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A tale of two cavs


paulscavalier

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I've had six Cavs, three mk3's and three mk2's.  Sold mine to JohnK recently in a bit of a panic over an enforced house move that didn't then need to happen.  He'd been using it for a while anyway.  Still, while I was fond of it he genuinely loves it, so it's got a good home.  I'm sure I haven't had my last.

I like them can't say why, and of course know them well now, so it's kind of easy to own one. Still quite a few decent ones for sale

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I did prefer the prefacelift cars especially the cd. You had the choice of beige,blue,grey or black plastics before it changed to black and grey. Has been a bit of an arse getting beige trim bits. It took two years of constantly looking to find a beige door card as the original was split

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It didn't take long for the first failure! A horrible metallic rattling noise from underneath the car and a loss of power. I took it to my trusted exhaust place who diagnosed a catalyst failure. It appears to have broken up inside which I suppose would be the loss of power. I have ordered a replacement to be fitted Friday. Do you think it's better to not drive it till then.? I am not sure if it would get worse or not.

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Well I managed to use it very little until Friday morning. And the new catalyst was fitted and yay it doesn't sound like ball bearings in a washing machine. It also really does go well now. The cavalier did create a lot of interest at the fast fit place. An mot tester came over from the garage next door and burst the tyre fitters bubble though. They thought it was worth at least a grand. The mot tester said no way about £200 max he assured them. You see he told them nobody really wants them so that's all your going to get. Told him I wasn't selling anyway so it doesn't really matter what it may or may be worth but to let me know if he finds another one in that condition please let me know for £200 it would be a steal

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  • 1 year later...

New catalyst fell to pieces no idea why. Time for drastic action which means cheap.bit of plain pipe now, no catalyst now. Got an ongoing problem with the throttle position sensor. The original was rough so I replaced it with a new one so now I have fault code 21 throttle position sensor voltage high. Tried disconnecting the battery and leaving it a day. Still there..

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Had a failure with a replacement cat about 5 years ago on my Cavalier. It was so cheap and nasty it wouldn't pass the emissions 12 mths after fitting it! So ended up paying out for a euro 4 spec item at a cost of about £100. It did the job though and is still on there now unlike the previous two.

 

Not sure what to suggest about the throttle position sensor though other than trying to remove it again and clean the contacts perhaps?

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I can get away with no cat on the h plate. I imagine my catalyst was a poor quality one, but they did say they struggled to find one.

I will try another throttle position sensor. I have ordered one from vauxhall car parts for £7.52 so not too bad.

The blue 1.8 has been off the road nearly two years now. So I have not been idle. Gearbox drained and gearbox sump gasket changed at last. Rear anti roll bar removed and new ends made up to replace the wasted away original ends. A bit of cleaning up underneath the car with a bit of paint here and there.

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My Bad, I didn't realise it was your Cavalier CD you were talking about at first so binning off the Cat is certainly the right way to go!

 

I've have had the odd dud sensor in the past myself including from a main dealer claiming it was a genuine part when it clearly wasn't. So well worth a try first.

 

There a H reg Cav CD 2.0 Auto Hatch in White close to me which I recently saw for the first time in ages which pleased me no end that it's still around. I'll try and get a picture of it next time I pass by.

 

What's your plans with the Colorado just to keep chipping away at the jobs so you can put it back on the road?

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Yep the colorado is a keeper, I have had it 18 years and it's part of the family. So I have been chipping away doing bits and pieces on it but it will return. The CD has been a poor car in comparison. Its been running poorly for ages and has now got to the stage where I was getting less and less mpg so I have changed the coolant temperature sensor and took the old throttle position sensor off had a look at it and something inside was rattling around loose. So I put on the replacement and it threw up a fault code and the car was idling so slow I thought it would cut out. I hope the postie brings the new one tommorow or at the worst Wednesday as I am needing it for work Thursday

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We had the something similar with two near identical types of car. One has been ( hope I don't jinx it) totally hassle free running wise. The other despite its condition just kept having silly little faults like split pipes / seals and alike all the time that led me on a wild goose chase. I think the problem was it was a car that was used little to no miles each year then we started using it regular which it wasn't use to. We sold that one on after getting it all sorted typically and thankfully its new owner has had a mostly trouble free ownership.

 

Hopefully your new sensor arrives in time and does the trick. Could be worth checking for split hoses or perhaps ignition leads as had them break up on my Cavalier despite them being barely 18 months old at the time. I do have a spare C18NZ Cav engine that I'm keeping for mine if you get stuck for anything that fits the same as your C20NE.

 

Will definitely get a picture of that Cavalier CD next time I see it! Am tempted to post a, if you want to ever sell it type notes to the owner. But another car is the last thing I really need. Well maybe.

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Thanks, still no delivery on my new TPS. I expect it will arrive when I have the least amount of time to fix it. I am checking other bits now just in case their are other faults. Hoses are not too bad but some are starting to perish a bit. It was a car that has been sat for a time. It should go better than it does.

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  • 1 year later...

An update, the Cavalier Colorado has taken the 405s place on the drive as I want the 405 inside for when I work on the sunroof. I them had the Cavalier Mot tested for the first time since 2016. A few advisories, apart from a small dribble from the sump plug and a chip that’s been in the windscreen since 2000... it was corrosion on brake lines and underbody fuel lines. Not totally unexpected. The fuel lines have now been replaced with copper nickel pipes and the brake pipes done as well. And thanks to Burnside I have a new rear tailgate seal to sort out the condensation that always happens with the rear screen. It won’t be long before I shall be back in that poverty spec drivers seat?

E69D0C8D-E499-42B5-8579-4AAB19AB5C78.jpeg

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I have been lucky. I have seen quite a few with the boot floor rust. Doesn’t seem to be rhyme or reason as to why some are bad there and others are not. But there is a cavity on each side right at the bottom back of the rear wing which is easy to spot when the bumper is off which seems to hold water. I drilled a couple of small holes at the bottom of it and water came dribbling out.

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