Sunfires

deafsmogtech said:
What you mean "cage"?
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i dont know. Never seen one before. Sonocativo mentioned needing a cage to hold up the motor. I just pull them both if one needs to come out.
 
sonocativo said:
Yep, everything I find for $500 or less needs a motor/trans...sucks
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Take your time to hunting an used car for under $500. I remember I bought a 1972 VW Bug for $200 in around 1996 from a female customer where I worked in a gas station and diagnosed this car, found seized engine. Service manager asked me, do you want to buy it for $500?. I told him no thank, I offered $200 cash. He contacted her, she said ok fine with $200. I got it and fix up then resale. Easy money....
 
jonnyghost said:
i dont know. Never seen one before. Sonocativo mentioned needing a cage to hold up the motor. I just pull them both if one needs to come out.
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Oh, understand. Cage what he talk about is engine/tranny support fixture to be used to hanging the engine while remove tranny out of the vehicle without remove engine. I have engine/tranny support fixture (bought it for $50 from Harbor Freight Tools) in my work.
 
sonocativo said:
Not true, I had some full sized RWD I built and got better mpg than a cavalier/neon. Just depends on what you do with them.

My 85 ford ltd got through a blizzard which amazed me.
My 78 Caprice classic 2 door got better fuel mileage than a 01 neon, How I know? Traveling. I took it to Kansas, over 600 miles on a 25 gallon tank right after a rebuild and new trans.
I took my new 01 neon to Kentucky and clocked over 400 miles on 3/4 tank so they roughly evened out there.... and I had the pedal to the metal going to Kansas on those toll roads...lmao
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78 Caprice made 600 miles on a 25 gallon tank is 24 MPG and Neon 2001 is only 12.5 gallon and you said 400 miles on 3/4 tanks. That's mean around 532 miles on full tank. So 12.5 gallon / 532 miles is 42.56 MPG. If you want more distance miles then just rid of 12.5 gallon tank and add 25 gallon tank then Neon would made 1050 miles.

So 01 Neon got 42MPG and 78 Caprice got 24 MPG. Clear that Neon is better fuel efficient than LTD.

So bigger tank than smaller tank don't mean better fuel efficient. Just give you more distance miles.


Some semi-trucks made around 6-10 mpg depend on weight of loading for towing and they made over 1k mile distance. How? They use around 100 gallon per tank.

Math is not hard to do it.

Anything. Not just transmission as FWD vs RWD. It's depend on type of engine, body weight, axle differential ratios,transmission ratio, etc.
 
TCS tells me that the Sunfire was rated really bad for side impacts, and that Consumer Reports rated it unacceptable for safety.

I saw a Sunfire go airborne and land on its roof once, right past our house.
 
Cage... don't know the proper name for it, its a fixture that mounts on the shock mount/fenders that holds the motor up like a hoist, made specifically for FWD vehicles.

Yeah I didn't do the math but It did better than any other 350 V-8 engines that I know of, went on several trips with a buddy who had an 85 Monte, his was more emission controlled and all but same tank/motor/trans and he had to stop for gas quite often. He was actually pissed because he spent some major cash having the engine and trans redone and my car still walked away from his at out little stop light races. Not to mention, I did all my work myself. He ended up having me rebuild his 71 Monte as well as install a stage 2 shift kit in his TH350 , Man that car laid some rubber !
 
Reba said:
TCS tells me that the Sunfire was rated really bad for side impacts, and that Consumer Reports rated it unacceptable for safety.

I saw a Sunfire go airborne and land on its roof once, right past our house.
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Yes, I heard they aren't the greatest, its just to get around in for now... but looks like this deals gonna fall through, they want too much.
 
Reba said:
TCS tells me that the Sunfire was rated really bad for side impacts, and that Consumer Reports rated it unacceptable for safety.

I saw a Sunfire go airborne and land on its roof once, right past our house.
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Are you mixing up the Sunbirds with the Sunfires?

The Sunfire and early generation Cavaliers are all crap, but the Sunbirds are even worse.

And, most vehicles did not offer much side impact protection until the last few years...
 
Found a dealer that may be able to help me out with a car...Ill know soon as everything is in the works. I had a 2002 PT Cruiser, found a 2003 with low miles and complete warranty !
 
The Highlander said:
Chrysler? No thanks. I see too many 00's or newer have famous problem with electrical for ECM from my old job.

