98 Cavalier

[99PONTIACGP]

My girlfirend has a 98 cavalier, 4 cylinder 5 speed with 95k.

She's owned it for 3 or 4 years and hasnt had any issues with the car except for an o2 sensor and the exhaust. When your driving the car lately, and stop accelerating, you here a knocking noise. We had it looked at over the weekend to find out it needs a passenger side tie rod, driver side axcel and all motor mounts. Now...Is this car worth fixing? Is this something we could fix ourselves? Ive heard this is a pretty expensive repair and dangerous to drive if its not fixed. What do you guys think ?

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[Runtz52]

does it need a whole new tie rod or just a tie rod end? i did both my tie rod ends in about 20 min and it cost me about $75 for parts and the alignment, the axle i did one of those on my car as well cost me $116 for a new axle and took about an hr to do, the motor mounts i did the top ones and that took maybe 10 min and cost me $16 for parts idk if u would need the bottom ones on the subframe or not. but if ur halfway mechanically inclined im sure u could do the axle the tie rods and the upper motor mounts just fine, just make sure u get an alignment shortly after doing the tie rods

 

[Dasfinc]

DOUBLE and TRIPLE check the K-member, they like to rot out hard-core here in the midwest, and will cause symptoms similar to needing a tie-rod end and motor mounts...

 

[99PONTIACGP]

does it need a whole new tie rod or just a tie rod end?

It needs a passenger tie rod end

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

I'd say do it yourself. All of those things are fairly easy with some simple tools. Just use pb blaster before you go to work.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

most of the time it's just the tq link motor mount that wears out, it's two bolts inboard of the rf tire like 20minutes if you use hand tools
replace just that and see if the motor jumps anymore
passenger tie rod end, easy replacment with a 7/8ths wrench for the jamb nut and i believe an 18mm for the ball end stud and a few smacks with a hammer

to save on an alignment-(or at least be able to safely delay till the $ is available)compare new and old end length from ball centerline and adjust the jamb nut (may have to use visegrips on the inner tie rod shaft to keep it from turning)

if the drivers side axle is just leaking grease/torn boot, dont worry about it till ya hear it click,click,click,click~ loudly on tight turns to the left i drove a K car with bad axles for 75k just by pumping the torn boot/joint full of grease when i changed the oil

x2 on the K member but just as important is to make sure the forward control arm bushing (hockey puck looking bastard) isnt ripped outta it's sleeve

keep the car, parts are cheep and plentiful and cavi's arent hard to repair
eric bought his 96 cav for 700$ years ago and now has 160k and he doesnt even change the oil, just keeps topping it off lol

your lucky that it's a manual...a clutch is far cheeper than an auto tranny rebuild when the time comes.

make sure that it has a newer fuel filter...oem have 20mm nuts on the filter can, if ya dont have a 20mm wrench check if a 13/16ths is pretty loose and that a 19mm or 3/4" wont fit over it...if thats the case it's likely original and should be swapped out...a new aftermarket filter is typically 19mm/ or 3/4"

 

[99PONTIACGP]

Thanks... its a relief to here. The guy who looked at it said to get rid of the car, and it'll probably cost us around $1,000 to fix with labor. But, from hearing this,it sounds like something we'll be able to do this weekend. She's sletchy about driving the car because the guy said that if the tie rod breaks, shell lose stearing and she really doesnt want to drive the car now.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

if it has a little slop (aka ya can move it up and down/in or out less than an 1/8th of an inch it's fine to drive for 3k+

that knocking noise is very likely that lower tq link/dogbone mount, they tend to wear out faster on manual cars than auto's but it's all in how it's driven...that lower dogbone mount shouldnt be more than 35$ and id be suprized if it's even that much $

the upper mounts do go out but i havent seen that on a car under 125k...the uppers are designed to let the engine pivot/rock back and forth...it's the tq link that see's the most stress as it's job is to keep it from rocking more than a 1/2-1inch

considering it may well be paid off and ive seen em hit 150k+ miles ya'd be better to keep it and it's lower cost per mile than a newer car (besides it's better to drive the devil ya know than the devil ya dont)

seriously eric puts 100-200miles on his 3spd auto cav a day going 80mph and it has bad control arm bushings....he just gets a good tire/rim from the junkyard for 20$ every now and then....he doesnt even have em balanced

tough little fuckers i gotta admit -that 2.2 cam in block motor is built like a brick shithouse

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

not to mention he traded paint with a schoolbus and got ground into a curb....hes still driving it and if the bus companies payout is what we think it may be he may actually end up making money on the damn car lol