1994 Cavalier LSi C20NE (was C18NZ) Work-horse

[Envoy CDX]

FIngers crossed that it's nothing serious.
Usual elephant trunk and locations under the scuttle would be my first port of call.

[cavalier1990]

Hopefully just the hephalump trunk and leaves/crud blocking the escape of our old friend H2O. Makes me wonder why they design these fickle complicated drains on cars with little nooks and crannys, why not just one big gully pipe & 'ole right in the centre of the bulkhead straight to the street like they do with houses!

[Robsey]

Time will tell, I will need to take up all the floor coverings so that I can see what is happening.

Car fired up again today despite being very damp.
The voltage gauge was showing 15+ volts when running, but again, hopefully just due to ambient moisture.

Unusually the whole of the central locking was working well from the remote. I often find the other three doors choose to ignore the signals from the driver's door when using the key in the lock.

[cavalier1990]

Time will tell, I will need to take up all the floor coverings so that I can see what is happening.

Car fired up again today despite being very damp.
The voltage gauge was showing 15+ volts when running, but again, hopefully just due to ambient moisture.

Unusually the whole of the central locking was working well from the remote. I often find the other three doors choose to ignore the signals from the driver's door when using the key in the lock.

It is very damp tonight, it's been raining on and off now cold as well, and I see the car dissolving trucks are out tonight! I had the dehumidifer in the car today to dry it out a bit but it was still getting a bit steamed up on my trip to the folks.

15+ volts not a wee bitty high? usually 13.5 ish from a charging alternator from what I remember.

[Robsey]

Yes anything more than 14.9 volts is too high, although everything seemed to be working fine.
I have a factory refurbed alternator in my kitchen, if drier weather does not bring the voltage down.

Could even be the voltage regulator on the dash, because my fuel gauge briefly registered fuel in the tank, when it has been showing empty for over a year.

[cavalier1990]

I just checked the current price of those chassis legs you used a while ago.....407 bucks, wowser, is that what they cost when you get them? sure I remember them being in the region of 200 and something?

https://www.carz2.co.uk/vauxhallopel-ve ... 6608-c.asp

[Robsey]

What the actual f.........!!

£407.04 reduced from £610. Yeesh!!



When I bought mine, they were £118 per side.
Well - £142 with tax...
I know it was 7 years ago, but that is a serious price hike.



Wow - I feel almost speechless.
I have checked part numbers, and they do match.

[Envoy CDX]

Scary.. 2 fitted to my cav at the point it was scrapped I feel a little sick.

[Robsey]

Yep - that sort of sums it up.

[cavalier1990]

Lol I didn't even see the reduced from 600 bit, that's insane a price hike. Wish i'd of bought a pair a couple of years ago like I was thinking about.

[Robsey]

After nearly six months with no news....

With the arrival of warm sunny weather, and after the success of a 30-second repair on the Vectra, I finally got myself ready for returning the Cavalier back to the road.

Knowing that the nearside jacking point has to be cut off and a new one welded in, I set about stripping the carpets and underlay from the front footwells.

You can imagine my shock of finding a milky duck pond under the passenger-side carpet.
Is this all due to being parked up for three whole years in all weathers?

Carpet out,
Under-lay foam out,



And sound-deadening rubberised matting out.



All the liquid was mopped up and wrung out onto the carpark. Then wiped dry in the sunshine.

And the same with the driver's side.
Not as bad, but there is that milky fluid again.





Finally a good brushing with KuRust to slow down the rust monster.



I also cleaned the engine, rotor and distributor cap.

This is the 'before' image with an oily engine, green moss growing everywhere and leaves abound in the scuttle panel.





And after... just a quick tidy.



And I brought the parcel shelf in for repairing...
Needs gluing and bolting together due to a very severe sag...
A job for tomorrow.



At the moment, everything is on charge.
My car battery,
And my drill battery.

And this is the footwell, now that the KuRust has had chance to dry.

