Hi,

Lately it seems like our Monte Carlo (2002) has seen better days. The car goes on a pretty long commute every work day and we've found that we've had to add more oil very often (a quart at a time pretty often, not sure about specifics reguarding interval). We have also for a long time had a problem with what I assume is the breaks or rotors. When applying breaks the car feels like its shaking and I can feel the break pedal going up and down a bit. We've changed the rotors a while ago and that seemed to make the problem better but it didn't take long for it to come back. Is this normal?

Also, either immediatly after shifting to D and taking off and even a few times after moving a bit when I hit the "traction control" message appears and I can hear it making the same noise when the traction control actually needs to come on (snow etc). It has also done some other things that I can't describe well, but shifting hasn't been smooth and at some times it seems to shift "harder" than how it used to.

I'm sorry I can't describe all of our problems (that seem to keep piling up) better, I'm not very mechanically inclined (more of a computer person...) Any suggestions will be helpful. We are having the car's oil changed and I'm sure my dad (his car, not mine) will probably ask our mechanic about some of the other problems at the same time (he might be getting breaks looked at too). I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask some others who might know more about these problems that seem monte carlo related (quite a few somewhat close to but not quite the same threads on this site).


Thanks for any insight,
Jim

 

Try Lucas engine treatment for your oil consumption. All the Lucas products are great. It won't hurt. You didn't say if it leaks it or burns it. How many miles?

The traction control message comes on all the time for me, but rightly so. Might be a faulty speed sensor on the hub. Hubs aren't cheap, unfortunately.

Warped brake rotors are a real problem. Problem is most service tech's use an impact wrench to tighten your wheels. That is the worst thing you can do to your brake rotors. Any good tech will tell you to hand tighten to factory specs of 100 lbs. I know this first hand. I think I am fighting this issue again. Keeping a hard push on your brake pedal while stopped hurts too. Uneven heat distribution, and warpage, if you are in heavy traffic.

What kind of rotors did you put on? I prefer Powerslots, because they are plated and look good behind my wheels, and they are slotted to help with cooling. I have 60,000 mi. on these rotors and Hawk HPS pads. They came off my '01 SS LE. A little more money, but worth it long run. They have tons of life left.

You will have to turn your rotors now, because of the warpage. Probably only the front 2. Unless you bought cheap rotors, which can not be turned. You just throw them away. Cheap Chinese rotors. Buy some good ones, if you didn't before, cause replacing them again gets expensive.
But try the Hawk HPS pads. as replacements. Any performance parts houseshould have them, or online.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply, the car has 77000 miles on it, I'm not sure if the oil is being leaked or burned I'll have to talk to my dad (who drives.. its his car, I use it once in a while and I've been hearing him talk about this stuff).

The break thing is the most troublesome, since it started it never felt quite right again, and maybe when we bring the car in tomorrow we'll opt for better rotors instead of the cheaper ones I'm sure we have on there now.

Do you think that traction control being activated is going to cause a problem or its just something for us to ignore?


Jim