N00b with some tire kickin' questions. I am "new" car searching and found this vehicle at a local Dealership. The car has 48,794miles on it.
If I purchase it will be my first Chevy. I have only owned Ford's, but I'm open minded when it comes to cars, excluding Saturn. My 92 mustang was abused from PO's so I am trying to find something that won't need serious work every 3-6months(which is exactly what mine needs) and has good mpg numbers. I also travel A LOT of miles with my current job(over 30Kmi. last year).

How dependable is the 2.2 ecotec?

How dependable is the auto tranny?

What common problems do they have, besides general maintenance.

At what millage do they usually need a tranny rebuild or major engine work? I know that somewhat depends on the driver but I would be putting these miles on in no time with very frequent starts and stops.

How easy are they to work on? I've never worked on a FWD vehicle.

I think that is all the questions I have......

i can answer some of your questions

The 2.2 Eco was developed by Vauxhall and first used by Saturn in the Ion as the (2.2 Twin Cam)... in 2002 it was renamed "Ecotec" and used in the cavalier (as well as some other platforms)... and is still in use today (in cobalts and such). The ecotec is backed by GM Performance as their leading 4 cyl engine right now and performance parts and aftermarket support is readily available.

The only part of the Eco that *I PERSONALLY* do not like is the aluminum block. One one hand, its a lot lighter, which helps performance.... on the other hand, aluminum doesnt hold up as well as cast iron. you have a better chance of putting a hole in your block if the internals go bad with an aluminum block...

working on fwd has its advantages and disadvantages. The spark plugs on a 4 cyl are easier to get to, but the transmission is a little more complex because the differential is built in.

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The Eco guys on here can answer the rest of your questions in more detail than me. I have the 2.4 "Quad 4 Family" Twin Cam engine, so thats where most of my knowledge comes from

some of the eco guys should post in here soon.... a lot of the j-body.org members are at the Bash (yearly car show) and so the regulars won't be here as much this weekend. so stand by!!

I have all of the above, a 2003 Ecotec 5spd, 2003 ecotec auto and a 99 fire GT 5spd. I find the fuel consumption on the auto absolutly terrible. But, its a big trans, so ya. Reliability, have yet to have a problem with any of the cars. The 5spd eco is about 120,xxx kms now, runs like a top. The auto is around 82xxx kms, still yet to have a problem. Olny major maintinence so far has been a tune up on both cars.
Anything else, feel free to ask.



M62, 42's, ZZP 3", ZZP S3 H/E
214whp 190wtq

Thanks for the replies. What mpg numbers are you getting in your auto slvrblit?

thnkin04eco wrote:Thanks for the replies. What mpg numbers are you getting in your auto slvrblit?

x2

i'd like to compare it to the 2.4 5 spd... i see 30 / 25 but ive heard the eco is way better on fuel...

I found another 2.2 Auto 2003 LS sport model that I test drove today. Looks awesome and drives very nicely. There isn't a spec of grease/oil/grime under the hood. Here are some pics.



The tint on the back glass looks like it's bubbling but when I got there it's fine, and the car looks better in person.
The way it's going right now, I might be joining the Cav family soon!!

Looks good nice find. I have an eco with auto trans 53k on it now bought it with 43k i beat on it almost everyday and have yet to have a single problem done a few long distance road trips in it and have run it at the track.



Every time you buy an import an American goes hungry.
http://www.azjbo.org/forum/profile.php?mode=joinup&ruid=703

Well I bought it!!! Very happy. I will be using it on my days off and whenever my stang breaks down.

thnkin04eco wrote:whenever my stang breaks down.

So, every day then? Ford = the fail. I know from experience. I will never own another.


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Yes, noob, the search button is for you...

