Hello everyone. We just acquired a 2004 monte carlo ss with 57k miles, it was my wife's grand mothers and she got a new car because the steering rack needs to be replaced and it has a battery drain issue.

It hadn't been started for 8 months or so and they gave it to us so I went and picked it up. I started messing with it today and I put a brand new battery in it. It starts up but if I don't give it gas it will die but it runs great doesn't seem to surge or anything when I'm on the gas. I'm gonna put 5 gallons of gas in it with some injector cleaner and see if that helps. When I was driving it the rpm gauge and speedo would go to 0 then back to the speed I was going and the battery light would flash along with the traction control and abs. Any ideas where I should start? Seems like it might be a ground or gauge cluster but the idle seems like something else but it seems to run pretty good. Also the rack is bad it doesn't have any power steering and doesn't whine at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Joe

 

Check all of the vacuum lines for leaks. That is a great start for the idle. Then check the alternator for the power issue. .