My 46k 2.0 LS Cavalier

[3cav3]

Just noticed the mot has only a month to go so have booked the old girl in on a week on Saturday. Am feeling a bit apprehensive after last years initial fail.
My insurance has come round again, even though they weren't the cheapest I was going to stay with my existing company,(lancaster), however after the way they hounded me with countless emails,(on a virtually daily basis) and then to top it all the obtained my works number from somewhere and dragged me out in the middle of a job, I shall never trouble them again!
To be honest so long as it passes the mot ok I will probably sorn it again for a few months until the summer and see if shows start up properly again.

[Envoy CDX]

Good luck with the MOT

[3cav3]

Passed this morning, with just 2 advisories, one being the brake disc from last time and the other just a lightly corroded brake pipe. So not bad. I have already made up a new brake pipe, just going to wait till the better weather comes to fit it.
Had a proper look under the car whilst it was on the ramp, very solid overall, a couple of very small patches of surface rust which again I will treat when the warmer weather is here. Also had my first proper look at the repair done to the spring seat last year, took a while to find as the patch was only the size of my big thumb nail, shocking welding so will be ground off and done properly.

[ilovedmymantas]

Congrats on the pass.
Always a relief, especially at this time of year.

[Robsey]

Also had my first proper look at the repair done to the spring seat last year, took a while to find as the patch was only the size of my big thumb nail, shocking welding so will be ground off and done properly.

Probably shocking to look at, but might be a good solid repair underneath.
I have seen this before - nice tidy welds that are barely joining the patch to the car.
And really tatty, blobby welds, but very strong joints.

I am of the mind that as long as it is solid, then all is good - bearing in mind only you, the MOT inspector and anything you run over will ever get chance to see it.

Good news on the pass though
Another year of Cavalier enjoyment.

[Envoy CDX]

Great stuff. MOT body repairs are rarely pleasant to look at, slap and dash - hopefully they at least painted it and didn't just leave it to the elements.

[3cav3]

It had been painted, thankfully. I should really of checked it before but somehow the last year has just flown by in a blur. Guess partially down to having to work twice as much to cover everyone whos been furlowed. Guess I just drew the short straw.

I was going to take the car out for one last spin before my insurance expires, however the weather today was a bit rough to say the least! The 3rd storm in 6 days !

[Envoy CDX]

Never fun when things get in the way

[dycie]

amazing seeing so many of these still being saved! top trumps!

[3cav3]

amazing seeing so many of these still being saved! top trumps!

Hopefully this one will be around for a good while to come.

I had decided after a lot of thought to reinsure her and keep it taxed, however when my local fuel station on the weekend put super unleaded up to £1.66 a litre i have decided to go ahead with putting it on a sorn for a while. Whilst the Ukraine is kicking off, would it really hurt the government to knock a few pence off fuel duty( whilst the price is high they get more vat per litre as it is). Still i bet they won't as how else can Borris pay for his parties?
I'm wondering how many more people are starting to take their cars off the road due to no longer being able to afford it and as a result the government is losing tax on the tax disc, fuel and anything else we would buy to keep them on the road.

[cavalier1990]

Probably shocking to look at, but might be a good solid repair underneath.
I have seen this before - nice tidy welds that are barely joining the patch to the car.
And really tatty, blobby welds, but very strong joints.

Done a few of those in my time lol, trying to remove old weld thinking that should just fall off and spend about 4 hours grinding the welds off!

[3cav3]

Today my wifes little Fiat Panda suffered terminal engine failure, the timing chain broke with absolutely no warning whatsoever, as quiet as it always was. Couldn't of come at a worse time with her having no income! The AA were useless as always, over 3 hours on a dangerous road to get her recovered, I dont mind admitting that when they came out with their usual excuse of it being a particularly busy day I lost it with them, in over 20 years of membership they've only once come out in 30 mins, every other time 3-5hours so I have got a price off the RAC, around half what I was being charged!
Anyway the purpose of this post is that due to having no transport to get my son to school ive called in a favour and got the Cavalier booked in for a test on Sat morning. A can of fresh petrol and 30secs of turning over on a new battery, she fired up almost straight away having not moved since the last Mot in February 2022, hopefully she will pass again otherwise I'm going to have to go out and buy a new car which is something I cannot afford at the moment. Fingers crossed the old girl doesn't let me down.

[Robsey]

I do find it strange that manufacturers have been fitting chains to the smaller cars.
I believe the Kia Picantos have a chain too.

I had mistakenly come to thinking that everyone had timing belts these days. Silly Rob.

Strangely, my VW waterboxer is direct driven by gears, not a chain nor a belt. One less thing to worry about.

With regard to the Cavalier, they do not like being left stood and being allowed to rust.
So hopefully they will not find any body corrosion at the test.
Otherwise, just ensure everything is clean and dry. (Electrics etc).
We have faith in Vauxhall's finest.

As for the AA, they are now vastly over-priced.
Maximum wait for me in our local area has been about an hour, but I think the Manchester area has alot of patrols.

Before meeting the wife nearly 30 years ago, I was with the RAC, and they never diagnosed anything correctly on my Maestro in the early 90s.
And they upped your premiums if you called them out twice in the same year.

