Well, I bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago and bought a beat up 2001 Sunfire for a winter beater. It's rusty, crusty, and needs a lot of help. I have had several issues fixing this thing so far, and it seems that when I fix one thing, something else goes bad. It's a 2001 coupe with the 2200 and a 5-speed manual trans. I bought it for $500, so I kind of knew what I was getting into.

1. When purchased, the PCM was throwing a code P1018 and 2 for the EVAP system. All have been cleared but IDK if any will come back yet as I haven't been able to drive it yet. I do have a spare CTS I can put in it if needed. I'm in NY so having the MIL on is a big no-no.
2. Muffler had more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese and was replaced with a Thrush Turbo. Now I have probably a 1/4" of clearance between the body of the muffler and the wraparound hanger (seriously, what person of low intelligence designed that particular POS? We used to have a 93 Cavvy that went through hangers and mufflers like they were going out of style because of that stinking setup!). Any ideas on not having half of my exhaust flopping like a dead fish?
3. Ah, the brakes. I have good brakes. In the rear. The fronts? Well, first the brake lines were bad, so I replaced them. While trying to separate the RF line and hose, the hose literally came apart at the fitting, so it got new hoses. So I put the new lines and new hoses in and I couldn't break the bleeder screws on the calipers loose (broke one right off), so I put new calipers on it too. Didn't buy new pads because PO already replaced one side and left the others in the trunk. Now I have other issues. A. Somehow the RF fitting in the brake modulator got stripped. Not sure how as I didn't even get to tighten the line properly much less overtighten it (and the LF fitting is MUCH tighter than this one ended up being). I'm not sure if I can fix this with a threaded M10x1 insert or not? Also, B. I can't for the life of me get this thing bled out in the front. My vacuum bleeder isn't doing anything. I don't happen to have a Tech 2 handy so I can cycle the valves in the modulator (not that that would help much with the RF fitting problem). Service manual says something about bleeding out the modulator? Except I can't seem to find the bleeders like I could on the old Delco VI we had in the 93... Need advice here. Also throwing an ABS code but IDK for what since my cheapo code reader only reads from the PCM... Am I going to be able to do anything at all with the ABS system with it throwing a code (seems to me it won't initialize with the ABS light on, right?) I can get a modulator assembly from a junkyard down the road for relatively cheap, but not sure it would help much if I can't figure out how to bleed it out...
4. Fitting an aftermarket stereo is proving to be a pain. I'm going to try a fuse tap soon otherwise I'm going fishing in the ignition switch harness. The car didn't have anything in the radio hole when I bought it (PO said it didn't work and he didn't know why... come to find out some idiot took the RDO fuse out and put it in the MIRROR socket even though this car has manual EVERYTHING!). Am I buying a double-DIN kit for this car? I already have a 1.5 DIN bracket for my other car with the proper install sleeve (both radios are Eclipses).
5. Finally, the doors. We'll start with the passenger's door. The latch sticks. You have to manually push the exterior door handle down or the door will bounce (as in not latch). Good cleaning and white lithium grease, right? Now, the driver's door is a complete mess. It was replaced (car is red, door is black) with a junkyard special. Has the same problem as the passenger's side with the bouncing latch. Also has the problem of whatever person hung it didn't tighten the upper hinge up so the door has to be lifted to latch. Take the fender off to access the mounting bolts or is it possible to go in through the fender liner with lots of ratchet extensions and a u-joint?
6. Anyone know the RPO for the chromed wheel covers seen on 2002 cars, 15" rims? I picked up 3 of them off a car soon to be junked at the dealer I work at (that thing was way worse off than this one except it didn't have any idiot lights on), and am looking for a 4th.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to be able to keep this thing alive. Lower rear portion of the front driver's fender is eaten up. Both rockers are eaten up. Lower portions of quarters by the doors are eaten up along with the usual spot under the gas door. Pass fender is able to be saved along with the door (only peeled/peeling paint so far). Driver's door might end up going back to the junkyard. All of the electrical works (lights, horn, wipers, heat, etc), interior is pretty nice for it's age (except radio trim flops because someone broke the LH mount tab), and it runs pretty nicely. Eventually I'm probably going to be forced to junk it, I know, because it's in such sorry shape, but I'd like to get as much time as I can out of it.

Well, ABS code on these things is usually caused by the speed sensors. So make sure you check those, and that it is clean. Even If it was raining or snowing my ABS light would come on from the speed sensor getting something between it and the CV.

Yeah these cars don't seem to have a accessory power anywhere. However I did somehow manage to hook mine up to one of the passlock wires that went on when the key went backwards. and it did not effect anything. But my car also has remote start wired in so that could be why it did not do anything to the security system.

