95 monte stall when headlights on and radio buzz

Hello,

The first symptom on my 95 monte carlo was that the radio would go from music to a buzzing noise and then back to music. This went on for a couple months. When driving home from work one night, the headlights started flickering...dim, regular, dim, regular. At the same time the enigine would run rough then normal. Also the tachometer and speedometer gauges were fluttering back and forth severley. After taking some advice I change the alternator....that didn't work. Then I changed the battery...that didn't work either. When I had the alternator tested, it was not putting out like it should have been. I also tested the battery after the alternator replacement and it was almost dead. We tested the volts coming from the new alternator and it's putting out good power to the battery.

Oh yeah, one more related issue. Sometimes when I turn the key to start the car, nothing will happen...no clicks, no nothing. Sometimes it starts right up. When it does start, I can drive it during the day with no issues except if I turn on the radio, then I get the buzz now and then.

Can anyone help? I am at a loss and don't have a ton of spare cash to take it to a mechanic. I have visually checked for loose wires, and didn't see anything obvious. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated:)

Thanks

Look close at engine and battery cable/ground connections.

Thanks for the advice. I'm sorry if I sound uninformed, but is it the negative (black wire connected to battery) that I should follow. Will this be connected to the engine block somewhere underneath? I will definately check this out.

Yes black also clean and check the cables on the battery, 5/16 wrench. If you have a security code lock out radio, do not disconnect battery if the red lite in the radio is flashing and you don't have the code.

I will check it out and post back here tomorrow. Thanks for the advice.

Here's the update...I traced the wires, and each and every one seemed like it had a good connection, but I've learned something very important!!....I started the car while doing a load test on the battery....the battery and alternator seem good still....I turned on the headlights, blinkers, and radio and after a few minutes the buzz came back and then the car started running rough and eventually stalled. I looked at the connections again, and found that the positive connection that is going to the "fuse box for the accessories" was really hot! The wire was hot, the bolt was hot. My Dad said that was not suppossed to be warm at all. The positive connection the battery was not warm at all. As I understand it, this tells me that there is a short somewhere along that connection. We are going to check into it further tomorrow. Have you ever heard of anything similar? If it would help, I took some digital photos that I can send. Thanks again for any and all advice...I will post tomorrow night when I learn more.

What was the solution to this problem????

My Monte is doing the same thing!


HELP!!

No answer yet...I was busy taking my girlfriend's 2001 Jetta to the shop to find out about $480.00 worth of repairs needed. I will get back to the 95 Monte tomorrow night for sure...I'll post for sure...whatever I find..

Still working on this problem, but I think it definatley lies within the connection to the accessories fuse box...hopefully will know more tonight....I'm starting to lose patience! Arrgghh!

I would run it until the acc. wire gets hot, then begin feeling fuses in the acc. box to find which one is hot. Whatever circuit it protects is the culprit.

I'll be looking at mine this weekend and try to determine the short/inconsistent ground. What a pain but this car is worth it.

I'm going to work on the car now...should know more by this afternoon...will post back;)

Adam

Seems to be a primary electrical issue.

Well...we checked all the fuses, and none of them got even remotley warm. We took them all out and cleaned each one...there was a lot of corrosion on each one. We also checked all the connections and the same probelm still exists...I have to take it in to get looked at by a professional now. This will probably be awhile, but I will post back with the answer when I find out. Good luck!

I made an appointment to get the Monte problem looked at on Friday. I will post back when I know more.

So what was the diagnosis??

My mechanic is stumped!!! He's looked at most everything. Any Luck with your Monte?

My mechanic is stumped!!! He's looked at most everything. Any Luck with your Monte?

I just got it back from the mechanic yesterday! It's fixed! Here's the deal.

The problem was on the back of the accessory fuse box (the fuses for the headlights, horn, radio, etc...) All the wires that went into the back (or bottom) of that box were corroded. They were so corroded that some of the connecters were actually broken at the ends. Because of this, it was pulling too much power from the alternater/battery, which was causing it to get hot.

In order to relace this box, he would have had to replace the entire wiring harness on the car. He knew some people at the dealership that were able to get him the end connectors for these wires and he basically cut the wires and re-fitted the ends with these new connectors. He had to do some finnagling to get everything hooked up correctly, but he solved the problem. Parts-$85.00 Labor-$225.00

I hope you can show this to your mechanic to give him another option. I can't say enough how pleased I am with the service by Brett at Alles Tire in Grand Haven, MI. He was very good at explaining everything to me and also taking the less expensive route to fixing the problem.

Now I just have to get the rear brakes, new tires, alignment, driver's side window, and rear view mirror fixed. I think I'll wait until spring for that stuff!

Hope this helps!

Adam

Glad to hear your up and running. That just shows you what years of road salt do to metal...

..that's true, it was pretty nasty under there. He greased everything up pretty well to try and delay corroding in the future. Hopefully, I won't have this car long enough to find out, I'm really not a huge fan of this car considering all the repairs that it has needed;)

I guess my old monte's been good to me. Only time i spent money on it is when i want to..