There are a few places that will replace the stepper motors in the instrument cluster. These guys, for example, are on ebay, sell the motors (the new improved ones) and can do the replacement for a pretty decent price. The only problem is that you need to take off and reinstall the cluster, which by the way is super easy if you have the manual.

1) 02 03 04 05 06 MONTE CARLO CLUSTER GM STEPPER MOTOR | eBay

 

welcome

 

Welcome!

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. But Welcome to a great site. Plenty of help on here. Let us know what you find out. Rick

 

welcome...hopefully its an easy fix

 

I would go to the dealer and see if there is a recall. Also if it is getting that hot for that what ever amount of time you are using it I would think there would have at some point lifted radiator and would some fluid on the ground so guess it could be the gauge good luck

 

Welcome to the Forum!

 

Welcome to the forum Linds.

Does the temp guage in these pictures look familiar?








That was my temp guage from a few years ago. Scared the crap out of me too when I first saw it. In the second picture, the needle went past the red mark and almost wrapped all the way around.

Something to keep in mind... If the engine really was overheating, the "Message Center" in the RPM guage would've lit up with a warning light and the car's chimes would've made noise to call your attention to your guage cluster. When a guage goes bad, you don't get the warning light and chime.

The guages on the 2000-2005 Monte's are known for going bad like that. Many people were lucky to have it happen during the warranty, and got the entire guage cluster replaced for free.

It's perfectly safe to drive the car with a faulty guage. But I would get it replaced as soon as possible. Since the guages are there so you can see a problem happening before it gets the point of being too late.

You now have a choice. You can either replace the entire guage cluster, or replace just the bad guages individually. Both choices are not something you want to do personally unless you're familiar with taking a car's dash apart.

Most people simply go to the dealer and let them take care of it. If they do it, they will replace the entire guage cluster, program the new one with your correct mileage, and send your old guage cluster back as a core charge. You will have to pay for the part and labor. Not sure what GM dealers in your area charge for labor. But here in Canada where I am, the current rate is around $100 per hour.

If you (or someone you know) is capable of replacing it yourself, you'll save the labor charges of course. But your mileage will be wrong. The mileage is something a dealer has to program (legal thing). Many people look for a used guage cluster with mileage close to theirs.

If one or two of your guages have failed, the rest will most likely fail too. So if you decide to open yours up and replace the individual guages, I would replace them all. To save me from having to go through the same thing a few months down the road.

Let us know what you decide.

 

Yep probaly going to have the rest of your gauges go soon.All mine but rpm gauge when,i got a cluster at a local parts yard for 25 bucks!!

 

Welcome to the MCF. Crappy guages seem to be a Monte thing. The ones in my 81 were trash too. I replaced them with used but looked at a ton of cars in junk yards to find a decent set.