1996 Chevrolet Cavalier from North America - Comments

So I have a 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier which I have owned new since 1996. About a month ago, I drove the car out of my garage for about 5 minutes, parked it for an hour, and then came back to the car. It turned over, but did not start. I called the tow truck and while waiting, the car decided to start. My mechanic replaced the spark plugs, valve cap and gaskets. About 2 weeks later, same thing happened. I drove for about 5 minutes, parked for about 2 hours, came back to the car, and it wouldn't start. While waiting for the tow truck, the car decided to start. The mechanic could not find anything, but put in dry gas. The car worked fine for 2 weeks and once again, the same problem happened. The mechanic claimed that they need to replicate the problem in order to diagnose the problem. Has this happened to anyone here and do you have any ideas because my mechanic seems to have no clue.

My family owns two 2-door 1996 Chevy Cavaliers. They are very dependable everyday cars from my perspective. Although we did encounter a few problems with them both. The a/c in one car was somehow disoriented, and the other car broke down because of overheating. They both need a new a/c,but all we need is to open up the windows. I would not prefer it to someone who needs to travel long distances. But in an everyday use is a dependable car. I know that there are some high repair costs, but all you need to do is take care of it. Pimpalicious!

I have a 96 z24 cavalier and I have had several problems with the driver side axle and wheel bearings. I just replaced pretty much everything and it is still making a growling sound. What could be the problem?

The ticking in the car means the head gasket is going or is gone and needs to be fixed.

I own a 1996 Cavalier. It was brand new when I bought it.

I now have 230000 miles on it. The major things I had go wrong is I replaced the air conditioning twice and the fuel injectors once. My daughter has a 1998 Cavalier and has 230000 miles on her car. The only major thing that has gone wrong is the air conditioner.

We both love our Cavaliers.

I currently own a 96 Chevy Cavalier and have had it about 2 years.

I replaced the entire engine in 2005 with a stock 2000 model.

I have never had so many problems with a car.

It is comfortable, stylish and most of the time reliable.

The problem stems from my engine. My oil leaks, tran fluid leaks, water leaks, A/C is broken, power steering is stiff and also leaks. I am also hearing strange noises from the back of the car. Oh yeah, and the important part, it constantly overheats due to thermostat being in constant need of replacing, water pump went out 3 times and my head gasket has blown 2 times!! These are only the problems that I have had with the new engine.

When I bought it, I knew it needed a whole new engine, but this is crazy!! I'm putting it up for sale next month and I'm going to make sure to mention, " Needs new engine... Again."

1996 Cavalier 2.2 - we bought this car for our daughter after she graduated high school – the car had 100k when we purchased it for 3k.

The car looks great, and has been for the most part reliable. Timing chain broke, replaced starter, head job, main cooling fan, and ignition switch, all totaled we have spent an additional 3k in repair…

Well – our little girl has completed college and entered the workforce – it’s now time to find a good car for her..

Overall I think this car has excessive repairs.. But there are now close to 140,000 miles on it.. I would recommend this car – but encourage owners to stay current on maintenance.

Bought a 1996 Cavalier new, have had numerous problems: replaced A/C compressor and orfices, wheel bearings, brakes twice, ignition caught fire, sent current that fried starter, alternator and battery. One month later Chevy sent out a recall, however they would not reimburse my repair cost.

Replaced water pump twice, thermostat, and fan relay. Now I'm in the process of replacing the head gasket.

This is my second Cavalier, however I will never buy another Chevrolet due to the fact it has been very costly in repairs, and I spent over two years trying to get repaid for items due to the ignition recall, and never received one dime.

I own a 96 Cavalier Z24 and in one month I have replaced the coil housing unit FOUR (4) times. It seems whenever I turn on the A/C fan it burns up the unit causing the vehicle to only run on 4 cylinders. My mechanic has given up and says try it w/out the A/C which I am doing - it has been a week and hasn't burned up yet!! Has anyone else experienced this problem? What might cause it?? Other than that, I love this car, I did replace the water pump once. Thanks!

I bought my 1996 Cavalier two years ago with 99,000 miles on it. It had only one previous owner who took excellent care of it. It's been absolutely great! Other than replacing a thermostat, I've had no problems. It now has 134,000 miles and I don't plan to replace it anytime soon.

I own chevy cavilier, (Z24) for five years now. It runs fine, but it has regualr problems: water pump, window motors, performance, jumpers, etc. are completely unaccountable. I would not recommend anybody this car what so ever.

Now I am having problem with Air conditioning. List goes on and on...

I own a 97 Z-24. This car has been nothing, but headaches. First, I have fixed the ignition coils and housing 4 times, replaced a head gasket, put in a new clutch, water pump, gasket seal, 3 catalytic converters, 3 mufflers, 02 sensor and EGR valve and have already sunk $600 into my a/c with new compressor, oriface tube and reciever dryer and numerous recharges and still I only get about a week of cold air before it starts to blow warm air again. I would never again purchase a chevrolet. Next time I will by a Toyota.

I purchased a new Cavalier in 1997 and still own it today. It has 170,000 miles on it and still runs great. It has had a new head gasket put on about 20,000 miles ago and a water pump shortly after that. Besides the usual brakes replacement the only thing that bugs me is I am now getting ready to put my third fan blower resistor in the car. I am glad it is a fairly cheap part, but it is inconveniet to only have one or two fan speeds working. Good gas mileage, I have never been sorry I bought it.

I owned a '94 Corsica w/150,000 that I bought for $300 I fixed it up and traded it in for a '96 Chevy cavalier and I got $900 on the trade in, great deal if you ask me. When I First got my Cavalier all my buddies and the people I hung out with talked down it, I think it was a family car or maybe a single mother with daughters. 110,000 on the odometer I installed stupid teen junk, I was 17, then I tried to teach my girlfriend how to drive stick and it wasn't pretty, and then I got a UAC and lost my license for 90 days, replaced radiator because of a small crack that was causing minimal damage, but the guy who did it for me forgot to bleed the air in the line and caused the heat to pressurize the system and cause a head gasket leak.. so from mid August till mid July I fixed the head gasket all that pretty stuff and fixed the fuel system and cooling system started driving it in the end of July, now I hand built custom intake and am working on the interior it smokes all of the 1st and 2nd gen cars around and is top 5 in 3rd gens.. then with new cars it beats anything under 200hp my buddy had a 06 SS supercharged and bottom of 3rd when his supercharger gives it that extra oomph it starts to pull, but only thing on the engine that's "performance" is my intake... i have replaced lots of parts, but always with OEM/ or non-performance they add no extra power.

I bought a 1996 Chevy cavalier ls 2 years ago. I have never had a problem, very dependable. The only thing is if you want a car for speed or power, I wouldn't recommend it!