Vehicle
Chevrolet Cavalier
The J-body compact that GM sold in enormous numbers, and the Pontiac Sunfire is the same car — same platform, same engines, same electronics, so information under either name applies to both and there is far more of it than the badge suggests. The engine split is what to establish first: early cars use the pushrod 2.2, from 2002 it is the twin-cam Ecotec, and the two share almost nothing — different timing arrangement, different management, different failure profile. A great many of these are diagnosed for coolant loss, and on the pushrod cars an intake manifold gasket is the usual answer rather than anything more serious.
Generations
-
Third generation 1995–2005
Pushrod 2.2 to 2002, then the twin-cam Ecotec; the Pontiac Sunfire is the same car.
- 3T40 (THM125) 3-speed automatic
- 4T40-E / 4T45-E 4-speed automatic
- F-series (F17 / F23 / F35 / F40) manual
- Body styles
- Sedan · Coupé · Convertible
- Platform
- GM J
- Engines
-
- 2.2 four-cylinder — petrol · pushrod, to 2002
- 2.2 Ecotec — petrol · 104 kW (140 hp) · 203 Nm (150 lb-ft) · twin cam, from 2002
- 2.4 Twin Cam — LD9 · petrol · 112 kW (150 hp) · 210 Nm (155 lb-ft) · LD9, Z24
- 2.3 — LD2 · petrol · 93 kW (125 hp) · 203 Nm (150 lb-ft)
- 2.2 — CNG bi-fuel · 4-cylinder, US market 2000-2004
- Transmissions
- 4-speed Muncie M17 manual · 5-speed Isuzu MT2 manual · 5-speed Getrag 282 manual · 3-speed 3T40 automatic · 4-speed 4T40-E automatic · 5-speed Getrag F23 manual · 5-speed Isuzu manual
- Drivetrain
- Front-wheel drive
Service information
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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