engine from rocking forwards and backwards when you're driving. When you're not driving they're not much more than decorations.

If you're doing the rear valve cover, you can hook a ratchet strap up between something on top of the engine and the radiator support and use it to lean the engine forward (after you've removed both dogbones). This gives you a ton of room to get in behind the engine to work.

ok kewl thankz yea this leak just started last nite when we started the car up after sitting all week. its leakin under the valve cover onto the exhaust manifold but i dont know why there is oil underneath the supercharger i mean i just changed the oil but i didnt think i spilled any old oil

Are you sure it's oil? Soak some up with a paper towel and see for sure. It's probably coolant- sounds like your lower intake manifold is going. They're bound to fail eventually on every L67 and usually leave dirty coolant puddles under the blower.

ok i will go up and check it out probably tonite or tomorrow since i live like 30 miles away from my mom and dads house. does everyone think its the wheel bearings going bad so i can tell my fiance to replace them. if the lower intake manifold gasket is going why would it leak on the exhaust manifold on the front

It could be dripping down around the valve covers and falling onto the mani.

The real question would be, if the valve covers are leaking..how would the oil travel up underneath the blower? Usually puddles of liquid under the blower are a failed LIM, but like 03SS said it's usually coolant and not oil (your coolant should be dexcool if it's still the original coolant..which is orange and tends to get brown and gunky when it ages).

Hope you get everything fixed and back on the road.
Good luck!

I have the same car as you do and my intake manifold gaskets were leaking when I bought the car last year at 87,800 miles. My valve cover gaskets were also leaking and my mechanic replaced them as well. My mechanic showed me the old IMG and it was just starting to come apart so I caught it just in time. How many miles on your car? If you do the IMG, get the new and improved gaskets from the dealer. They also have some improved valve cover gaskets.

Can't help you on the other problem. Good luck.

Wayne

Good idea. I forgot to put this in my last post. If you do end up doing the LIM gaskets, GM has an updated aluminum version. They aren't nearly as prone to being destroyed by coolant as the old plastic version was. I'm not sure if they still sell the plastic ones as L67 gaskets (the alum ones came on the L32 but are identical aside from the material), so double check them before you buy them.

-Riggs.

it is wiered how fluid drips to be honest with you bambi88 i had a 85 bmw 318i that i put all new gaskets and new head gasket on. the rear main seal was leaking but it was drippung from the front but how the flow of the fluid it driped from the front not the back. it is a odd thing on how some fluids drip and flow some times when there is a leak. i do hope all will go well and get it figuered and all together.

ok thankz everyone. how hard is it to do the LIMG because i dont have any money to take it to a shop since my fiance lost his job money is very tight. his car is broke too. the car has 97634 miles on it my father says thats too much for an 04 but i think its fine for a car that has been daily driven since i had it with 23 miles on it

That engine will go at least double the mileage you have on it now. My ex-wife had a 98 Grand Prix GT with the regular 3800 and it had over 200,000 miles on it when she got rid of it last year.

I don't think its that hard of a job but I didn't do my own because it was winter and I didn't have any place to work on it that was warm.

I spent about $105 on parts at the dealer and that was buying the intake gaskets, the two plastic elbows, the valve cover gaskets, and the gasket under the supercharger. My mechanic charged me $343 to do the job with him providing the coolant and me providing the oil and filter. My car currently has about 92,000 miles on it and runs great.

Wayne

well my father told me last nite that he was taking it to a shop on monday

Awesome LIM gasket replacement video (33mins long) (when I went to check the link, the video was giving me a "missing plugin" error, but wouldn't automatically update the plugin it needed. I was able to right click to save the video, and then open it with windows media player though...it's worth having the vid on my hard drive for future reference anyways)

LIM gasket replacement thread (with pics)

Overall the LIM gasket isn't too bad on these cars, but if you've never done a project like that at all you might want to have someone around that knows their way around an engine.

-Riggs.

my dad took it to the shop and got it fixed for me, it was the wheel bearings. and he went ahead and had the 100,000 mile maintenance done as well. he told me that in total he spent $1,300 to get everything done.

Wow thanks dad. I need a few things done to mine see if he wants to adopt me.:)

Hahahaha! Me too, i'm not too far from ya.:D:rolleyes::p