Yes, the ongoing saga of my hunt for a cheap car may be coming to an end in a few hours. I spied a 95-96 (not sure) 2 door 5 speed Sunfire for sale yesterday. $700 OBO. Glass, suspension, tires, exhaust, floor and most of the body is good, except for one rusted spot on the left rear quarter panel about the size of a 1 dollar bill. Strange why that one spot would rust and the rest of the car didn't. Anyway, I was just over there today about 2 hours ago to have another look at it and take it for a spin. I fired it up, and for a second or 2 it idled a bit rough, but it smoothed out within a few seconds. The check engine light is on. I took it down the road for a quick spin. Clutch and shifter are good, brakes are strong (rear brakes are a bit grabby), ABS seems to work, suspension is good and the horn works too. The engine does make a bit of noise while driving, sorta sounds like a slack lifter or something. Weren't the 2.2's known for a bit of noise anyway? I got back from my little drive and pulled the car back into the owner's yard. When my old man gets home from work, I'm gonna drag him over to the car to get his opinion on the rusty spot. He's a certified welder and if he says it's not too bad and he can repair it then I'm gonna buy the car. I called the car's owner and he's going to hold it for me for a few hours til I get back there. Oh yes, the car comes with a full tank of gas too! That's worth 50 bucks or so on it's own!
I may have found myself a car...
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55, we don't have $1.00 bills. We have loonies.
Is the rust spot the size of a loonie or a $5.00 bill ??
How many clicks on this thing ... sounds like a fixer-upper
P.B.
Is the rust spot the size of a loonie or a $5.00 bill ??
How many clicks on this thing ... sounds like a fixer-upper
P.B.
Lol, yeah about the size of a 5 dollar bill then
The car has 243000 kms on it. Depending on how the headgasket is, there's probably 40-60,000 kms left on it. I usually don't keep cars for more than a year anyway so I'll probably put what parts it needs into it then drive it til either it dies or I get sick of it and get rid of it. I hope the gas mileage is good on it.
I drive a 2002 Cavalier with a 2.2 OHV, and it has been great so far. I agree that the OHV GM 4's tend to make a bit of noise as they get older, and it can be from lots of things - I had a 1985 Buick Skyhawk with the 2.0 version of this engine, and it make a horrible clacking noise while running, and it turned out it was a cracked exhaust manifold!
Sounds like not-bad deal, for a beater!
Sounds like not-bad deal, for a beater!
My friend has a green 1997 Pontiac Sunfire. The thing is a tank... It has 130,000 miles on it and has barely any rust. He still races Saturns in it and wins. He has hit two deer, totaled another car, and ditches it at least 5 times every winter. The car still runs great.
That is why I bought my 2004 Sunfire.
At 51,000 miles still going strong with insane used oil analysis.
That is why I bought my 2004 Sunfire.
The car is bought and paid for! I was talking about the car with it's former owner, he said he's put a new gas tank, new starter, battery is 1 year old, brakes are 2 years old, clutch is about a year old and some other stuff. It's gonna need some body work and an inner tierod and some other small things (trunk lock, horn, antenna) but for 500 bucks, Canadian, I think I got a deal. The ABS even works! And it came with a full tank of gas! The previous owner did say that he thinks the headgasket is starting to seep (
), but he said it doesn't use any coolant between oil changes. I'll go pick up some of those coolant tabs from the GM dealership in town and put them in the coolant tank and hopefully that'll put headgasket failure a long way down the road. As soon as I find the data cable for my digital camera, I'll upload some pics. Oh, and actually the car is a 96.
Sounds like a real buy, 55. Retrieve the codes and post them here, maybe we can help you get the MIL turned off..... with any luck it's only a bad O2 sensor.
Very nice! Congrats on your new vehicle! I get 36-40mpg on my trips to work. My friend's 1997 sunfire gets 32mpg even at 130,000 miles.
