Estimated miles before Cavalier Engine goes bad?

[Tormander]

Hey im just wondering how long a cavalier engine(specifically a 2003 cavalier) life span is? and lets say you take car of your car too.

[inarifennec]

It's hard to say from my experience of driving a few cars. Noshun once said something about some cars being born lemon. No two engines are 100% alike. My engine could have 180k miles on it and still run clean with no burning up oil and no major faults and your motor of the same year make and model with the same miles might be chugging down its last quart. Taking care of your engine really plays a big role in the life span of your car of course. Same with how you drive it. I can nearly guarantee that my car, if I drive it a normal traffic speeds and under good conditions, Will outlast one that has the bejesus driven out of it every day pedal to the floor hard braking etc, Sorry I can't offer you any numbers.

From experience I've had cars that were past the 200k mile mark and still ran very well but I also took care of things when they started going bad. PS pump here, Coolant flush, Polish the pistons etc etc.

There are a lot of factors that can go into the life of your engine overall. Hopefully CRJ and Noshun or anyone else who knows more about the engine capabilities of a cav can give you some hard numbers. I by no means am an expert on cavs yet as this is my first one. Sorry about that.

[cousincletus]

I have seen a lot of 2.2 OHV engines with well over 200,000 miles on them. Best thing you can do is the maintenance and not run it like a race car. After all it's just an economy car. The Eco seems to be a decent engine and I don't see any reason why it couldn't make it to 200,000 miles either. Once the car gets that many miles on it, the rest of it is usually worn out. My last Cavalier had over 150,000 miles on it when I parted with it but it still ran like new. I replaced the water pump and alternator but the internal parts were untouched. Auto tranny got oil and filter changes every 25,000 miles.

[noshun]

03 You will have the 2.2 EcoTec. No-one would really be able to say what their average lifespan is seing as they were only on sale from 02! Would say that if the timing chain and oil etc are changed regulalry then there's no reason why it wont go well over 100,000 miles, although I wouldn't expect too much more out of it just going by the cam profile which, although I don't have specifics, has a fair amount of lift but a small duration, meaning that it has a fairly severe angle on it and will wear faster than a cam say in the LD9. Seing as GM now offers a 100,000 mile warranty on some new Ecotec cars I'd say that they wouldn't have done that if they weren't confident in the engine lasting that long but knowing GM that's about it! They're pretty clever with that!

[Robbobby]

Whats weird about all this is that i own a 92 cavalier and it seriously has 298000kilometers on it im canadain btw so do the math . But honestly i dont have a whole lot of issues yes i have to work on the tcc selenoid ie replace it and fix the lower right boot , im not getting a whole lot of hp thats for sure but its only a 2.2l so what should i actually expect. point is is that mine still runs and i will continue to run her to the grave enless it outlasts me and she runs me there first.

[noshun]

Originally Posted by Robbobby

Whats weird about all this is that i own a 92 cavalier and it seriously has 298000kilometers on it im canadain btw so do the math . But honestly i dont have a whole lot of issues yes i have to work on the tcc selenoid ie replace it and fix the lower right boot , im not getting a whole lot of hp thats for sure but its only a 2.2l so what should i actually expect. point is is that mine still runs and i will continue to run her to the grave enless it outlasts me and she runs me there first.

OHV engines usually do last a very long time. Ford CVH OHV 4-cylinders only ever dies with serious abuse or negligence. The EcoTec however is a DOHC engine and all it really has in common with your 2.2 ohv is the displacement! 298K km is 186,250 miles! My buddy had a 93 the same and it just kept going and going. That's not what car companies stand for anymore unfortunately!

[Knifeblade]

My two quarts of oil on this.

Like the guys above say, regular maintenance, basic repairs [inevitable], calm driving methods will extend a vehicle's life,generally. The '03 ECO is too new to really get any reliable ideas about their lifespan, but with attention and pampering, 180K-200K on the engine is very reasonable to expect.

[mcrocks]

Originally Posted by Robbobby

Whats weird about all this is that i own a 92 cavalier and it seriously has 298000kilometers on it im canadain btw so do the math . But honestly i dont have a whole lot of issues yes i have to work on the tcc selenoid ie replace it and fix the lower right boot , im not getting a whole lot of hp thats for sure but its only a 2.2l so what should i actually expect. point is is that mine still runs and i will continue to run her to the grave enless it outlasts me and she runs me there first.

I have a 93 cavalier with 268000 miles on it and it still runs great. Motor is still strong, doesn't use any oil, no smoke. Only major work ever done on my car was a tranmission job. This was due to a recall from Cheverolet due to a faulty transmission.

[94VL]

The 2.0/2.2 engines were rather crude and coarse,and were very "tractor-like" in their ability to go about their business without a lot of fuss,and as such will last 200,000+ miles without major problems.However,a fair number of Cavs have ventilated blocks due to connecting rods wanting to separate from pistons...as such,dont overly abuse them and they will last.A lot like any other engine....you get out,what you put in.

[faroutguy]

my cav is on 310000 km on it and is still running solid, im putting alot of work into it thought replacing parts as i can and i plan on buying a new engine for it aswell

[Thor06]

I wouldnt keep a car past 150k but like the other guys have been saying, I think it could go to 200k+ if you treat it good.

[AssDust]

279,000 km's. Still last strong, having a tcc issue, which ill fix. Replaced tranny a year ago, and I need new brakes. thats about all it needs so far besides the rust on the doors, all them rust there...argh

[colinlesser]

hell my grandfather had a ford van he put over 450k on before it burned down

[jmb3450]

I got 243K miles out of my '91 RS Coupe, 2.2L, before it quit. Actually, it was still running when I got rid of it, but it overheated once and the plug threads were siezed to the head, couldn't get them out....one broke off in the head. My '98 LS Sedan has 149K on it so far and runs like new.

[_Shorty]

I've got a 1990 Cavalier 2dr 5spd with the 3.1l V6 in it, and I've got over 370,000km on it now. That's about 230,000 miles for you Americans. It still runs great, doesn't burn oil, still gets about 28-32mpg. That's imperial gallons, Canada... Which is around 33.6-38.4mpg in US gallons. The best piece of advice to anyone that wishes to have their car last them a long time is RELIGIOUSLY CHANGE YOUR OIL. Change that oil every 5000km/3000miles or every three months, no matter if you think it needs it or not. And change the oil filter every other time. That sucker should last you a pretty long time. Learn to do it yourself to save a few bucks, it's one of the easiest pieces of maintenance to do yourself, and it adds up to decent savings over time. Obviously there are other general maintenance things that you should always do, but changing the oil regularly is probably the most important.