I have an 02 Monte Carlo. All within the past week I have no heat, the car is overheating, and when I first start driving I have no power steering, but it kicks in after a bit. The first two make me think its the water pump, but what about the power steering? Could all three be related?

 

Well if your bearing is bad on the water pump it could cause belt issues, or your belt could be not tensioned correctly.

 

On older/higher miles cars, I have had times in EXTREME cold where the power steering did not function properly until the car warmed up. I assume contaminants in the fluid where to blame (such as possible moisture from condensation).

As for your heat, step 1, open the radiator cap and make SURE you have fluid in the radiator (not the plastic overflow bottle). If there is no coolant here, it explains BOTH the overheating and lack of heat. If not, you need to find out where it's leaking.

Step #2, if you have the proper amount of coolant, probably time to change the thermostat (being stuck open can explain no heat, but not the overheating).

 

I do have a slow leak of some sort, but even when the resevoir is full my car is still overheating/doesn't have heat.

 

Yeah I'm going to go with a bad tensioner on this one. Heat and steering a problem at the same time. How's your battery level?

 

My 02 just started doing the she exact thing Saturday. I bought the car a out a week ago, been driving it fine only things wrong were the dash lights I have to jiggle the dimmer **** for them to come on but the abs light is on. I noticed he had put the wrong tire size on the front wheels (205/60/16) I switched to the correct tires now it handles a little tighter. But it still drove strong I went out that night everything good but when I was on my way home the temp gauge went up and I noticed the car smoking. I added some coolant but still seems to be having the issue you described.

 

If you have a leak the cooling system will not be able to siphon coolant from the reservoir into the radiator. You may see coolant in the reservoir, but that doesn't mean the radiator is full. Repair the leak, refill the cooling system and see if the overheating problem goes away and your heat returns.

Have you checked the power steering fluid lately? If it is low it would take a few seconds for the pump to obtain pressure in the system and the steering to feel 'normal'.

A thermostat that is stuck open (or worse yet no thermostat at all) can definitely cause overheating. It isn't as common during colder months, but can be the cause of overheating during warmer months. When the thermostat sticks open the coolant is constantly circulating without restriction. The coolant doesn't stay in the engine block long enough to efficiently absorb heat, and it doesn't stay in the radiator long enough to cool efficiently. A lot of people have the misconception that removing the thermostat will prevent an engine from overheating, but they are actually increasing the chance of overheating occurring.