1990 Chevrolet Cavalier review from North America

The alternator went out at 120,000 miles.

Series of problems followed a 6 month sit:

Radiator hoses dry rotted.

Radiator leaked.

Water pump leaked.

All components replaced with no further problems.

Head gasket blew at 180,000 miles. Due to an improper torque wrench being acquired for the repair, the head gasket blew again on a long road trip, during which, I continued to drive it and cracked the head. Yes, it was my fault.

Oversped the engine at 215,000 miles. Initial symptom was a strange clicking noise, but I kept on driving, and more things broke. Damages follow:

Sheared all 6 bolts that hold the flywheel to the crankshaft.

Flywheel bounced around inside the bell housing and sheared off half of the starter shaft. This bouncing also snapped off the sleeve that the throw-out bearing rides on requiring a new transmission.

Disintegrated nylon pads on the timing chain tensioner, resulting in jumped time.

Most recent boggle was kind of mysterious. I'm certain it started as a vacuum leak from a ruptured vacuum line, but the real symptom was when the accelerator was pushed beyond the point of a slight bog on the engine, the engine shuddered terribly. Replaced the vacuum lines and all gaskets from the head gasket up, and the problem went away. (Note: The problem did not go away just by repairing the vacuum leak. Not sure if it was just a reset of the Electronics Control Module due to the battery being disconnected during the gasket replacements that fixed it, or if I replaced something else that was causing the problem).

Excellent acceleration for a 2.2L engine. Out performs a Ford Probe with 16 valve engine (from personal experience i.e. Racing).

The car now has over 270,000 miles and still gets around 32 miles per gallon with the air conditioning running.

Only suggestion, and this holds true for any vehicle, if something goes wrong, don't keep driving it. It will only cost you more in the long run.