Just committed to buy a 96 cavalier for real cheap. Trying to wean brother-in-law out of a decrepit jetta. Even if the cavalier is as unreliable the parts should be 1/4 the price, an exciting prospect. And as a natural GM fan I know it'll be way more reliable.
The valve cover gasket is leaking and filling the spark plug wells with oil. Oddly the #4 cylinder spark plug is apparantly loose and bubbling compression up through the oil. (?) Haven't figured out if its loose yet but I had this exact thing happen on a saturn SOHC and it was a loose plug. The heads are pretty durable on this motor, yes? IOW there isn't some super secret crack that always happens around the #4 plug?
Can someone with the base (non-tach) dash direct me to where the "check engine" light is on this thing? I don't remember seeing it during key on, engine off, so the paranoid part of me smells sabotage. I need this working ok for state inspection. Or it could of course be something I overlooked. I looked on ebay for "dash shots" but noone had theirs in key-on-engine-off modes. Light is of course off when the car is running. I do remember ABS, brake, and seat belt lights in those little oblong black thingies off to the side of the gauges.
Car was a little ticky when I started it but it got better and I figure the lifters bled down.
Front end is tight and there's no rust on the thing so it's nicer than other junk out there at the price. Other known issues that I can deal with are a bum headlight/combo switch, a broken under-seat cable that keeps it from adjusting, and an e-brake that only holds one wheel. Plus stuff I figure out when I drive it.
Plan is to bring my OBD-II scanner and a spark plug wrench before actually putting the money down to make sure these dealbreakers are in acceptable shape.
Well I went and paid for it and got the title. Downloaded the .pdf of the service manual from mygmlink.com and noted location of SES light. Took the keys over to the car and it works normally, a good thing. Previous owners were tooling around wasting gas when I showed up.
