Hi, came across a 97 2.2 sunfire 5spd, and a little issue the motor won't hold coolant I was told that the one day the owner drove it somewhere then noticed it started to over heat so they parked it for awhile til it cooled then filled it with coolant drove it maybe 8miles to home and parked it and thats where its been. The owner is thinking its the water pump I have not gotten to really take a real close yet but anyway I'm looking at buying it since I need a descent car with good MPG's!. I am mechanically inclined and normally work on my own vehicles but not sure if by chance it would be exactly the water pump or if the head gasket might have blown (forgot to check the oil). I want to know how hard is it to replace a water pump on one of these cars? Thanks for having me, I'm a little bit of a forum "addict" not much of a Chevy guy we have a malibu with the 2.4L but don't know much about it because it hasn't really had any motor problems once I learn more I hope to hope y'all out too.
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
The water pump is located under the alternator and took me 2 hours the change in a parking lot(includeing the parts run).
As for whats wrong with it, we cant tell you. We need more info.
If the water pump did indeed go out, then it is possible that the head gasket blew as a result. Only way to tell is pull the pump off and check it, replace if needed then go from there, check for water in the oil, and also if water is coming from the exhaust. When my head gasket blew it litteraly made a explosion of antifreeze come out the exhaust!
If it wont hold coolant all you have to do is a pressure test on the cooling system to find out where its leaking... if you cant get access to one take it to a shop and it'll cost you like 20 bones or so..
I am a tech by profession and I have seen just as many bad head gaskets/cracked/warped heads than bad waterpumps....however usually they go hand in hand.
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not sure about the LN2, but first thing I'd do is pull out the thermostat and test it in your kitchen. If the water is at a rolling boil and it isn't opening, it failed closed. Most new stats fail open, but older ones can fail closed and cause heating problems.
Also if the fans aren't coming on that could also be part of your issue.
-Chris
water pumps commonly go out on these, and are very easy to change. I usually turn them around in under an hour including a flush. The 97& earlier 2.2 DID have head gasket problems, or at least more than the newer 2200 series motors, but you wont be able to determine that quite yet, and milky oil is not the only indicator for that.
I think your best advice is right here:
cavmania wrote:If it wont hold coolant all you have to do is a pressure test on the cooling system to find out where its leaking... if you cant get access to one take it to a shop and it'll cost you like 20 bones or so..
I am a tech by profession and I have seen just as many bad head gaskets/cracked/warped heads than bad waterpumps....however usually they go hand in hand.
I dont think it will be a major problem....even a head gasket on a cavalier can be done easily by a less skilled mechanic.
Thank you for the info folks, sorry I didn't get back at this I got busy and for some reason I didn't get my subscription notices. Its a cheap car and I've heard that they're good on gas and last long so I want to give this a shot, I haven't gotten it yet but hopefully within a week here. Once I get it home I will update this here thread with things I've found out, and if I'm changing the water pump I think I might as well just replace the thermostat after all I think they're below 10 bucks so nothing thats going to drain my pockets
But will do the test in the kitchen with the new one also. How often do the water pumps fail in these? Again thanks alot for the responses.
After all I'm still newish to the GM community, I have yet to figure things out on the 2.4l in the malibu we have.
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
my water pump went sometime after 130,000, right after my timing went. you might want to check your timing chain around 130,000 because if it goes you'll have a costly repair to do, replacing valves and things. better to catch it before it causes damage.
not only did it bend up my valves (replaced everything) but right about 198,000 the chewed up tensioner started eating away at all my bearings and such, now i have a spun rod bearing and a grooved crank. i did all this work myself and since i'd never done anything like this before i didn't know how easy and essential it was to pull the oil pan off and get the broken timing junk out of there. BUT, in my defense the timing chain had been eating away at the tensioner for a while before the chain skipped and my car decided to not run, so the tensioner bits were probably already in the oil passages and grinding up my bearings.
anyways, they are good motors if you take care of them. good luck with the car. if you want any other info on this motor i might be able to help.
Understand That Only Dying Is This Colossal - Protest the Hero
Ok, thanks for the info. How are the motors with power?
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
I finally picked my car up today and it was sounding squeaky and was pretty sure it was the belt and after letting the motor run awhile it got worse so I rev'd it a little and the belt came off but appears to be in good shape so I wanted to know if someone has a diagram of one, I was expecting to see one under the hood but there isn't. And I checked the oil and it looks fresh and clean the normal color appearance so I know that head gasket is probably in good shape. By the way it has around 140 sum thousand miles. It isn't anything special right now but its a car easier on gas than my explorer's so thats the big plus!
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
you need to spin all the pulleys to see if something is locked up first.
belt goes.....(in a clockwise direction)
Crank - to - power steering - to - idler - to - alt - to - A/C - to - water pump - back to crank.
Alright, I'll go outback and see if something is locked up and get back to you.
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
Ok, so the power steering pump pulley I tried spinning that and it was "tingy" sounding a little wobbly and the AC pulley feels like the bearings are going bad in it. Thats what I've found when spinning the pulley's that now explains why when I turned the a/c on as to why it shut off probably the pulley locked when I turned it on. So is that for the power steering pump normal or not? (my first 2.2L)
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
there wil be some resistance in that pulley yes.
Ok, and the one, its completely smooth it was a little oily, so maybe this contributed into it slipping off? I can't wait til I know more about this so I can be a little more helpful in explaining things.
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
thats the idler. i would clean the oil off, but if the belt is tracking correctly, it should not be thrown off by a little oil.
Ok, I was thinking the same thing, when I first looked at the belt it seemed a little off but wasn't sure where the tensioner was to try correcting it or if I could even do it by myself. Thanks for the help I appreciate it, hopefully I can get more educated here
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
Ok, so I tried putting the belt back on but both sock and ratchet wont fit in there to move the tensioner so I don't know what to do bout getting it on there now, any ideas?
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
a wrench should fit on the end of the tensioner depending on which one you have....a 15mm i believe, or just the 3/8 drive can be wiggled in there.
They make serp belt tools for that for a reason though.
Wow, you're pretty quick, alright I didn't think it stuck out far enough for a wrench but I'll go try I have the belt on the pulleys except for the alternator
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1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
Alright well I got'er on but I'll end up having to take it off to do the water pump and possibly the power steering because the pulley is too noisy it squeaks. Thanks for all your help, I looked and sure enough there is a small water drip coming from around the pulley area of the water pump so for sure that has to be why it loses water. If the thermostat is easy to get to I may do that at the same time to be on the safe side.
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
Well thanks to the great people on here I have gotten a brand new water pump installed on the car this morning it was a little bit more work than I figured but not very hard, I took the alternator off to make the job easier but then that was a little bit of a rip to put back on but I gott'er done
now I guess next will be the power steering pump because the whole pulley for the power steering pump pulls right out of the pump
so can anyone tell me what the difficulty level is of taking the old one off and installing a new one? again thanks a lot to y'all for the help!
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
just about as difficult as the water pump. the ps pump has three bolts holding it on. on the new one, it most likely wont come with a ulley, but you can get a pulley press/puller at any auto parts store. once the new pump has the pulley on, you'll have to use the holes in the pulley to get at the bolts.
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There is also a bolt on the back of the pump towards the bottom that braces the pump to the block.
Alright thanks for that info, was curious about the whole pulley thing I was told it probably wouldn't come with a pulley. I drove it around a little and the coolant container stayed full and the temp. gauge was in the normal range
I'm liking this car I didn't think I would
1996 Explorer XLT 4X4 Lifted on 33's
2000 Sunfire 2.2L Auto stock'ish
