Hey everyone. New to J-bodies, but not to cars (or GMs). My first car was a G-body ('84 Olds). I currently own a K-body ('97 Seville) and a non-GM (Dodge Grand Caravan) for the babymobile.
A friend of the family has a '96 Sunfire that I think he's going to try to get rid of. He's mentioned 500 bucks before, so that's what I plan to pay for it. I know it's an SE Coupe, with an automatic. I looked through the FAQs here, but I still have a few questions that I'd like some guidance on:
1) I think that any SE would have come with the 2.2L OHV engine, right?
2) Are there any common issues with this engine? What are the weak points? Is the lower bearing set individual caps or is it a larger girdle design?
3) 1996 should have had DexCool installed as the coolant, correct? It's been very successful in the Northstar engines (and I assume most all the GM engines), but thought I'd ask if y'all like to switch back to the green coolant for some reason.
4) Did they still have a 3-speed automatic in '96, or were they all 4-speeds by then?
5) If a 4-speed, is it the 4T40-E? Is that a durable trans.? I have the 4T80-E in the Cadillac and it's one super transmission.
6) I'll be buying this car sight-unseen. It's about 300 miles away, so I won't be able to test drive it before I buy it. For only 500 bucks, I'm not much worried about the mechanicals (I can fix if needed), but I wonder if I'll be comfortable with the car. The only small car I can compare to is my wife's previous car, a '97 Saturn SC2 (with sunroof). Can anyone tell me how the headroom on a Sunfire coupe (w/o sunroof) would compare to that of a Saturn coupe?
7) The only non-op accessory is apparently the A/C (compressor locked and belt-bypassed). Is that a rather common problem, or something out of the ordinary that happened with that one? I could live without A/C for a while, but I'm also hoping I can find a compressor out of a wreck in a yard and install it and flush/charge the system.
8) The two cars I've driven before that I think could compare to this is the '97 Saturn mentioned above and an '04 Grand Am with the Ecotec I rented once for business. How does the engine/trans of the Sunfire compare to those? I'm sure all of GM's small cars will drive pretty similar.
I'm certainly not looking for a show car with this one... It'll be a commuter car for me so I can leave the Cadillac in the garage most of the time. It's mint, but it has some miles on it (close to 150k), and I'd like to do my daily driving with something else. A '96 Sunfire seems to be just the ticket (it only has 55k miles).
Thanks in advance for your help,
Jason
North Carolina
1997 Cadillac SLS (147k miles)
2003 Dodge Grand Caravan (50k miles)
First off wecome to the
Let me try to tackle some of your questions:
1) Yes, however some did come with the DOHC 2.4's. (anyone have the vin # for the 2.4 SE's?)
2) If it is the 2.2, the timing chain is a common issue. Can't speak for the bearings....
3) DexCool was the OE coolant, if your buddy ever did a coolant change, prolly has the green stuff in there.
The rest of these, I'm not too sure of as I have no actual comparison experience with either a Saturn or a Eco G.Am
This I can say though, as long as you keep the maintenance schedule up, you should end up getting a heck of alot better gas mileage than your Caddy.
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1) I think that any SE would have come with the 2.2L OHV engine, right?
Yes, you have the 2.2 OHV. The GT version had the 2.4L motor.
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2) Are there any common issues with this engine? What are the weak points?
Possibly overheating issues but that can be selective because many people who have these motors don't have any problems. The weak point is that it doesn't produce as much power on the top end.
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4) Did they still have a 3-speed automatic in '96, or were they all 4-speeds by then?
The 3-speeds went from 95-97 on the 3rd gens. I'm not sure if they had the 4-speed in those years or not...
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8) The two cars I've driven before that I think could compare to this is the '97 Saturn mentioned above and an '04 Grand Am with the Ecotec I rented once for business. How does the engine/trans of the Sunfire compare to those? I'm sure all of GM's small cars will drive pretty similar.
The ECOTEC is a much better responsive motor than the OHV motors were (in stock form).
Here is my opinion. If you're looking for a good daily driver and don't care about performance over maintenance, than this car will be good for you and you'll be alright. If you do care about performance, don't get it. It is actually the slowest 3rd gen you can buy if it is the 3-speed version.
If you have anymore questions...just ask. Sorry I couldn't answer all of them for you.
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
Thanks for your quick response so far...
Can you tell me a little more about the timing chain issue with the 2.2s? I used to have a Nissan truck with the KA24E engine (2.4L OHC). Those engines were known for their timing chain problems. Being OHC, the cam was obviously on top of the head with a relatively long chain run. The tensioners would seize up and let the chain go slack on startup. It would sometimes rattle on startup, but at least with that engine, the noise was fairly benign. Is that the same deal on the 2.2s? Is it a ticking time bomb type problem where it might go another 1000 miles or 100,000 miles...or is it just some noise that you can learn to live with?
The 2.2 is NOT an OHC engine right? Is the cam mounted on the side of the block? The only OHV GM 4-cylinder I'm familiar with is the Pontiac "Iron Duke", where the cam was mounted on the side of the block with a relatively short chain run. For my purposes, I think I need to just go pick up a Chilton or Haynes manual -- that will probably answer my basic questions about this engine.
We've found (in the Caddy realm) that many shops push owners to change to the green coolant because of "problems" with DexCool. I know allegations of cooling system damage from DexCool are widespread on the Internet, we've found that the validity of such claims is often questionable. The advice, even from a GM powertrain engineer who frequents our Caddy board, is to stick with DexCool. From what I know about the guy, he does oil changes, but is far from a maintenance-conscious type person, so I'm sure the coolant is original.
Regarding gas mileage, that's partly why I'm looking into investing into this Sunfire. The Caddy actually does pretty good. EPA is 17/26, but I get about 21/30 how I drive it. Regardless, that 21 mpg city is still on premium or midgrade fuel, so it has gotten rather expensive as of late. I understand the EPA rating on the '96 Sunfire 2.2 automatic is 25/34. Using regular fuel. That equates to about a $250 cost savings over the year for me...so I figure if I can buy this car for $500 and keep it running for a while, it'll pay for itself clean in a few years. And then maybe after a while, I can consider a S/C 3800 swap.
Thanks again,
Jason
North Carolina
1997 Cadillac SLS (147k miles)
2003 Dodge Grand Caravan (50k miles)
