New owner of a 2005 Montana SV6

[hundey]

I just traded my pickup truck for a 2005 Montana and a pile of cash to pay off the ex-wife

I live in Toronto, where is the best place to take my new ride for its regular oilchanges/maintenance?

also are there any cheap mods to improve fuel economy/performance?

Thanks

Scott

P.S. My first car was a 88 Pontiac 6000LE 2.8L V6 in black with grey trim, alloys with tiger-paw radials

[havoc1482]

Welcome to Forever Pontiac!

[Ghost]

welcome!

[markpetersonii]

Welcome! I believe we have a Toronto guy on here. Also, a couple Montana guys.

[Jedi3]

[Ringo64]

[havoc1482]

Welcome! I believe we have a Toronto guy on here. Also, a couple Montana guys.

This statement can be misleading

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Welcome, n00b.

[markpetersonii]

This statement can be misleading

This is true...

[killerspeed101]

i daily drive a sv6. and im from niagara . id say for maitnence use the gm dealer . and

[Frosty]

I just traded my pickup truck for a 2005 Montana and a pile of cash to pay off the ex-wife

I live in Toronto, where is the best place to take my new ride for its regular oilchanges/maintenance?

also are there any cheap mods to improve fuel economy/performance?

Thanks

Scott

P.S. My first car was a 88 Pontiac 6000LE 2.8L V6 in black with grey trim, alloys with tiger-paw radials

I would recommend your local GM dealer unless the vehicle has high mileage (over 100K on it). First, keep your tires to the proper recommended air pressure, under inflated tires waste gas. Tire pressure changes with temperature too (Boil's Law). So check your tires frequently through out the year. Proper wheel alignment (front and back) and tire wear will also avoid wasting gas.

Assuming you have a 3400 or 3800, the typical, relatively inexpensive driveway mods can produce some modest performance and economy gains. A re-usable performance air filter like K&N to replace the stock paper one will help the motor breath a tad bit better (or go all the way with an entire cold air kit). A new set of performance spark plugs like E3 plugs (although changing them can sometimes be a bear) will help burn the fuel. I also suggest replacing all your drivetrain fluids with synthetic fluids. This includes engine and tranny oil, as well as differential fluid and transfer case fluid (if you have an AWD version or a 4x4 vehicle). This will do the most to minimize friction in your drivetrain.

Depending on the state or mileage of the vehicle, then a performance CAT back exhuast system could help it exhale better. You could replace the stock catalytic converters with performance one at that time as well. I would consider doing this only if you foresee the need to replace the muffler in the near future. Otherwise leave the stock exhaust alone until you need to repair or replace it.

If you are close to your 100Km/100M maintenance (check the owner's manual maintenance schedule), I would consider replacing the ignition coil packs and spark plug wires with performance ones from MSD, Accel, and such when they are due to be replaced.

Finally you can buy a computer tuner from Hypertech, SuperChips, and others to give your ECM a different performance or economy tune. It will re-flash your computer for performance or economy, and it will save your OEM tune in case you want to put it back to stock when having it serviced or you want to sell the vehicle.

All the things I've mentioned are more expensive parts than perhaps the stock replacement. But they are relatively inexpensive compared to a complete overhaul maintenance or rebuilds. Also, you can do this stuff when you have the time and/or the money to do it.

You might want to chat with Notallthere offline too. I know he has a line on getting discounted performance parts in Canada. He lives in Sarnia.

Oh - and welcome to FP.

[killerspeed101]

Go cold air and their is a guy known on some grand prix forums and im preatty sure he can tune you van he is located in whitby that would be rid of the hesitation and give you better throttle response. and like frosty said go full synthetic . i would love to see the progress and if you need some ideas their a another person on this forum with a sv6 and he put dual exhaust and a custom made cold air intake.

[Frosty]

Go cold air and their is a guy known on some grand prix forums and im preatty sure he can tune you van he is located in whitby that would be rid of the hesitation and give you better throttle response. and like frosty said go full synthetic . i would love to see the progress and if you need some ideas their a another person on this forum with a sv6 and he put dual exhaust and a custom made cold air intake.

Just as a means of comparision, I have a 2004 Chevy Avalanche 5.3L V8 4WD drive as my daily driver. It got about 13-15 MPG best case. With the K&N air filter, spark plugs and full synethic oils, I am averaging 16 MPG city/hwy combined. I want to purchase the ECM tuner but I am coming up on 100K miles so I will need to spring for the coil packs and plug wires first. Plus most of my performance parts money goes into my Lemans.

[hundey]

Wow you guys are amazing!

Thanks!

[95GTP]

Hey, my wife drives a 2005 SV6! Silver, we bought it about 4 years ago. We love it but the power sliding doors are a pain- the driver's side is out of cal or something, it won't power open or close properly, and it sounds the door chime constantly. Had to pull the radio fuse to silence it. Also the OnStar quit. Next month we'll have the money to get it fixed.

We love this thing on the highway, great mileage. I like how stable it is- you sit pretty high up but it never feels tippy in turns.

One of these days I'll put an open cone air filter on it, maybe a Cherry Bomb muffler with a nice chrome tip, just to set her apart. Enjoy, TTYL.

-Gus