Hmm, good question. I was looking over a big stack of receipts that were in the glovebox when I brought the car home. It's had fairly regular oil changes, all apparently performed at Canadian Tire with Castrol GTX 5w30, and I assume a Canadian Tire oil filter. The guy I bought the car from told me he changed the oil every 5000km or so, and the engine used maybe 3/4 to 1 quart of oil between changes. I'd like to go with a synthetic oil, but I can't really decide what to use. Maybe GC?quote:
Originally posted by addyguy:
Ahhh...but the important question - what oil are you gonna run in it?
You're gonna run GC in a $700, 151,000 mile car that uses oil?
Wow, you really *are* a BITOGer!
About the GC: OK, but I suspect that a continued diet of Castrol GTX 5/10w30 would do just fine. Good luck, hope you like this one better than the last one- that was a Crown Vic, yes?
About the GC: OK, but I suspect that a continued diet of Castrol GTX 5/10w30 would do just fine. Good luck, hope you like this one better than the last one- that was a Crown Vic, yes?
Lol, it was actually a 500 dollar car
JHZR2
Staff member
yeah... cant imagine the code is anything that bad that folks on here with their wealth of knowledge cant explain how to fix...
None of the stuffyou mention it needs sounds very hard to fix... just get it alligned after putting the tierod on!
JMH
None of the stuffyou mention it needs sounds very hard to fix... just get it alligned after putting the tierod on!
JMH
And here are the pics I promised. The quality isn't too good, it's only a cheap 50 dollar digital camera. When I find my good camera I will take better pictures.
http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/Infinitrium/500 dollar 96 Sunfire/
7 pics and 2 videos. Videos are somewhat large (3.47 and 1.6 mb in size) so 56K'ers, be patient.
http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/Infinitrium/500 dollar 96 Sunfire/
7 pics and 2 videos. Videos are somewhat large (3.47 and 1.6 mb in size) so 56K'ers, be patient.
Very nice! Looks exactly like my friend's green sunfire without the dents and cracked windshield
If you think a lifter or two is sticking, pour a quart of Marvel Mystery oil in it and run it for 500 miles. Then change the oil to a blend for 3-4k miles.
I poured my last bottle of SLOB into the oil a few days ago, so no more additives til I change the oil. It's really only noisy from a cold start til it's warmed up, then it's almost silent. I've read that the 2.2's sometimes have oiling problems, lifters or rockers losing lubrication seems to be the main problem. It happened to a guy in town with a 2000 Cavalier who had put in a brand new 2.2 crate motor from Napa and it only had 44000 kms on it. Would ARX help prevent that from happening to me?
Yes, the Sunfire's 2.2L engine is very loud at startup. This engine requires a warmup before you start racing down the freeway. I usually let my engine idle for 30 seconds or so - or until it gets below 1,000 RPM - in winter it takes longer.
I ALWAYS wait till the engine is up to full operating temperature before I start going in high RPMs/high engine load. Once the engine is up to operating temperatures the thing is really nice and quiet.
I think a lot of guys here would recommend an ARX treatment or two. If you are brave, Synthetic would probably help the noise a lot.
Oh - in my experience with pre-Ecotec and Ecotec 2.2L engines - they seem to like heavier oil. With Amsoil's 5w30HDD the startup was noticably quiet'er and moving through the RPM band was smoother. My 2004 Sunfire's Manual says to use 10w30 in >0F temperatures. In Europe I've been told our cars recommend 5w40.
I ALWAYS wait till the engine is up to full operating temperature before I start going in high RPMs/high engine load. Once the engine is up to operating temperatures the thing is really nice and quiet.
I think a lot of guys here would recommend an ARX treatment or two. If you are brave, Synthetic would probably help the noise a lot.
Oh - in my experience with pre-Ecotec and Ecotec 2.2L engines - they seem to like heavier oil. With Amsoil's 5w30HDD the startup was noticably quiet'er and moving through the RPM band was smoother. My 2004 Sunfire's Manual says to use 10w30 in >0F temperatures. In Europe I've been told our cars recommend 5w40.
0w40 XD3 here I come! Hmm, I wonder what the Toyota Cavalier's in Japan use..
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