I consider myself pretty good with vehicles but have no experience with cars at all. Especially chevy's, I work on trucks quite a bit. Bought a 97 Monte carlo ls at a sale, got a good deal for it but it does not run good. has 160k miles. It is throwing a code. No power hardly at all when driving, it will idle but very rough, if you hit the accelerator slowly it increases RPM fine, but hit it hard and it really bogs down and throws a fit. Spark plugs look new. i just need to know some common problems and where to start.

How about the code, good starting point here?

Ditto..

got a code reader, checked codes and it gave me 1, well it said 2 but they were both the same. P0102 then it said, MAF or Vaf curcuit low input, I'm prett sure thats how it went. Not sure if it matters but I can't remember if either one of the 0's were O.s. I can double check if it matters. So whats this mean fellows?

Check the connector on the mass airflow sensor and make sure it's locked down and snug. Check the terminals inside the connector to make sure they aren't spread out enough to lose contact with the MAF terminals. Also, inspect the wires for chaffing or shorting. Remove the MAF from the intake tube and inspect the wires inside for damage. A hole in the MAF screen could indicate damage, and a faulty air filter. If all looks normal, you could have a faulty MAF. A good OBDII machine can monitor MAF operation, and is useful when doing "wiggle" tests where you wiggle the wires and connector while the engine is running.

well I feel like an idiot because I have the whole intake off of the vehicle. Wires disconnected too. But the check engine light was on before I did that, and it didn't give me any more codes.

My instructor gave me some good advice.. "You better know what's wrong with the vehicle before you even turn a bolt. Once you start dis-assembling, troubleshooting is over".. Get a new gasket set and put the intake back on..

I agree Corning. A friend of mine tore his engine apart and did a head gasket job because he had a miss and a hissing sound on one cylinder. He found out after the engine was back together that the cause was a bad spark plug. The porcelain had separated from the metal and it was losing compression through the crack.

Really? Wow, I've never seen that, makes sense though.

PSU927: It may be best that you removed the intake, as this gives you an excuse to change those horrible lower intake gaskets. Go for FELPRO, they have a permadry gasket that cures these da%# leaking intakes..

for clarification, I only removed the filter box and hose going to the intake manifold. How can I find out if the head gasket is bad? How about timing belt? Also, just so you know, the oil itself looks good, but the oil cap has like a slimpy, brownish colored substance on it.

Chain no belt, loosing coolant? overheating? exhaust vapors?

"You better know what's wrong with the vehicle before you even turn a bolt. Once you start dis-assembling, troubleshooting is over"..
Yes and no

i'm not sure what you mean by chain no belt. I don't think it is losing coolant, not sure on that. There is no exhaust smoke, but it is very gassy smelling. It is also over heating.

ok update guys, I hoked everything back up, erased all codes and ran the car. It then threw a code that said, cylinder 4 misfire. I tried switching plugs, and wires and erasing the code and that's the code it still gave me. And the cylinder does move up and down so it's not a onnecting rod. I'm guessing coil? All I want to do is get this car running and get my 900$ back out of it. BTW if I decided to put a whole engine in it, What all engines would bolt right in? In other words what other cars, (and the year of the car) had these engines?

i'm not sure what you mean by chain no belt. I don't think it is losing coolant, not sure on that. There is no exhaust smoke, but it is very gassy smelling. It is also over heating.
You said how about the the timing belt, I said chain no belt. (It has a chain not a timing belt), the overheat maybe the issue, possible intake gasket. Try a salvage yard, their interchange book will list your engine options. Misfire could also be a bad injector. But the o/h must be checked out first.

something else that might be significant, when I turn the car off, bubbles start coming through the antifreeze expansion tank. Also, I'm not sure but I think it smells strongly of gas. (the tank). BTW I really appreciate the patience and help

Bubbles in the coolant indicate a blown head gasket. In addition to your misfire issues and lack of power, it sounds as though you need your head gaskets replaced.

Bubbles in the coolant indicate a blown head gasket. In addition to your misfire issues and lack of power, it sounds as though you need your head gaskets replaced.

I don't think you ever said which engine you had, but this is common
on the 3.1. You had inquired about junkyard engines; you will find that
a lot of the cars are in the junkyard because of blown headgaskets
or intake manifold gaskets so you might be better off fixing the one
you've got. I might be crazy, but the space is so limited inside the
car and the engine so easy to pull (leaving transmission in place), I
would give serious consideration to pulling the engine to do the head
gaskets (and of course the intake manifold gasket which has to be
done as well at the same time).

i too am having problems with my 97 monte carlo and have no idea where to start it will run but when i shut the car off it takes some time for the car to start again i have to wait for cool down or something and i have replaced the starter on it once only 90k miles and i have no idea whats wrong although my grandfather says that im not getting voltage to the starter

Very vague description, does it crank over but not start, or not crank over at all? BTW, welcome to AF.

thank you max, the car will start only when it wants too, but if not the car doesnt turn over at all, the interior lights come on and nothing it just sits there i get no response, fyi ive been looking for a month to fix this car lol thank god someone knows more about it then me

for the statement above my mother was on another site and she got a reply saying that my problem could be the wire connecting the starter to the battery or it could also be the TCM no idea what that is could someone tell me what that might be please? thank you so much!