I am looking at a '99 Sunfire for my daughter, that has a 2.4 motor. Is this the infamous Quad-4 motor famous for head problems? Any other info that would shy me away from this car? The car is generally nice and looks well-kept. Thanks for any help, I am a newbie to this site, but with 1 daughter owning a Cavy (and looking for another J-body for the other ) I will no doubt be viewing regularly.

that most likely won't be the quad 4

with a 2.4 it is most likely
the engine that comes in z24's and sunfire gt's



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The water pump is a way bigger issue in 96-02 2.4L's (Twin Cam) than the head... that was the older Quad 4 found in the 90-94 Grand Am, Achieva, etc.

Even the water pump isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. It's expensive to replace if it goes, but it rarely goes.




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John Lenko wrote:The water pump is a way bigger issue in 96-02 2.4L's (Twin Cam) than the head... that was the older Quad 4 found in the 90-94 Grand Am, Achieva, etc.

Even the water pump isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. It's expensive to replace if it goes, but it rarely goes.

Also, it sometimes has oiling issues to the rod bearings. I just got done tearing down an engine that had 103,XXX miles and both #1 and #4 were gone (even though #3 seems to be the most common one)...

Those two seem to be the two biggest concerns on the engine...

my 2.4 has 170,200 miles on.

The water pump is not too bad to replace, you do need a lot of extension tools to get to most places.
I say the hardest part of the Job would be... the exhaust!!!!
What takes the longest is the timing chain cover, there's about 20 10mm bults and you also need to take the engine mount off and put a jack under the oil pan to hold it up and work on it.


Takes about 8 hours to put everything back together and running again