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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / June 2006Chevy Cavailer
Hello Everybody, I have an 1999 Chevy Cavailer. I bought it in 1999 and been driving it ever since. This past year I started to have trouble with my car. I have replce the altinater three times and the thermistate three times. The car all ways been matenaced properly and had no problems untill now. Do you thnig I should fix it again or get another car? >Hello Everybody, > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >The car all ways been matenaced properly and had no problems untill >now. Do you thnig I should fix it again or get another car? Trade in value is going to be squat, so fix it. You'll be lucky to get $1,500 for it. Get a good alternator, and thermostats are a lousy $12 each. If the body is in good shape, this is a no brainer. Lg >Hello Everybody, > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >The car all ways been matenaced properly and had no problems untill >now. Do you thnig I should fix it again or get another car? Are you getting these parts from a cheap chain parts store? If so consider getting quality parts next time so you dont have to replace the same thing over and over. Steve B. >>Hello Everybody, >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Steve B. Or just go to a salvage yard, find a Late Model Cavalier that was rear-ended, pull the alternator yourself, presuming it is a low-mileage car, take it home and swap it out. Check the odometer to see how many miles are on the engine. Maybe they have an OEM on the shelf, in which case you want to look at the brushes and slip rings to see how worn they are. In any case...OEM USED has to be better than Made in China NEW! IMO Lg > >>Hello Everybody, > >> [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Lg Agreed, my fiancee had an older Cavalier- I think maybe '86? and the alternator went up on it. In one of my more lucid moments, I insisted that she let me take the alternator to a good local auto electric shop to have it properly rebuilt rather than just swapping it for a parts store reman. The guy at the auto electric shop told me that these alternators were always problematic and about all they were generally able to reuse from them was the case and pulley, got stuck with the cost of a full rebuild, but it lasted. He said he got a lot of parts store remans in as they generally were just pieced together from parts of cores that were still good at the time they were turned in. Not sure if GM has started making better quality alternators in the intervening decade but I wouldn't be surprised if they still sucked. My condolences on driving a Cavalier, BTW - I have to say that the girlie's car was pretty darn reliable for the most part, but any time I had to do any work on it at all, I usually ended up bleeding and cussing. Definitely a lot less mechanic-friendly than a contemporary VW, for instance, although some Japanese stuff was almost as bad... (she ended up replacing the Cavalier with a Sentra; that car seemed to be designed to hurt you for something even as simple as an oil change.) nate >> >>Hello Everybody, >> >> [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > >nate I owned a Cavalier for many years as a company car. Put lots of miles on it alright. Not much in the way of problems really. Pretty reliable, but very uncomfortable on long trips. Not enough room/space inside, and the suspension was too stiff. I guess it is hard to soften the suspension on such a light vehicle to begin with, but you felt every pebble and bump in the road. Personal vehicle was a Mercury Tracer ( SAME DAMN CAR! ). Know what you mean about designed to hurt the mechanic. Any car can and will hurt you if you're not careful. Being in a hurry is a formula for disaster. Of course, I'm not *on the clock* so I can say that with a straight face. Anyhow, stick with U.S.A. parts and you might be OK. No guarantees though. Still, I think salvage yards are underused by the public, because people are afraid they don't know what they are doing, and probably in most cases don't. Look in the yellow pages under *salvage* or *auto recyclers* or some such...*used auto parts* or whatever, tell them what you want, ask them if they have it on the shelf or in the lot, ask the price, and go for it. I would =never= buy an alternator from autozone or pep boyz. Too much negative feedback on that topic. Nor would I buy *new* from a stealership. If/when I need an alternator, it's off to the recycler yard for me; I'm about 6 miles from a huge one as I type this. Big place. Lots of *stuff.* Lg Still, I think salvage yards are underused by the public, Probably true. Some of the prices from salvage yards approach new part prices, so you have to know who you are dealing with. >Still, I think salvage yards are underused by the public, > >Probably true. Some of the prices from salvage yards approach new >part prices, so you have to know who you are dealing with. Buyer Beware. HOWEVER, if a place gets a *reputation,* and it will for Better or Worse, so goes the business. So it is not in the best interest of any place to rip off people, period. If I bought reman *off the shelf* I would want a 30 day warranty. If I pull it myself, there is no warranty, but the price is _less_, which is a good thing. I don't know where these people come from who are willing to toss $800 for a charging system rebuild. To me, that is highway robbery. Then again...if you don't have the tools or the skill set, that's the price you pay for staying ignorant. I don't do this stuff for a living, I don't do it for a hobby, I do it to survive on my puny pension. And no, I =can't= work after 2 heart attacks and multiple heart operations and implants. I go *at it* until I get tired, and then walk away. Come back to the job when feel up to it again. Can't do that in a Real World job situation. Fortunately for me, I live in Chicagoan, and there are _lots_ of places to buy stuff. Might have to drive a bit to get to them but they're there. As always, phone first. Is it in stock? On the lot? How much are you asking for it? and etc. Let your fingers do the walking. Phone first. Lg |
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