Your door hinges may actually be tight, I am willing to bet it is the bushing in the hinges that are shot, and your door is sagging down. It is another common problem with these things. You can get new bushings for 10$ or something, but they only lasted me a few months before it had play in it again. These doors need the right gap and setting just like any door, for them to close and open properly. If your bushings are shot there is no point in even trying to adjust them, because you wont get anywhere. And you don't need to have the fender off. you can get in with a wrench and a small 1/4 inch drive.

Well, it took a week, but I have base brakes again. Ended up getting a modulator from the junkyard BEFORE I realized that the right half of the system uses M12x1.75 fittings and not M10x1. Fixed that and got the system bled. Now I'm still throwing an ABS light but now the SERVICE (with the wrench under it, on the left of the wheel) is on too....

Realigned driver's door. 6 out of 8 pieces of the door hinge hardware were loose. However now I messed up the fender even worse than it was. There is a silver one or 3 at the junkyard I can snag a door from though. If I can get a truck.

Need to know where the RPO (SPI) information label is on these things. Mine's not under the trunk lid and not in the glove box. Haven't looked in the console yet but I don't expect it to be there either. Driver's door I have now might be manual but the speaker setup is wrong compared to the other side. Seems like the driver's door has a single 4x6 and the other one has possibly a 5 1/4 and a small tweeter? Stock factory Delco 8 ohm 6x9s in the rear though. Already popped my Clarion 4 ohm 6x9s from my other car in there (not fun getting those mount rings on there!) but haven't done the wiring up yet.

Ended up taking the cover loose on the steering column, unplugging the ignition switch, and tapping into the brown wire for the accessory power for my headunit. Found out that whatever idiot installed the driver's door couldn't even be bothered to leave the speaker wiring intact. It's gone. So that speaker isn't even working at the moment.

Picked up the 4th wheel cover at the junkyard too. Looked one up at the dealer I work at and I agree $5 for a perfectly good cover is MUCH better than $75. If I can find the right door and door panel, I'm looking at $125. Problem is I have manual doors and most of the ones at the yard seem to be power... Also no red cars there. All silver and black with the exception of a couple blue Cavaliers (which I seem to recall being 4-doors).

Well, I found the SPID label. Got the back end all back together now and am working on the bouncing passenger's side door (sticky latch). Need a window crank handle tool before I can get both door handles off all the way to get both door panels off and find out what's going on in both doors. Already need to replace the wiring for the driver's door speaker since the idiot that put the door on chopped it off.

Went on Crutchfield last night looking for door speakers. Found a nice set of Kenwood 4" speakers I like. Bad part is that they come with an installation kit. The adapter brackets I need, the jumper harnesses (between factory speaker connectors and speaker terminals) I need. The install guide I don't. So, of course, since the install guide and the jumpers are the same price, I asked if they could sub a second set of jumpers in place of the guide. Not a chance. So I would have to put out an extra $10 for the second pair of jumpers and throw out the guide and be out that same $10. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I need to do something. And also need to somehow find a door panel for the driver's door that matches the passenger's side. I do have the UW6 stereo system, but I don't understand how GM could have had a 4x6 with separate tweeter because I can't find anything similar anywhere?

I am new to this game and community, but I see many of you are tired, cause Runescape Gold play for years. Beta! Why you play the beta so much to be "enough for now"? Cause its interesting I believe. Yes, may be if I was on your place i should need a rest. To rsgpfast play on those maps since year. And now - bleeding, new mod and the other stuff to be nonsence for me, because I am bored from the maps that played year over and over again.

Could someone tell me how to replace the light bulbs in the PONTIAC emblem above the rear license plate mount? Am I supposed to remove the entire panel from the trunk lid or something? The left bulb is burned out and I can't find any info on how to get at them.

Also, what is the purpose of having the (what would be) reverse light lenses on either side of the rear plate painted over (assuming by the factory)? I can tell by looking through them from the back that they're backup lenses. Has anyone modified theirs to work?

Oh, and since I can't edit the above post now and just remembered the other question I've been wanting to ask...

Can I dump the Dex-Cool junk and go with plain green? 70/30 green has never given me any issues and just the thought of that orange junk eating my engine gives me nightmares (I have heard and read about plenty of front and RWD 2.2s getting eaten by the crap and my father's 00 Grand Prix 3800 SII had a recall for the DC crap that ended up plugging the radiator good because of the stupid sealant pills).

Well, I pulled the codes from the EBCM yesterday...
C1235 RR wheel speed sensor open or short (current)
C1255 Going to disregard this one as I believe that was due to the one on the replacement modulator assembly that was replaced by the original
C1224 RR wheel speed sensor 0 MPH signal, 255 ignition cycles since being set as of yesterday afternoon

Looks like I'm possibly going to be looking for a problem with the RR wheel sensor and probably going to have to buy a new one.

