Author Topic: 2001 Cavalier please help! (Read 12592 times)

driver02 · « **on:** January 03, 2006, 08:31:54 pm »

My fiance's 01 Cavalier had a leaking water pump gasket and cyclinder head gasket and needed the thermostat replaced...now 6 weeks later the car is over heating leaking coolant from the coolant pipe near the bleeder screw, and back at GM. The car has 93000kms and is warrantied until may first or 100000kms. Gm is replacing the coolant pipe which has a hole due to corrosion. My question, is there hope for this car? should we sell it?

barrie1 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 03, 2006, 09:49:58 pm »

Of course there is hope for this car. I am surprised they didn't replace the pipe when they changed the other parts. They should have seen the problem at that time and replaced the anti-freeze as well. About the only thing left to look at will be the hoses so now is a good time to consider them for replacement as well. Your anti-freeze should have been replaced after the 1st 4 years which will stop the corrosion from happening in the future. Keeping the system clean will help this engine last for many more years if done properly.

driver02 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 03, 2006, 10:14:21 pm »

That sounds ok...what about the little over heating that happened, would that have caused any damage?? Should we request the other hoses changed?

David Mac · « **Reply #3 on:** January 03, 2006, 10:28:08 pm »

Dump it and buy a Toyota.

articsteve · « **Reply #4 on:** January 03, 2006, 11:06:14 pm »

Quote from: driver02 on January 03, 2006, 08:31:54 pm

My question, is there hope for this car? should we sell it?

When you had the original head gasket problem what happened? Did the coolant get in and mix with the oil for awhile? If so I would think about selling it particularly if you are thinking about upgrading.

IMO, you don't need to replace any hoses but if money is not an issue then your choice. Typically a upper and lower rad hose will hold on until at least 8 years or 150,000 km

Glad that you got this covered under warranty. It was the friggin Dexcool eating away at the experimental gaskets GM used during that/those year(s). The have subsequently changed gasket material.

maritime_storm · « **Reply #5 on:** January 04, 2006, 02:32:34 pm »

Actually there is a reason they didn't replace the coolant bypass pipe when they did the rest of the work, that pipe has been on backorder in GM's system for better part of 3 months now. We have 2 customers waiting them right now, none in North America GM is telling us.

David Mac · « **Reply #6 on:** January 04, 2006, 02:58:41 pm »

Toyotas dont break.

mrthompson · « **Reply #7 on:** January 04, 2006, 03:16:54 pm »

...they bend.

Arthur Dent · « **Reply #8 on:** January 04, 2006, 03:40:16 pm »

Quote from: David Mac on January 03, 2006, 10:28:08 pm

Dump it and buy a Toyota.

this one perhaps?

driver02 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 04, 2006, 06:21:17 pm »

We had the hose changed today, $322 not covered under warranty. With my fiance going back to school we would like to try to keep the car another 2 or 3 years. Thanks for you replies everyone

David Mac · « **Reply #10 on:** January 04, 2006, 07:57:57 pm »

Ir you sell it now you wont loose alot of $$$$
You can get a 00 or 01 echo ,camry or a Honda Civic
for not that much $$.

articsteve · « **Reply #11 on:** January 04, 2006, 09:27:56 pm »

Quote from: driver02 on January 04, 2006, 06:21:17 pm

We had the hose changed today, $322 not covered under warranty. With my fiance going back to school we would like to try to keep the car another 2 or 3 years. Thanks for you replies everyone

Why was it not covered under warranty?

driver02 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 05, 2006, 06:00:08 pm »

They said the warranty would'nt cover hoses...i'm double checking that....Here's the update the car over heated again

I'm going to let them look at it and if it's covered under warranty I will let them fix it. I think it's time for a Corolla

articsteve · « **Reply #13 on:** January 05, 2006, 09:35:28 pm »

OK, I'm a little confused with the terminology. So are you saying you paid $322 for the replacement of a by-pass rubber tube?

Typically a by-pass hose will last MINIMUM 8 years. Obviously a design flaw. These cheap GM cars are OK for ppl who do their own work because you can piece together any type of heater core hose or by pass hose/tube, but $322. is just ridiculous at that age.

Overheating? Is the rad fan working? Is there an air lock? Get it hot and then bleed the system with the bleed screw you talked about. Turn heater on to full while you do this. It may take a couple of cycles to bleed all the air out. Just let the coolant flow out for a few minutes. Let cool, refill and try again.

I wonder if the dealer guy actually replaced the thermostat. Did they give you the old one to test in a pot of hot water?

barrie1 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 05, 2006, 11:23:22 pm »

I have to agree with Steve on this as thats way too much for a simple hose replacement. There has to be a lot more to this story you haven't told us yet. The rad hoses are probably around $20.00 to $30.00 each but the heater hose is bought by the foot for probably around $3.00 a foot now. What exactly did they replace for that kind of money. There's NO way even the labour could come close with all these replacement parts.

articsteve · « **Reply #15 on:** January 06, 2006, 12:00:57 am »

Some bypass hoses are molded because they are 90 degree and some have different sized ends but like Barrie says $30 should be tops.

On a more important note Barrie, I bought some Billy Bee honey in the squeeze bottle tonight and I'm looking forward to some toast/no butter with some Billy Bee later tonight. No fat/great snack plus cup of tea.

Age has it's rewards.

barrie1 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 06, 2006, 12:16:01 am »

Good for you and I hope you enjoy.

driver02 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 06, 2006, 05:56:10 am »

The hose that was replaced wasn't rubber...it was silver near the front of the car and was $103.46 They said they tested the fan and it's turning on and off at the right temeratures.

Spiderman · « **Reply #18 on:** January 06, 2006, 08:51:05 am »

Quote from: driver02 on January 06, 2006, 05:56:10 am

The hose that was replaced wasn't rubber...it was silver near the front of the car and was $103.46 They said they tested the fan and it's turning on and off at the right temeratures.

Your continuous overheating problem is because there are still air pockets in the system. You have to use the bleeder screw on the pipe that you had replaced to vent the air out of the system (you have to do it carefully too because this screw is fragile). It took me the better part of an evening to get all the air out of mine when I replaced that same pipe (did it myself). When I was done, the car actually ran 5 degrees cooler than it used too.

I can't believe that you've had all of these problems in less than 100,000kms. Mine is at 135,000kms and that coolant pipe was the only thing I ever had to replace. It had a pinhole in the weld of the mounting bracket that's near the exhaust manifold.

I got my pipe at wholesale price for about 85$.

Whoever said that these cars are good for people who work on them themselves is right though. I usually do my own maintenance and repairs (unless I don't have the right tools for the job). This car has been cheap for me.

And the Resale on a 2001 base model Cavalier is about 4,500$ black book value.

Spiderman · « **Reply #19 on:** January 06, 2006, 08:56:13 am »

As for your question about getting rid of it, my personal opinion is that generally, the 1998-2002 2200sfi is actually a pretty reliable engine. I haven't heard of too much going wrong with it (and I'm in contact with J-Body owners practically 24/7).

Generally, these cars are also cheap to maintain as most parts are "a dime a dozen". Try not to get swindled by GM dealerships as you can get most OEM parts either in good shape from a junkyard or for a better price at a NAPA/UAP store (they carry Delco parts).