Hey all,
I just bought a monte 3 days ago and wanted to get some wierdness resolved. When I bought the car I noticed on the title it said cumulative damage 3660.00 but looking at my car I cant tell that anythings been wrong. And I bought the car through a used car lot, the guy selling it said it belonged to one of his mechanics across the street. Driving the car you usually cant notice any problems with the car until you hit about 65-70mph at which point it appears that the car...for lack of a better word...jitters. After you get it to jitter once it usually continues to do so until you park it and let it sit for a few moments. I'm not sure if I'm feeling transmission problems, perhaps a bad torq converter or what. So that's problem 1 I'm trying to rectify. Problem 2 is that at various intervals I notice some sharp almost rapping noises coming from the rear passenger part of the car and I'm assuming it is either a wheel bearing or perhaps shock/strut wierdness. After I get a chance to jack the car up and attempt to push the tire and check for play I will know more. my third problem is the engine temp. After driving about 5 miles in my del sol the car begins to warm up and get pretty toasty however in the monte the temp guage is constantly sitting below 110 degrees, and the heater never blows warm air. I was thinking that maybe since a mechanic owned the car previously that he perhaps drilled holes into the thermostat to help keep the car cool but I could be wrong. And finally and of course less importantly my stereo light does not come on. the lights on the steering wheel do for the controls but not on the stereo itself. Are they supposed to be and if so where is the bulb to replace to fix it. thank you for reading my lengthy post and for any help you all might have to offer.

 

I wanted to give an update about the heating issue and get some information about more lights that may or may not be out. As far as the heating goes, I let my car warm up for 30 mins and the needle moved from below the 110 degree marker where it normally hangs out to probably 130. Once I started driving it took about 5-10 mins before it went back to 110. Am I dealing with a sticking or missing thermostat here? On the lighting front, the gear indicator doesnt light up either, is it supposed to?

 

hey man, as far as the suspension its more than likely gonna be a hunting game. Im in the process of searching for the same types of noises on my 95.

As for the temp, I would assume it would be the thermostat. I was thinking bas sending unit or bad gauge until you said the heater never blows warm air. When the motor is cooled down, pop off the radiator cap and check the color of the coolant. if it looks like brownie batter, its more than likely clogged and needs to be flushed. It could also be an indication that your intake gaskets are leaking (VERY common). And if it is in fact the intake gasket thats causing all of this, go ahead and replace the thermostat while your in there. Its pretty tricky to get to without the lower plenum pulled off, and with the intake off its very simple to get to.

The gear indicator light should be lit when your lights (parking or h/l) are on. Im not sure if the bulb is servicable. and if I remember correctly, the bulbs in the radio are not replaceable. I work at a Chevy dealer and we basically just send it to a certified radio shop who tears it down and replaces the bulb. You could give it a shot, but unless I had a backup radio I wouldnt try it. Hope this helps, good luck to ya!

Spills

 

as far as the heat issues. I would say you have no T-stat or a low heat version of one.
Do you get no heat at all or just warm air but not enough to heat up the car to feel warm?
this is a verry commong thing done on these cars is to chang ethat t-stat out . from the factory they are pretty high and if you cna cool it of fit is a good way to lose some heat and gain some room for H.P.
as far as drilled i have ehard some folks do this also but honestly if your running to big of a hole in it it could become mroe harmfule then help ful. as it would nevr warm up properly and could casue other issues later donw the road . Idealy is to keep the temp consitant and have it not float to much . but you know how that is .


If you just dont have the radio lights and the dash lights come on then it is the radio it's self. If you cna soldier at all you cna replace them but they are not real fun to get to. just be real carefule on how you take it apart. theyuse a grain of wheat bulb. you should be abel to get one at Radio shack after you get it out so ya knwo what your looking for.

if your not getting any dash lights and the radio still plays music try turnign the dimmer back and foruth some. It is not uncommon fo rth edimmer to collect enough crap on it to break connection.
But the switch is then second thing to chec after the fuse.

 

Hey guys,
Great replies, thank you very much. Its crazy cold in iowa atm so I'm trying to put off doing too much to it until it warms up. I've went ahead and bought new spark plugs, and a new fuel filter. I think the next item on the shopping list is the thermostat and from the looks of it a new intake manifold gasket....per the hanes manual it appears you need to remove the intake manifold to get to the rear bank of plugs(better than the old tauruses which required you to almost pull the engine though, right?) The heater blows luke warm air even after driving for 20-30 mins. I've noticed that with highway driving I'm averaging 20mpg and I read I should be averaging 18-27(town/hwy) so hopefully the new fuel filter resolves this. the radiator does have a almost reddish color to it so I might spring for a prestone flush kit.

 

yeah if it is blowing luke warm air then most likely the culprate is a drilled or at least a lower T-Stat in there.
they are cheap. and it is nice ot have the car run cooler in the summer time . less issues with it over ehating etc...

 

If you have the 3.1 liter

You do not need to pull the intake manifold off to replace the plugs.

It sounds as if the thermostat is stuck open and is not allowing the the engine to reach full temp. From the sounds of it I would also recommand that you replace the coolant temp sensor at the same time as the thermostat. I hope the mechanic did not remove the thermostat for some odd know reason.

 

Hi,
Yea I was thinkin maybe the same thing, perhaps a drilled t-stat. It would be great in summer but when we're lookin at -20 degree temps I'd rather have the engine getting a little warmer so I dont turn into a greesemonkey popcycle. I have the 3.4L engine. I'll probably have the time today to at least give some basic investigation to the t-stat to see if it's drilled, or missing [sm=smiley22.gif]

Thanks again, you guys are awesome

 

I wanted to give you guys a small update. It's been crazy cold recently so any repair efforts have been put on the back burner for now but I was able to pull the thermostat housing and discover there was a t-stat there. I've also noticed that now that it's been getting really cold that It's been wanting to overheat...after letting the car sit usually it will go back to running very cool. I'm guessing it's a sticking t-stat. I'm still not liking the reddish colored anti freeze so my first order of business once it heats up is to give it a good flush and get new antifreeze in there as well as a t-stat replacement. Thanks again for your input

 

The 3.4 does have a couple bleeders in the coolant line, one above the water pump and one on the driver side on topin the same line. make sure you open them both while filling and to bleed the air after it warms up. Don't want any air pockets they can cause overheating also.