GM Credit & Sunfire Question

[StevieC]

My aunt who I stayed with in Ottawa for the last couple days while I was down there on business has a 2004 Sunfire.

The car has 240K KM's (150K miles) and it runs great. The A/C is still working and it passes the E-Test with flying colours.

She changes the oil every 15,000km's (9400 miles) with dealer bulk dino which is Q.S. 5w30 and an A/C delco filter

The struts are gone and she is just going to live with them because she drives mainly back country roads from her house to work in Ottawa.

All the door locks are rusted and sticking and the car is rusting pretty good because she hasn't had it undercoated but otherwise is fine.

She has never changed her transmission fluid

and I told her to not bother now as she could cause more damage than good. Trans shifts great though...

The CEL was on so I scanned it and got P-Code 0455 which seems to be a common problem and point to the EVAP system. She is going to check it out next visit to her mechanic.

These cars and the cheapest of the cheap from GM at this time and it has seemed to hold together pretty well so it makes me wonder if the quality had in-fact been getting better in years or this was just a one-off. (No Bashing Please)

Steve

 

[Cutehumor]

she probably has an ecotec. the engine/trans combo were reliable. you didn't have to worry about the intake gasket eaters that GM made as it only affected the V-6 engines and some V-8 engines. If you want refined with no piston slap, most folks looked elsewhere. these are good used cars to buy if you can find them not abused

 

[mechanicx]

Well GM quality was never as bad as some seem to think. Even the first model '95 Cavalier and Sunfires were pretty reliable. The later models like '04 were probably even better. If you are going to keep the car indefinitely, I would recommended a trans pan drop. I've seen more higher milage automatic transmission work better after a fluid change than not.

 

[beast3300]

I see these things all the time. The Cavalier/Sunfire driven by all sorts of age groups. Some in high school, some elderly. And aside from the gas lines, brake lines, and body rusting out they seem pretty reliable. Underpowered (unless equiped with 2.4 twin cam or 2.2 Ecotec)but, pretty good economy kinda cars.

 

[StevieC]

She doesn't have a lot of money because of the financial situation my uncle left her in when he took off. (Long story) so every penny she doesn't have to spend she doesn't.

The car is rusted enough that it doesn't make sense to risk a trans flush. There is also probably some gunk in the engine with the extended OCI's she's running on dino which will more than likely catch up with her as well so it kinda negates doing anything with this car other than driving it into the ground.

I was impressed that the alternator is original because I haven't seen a GM vehicle keep theirs that long normally.

Steve

 

[addyguy]

AFAIK, the transmission fluid has bnever been changed on my 2002 Cavalier, and it has 147k miles on it now. However, it IS starting to shift badly and slip, so it's nearly done.

Currently at about 14k miles on a fill of oil, with 1 quart top-off - no leaks, no smoke, no valve or timing chain noise. Just a bit of piston slap for the first little while.

These cars are tough, and will one day bee seen in the same light as slant-6 Mopars are now...bulletproof!

 

[mechanicx]

Well then it might not be worth it to change the transmission fluid if the budget is tight and the car is rusted, but I don't see it as a risk. I'd see it as about ~$40 well spent if you DIY. I'd see running the same old fluid and filter more of a risk. I don't know that GM's alternators are really less reliable than others but an alternator lasting over 100k is pretty good.

 

[StevieC]

GM's alternators seem to be far less reliable from the ones I have seen/changed and it seems to span their whole product line not just particular models.

Honda also seems to be bad as well.

Hyundai, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota and other "foreign" makes all seem to last the longest.

I had 320K KM's (192K miles) on my Valero alternator and I was able to just change the brushes and it's working great and was a cheap fix.

 

[StevieC]

Anyways... for the GM heads... Anyone get this P-Code before and know what it is?

I have heard everything from bad gas cap, to bad EVAP system to leaking vacuum hose on the top of the gas-tank etc.

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Well GM quality was never as bad as some seem to think. {snip}


A big +1 on this.

I will not deny that the imports gave the domestics a needed wake-up call, but IMHO the quality has been much better than some of the import-crowd would like us to believe. Heck both my '75 and '79 Impalas gave me over 10 years of service, the '79 still running when I sold it. The '75 was good enough for someone to steal it for parts, otherwise it, too, would have been running when I got rid of it....

 

[StevieC]

Um... There was no complaints about 70's models not being reliable... It's been in the last 20 years that GM has been brainless.

 

[opus1]

Do they check the gas-cap as part of the emissions testing? If not, it may be as simple as a bad cap, or one that isn't on tight enough. The newer cars will indicate if the code is being set by a loose cap, but on the older models, all they do is turn on the CEL, AFAIK.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
...it has seemed to hold together pretty well so it makes me wonder if the quality had in-fact been getting better in years or this was just a one-off.


That my friend is the very definition of "[censored] with faint praise".

 

[sciphi]

GM never was given the credit due them. Yeah, their interiors were cheesy. No, they never were the best at anything. Except surviving, being cheap to buy, and being cheap to fix. GM cars survive things that put other cars into the scrapyards. And they're cheap to fix since there are millions of others just like it on the roads.

Having several GM products in the family right now, none of which is newer than 10 years old, for the amount we use these cars they've held up very well. And, they are fairly cheap to fix.

As some unknown pundit once said, "A GM will run poorly longer than other cars will run period."

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Um... There was no complaints about 70's models not being reliable... It's been in the last 20 years that GM has been brainless.
Well, I had an '89 and '99 that would tend to counter that argument, but I don't want to go OT here....

anyway, like I said earlier, I'd probably check the gas-cap first.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: opus1
Do they check the gas-cap as part of the emissions testing? If not, it may be as simple as a bad cap, or one that isn't on tight enough. The newer cars will indicate if the code is being set by a loose cap, but on the older models, all they do is turn on the CEL, AFAIK.
They are supposed to but most of the E-Testers are lazy and use the calibration cap from the drawer instead. She has had it replaced because the dealership had told her most likely that is what it was. It didn't correct the light so I'm thinking it's not this...

 

[beast3300]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Anyways... for the GM heads... Anyone get this P-Code before and know what it is?

I have heard everything from bad gas cap, to bad EVAP system to leaking vacuum hose on the top of the gas-tank etc.



It could be a evap leak. However, check the vent solenoid and the wiring that goes to it. The vent solenoid is located between the rear axle and the gas tank. It is bolted to the body. The wiring harness that goes from the floor board to the vent solinoid are common failures. The wires break at the plug so repairing the wiring is difficult.

Both the vent solenoid and harness are pretty inexpensive is usually on the shelf at a local GM dealer.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Um... There was no complaints about 70's models not being reliable... It's been in the last 20 years that GM has been brainless.


My brother has an '89 cutlass that is his daily driver. GM cars have actually been pretty good about the last 10-15 years. There was some problem model in some of the of the late 90's and the leaky IMG and you would have to go back to the mid 80 to mid 90's and there the problem was more interior and trim than anything.

 

[StevieC]

Thanks... Will have her mechanic check that out.

 

[The_Jeff]

my coworker has a 98 sunfire that he completely ignores and abuses and it keeps coming back for more. I think the oil change I gave him 2 years ago is still in it.

He ran the brakes down to metal, you should have seen the ABS sensors; they were little furry porcupines from all the shards. Yet it never threw a code.

I parted one out and it's a little wierd with all the engine bracing around the starter that looks like an 11th hour tack-on. Gives the impression that the engine was originally intended for something else. And I would not want to be in a wreck in one-- under the bumper skin, nope, not metal-- the PCM hiding there!