2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser Problems, Defects & Complaints | CarComplaints.com

That's why pre owned got rid of it even low miles and warranty.
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Highlander, I agree... But I have to argue a point. I am in a PT Club, and although I did have issues with mine as well as my Ram, The great bunch of peeps on the site has got me up and running with their knowledge. I sadly sold mine to buy the house and wish I kept it ( I didn't like the color as it was gold/beige) the 2003 Im looking at is Blue.
It has been a faithful car for me and turned out my only issue was a bad battery cable which I upgraded with a home made heavy duty cable I made from Home Depot ( Heavy gage wire, Braze on connectors) and never a starting issue after that, also some tune up upgrades gave it more power with hotter plugs. I would like to get one in a turbo for more power but would rather have the basic engine for less maintenance. But unless a car gave me a headache then I wont consider another. I will never own another ford ( unless its an older 60's or so...bad experience with newer models) But my PT and most people I know that have them ( My ex has an 08) and most don't have any issue. It really doesn't matter what brand the car is Chevy, ford, dodge... they all have their issues, its just a matter of getting a decent one. One thing I wont have to worry about is repairs if I get this, it is covered under warranty as long as I own it ( a special promotion going on with the dealership to sell)
Called a "Warranty Forever" as long as I own the vehicle the powertrain is covered, only guidline is I must keep it regularly maintained as the manufacturer recommendation(tune ups, oil changes....ect... ) which is no issue as I do most myself and keep records anyways, I have done it with many other cars and never an issue to show maintenance records, sometimes I go to a shop if theres a special or the weather is bad. Besides a lot of my work is backed with pictures on forums as well. I keep a pretty good track record of maintenance.
 
I've heard people say that the PT cruisers are junk, nothing but problems.

Neighbor bought a used one with 10K miles, drove it for 6 years, did not maintain it well, and it lasted them 6 years with no major issues. It was not until a couple months ago when the transmission started to slip, they got rid of it.

Friends of ours had one for 7 years, purple touring edition, did minimal maintenance, still running today with over 150K miles.

All cars will have different results.

Great thing about PT cruisers is that the used ones are dirt cheap.
 
green427 said:
I've heard people say that the PT cruisers are junk, nothing but problems.

Neighbor bought a used one with 10K miles, drove it for 6 years, did not maintain it well, and it lasted them 6 years with no major issues. It was not until a couple months ago when the transmission started to slip, they got rid of it.

Friends of ours had one for 7 years, purple touring edition, did minimal maintenance, still running today with over 150K miles.

All cars will have different results.

Great thing about PT cruisers is that the used ones are dirt cheap.
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My 02 had a bad micro processor in the dash so no dash lights worked, I bought little LEDs that plug into the cigarette lighter with an on off switch, worked great plus I had a cool Blue dash at night...lol
No other issues besides the starter wire I did myself. easy to maintain, and insurance runs $40 a month so cheap all the way around, with $30 fill ups and about 400 miles a tank.
 
Dealer called me and have me approved, so al I need to do is pick out a vehicle which I am eyeing a 2003 PT Cruiser, but have more choices from any make and models ranging from $2000 and up. so far Im looking at a low $100 payment which will work for me.
 
sonocativo said:
Highlander, I agree... But I have to argue a point. I am in a PT Club, and although I did have issues with mine as well as my Ram, The great bunch of peeps on the site has got me up and running with their knowledge. I sadly sold mine to buy the house and wish I kept it ( I didn't like the color as it was gold/beige) the 2003 Im looking at is Blue.
It has been a faithful car for me and turned out my only issue was a bad battery cable which I upgraded with a home made heavy duty cable I made from Home Depot ( Heavy gage wire, Braze on connectors) and never a starting issue after that, also some tune up upgrades gave it more power with hotter plugs. I would like to get one in a turbo for more power but would rather have the basic engine for less maintenance. But unless a car gave me a headache then I wont consider another. I will never own another ford ( unless its an older 60's or so...bad experience with newer models) But my PT and most people I know that have them ( My ex has an 08) and most don't have any issue. It really doesn't matter what brand the car is Chevy, ford, dodge... they all have their issues, its just a matter of getting a decent one. One thing I wont have to worry about is repairs if I get this, it is covered under warranty as long as I own it ( a special promotion going on with the dealership to sell)
Called a "Warranty Forever" as long as I own the vehicle the powertrain is covered, only guidline is I must keep it regularly maintained as the manufacturer recommendation(tune ups, oil changes....ect... ) which is no issue as I do most myself and keep records anyways, I have done it with many other cars and never an issue to show maintenance records, sometimes I go to a shop if theres a special or the weather is bad. Besides a lot of my work is backed with pictures on forums as well. I keep a pretty good track record of maintenance.
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I noticed most asians vehicles are rare problem with electrical as Subaru,Honda, Toyota (accelerator pedal sticking was just bad design of mechanical and nothing do with electrical). GM was not bad. Chrysler and VW are worse for electrical problem. I heard Ford have famous problem with fuel injector control module due corrosion. The module probably use cheap seal.