No answer on the coolant thing?

Bought a replacement WAI a little while ago. Stock air box is too quiet and restrictive for my tastes.

Put the Sunfire on the road Monday and filled it same afternoon. Somehow have gone through an 1/8 of a tank of gas in about 10 miles?

Oh, another question...

My ignition lock is very, well, "notchy". Put the key in and sometimes it will turn right away and sometimes you have to play with the key and the lock and the steering wheel to get it to turn. Sometimes the same happens when turning the car off. I can also remove the key entirely with the engine running. I had this problem in my 87 Firebird with the "can turn the lock without the key and also remove the key with the engine running" thing. I solved that by squirting oil in the lock. Can I get away with doing so in the PASSLOCK lock, or will I hurt something doing so?

Had the driver's door aligned by the body shop next to the dealer today. Didn't cost me anything. The guy also did some work trying to pull out the fender. Still going to replace both. Looks like the door was possibly from a Cavalier and so the door panel (since it seems the idiot installed the door as-is rather than swapping parts from one to the other) is hitting the dash, causing the door to pop open when unlatched and close hard.

Still also looking for an answer on the lights in the rear PONTIAC emblem as to whether I have to remove the entire trim piece to replace the left hand bulb or not...

Okay, progress... Sort of...

Had to replace the fuel filler neck to kill the PO440. Also replaced the CTS to kill the other code that had been present in the PCM. Brushed the hose against the fuel lines under there and rust broke. Fuel leak. Ordered pressure and return lines from the dealer. Had to wait a week for said fuel lines because the idiot GM parts driver failed to deliver my pipe to the dealer I work at and instead went to the next stop 10 miles away. Had to cut return line quick connect off and splice line to sender line with hose and clamps due to quick connect not quickly disconnecting (broke into many pieces and then the seal came out on the line remnant).
Replaced fuel lines. Broke a brake line getting one of the retainers loose. Replaced every line in the car now except RR modulator to prop valve (unaffected... wouldn't have replaced the other line except it broke at the prop valve). Have a slight drip at the rear of the LR prop valve. Going to have to put another line on there I guess unless I have enough line to try flaring the line for the THIRD TIME...
Got inspected last week... Through a friend. Found out I had to replace both pass side wheel hubs. Front came off in 3 pieces (hub, mount, inner whatever it is). Had to CUT the rear off because the lower bolt on the right wouldn't budge and broke my T47 before stripping. Cut the wheel flange and then the stupid bolt itself. No more ABS light on (rear wheel hub sensor was bad apparently). Don't think this thing is going to last another winter because apparently the rear frame rails are rusted and have a couple holes.
New question: I can find a pretty much rust free body with a blown engine for around $900. Kind of a ripoff considering I bought this one for less and it actually DRIVES, but what can I do... Anyways, how hard is it to basically drop my existing entire powertrain into the replacement body? Am I going to have to reprogram the PCM for the VIN on the replacement body along with the mileage? The one I've seen on the web has an auto and is also a 2200... The plan would basically be to drop my entire front cradle with engine harness and swap over to the other body. Unless there are a couple mounts I don't know about welded to the actual unibody of the car...

Dude, you having a thread with yourself...try paragraphs, huge chunks of words, people tend to skip over

Buy a new car, sounds like you have way too many issues.

Don't ever mix orange with a car thats run green for a long time, or vice versa unless you want to buy a new radiator

changing those lights behind the "sunfire" is easy, but I forget how..been over 12 years since my '96 was written off



Don't buy from MANTAPART!!
There is no easy ways to get HP, no magic box or gizmo... And if you get more hp, there's no way to make your car still behave and sound like a stock one. More hp usually makes your car louder, more vibrations and harder to drive...but still people hope or think maby there's some magic way to have it all, comfort, stock sound and drive.

Yeah, well, I think this beast is getting scrapped in September. I'd like to keep the powertrain, but apparently nobody wants to explain how I'm supposed to pass NYS computerized inspection if the VIN on the tag don't match the VIN in the control modules (especially the PCM). I'm not about to buy an EcoTrash 2.4 to put in a good body when/if I'd have a perfectly good 2200 sitting around doing nothing... GM has never put out an OHC 4 cylinder I could even remotely imagine putting in any car I own, and there have been 3 of them in my family (87 2.0 OHC Firenza and 08/11 Malibus, one of which suffered a timing chain failure after less than 65K with religious oil changes and actually had a change a couple days before the chain snapped).

Sorry, but my neighbor has swapped orange to green in a few vehicles now and has never replaced anything, but he's never around so I can catch him for advice. He's about to do so in his 98 Sierra 4.3, actually, when he has a chance.

And it seems it's my computer lumping everything together... It's not just this forum it happens in.