Another 2004 Chevy Cavalier 2.2L Non BioFuel

Before you start pulling your hair out, take the battery out and have it load tested. Batteries do not like it when 2° outside either! Brings out the weakness in all of us.

If the battery test good, check the alternator output, should be around 13.8 -14.5 volts, if ok then start checking fusible links.

Stay warm and have it towed to a shop.

It's tests, not testes.

Really?

LOL!!

99% sure it is a bad ground or ECU connection. Just went through the same problem with a Saturn. Same exact symptoms.

Disconnect the battery, clean the terminals, then check and clean all the ground connections from the battery. Make sure all the grounds are cleaned and retightened.

Next, locate the engine control unit (ECU) and disconnect the harnesses from the unit (there should be two) and replug them in. This will break any oxidation on the connector pins. It won't hurt to visually inspect the connectors for any green/white oxidation.

It seems that the position of the ECU in the engine bay lends itself to these types of problems.

A squirt of contact cleaner on the ECU connectors while he's at it wouldn't hurt either. Wonderful stuff!

Yup..an absolute must, especially since this might be the root of the problem in the first place.

I agree.

He should also spray such plug contacts with WD-40 before mating again, to slow possible oxidisation in the future. It works just fine and helps to loosen any corrosion already there.....Plug and unplug a few times.....

He should also check the main earth between engine and chassis. I had a similar problem on a friend's Opel (same company?) many years ago.

It turned out that the chassis to engine ground was broken (probably due to vibration) but "LOOKED" just fine. A quick pull showed that it was broken internally......sometimes it made contact and sometimes it didn't.....WD-40 won't help that!!!

If Opel had used a proper earth strap, the problem probably would never had happened, they used insulated battery(?) cable with two big lugs.....UGH!!!

If no ground cable found, add one immediately.....put a couple of "turns" in it to handle vibration if only Battery cable available.....buy the right one in the spring....install in parallel!!

Sounds like you lost power to the ignition coil....just trace it back.....but I would find a warm place to work on it as it could take some time....fuses are the first place to start, check them all for continuity...if you find a bad fuse, trace the circuit back and find the problem....

Check the main DC power fusible link wire coming off the engine starter that feeds all of auxiliary fuse panels.

It is an in-line flexible fuse wire immediately next to the starter auxiliary relay terminals.

Youtube has multiple examples on how to perform the test and replacement procedures.

Apply light pressure to the wire and if you can stretch the wire easily, it is severed and must be replaced.

Replacements are available at the local parts store.

And we STILL don't have a section dedicated to the Cavalier.

The topic always starts, then promptly dies.

Never for the same reason.

Sounds like Cavalier eh?

Why is it the Cavalier seems to be the one vehicle that breaks here on CR4? It seems to me that every time someone posts of car trouble, odds are it's a Cavalier. Just say'n

CR4 is the "Click and Clack" of Cavaliers.

Tom, may he rest in peace

LOL!!!

Which one are you?

The only thing I would add, is to check the harness where it passes through the fire wall, it may be loose there. You may be able to test the fusible link at the alternator stud if it is accessible.

The marvels of the Google search engine.

The more times a Cavalier question gets asked on this board the higher up the search result we go. I can only look forward to the day when all Cavaliers reside in junkyards.

We are at number2 in Google results, On my system anyway.

number 4 on Bing

On Yahoo we are about 7 entries down. What!

I have decided to hijack this thread. The way I see it, we have more complaints about broken Cavaliers than actual broken Cavaliers. I for one think we should start our own car repair thread. If we (the concerned voices on CR4) vote here for the make and model of car we most want to field questions on, we can make it happen. I for one can write as many questions as I have ever attempted to answer. If the vehicle the R4 group wants to read about is a Simca, I will write in with Simca questions. If the Humber Snipe is the winner, Humber Snipe questions will follow. My only thought about this is that the vehicle should be something tat is popular enough to get others to send in questions, which will probably rule out my Renault Fuego.

OK. Lets start the voting. I'll vote for a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria.

Sounds good...

Thanks for reminding me about Humber, Bob.

I owned a Super-Snipe for a short while once, back in the pliocene period. Poor man's Rolls Royce!

Any one out there remember the Austin Princes? I seem to recall that as a poor man's Rolls.

I remember them in UK, if that's what you're thinking of. In the 40s there was a 40s-style model, usually black, with exposed front wings, maybe running boards etc. Often used for weddings and funerals (not at the same time ).

In the 60s there was a Farina-style model (square boxy shape) which had either a 3-litre Austin/British Motor Corp engine or a 4 litre Rolls-Royce.

