Just to introduce myself, I recently purchased a '01 Monte SS about 3 weeks ago. Looks in great shape and thought I got a great bargain, but have had a few problems since. The former owner kept up the interior & body but ignored important noises, etc., which I detected as soon as it was saftied & on the road. 1st being the throttle sticking, rear end roar with rear tire inside edge wear & tires out of round. Tie Rod showing wear and will need replacing soon. She sure is a nice looking car and people can't believe the age. Torch red & Galaxy grey trim.

 

Welcome to the Forum...

 

Welcome to the site

 

Hi Nictoria,welcome. It's a shame that some people just care about bling. We can help. Since the ball joint is worn out I assume the mileage is fairly high so there's some general maintenance needs, but to address your immediate problems; 1. Sticky throttle might be dirty throttle body causing throttle plate to stick, throttle cable or linkage, or throttle position sensor. 2. Rear end roar-brakes. 3. Tire wear-ball joints and/or trailing arm, repair should come with an alignment. 4.Tires out of round- car may have sat a while and will go away with miles or balancing. Keep us posted, after 10 posts you can post threads for more answers to questions.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum! Nice to have you join us. Congrats on your purchase, I'm sure you won't regret it and will have a lot of fun. If you ever have any questions - feel free to reach out.

 

This car was his daily driver, and the former owner is my best friend. He wouldn't let his wife to drive it. It never sat for more than an odd day here & there. It's the rear end that has the roar and the tires wearing on the inside edge and rear tires also out of round.
The car has 157,000 km (Canadian) or 97,555 miles. My mechanic says the tie rod ends are just showing signs of wear. Not a worry presently, but it will be a future repair. The throttle has been replaced, and the rear wheel bearings. He say the sound I hear is the tires out of round. I guess "roar" might not be an appropriate term. I don't really know? I'm female. Lol! He thinks the tires were never properly balanced causing them to go out of round. He says just run those tires out, there's no hope there. They are too worn on the inside edge. Too bad, they are nice looking Nokian's. There is no excessive Camber or castor.
Unfortunately, my buddy's mechanic proved to be a scam artist. Ripped him off for premium brakes & rotors and put on the cheapest crap. The brakes & rotors were shot in 11 months and my buddy is not an aggressive driver or hard on brakes. Then the jerk mechanic repalaced the gas lines here & there "Zip Tieing" it to the old lines. Told him he was getting special connectors to adapt the new plastic gas line to the old factory lines. What a lie! He used rubber hose & clamps! Not even gas compatible hose right next to the hot catalytic converter. But that has all been corrected.
I absolutely love my mechanic. Always lets me under my car to show me and explain any problems, answers all my questions and always gives me options. Do I want the top of the line part, OEM, or am I selling the car and just want the cheapest part available. Now he know me. Always the best or original equipment.
My buddy was particular in some ways....like replacing the driver's seat 4 times because the heated seat quit, the hide didn't match the passenger seat, or the leather was showing wear. He washed this car rain, shine, or well below zero temperatures including washing under neath and took it home to let it thaw in his garage every Friday without fail. The car is so clean under for a car from southern Ontario / Detroit area that my mechanic couldn't believe how clean the under side was.
Right now my want list is a more aggressive sounding exhaust. I want to take out the resonator and find a good sounding muffler. I am looking through the threads to see what you all have done. My husband thinks I should just run straight pipes. Where I am from, it is illegal to remove the catalytic converter. We have emissions testing bi-Annually.

 

Sorry for the long post. It looks like a wrote a short story instead of posting a reply on a forum.

 

Welcome to the group!

 

I'm back again. I decided to put on a stainless exhaust. Went with Solo mufflers. Fixed the rear end roar which was a alignment issue. Bought some nice chrome rims, used, but they were only used for less than 800 km. My Monte Carlo only has a few minor problems.

1- the idiot light always shows the radiator symbol. Even if I or my mechanic clear it, it is back very quickly. Not a thing wrong with the cooling system though. The local parts store has the identical car and said he has replaced the sensor 3 times on his and it only seems to last a few days to weeks and his light is back on. He said he can sell it to me, but he said he wouldn't bother and just keep an eye on your temperature gauge and coolant levels.

2- my head rest will not stay in the up position. Neither driver or passenger. The former owner never moved them. Am I doing something wrong? They stay up when it is parked, but driving down the road, they slowly sink back down with road vibration I assume.

 

Also a problem I have since fixed. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I am using the original owners tires which are great in tread depth and appearance as my winter tires. However when I purchased the chrome rims, I went to buy a new set of tires so I could have a complete set of winter and summer tires. The goof at the tire shop had so much trouble lifting my car according to him because of the factory ground effects, that they accidentally lifted my car by the trailing arm. His other excuse was my car is so rusted out that it was the only place he could find to lift it. If you read my introduction above, I did say my mechanic was shocked how clean the car was under neath. Everyone is. They all think it was stored. Since the original owner is my best friend I assure them it was driven daily in all manner of weather and washed every Friday even if it was sub freezing and took it home to thaw in his heated garage. So the tire guy is a liar. He bent my trailing arm and screwed up my alignment and the tire shop refused to accept responsibility. After a year long fight with their head office, I got $100 back.... So I am out that $
Question is, has anyone else ever had a garage / tire shop or other lift their Monte Carlo by the trailing arm? Or did I just happen to find the stupidest tire place in North America? You know I will never go back there and I left them a nasty review on a website.