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From: Vic Smith on 27 Apr 2010 13:45
On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:09:00 -1000, dsi1 <dsi1(a)spamnet.com> wrote:


>
>> Of course they were dogs accelerating.
>
>I though the car accelerated just fine, although I admit that stomping
>on the gas ain't my thing. Next to my Subaru, it was a top-fuel
>dragster. The Subaru engine was such a dog that turning on the AC would
>cause a noticeable drag on the engine. :-)
>
The 2.0 and 2.2 were the only 4's I ever drove before the Ecotec.
Massive difference.
I'm not a speed demon either, but liked the margin I get with a 6 or 8
for merging onto the highway or those dicey situations when a tap on
the gas can quickly move you out of danger.
But I only had the 2.0 and 2.2 to compare to.
Many times with them I'd not turn into a street with fast traffic
until I had a big gap because they had trouble getting out of the way.
The Ecotec Malibu did all that fine. Thought it was a 6 when I first
drove it off the rental lot.
Opened the hood when I got it home to check fluids before the trip,
and got surprised.
Not sure what Ecotec that was in 2005 - probably 2.2.
Looks like the Ecotec has gone through some changes.
Right now I'm basically blind about its issues, if any.
That failed water pump my workmate had wasn't encouraging, but that
was an older one, and could be a fluke,
You'd think that if GM is going to bury the water pump, they'd use
better pumps than they have in the past.
And maybe they do. I just don't know.
Like I said, it was good when dealer mechs like Shiden were posting
here. Probably have to start looking in the forums.

--Vic
From: dsi1 on 27 Apr 2010 16:20
On 4/27/2010 7:45 AM, Vic Smith wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:09:00 -1000, dsi1<dsi1(a)spamnet.com> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>> Of course they were dogs accelerating.
>>
>> I though the car accelerated just fine, although I admit that stomping
>> on the gas ain't my thing. Next to my Subaru, it was a top-fuel
>> dragster. The Subaru engine was such a dog that turning on the AC would
>> cause a noticeable drag on the engine. :-)
>>
> The 2.0 and 2.2 were the only 4's I ever drove before the Ecotec.
> Massive difference.
> I'm not a speed demon either, but liked the margin I get with a 6 or 8
> for merging onto the highway or those dicey situations when a tap on
> the gas can quickly move you out of danger.
> But I only had the 2.0 and 2.2 to compare to.
> Many times with them I'd not turn into a street with fast traffic
> until I had a big gap because they had trouble getting out of the way.
> The Ecotec Malibu did all that fine. Thought it was a 6 when I first
> drove it off the rental lot.
> Opened the hood when I got it home to check fluids before the trip,
> and got surprised.
> Not sure what Ecotec that was in 2005 - probably 2.2.
> Looks like the Ecotec has gone through some changes.
> Right now I'm basically blind about its issues, if any.
> That failed water pump my workmate had wasn't encouraging, but that
> was an older one, and could be a fluke,
> You'd think that if GM is going to bury the water pump, they'd use
> better pumps than they have in the past.
> And maybe they do. I just don't know.
> Like I said, it was good when dealer mechs like Shiden were posting
> here. Probably have to start looking in the forums.
>
> --Vic