green427 said:
I've heard people say that the PT cruisers are junk, nothing but problems.

Neighbor bought a used one with 10K miles, drove it for 6 years, did not maintain it well, and it lasted them 6 years with no major issues. It was not until a couple months ago when the transmission started to slip, they got rid of it.

Friends of ours had one for 7 years, purple touring edition, did minimal maintenance, still running today with over 150K miles.

All cars will have different results.

Great thing about PT cruisers is that the used ones are dirt cheap.
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Maintenance is do nothing with electrical as PCM,ECM, ECU, etc. I seen most brand new 2013 town and country and they got ECM glitch and sometime transmission issue and they are only 5k-10k mileage. No, it was not customers fault. Chrysler got poor programmer write or poor design for newer.
 
On the dodge Ram site I frequent ( I did own a 1997 Dodge Ram 4x4 )
They say the new 2013 Dodge Rams are crap... everyone wants to get rid of them.

My 85 Ford LTD ( bought through my work way back when ) kept blowing the computer module @ $300 a pop, dealer had it off and on for weeks and couldn't find the cause, but the service was free, the $300 brain was out of my pocket every time, once I went to get it and didn't even make it half way out of the service lot... Once they had it running I went straight to another dealer and traded it that day.
 
sonocativo said:
On the dodge Ram site I frequent ( I did own a 1997 Dodge Ram 4x4 )
They say the new 2013 Dodge Rams are crap... everyone wants to get rid of them.

My 85 Ford LTD ( bought through my work way back when ) kept blowing the computer module @ $300 a pop, dealer had it off and on for weeks and couldn't find the cause, but the service was free, the $300 brain was out of my pocket every time, once I went to get it and didn't even make it half way out of the service lot... Once they had it running I went straight to another dealer and traded it that day.
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You should get Dodge RAM with Cummin 5.9L and 6 speeds manual. They are better one EVER!!

I never like any almost V8 gasoline motor at all.
 
The Highlander said:
You should get Dodge RAM with Cummin 5.9L and 6 speeds manual. They are better one EVER!!

I never like any almost V8 gasoline motor at all.
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I have been eyeing a diesel, but
1) fuel prices are higher than gas
2) repairs are more
3) I don't know anything about repairing a diesel
4) Diesels are cool to drive as my buddy had one ( Ford F250 4x4)
 
sonocativo said:
I have been eyeing a diesel, but
1) fuel prices are higher than gas
2) repairs are more
3) I don't know anything about repairing a diesel
4) Diesels are cool to drive as my buddy had one ( Ford F250 4x4)
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1)
Not really.

Regular gasoline = $3.59
Diesel = $3.99

Two VW Jetta are exactly same year, body, and transmission but just different gasoline and diesel.

2013 VW gasoline got around 33 MPG.
2013 VW TDI diesel got around 42 MPG.

Fill up 10 gal of tank.

So $35.90 for gasoline and it made 330 miles and $39.90 for diesel made 420 miles.

Gasoline is $0.1087 per miles and Diesel is $0.095 per miles.

The diesel still cheap than gasoline.

Also diesel maintenance cost is a lot cheap than gasoline maintenance for over 200,000 mileage.
That's right, Diesel is cheaper than gasoline by mileage.

2) Diesel are very rare problem and very simple. Diesel just need fuel injection to get running. Gasoline need fuel injection, spark, boot/wires, and coil to running.
3) Diesel is a lot easy simple than you think. I work for auto and diesel
4) Ford F250 is GREAT for frame body.
 
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