[Envoy CDX]

It's good progress, for the water ingress I would be looking at the windscreen debonding, looking for signs of delamination. inner wing flitch panels and the sunroof / a pillars where the drains drop down.

[Robsey]

I suspect if anywhere, it is here at the front of the passenger foot well.

Very crusty where that black wire happens to run from side to side.




I suppose I ought to check the elephant's trunk (drain hose) for blockages...

[Envoy CDX]

Oh, that doesn't look great, and yep elephants trunk would be a good place to look, as well as the foam seal around the heater blower area if that hasn't already been replaced with a sikaflex replacement

[Robsey]

.... as well as the foam seal around the heater blower area if that hasn't already been replaced with a sikaflex replacement

I presume you mean this in the scuttle channel.





We are due rain for the next 7 days, so I am sure the source will appear very soon.

Talcum power wafted around the footwell should soon cast the menacing finger of blame at the nasty bits.

[Robsey]

A quick check in the pouring rain -

The footwells are both dry.

Passenger Side.



Up Close



And the Driver's Side.


-----‐----------------------

I also tried starting the car...
Loads and loads of cranking but no start.
(I refitted the immobiliser / alarm deletion cover to rule out anything that I had added over the years).

It tried momentairily yesterday - a couple of chuggs, but then flattened the battery.

I did notice no major warning lights today - ABS, Airbag and ECU.
But all the lighting tell-tales worked fine.

Possibly galloping moisture behind the instruments or a loose connector / earth.

I checked the ECU, pump relay and the three little square connectors.
All securely connected, clean and dry.

Hmm - time to tidy that rats nest under the ECU.

From memory, my indicator side repeaters don't work either... usually corroded terminals in the plug.

Good job I like playing with electrics.
3 yrs of damp and corrosion to sort.

[Envoy CDX]

Aye, that main loom earth on the drivers side would be a very good place to start if the indicators are out.

Hope its nice and fun for you

[Robsey]

Aye, that main loom earth on the drivers side would be a very good place to start if the indicators are out.

Hope its nice and fun for you

Only the side repeaters are dead.
The main corner indicator lights are okay.

Not much 'fun' until next weekend -
Until then it is forecast as "rain stopped play".

[Envoy CDX]

You know what I mean the side repeaters earth to the same point as the loom / ecu from memory (see how reliable my aging brain is.. )

Still things to ponder till next weekend

[3cav3]

If all else fails ive found a tow start can work wonders if a car plays up to start.

[vexorg]

I thought the tow thing was a trick for diesels, petrols should manage on their own.

[3cav3]

I thought the tow thing was a trick for diesels, petrols should manage on their own.

I have used it on petrol, but for the last 20 odd years I've had mainly had diesels so guess it probably is more relevant to derv.

[Robsey]

I did speak too soon.

Just after I typed in the last post, we had a torrential downpour - "thunder bolts and lightning" thrown in for good measure.

Another look in the car and there it was... water trickling in behind the heater and into both footwells.

Gold star to Gary for the plastic shield around the blower motor. It looks like my sealant has breached.
And the elephants trunk also spat out a gush of water when I squeezed it.

[Envoy CDX]

Not bad for someone who last drove a cav 11 years ago.

Hopefully a nice easy fix. Happy days. Tiger seal, sicaflex, or CT1 would be my goto sealants now for that stuff.

[Robsey]

I checked again four hours later -
normal rain does not appear to rain in.
The footwells are dry again.

So not too tricky to sort.

Just all those electrics - yeesh.

I did check for a fuel leak, because of the non-start issue.
A split fuel line was the cause last time.

Further work required over the next few weekends.

UPDATE - 7:30am 11/04/2023
Despite lashing down all night, the foot wells were both dry when I left for work this morning.

Elephant's trunk mod to be added to the list of jobs to do.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE - 5:15pm 11/04/2023.
Still dry this evening, so hopefully nothing too serious.