Saying that though, the AA haven't always got it right either.
I only use them to get me home when I cannot fix it myself at the road-side.

[3cav3]

I didn't want to leave it so long but the insurance company nearly drove me insane trying to get me to renew when my policy came up last year, then fuel went stupid so I temporarily took it off the road, next thing I knew over a year had passed, at least its been parked on gravel rather than wet grass like my father keeps doing to his landcruiser.
I only use the AA as a last resort as I just cringe at the thought of calling them out as I know they'll take at least 3 hours! A few friends have said they've had good service off Green Flag, but I'm not sure they cover older cars though.

[3cav3]

Well it Failed, at least on nothing serious, just a broken coil spring and a perished rubber on the anti roll bar link. Did need two runs to get the emissions down. When it was on the ramp I had a good look underneath, overall still very solid, just the rear outer sills will need some attention in the next couple of years.

[3cav3]

As i need tis car back on the road ASAP I didnt get anything done on my van this morning but instead stripped the Cavalier apart.



As can be seen bar a bit of surface rust nothing really looks wrong.



Once the strut was removed however the very recent break can be seen.






The surface rust was quickly rubbed down, treated in rust killer and then undersealed.





Once dismantled I personally was not that happy with the damping effort from the shock so have ordered a new pair up.



Before anyone comments I have also ordered a new set of discs up as even though the brakes are way ahead of the requirements for the test, they are looking to scored for my liking.

I still think the old girl doesnt look to bad in the Sunshine.

[3cav3]

Took her for the retest this morning and passed with no advisories at all. Going to use the car for the school run for the next 2 months, then pull it in and give some much needed tlc.

[Robsey]

Whoop whoop!!
MOT pass Klaxon...
Congrats fella, it is great when you get a clean pass.

I am sure that will be the longest eight weeks of your life.

Looking forward to seeing some Cavalier tlc magic

[3cav3]

It needs a full steam off, of the chassis, then undersealing, either strip and clean the sump, or for ease replace it with a new one as the old one has gone very rusty. Replace the cambelt, waterpump and tensioners, new plugs, leads and dizzy cap, full set of filters and do the oil. Plus really could do with a new rocker cover gasket. Followed up with the shock and spring on the N/S to balance it up.Should take me up to about dinner time lol. After that if my wife is back in work ill replace the rear half outer sills on both sides then get a body shop to blow them in as its a metallic.

[3cav3]

Before I go any further I'd first like to say how much of a bunch of Useless wasters the AA are! Until the other month when my wifes panda broke down I hadnt called them out for years. Today I got a call off my wife saying the Cavalier had over heated, so as I was stuck at work I tried calling them to sort it. The answer phone message stated theyd be at least 20minutes to answer the Call, and then a long wait to come out. The 4th Emergency Service, My A#*e! Do yourself a favour and use a different recovery firm. I will as soon as my contract ends!
Anyway when I finally got out to it, It didnt look good. No water in it at all and my wife muttered something about lights comming on. I checked it over and saw that the oil and water hadnt mixed so as it had had time to cool down I very slowly added some water, and she fired up straight away. It was here that I spotted that the radiator had split. A bottle of rad weld seemed to seal it and I was able to drive it home with no signs of any damage being done.

Anyway you maybe aware that the second hand car market has gone totally crazy at the moment with even bangers seeming to be up for over two grand. Since her Panda passed away I been asking around for a cheap banger . As luck would have it on Monday night I was offered this;



A contact in the trade had, had it in and he said that it wasnt good enough to retail, Mot till next March, was I interested at £500?
I popped round there later that evening and drove it away for £450! Seems a cracking little run around, over 40mpg, the only real downsides is the miles are a little up at 150k and theres quite a bit of laqueer peel. Without it now I'd be stuffed as she still needs a Car for the next 6 weeks for the School run, and also I was finding The Cavaliers fuel consumpution almost bankrupting on the country roads.

[Robsey]

Nothing wrong with a Mitsubishi.
And lacquer peel isn't the end of the world.

As long as it stops and goes safely and economically, that is the main thing.

Besides - that bodywork will give you something to do when you get bored - tee hee

[3cav3]

Nothing wrong with a Mitsubishi.
And lacquer peel isn't the end of the world.

As long as it stops and goes safely and economically, that is the main thing.

Besides - that bodywork will give you something to do when you get bored - tee hee

You know what you can do with your suggestion, lol.
Apart from oil and filter the Mitsi will have nothing done except essential repairs to keep it safe.

Am now hunting for a radiator for the cav that isn't made of Chinese shredded coke cans for the fins, like I'm coming up against at the moment. It seems that with most of the new radiators out there if you even breathe on them wrong the fins colapse. Once fitted I'll get my mate pressure test the cooling system to make sure the head gasket hasn't popped when it got hot. If so it'll be another job for me to have to squeeze in. Cars don't you just love them?

[Robsey]

You say that about Chinese radiators, but 'back in the day', our Cav chewed through OEM Mersck radiators like they were going out of fashion.
Bought from Vauxhall dealers, so no cheap tacky muck there.

The last radiator we bought was very cheap from ebay and has lasted much longer than the earlier OEM items.
That was years before Covid...

Covid has triggered a massive in-flux of cheap Chinese crap - even previously decent suppliers are out-sourcing from China.