New member of the (automotive) family!

Joined
Sep 8, 2005
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Location
Canada
As I posted in another thread, wife and I recently moved to a small city to get a quieter pace of life. One 'problem' of small towns/cities is no public transport; so we have been considering getting a second car to deal with the 'awkwardness' of sharing one car on different schedules.
To make a long story simple; one of her cousins had a 2009 Pontiac G5 sedan that she inherited from another aunt that was starting to give her some problems; and with a new baby she decided to buy a new car and has passed the old one on to us. Can't beat free!
4-door sedan, 2.2 Ecotec, auto trans, 121K miles. Needs a tune-up and oil change; but runs great with NO ticking, rattling or knocking of any kind, so timing chain would seem to be sound. Oil is full, but almost black...no idea what is in it or when it was changed. Stoked about having another car to maintain oil on!
As is common with these cars in the salt belt the rockers are completely rotted away, but rest of body is very clean and mostly rust-free. BIL has a welder, and LOVES a challenge, so new ones will be bought and welded in. That is the 'big' thing; beyond that brakes need to be serviced, may need a ball joint, and there were some electrical issues, so all the fuses got pulled(?) so putting that all in will get done.
Not rushing this one, so I will update once it is on the road in 1-2 months(?).
The ironic thing is that when we were looking for a car and got our Kia Soul, our first choice was a Cobalt/G5; but we couldn't find one that wasn't rusted or had a botched rust repair, so we gave up on them. Wife really likes them as a car, so now she has one; when done, this will be 'her' car!
 
Mother-in-law had one of these-hers did best with the Hengst or AC Delco cartridge oil filters & a good HM oil like Valvoline Maxlife or Maxlife Synthetic-off brand oil filters seemed to get squashed and have wavy pleats. Hers actually was rust free, biggest issue was near constant TPMS failures, couldn't seem to keep them working right.
 
Just got rid of 06 Vue with 2.2 EcoTech that BCM went out. Engine leaked oil after change to PP. You have to oil oring for filter, put filter on cap then install or you will have a collapsed filter. Had AC problems at idle but not going down the road. Engine and transmission was never taken apart in 130000 miles.
 
Yep, know that engine well....

3 of the 4 rides at my house have the 2,2 ecotec. And even at 151k (03 Cav) burns no oil and still runs on a regular syn...

Even after trying others, I simply stick with the Delco filters- always do well in these cars.....
 
Well, after a LOT longer than planned, its on the road!

BIL and I welded new rockers on it last fall; got a new coil in it to fix a misfire we thought was bad gas; got a ball joint and a broken strut replaced, and got it through a safety.

Filled it up today with ESSO Supreme 91 and a bottle of Gumout Regane HM cleaner; and will change the oil on Sunday with some Motomaster 10W-30 and a QS cartridge filter.

Will fix up other nagging things as we go along, and see how it does over the next 1-2 years. Kinda excited about a 'new' car, lol!
 
As a follow up to this, the car just rolled 300,000km on the way to work the other day!
3 years doing a 75/mile r/t commute, car is still basically going strong, just getting rustier.
Engine still runs like a top and burns no oil at all; trans is starting to shift a bit rough but still works. AC still blows ice cold as well!
 
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