I had the Cavalier for a few years. The engine never caused any
problems, although I had to change that famous GM alternator a couple of
times. My wife rammed into a car and pushed it into another car while
going too fast in the rain. Totaled the car in the middle. I was a
little shocked to see that the front end was in pretty good shape. I had
to replace one of the headlights and one of the parking light bulb - the
support for the filament was bent 90 degrees so the forces involved were
considerable. I replaced the two energy absorbing thingies and the
bumper with junkyard parts and drove it for a year or two more. That was
a pretty good car for us.
From: N8N on 27 Apr 2010 17:35
On Apr 27, 4:20 pm, dsi1 <dsi1(a)humuhumunukunukuapua'a.org> wrote:
> On 4/27/2010 7:45 AM, Vic Smith wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:09:00 -1000, dsi1<d...(a)spamnet.com>  wrote:
>
> >>> Of course they were dogs accelerating.
>
> >> I though the car accelerated just fine, although I admit that stomping
> >> on the gas ain't my thing. Next to my Subaru, it was a top-fuel
> >> dragster. The Subaru engine was such a dog that turning on the AC would
> >> cause a noticeable drag on the engine.  :-)
>
> > The 2.0 and 2.2 were the only 4's I ever drove before the Ecotec.
> > Massive difference.
> > I'm not a speed demon either, but liked the margin I get with a 6 or 8
> > for merging onto the highway or those dicey situations when a tap on
> > the gas can quickly move you out of danger.
> > But I only had the 2.0 and 2.2 to compare to.
> > Many times with them I'd not turn into a street with fast traffic
> > until I had a big gap because they had trouble getting out of the way.
> > The Ecotec Malibu did all that fine.  Thought it was a 6 when I first
> > drove it off the rental lot.
> > Opened the hood when I got it home to check fluids before the trip,
> > and got surprised.
> > Not sure what Ecotec that was in 2005  - probably 2.2.
> > Looks like the Ecotec has gone through some changes.
> > Right now I'm basically blind about its issues, if any.
> > That failed water pump my workmate had wasn't encouraging, but that
> > was an older one, and could be a fluke,
> > You'd think that if GM is going to bury the water pump, they'd use
> > better pumps than they have in the past.
> > And maybe they do.  I just don't know.
> > Like I said, it was good when dealer mechs like Shiden were posting
> > here.  Probably have to start looking in the forums.
>
> > --Vic
>
> I had the Cavalier for a few years. The engine never caused any
> problems, although I had to change that famous GM alternator a couple of
> times. My wife rammed into a car and pushed it into another car while
> going too fast in the rain. Totaled the car in the middle. I was a
> little shocked to see that the front end was in pretty good shape. I had
> to replace one of the headlights and one of the parking light bulb - the
> support for the filament was bent 90 degrees so the forces involved were
> considerable. I replaced the two energy absorbing thingies and the
> bumper with junkyard parts and drove it for a year or two more. That was
> a pretty good car for us.

yeah, the alternator was a PITA. the girlie had one of those a long
time ago and being the "car guy" of my group of friends I got to
replace it when it crapped out with no warning one night. I was
surprised at how many little bolts and brackets held it on! The oil
filter position was interesting as well, and the one time I did an oil
change on it whoever did the previous one must have run the filter on
with an air gun, I was starting to get concerned that I was going to
run out of solid metal to punch holes in with my screwdriver before I
got it loose enough to remove by hand.

Only other issue with it was that it always sounded like a lifter was
rattling, and it had a bad coil pack as well... I'd replaced the
spark plugs and wires in an attempt to get it to run right before she
took it to the mechanic who diagnosed the coil pack, and I don't ever
want to do that again, what a PITA job

nate
From: dsi1 on 27 Apr 2010 18:19
On 4/27/2010 11:35 AM, N8N wrote:
> yeah, the alternator was a PITA. the girlie had one of those a long
> time ago and being the "car guy" of my group of friends I got to
> replace it when it crapped out with no warning one night. I was
> surprised at how many little bolts and brackets held it on! The oil
> filter position was interesting as well, and the one time I did an oil
> change on it whoever did the previous one must have run the filter on
> with an air gun, I was starting to get concerned that I was going to
> run out of solid metal to punch holes in with my screwdriver before I
> got it loose enough to remove by hand.

I recently sold my Ford Taurus and thought I'd change the oil for good
luck but I couldn't get the drain plug out. Then I remembered that my
brother-in-laws saying something about changing the oil. They must have
taken it to Jiffy Lube or Sears. My guess is that torque those things on
so that you can never change the oil by yourself again. Ha ha. I never
did change that oil.

>
> Only other issue with it was that it always sounded like a lifter was
> rattling, and it had a bad coil pack as well... I'd replaced the
> spark plugs and wires in an attempt to get it to run right before she
> took it to the mechanic who diagnosed the coil pack, and I don't ever
> want to do that again, what a PITA job

I never had to do much to the car but when I did buy parts I couldn't
believe how cheap Chevy parts are. Now that I own a Toyota and a Hyundai
I'm pretty much dead meat as far as the cost of parts are concerned.

I have my 2006 Hyundai at the dealer as they have graciously offered to
replace my AC evaporator under the 5 year - 50K mile warranty. Lucky
that the warranty is transferable (I'm the 3rd owner) - otherwise, I'd
really be dead meat. :-)

>
> nate

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