Twstd i couldn't agree with you more, i too learned that lesson Never and i mean never again will i ever own a ford or anything ford related. I have a 2004 Ls sedan with 110,000 on the clock as we speak, and since the day i bought it in august of 05 i have never had a serious problem with it. Granted i will give it to the one person that said the 4 speed autos suck on gas but as also stated they have a bigger tranny. This is my first J ever i intially was going to buy one of the first generation ones when i turned 16 but passed on it at the time. But yeah this one i have now, has been solid i do not care much for the fact that the eco is aluminum as we have had other cars in the past that had aluminum block engines and as soon as the internals went bad the engine was shot cast iron would have been my choice in designing the eco. The car had 18,000 on it when i bought it and 100,000 for me came almost overnight as the first 80,000 miles for me were primarily interstate driving but yeah aside from being 6, 5 and the car being a little small in spots for me as far as reliability has been i would definitely get another one or at least another chevy anyway.

Thnkin i really like that blue color on yours, really nice with the exterior mirrors matching the color of the car. I initially in the beginning was going to try and get the wheels you have on yours since yours is an Ls sport i believe but gm wanted like $500.00 a piece and i started adding it up $500 x 4 $2,000 and i changed my mind. if i could have found someone around here that had a really good set for like dirt cheap i might have considered it. For awhile i had even toyed with the idea of painting the stock black mirrors white to match the body of the car but thought they would probably peel later on.

thnkin04eco wrote:Thanks for the replies. What mpg numbers are you getting in your auto slvrblit?

I haven't figured the numbers.....but per tank, were getting approx 350-400kms in town.
I performed some MAJOR tune-up issues 2 weeks ago, and the mileage seems to have doubled in the auto for sure.
My 5spd ecotec, recently came back from a road trip, and mixed city and highway got 550kms to the full tank....and I'm not an easy driver.



M62, 42's, ZZP 3", ZZP S3 H/E
214whp 190wtq

i'm not a whiz with numbers, but i think i'm getting somewhere between 28 and 34 i'm not exactly an easy driver myself though i do tend to try and baby my car at the same time i float around corners when i'm close to empty lol.

My automatic 2.2 Ecotec that is in the 2003 Sunfire (same as this 04 Cav) gets usually 27.5-29mpg when it has a 2/3 inner city 1/3 freeway mix of driving.

We took the Sunfire out to Vegas and set the cruise control 90% of the trip and got 37mpg. Yes, 37mpg!
It had about 384 miles on the trip and could not take anymore than 10.4 gallons into the tank!

That there is great mileage for a 2.2 with an automatic.

My 2007 Ecotec 2.2 Cobalt LS gets 29.5mpg 2/3 inner city and 1/3 freeway miles mix.
I have not gotten higher than 31.4mpg so far, but... I have not gone an entire tank on the freeway yet.
I am betting it too will be about 37mpg.

I bought the 03 with 35k miles on it and it was a rental car!!!
I have not had one repair on it since I bought it!
It now has 85k miles on it, and it runs very nicely.
I always get the required maintainance done though.

The Ecotec is one of the toughest 4 bangers out there.
GM has torture tested these motors with cold water on a hot motor hundreds of times and it has not cracked the block. No one would ever even do this once on their engine, well I at least hope not.

The GM Ecotec they have for their land speed record has 1200 hp and uses over 80% stock internals.
That is one tough set up.

GM wanted to make a 4 banger motor that would be reliable like an import, but actually give good torque and hp unlike most economy imports.

For the money, the Cavalier and Sunfire with an Ecotec is one of the smarter buys in my opinion.
That is why I bought the Sunfire in the first place, through research and a test drive.
The car has done so well, I had to get a Cobalt, which is the next generation Ecotec 2.2 equipped GM car.

I have owned older F bodies from Chevy and Pontiac, they were not reliable, but the newer 2002+ Chevys and Pontiacs seem to be reliable, affordable and offer peppy performance.


2003 Sunfire with 2 1/4 inch turbo muffler, 2 1/4 piping, 2 1/2 inch resonator, a 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter, 2 1/4 inch down-pipe, a ported LSJ manifold, E-bay strut brace, and an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition.