You don't see many of them about nowadays!

Princess, not Princes!!

I remember them too, I found them unattractive, even more so today....

Did you ever do a "Hill-Start" with one, it made the car even less attractive.....you have to have done one to fully understand what I mean!!!

They were made by the company that Germany called "British Elend"......No I am not misspelling "British Leyland"!!

"Elend" means wretched, awful, lousy, rotten as in illness.

This reflects on the then communist Russian sponsored strikes and poor build quality of the British Car industry generally...

Germans STILL do not buy British cars for these reasons, at least only a tiny, tiny percent!! Whereas Brits buy German cars in vast numbers.....I wonder why???

See here:-

Red Robbo

Just one of the people that Maggie Thatcher eventually managed to get rid of, but one of the reasons I left the UK in 1981....I was sick of strikes, the 3 day week and the like......not that I was ever allowed to actually only work a 3 day week, I still had a 5 + 2 week!!!

In the meantime, Britain produces more cars per year now than Germany since 2012 I believe, which is a big turnaround.

Seeing this car again brought back awful memories of British Industry then.....Thank God for Maggie!.....

Back around 1970, I worked in a service station that had some strange vehicles as regular customers. One was an Austin Princess. As I recall it was bluish grey, and did not seem boxy to me. Like a Hillman Minx but on steroids. We had those 2 cycle Saabs. and a three cylinder import. DAF, or DKW, or something like that. At one time I also owned a Hillman Husky, but only for a few days. I did own a pair of Plymouth Crickets. I was told they were identical to a Hillman. I think an Avenger. (Help bold control is stuck on.) A friend had a Vauxhall Victor for a while. He cut a sunroof one hot day. Rainy days were bad after that.

You're right, I'd forgotten about that Princess, a wedge-shaped thing, launched about 1973. The Ambassador was similar. The ones I was referring to were earlier. I was just looking at a Wiki site on the history of Austin, which reminded me.

I remember the 2-cycle Saab, a work colleague in the 70s had one, the engine ran anticlockwise.

Like your story about cutting a hole in the Victor roof.

A cutting torch and an idle mind is trouble.

He did well not to set fire to the car.

It was your ref to Rolls that made me think of the earlier Princesses, with use for weddings etc and the Rolls engine model. Nobody would call the wedged-shaped Princess a poor man's Rolls!

Yet there were some models that were reminiscent of the Rolls, esp the front grill seen from the side, and the rather classy van den Plas coachwork.

I mentioned "poor mans Rolls " in terms of the Humber I owned. The drive was just a powerful, quiet swish; plently of leg and head room and very well appointed interior!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Princess

These seem to be pictures of what I recalled.

I noticed the Princes, but too tactful to correct him .

I don't think I ever had the pleasure of driving one, the earlier or wedgie models.

I've little time for Red Robbo and his mates, but I think management also had a lot to answer for in the decline of the British motor industry. Decisions made which had obvious short-term attractions but just didn't feel right. In the 50s Austin had as good a range of mass-market cars as anywhere in the world, from the A30 to the A95. I ran a A90 Westminster (2.6 litre straight 6, not to be confused with the 4 cylinder Atlantic) in the late 60s, great car. When the designs for the 60s Farina range were offered, management should have taken one look and said "No, we've got a loyal customer base out there and we're not going to try to sell them that. Go back and try again, we'll make the old models for another year". But we know what actually happened! Then it was downhill all the way, some of the models shown on link below are pretty cringeworthy. That's my rant anyway.

I'm sure you're right about Britain producing more cars per year now than Germany, it's just a shame hardly any of the companies are British owned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Motor_Company

Nice post, thanks.

The "Robbo" quality was simply awful.....he must be long dead nowadays!!!

May he be forced to drive one of those cars in hell for the rest of eternity.....

Worse yet, condemn him to repairing it for eternity.

LOL!!!

Who knows?

I remember a BBC interview with Mick McGaheyduring the miners strike when asked what his aim was, and he told the reported it was to bring down British industry for Mother Russia.....I was flabbergasted. Knowing it was one thing, hearing him saying it live on TV was something new then!!!

See here:-

Mick_McGahey

Not forgetting another troublemaker:-

Arthur_Scargill

From the link in your #28 it seems he's still alive, says born 1927. At 87/88 be good to think he's no longer causing trouble, but I wouldn't be too sure.

True....

ok everybody, thanks for all the info.. sooooo. tested all circuits, voltage dropped ecm ground (was good), ecm lost power from igntion switch, tapped on it, car starts fine, installing new Ignition switch tomorrow. again thanks for all the help. u guys rock!