1995 Cavalier, Idle problem?

[Patch101]

I have a 95 Cavalier I recently purchased. One problem I've noticed now that I have the chance to drive is that it starts up fine but seems to be fairly rough for about 5-10second before it comes up to what sounds a normal idle. although while driving it at stops I notice that is has a few "shakes" nothing like when you start the car but if you pay attention .. noticable.

One other thing I've noticed is that when after you start the car it also makes a mechanical clunk when you return the key to the normal position after starting the engine (almost sounds like something mechanical that re-positions when you turn the key). I don't think its the fuel pump makes a normal buzzing noise when your make the first turn of the key.

Any ideas if there is anything I can do before I take it to my mechanic?

I was thinking of changing the fuel filter and checking the spark plugs.... I've thrown some of the expensive injector cleaner from the GM dealer to see if that helps at all as well

[barmanjay]

ok,.. I need to know,.....

1. Is your car an automatic or manual


the clunk,... the only thing I can think of,.. would be the starter,.. If I can't hear it,.. that's all I can guess. A clunk from your starter could mean it's either loose or needs to be shimmed a little.

If it's an auto,.. it could be the TCC,.. on your tranny,.. could be sticky,... other than that,.. do the regular tune up stuff,... I dunno

[Patch101]

Its Automatic. The 2.2L (90,000kms)

The clunk happens right after the engine has started but while the car is in park still. Almost sounds like something mechanically moving almost sounds like behind the dash too.

The idling has me more worried though esp. at cold start.

[Spyderman_MaryJ]

If the clunk happens when you release the key fom the start position, I would guess the starter too. As for the shakes, it could be a dozen things... like a DIRTY air filter, a dirty fuel filter, cracked or broken vacuum lines, a bad PCV valve, a bad IAC (Idle air control) valve, dirty/plugged injectors, loose or damaged plug wires, bad spark plugs... etc. I would start by pulling out the spark plugs and look at the condition of them. Then you can narrow it down to one or all of the cylinders. And the condition of them will tell you alot about how the car is running. Most Hynes manuals have a spark plug chart in the back that shows what plugs will look like under certain conditions.

Good luck. I know how frustrating this can be!

Riley

[yohan4ws]

On the topic of cavaliers, anybody know of an enthusiast site direct relating to Chev Cavaliers ?? My gf has one and there are some quirky things I wouldnt mind discussing on a forum or searching through archives..

[barmanjay]

yeah there are a bunch of forums that I'm on:

www.jspeed.ca - local domestic
www.gmfwd.com - FWD domestics of all sorts
www.v6z24.com - US based,.. tonns of info for 1gen and 2nd gen (pre 95)
www.jbodyalberta.com - local J-body club,.. mostly edmonton crowd,.. and mostly 3rd gen's

The first site I'm involved with.

[Patch101]

Thx for the reply Spyderman_MaryJ

K Update, had the fuel filter changed, had the coolant flushed due to the fact that it looked like there was green dog food like chunks floating all over the place , and finally took the spark plugs out and sanded and re-gapped them to 0.060 (they where about 0.054). I would say they looked pretty clean (no oil or black) just a little brownish over the metal easily removed .... so they where either changed recently.
No change mind you.

Air filter needs to be changed. Not Extremely dirty but needs change. I can change the PCV valve, hopefully the same spot as in my 87 Cavalier.

PS, I dumped some expensive injector cleaner a few days ago.

[barmanjay]

I dunno how easy it is to remove your throttle body,.. but you may want to take it off and give it a whoop ass cleaning too.

[Spyderman_MaryJ]

When you say the coolant looked like it had dog food in it?... That is not a good sign. See if you can find someone to pressure test your cooling system for leaks. Otherwise, if all the plugs are the same brown(ish) it sounds like it is a vacuum leak, or a defective MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor, or possibly even a leaking head if the coolant is that bad..?

Good luck.

[Patch101]

barmanjay, isn't the 95 a 4 port injection system? I know my 87 Cavalier was throttle body.

Spyderman_MaryJ, to give some more history on the car. The first owner was a female who didn't know anything about cars and basically allowed the engine to blow. The 2nd owner was a parts man and bought the car cheap and had his buddy at Toyota install a used engine with 88,000kms on it (same engine, same year) then gave it to his wife because she had to do some long distance travelling to work. His wife soon moved to town and no longer needed the car after 2,000kms on it and therefore sold the car to me for $3900. I have no idea if the previous incident would of caused oil n crap to enter the cooling system.

Now the cooling wasn't brown. The coolant was a yellow/green colour but had chunks in it that had the consistancy of wet dog food or really old milk chunks The shop I took it to did a good job of cleaning out the coolant tank (for lack of the proper term), ran some coolant flush crap through for 10 minutes and then flushed the rad along with it. So now I should be able to keep an eye on it to see if it changes at all.

I just installed a new pcv valve, and air filter to conclude the day of maintance 8)

I'm going to take it to my mechanic and ask him to check a few things. Throw it on the computer first of all , Map sensor, aic Valve, cold start valve, timing gears, and vaccum leaks. Unless you guys have any suggestions on how to do it myself, if its easy that is.

I have to change a wheel bearing and drive axle that connects to it. I'm going to try doing that myself *crossing fingers*

[Spyderman_MaryJ]

If the problem persists after having the motor replaced would lead me to think it's something that stayed with the car like a sensor... It's hard to really diagnose without seeing/hearing it my self.

I had an '89 regal that I had alot of the same problems with. I kept getting a code for the MAP sensor but after replacing it twice I had the same rough idle problems... turned out to be a small crack in a hard vacuum line leading to the MAP sensor up under the plenum where it was hard to trace...

As for the coolant, sounds like perhaps someone previously put some kind of stop leak or something into the rad. It doesn't take long for that crap to make a mess of your rad. Now that it's cleaned out, watch it for more "sludge." Hopefully, thats all it was.

Again, good luck!

Riley

[Jeevin]

my 1997 Sunfire does the same thing...well it doesnt go to red, but it goes up like right before yellow/red .... like within 1 cm of it.

I don't know what the problem is either, but most of the time the temperature gauge is normal. It just does it sometimes...

Also the coolent light comes on, so I thought that was the problem but I have enough coolant...so I dunno...crappy car I guess

[Jeevin]

^wrong thread...whoops

[barmanjay]

You still have a Throttle body.
just follow your air intake tube to the motor,... and vioala,...

[Patch101]

I have taken it to the GM dealership but of course they said they couldn't see any problems because its intermittent its hard to get it to act up if even when they kept it over-night.

But here's the update. No Codes. I had them clean out the throttle and AIC valve (they said it was dirty) I've also installed new Delco Plat Plugs (0.06, and the old plugs looked clean), leads, fuel and air filters, Used the delco fuel flush you dump into the tank, injentor flush, pcv valve but so far same problem..

Its been suggested to have someone check the TPS, check the timing and try replacing the CTS. Are these good suggestions?

PS, Worried about my coolant levels. Had a coolant flush 3 weeks ago and the other day the low coolant light was intermittently flashing at me. No signs of head gasket failer. No oil in coolant, no coolant in oil, no over-heating, plugs are clean, no coolant leaks, no white smoke that I can see. I re-filled it the other day .. see how long it takes to get a low coolant light again though.

[Patch101]

bump for opinions

[GTS Jeff]

when my car is cold the starter sticks for a few seconds after i let off the start switch.