1998 3.1 Monte Carlo
Hello everyone,
I was hoping to find someone who has troubleshooted these 2 particular issues at some point. My 1st issue is that my car started losing power and just shutting down. This happened at first when it was humid or especially raining outside. Now it happens every week. My car has both a new battery and alternator and is still losing all of its charge and appears dead every week or so. I charge it, but will eventually lose it and my car won't start.

The other issue is my radio won't turn on, I mean no lights at all. I was trying to program an after market fob "key lock pad" by sticking a paper clip into the Pin diagnostic connector. I appear to have messed something up lol. I heard a lil pop and it smelled like something shorted or fried. I've checked all the blue 15 amp fuses by the passenger door and the 10 volt in the back of the Kenwood deck unit, which is new as well.

Any ideas would be much much appreciated.

thanks,
Ted

 

The 1998 Monte is ODB-II, never stick a paper clip into the ODB-II port. Methods using a paper clip in the diagnostic port were for older cars (possibly ODB-I, maybe earlier, I know I've had cars from the 90's that you did that with).

Odds are you did short something out. Hopefully it's as simple as a blown fuse. I'm not sure how many fuse panels your '98 has. I know my '04 has one both sides of the dash (only accessible when opening the doors and and pulling the covers off) and one under the hood. Best I can currently recommend, check all fuse panels (your owner's manual should tell you where they are all at).

 

Hi Maniac,
Thanks for the response. I checked all the fuses under the hood and on the passenger door side. I also wanted to add 1 more problem lol to my 2 others. When I changed the serpentine belt and alternator it created a bad rattling. I believe its one of the wheels that makes the belt go. It doesn't appear to be able to be tightened. I'm not sure if its the tensioner pulley. Back to the radio going out. Is there anything else I could have ruined when I so brilliantly put a paper clip on the PIN diagnostic port?
thanks,
Ted

 

Check that, both fuse panel boxes under the hood plus the 1 on inside of passenger door jam.

 

Ok, so my radio has no power to it. It is 3 weeks old, installed by Best Buy. I ingeniously tried to program an after market key lock by sticking a paper clip into the Diagnostic PIN port ( i read this method online), I smelled something burning and I think i heard a pop. Everything else works and I've checked all 3 fuse boxes twice. Is there anything else that could be wrong? Thanks in advance!

 

Bump*

Ok, so radio is all good. Checked the fuses once again outside in "good" light. Feel silly admitting I missed it twice inside the garage.

Now, back to my still existent problem... NO power at all after only a little bit of functioning after a full battery charge. Note: new battery, new alternator. Going to get a new bolt for + terminal to battery, old one is really long and needed washers to get a tight fit. It has the head lamps on constantly when the vehicle is in the on position. Could that be a constant power draw? It had after market lamps in the front quarter panels which I took out and I believe I got all the wire out so hopefully no grounding by old wires and bondo over the holes. My taillights do not work either, they have good bulbs, I checked. Didn't know if that might be a symptom. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Ted

 

Wow that has some issues?

When You want to do the new Key Fob remote, go to the trunk and on the right side as you are looking in or the Passenger side. There should be a white connector on the area near the rear fender, under the rug. To program the remote take a single wire and insert it into the white connector run the other end to the trunk latch hook and ground it.
Then operate the buttons on the Remote and you will hear them operate the door latches. It is now programed.
If it doesn't work the first time keep playing with it.

The Tensioners can go south on these things so you might need to replace it.
I once had 3 alternators put in the car before we got a good one.

If you want a Stock radio you can probably find one in a salvage yard or on Ebay for sure.
You may also want to just replace the Bat. cables instead of the bolts sometimes the things are just bad. I did that once and it was all good.
There are 2 things to check on these that will cause the car problems and that is the Vacuum lines, there is a big one about 1/2 in. dia. that runs from the engine to the area near the master Cyl. if that comes loose it will not run but a little bit.
I attached a photo for reference it is the thicker one behind the alternator.

The next thing is the Catalytic converter. They will usually go bad near 100K or so and just plug up.
Fuel filter is under the passenger seat on the outside of the under carriage should be changed every 25K or so. Use the correct wrench so you don't twist the Tubing for the Gas flow. You do that and you have a problem use a golf tee to temporarily plug the line.

My son got a 98 Monte for his 17th Birthday this was my training car as he tried to ruin everything, that's what he did, little sh*t. Then I got a 99Monte and he asked to drive it several times. I think I let him take it to Prom one year, that was it.
Hope this helps, good luck.

 

Thanks a lot drivernumber3 !

Update, my power problem hopefully was solved with a bad ground and the little cable from the back of the alternator to the vehicle was severed badly. The shaking and rattling was fixed by tightening the tensioner a little better. Patience and slowing down while working on my car would have been huge. Hindsight is 20/20. Now, some things that need to be done now that I've been informed of and would like advice on.
1. Left and right lower ball joints
2. Left front wheel bearing
3. Left outer tie rod.
4. O2 sensor fail
5. Cyl 6 missifire

Any advice is greatly appreciated in advance. Like what to look out for or what might help ie tool wise to use or whatever. Thanks everyone!