The ecotec is one of the toughest 4 bangers out there, true but if gm wanted to make a tough 4 banger like that why did they use aluminum for the block instead of cast iron. Yes true aluminum is lighter, but we have had cars in the past with aluminum blocks and they only held up as long as the internals did and once the internals went bad the engine was pretty much shot seems to me would have made more sense to use a cast iron block cast iron holds up better and lasts imo a lot longer than aluminum.

oh and something else about pontiacs, mike you say you owned an older f body at one point that wasn't all that reliable i don't know if ours was an f body or not but we have owned some pontiacs in the past and personally imo i would take a chevy any day of the week over a pontiac. Years ago we owned a bonneville the carpeting came up in the back constant engine trouble and the list goes on.

Known problems - wheel/hub bearings usually don't last much over 75-100k miles. Front brakes will go 50-75k miles with an auto depending on driving style. Struts do not last >75-100k miles. Other then that, its a damn sound platform. If you upgrade the brakes and struts when the stockers go, you most likely won't have to worry about them as long as you have the car.

i have an 04 Ls sedan with 111,000 miles on it have never once had to replace the wheel hub bearings, or the struts either one the front end is making a bit of a squeaking noise now so that may be the struts who knows. Brakes are a joke i have never had a set last more than maybe 25,000 max, and they are stock brakes stock pads etc the back brakes seem to be the worst even when new and you first start it up the back brakes squeal. Oldskool you say a damn sound platform sound yes antiquated even more so.

Drop some Mobil 1 in there. The Wife's Eco still drives very well with 46k on the clock. And the car does a good amount of City driving.
All the rest of the Ecos in the family (other cav, Balt) get Mobil 1 this oil change. Good stuff.....


Upgrade the brakes...it will help.


I agree with the upgrade of the shocks/struts too...while the ride is good, My thinking is that hers are slowly starting to go....



Until the Fuel pump died this weekend (save your money!), her car gave me no problems in the five years that we have owned it......

I'll add my two cents. I have a base model 03 Cav with the auto tranny in it. 171,XXXkm later I've replaced the fuel pump and crankcase seal and the fan motor. It's not driven hard every day and I've been keeping up with it's regular maintenence. The only reason I replaced the fan motor and crankcase seal is because I hit the ditch in winter, seized the fan motor, and I'm pretty sure the crankcase just happened to go around the same time.

I get decent gas mileage, driven mostly highway but I get about 525-575km on a full tank of gas.

JBO Chat User: SpeedlineZ wrote:
The only part of the Eco that *I PERSONALLY* do not like is the aluminum block. One one hand, its a lot lighter, which helps performance.... on the other hand, aluminum doesnt hold up as well as cast iron. you have a better chance of putting a hole in your block if the internals go bad with an aluminum block...

when have you had an iternal go bad that hasn't punched a hole in the block. every 2.4 that i have seen go have destroyed the block seen a 3800 do it to. once that rod lets go doesn't matter cast iron or aluminum your replacing it all

i don't think the aluminum is a factor on the ecotec if the 2.4 was the motor would probably fall out of the car when the rods let go

ECOTEC > 2.4L < 2.2OHV
=2.4L crap


JBO since July 30, 2001

i would have to disagree with you, i've seen many 6 and 8 cylinders that were cast iron block that held up real well when the internals went, there are other internals besides just the rods you have valves you have pistons. If the ecotec were cast iron just say as an example and a valve went or a piston went i doubt it would destroy the engine, now if a rod went then yes but that is true with any engine. Now an aluminum block engine if a valve or something went then yes it might damage the engine beyond repair imo it has to do with the block if it is aluminum or cast iron as to whether or not you blow an engine when internals go. i know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but it just seems to me the lighter engines like the aluminum block type go real easy where the cast iron is more solid more rigid and can stand up to more.