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1988 Pontiac Sunbird GT... engine? *** 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24? ***



<< Dammed thing only had 50k original 1 owner miles on it. >>


*GASP* A Pontiac dead at only 50k?? Never!!

[/sarcasm] 😉
 
Hey, pontiacs can last a long long time if you take care of them... though i got rid of my '89 pontiac 6000 for an Audi A4. No comparison there!!!!
 
Ah, the old sunturd. What an ugly car, owned once myself. It was my first car and that plastic front end contraption/noicepiece that it had was the worst looking thing on the block. Still it was my first car.
 
anyway, I'm still looking for a new car and I saw this (its the right price)

1988 Pontiac Sunbird GT

I've realized that I don;t have the money to get a $5000 car, so I'm just gonna get something cheap.

Now obviously I'm not just gonna blindly buy a car cause it has a nice price. I want to know if the car is in good shape, so how would I go about doing that? Can I take the car someplace to get it looked at? I dont know anyone that would go with me that could tell me if a car looks alright.
 
Ah, the old sunturd.

HAHAHAH! LMAO!

Stefan, If you need further specs on the engine, PM me. My dads a mechanic, and he have Softkey (its a program with any engines specs).
 
open yellow pages

find GM mechanic,

Call them up ask them if they are pro's in your sunturd.

pay them $55 to give you a list of everything wrong.

They will do this, because they know you'll be bringing it
to them to get fixed.

I did this with my VW last week. Found about $2000 in things that either
1. Needed repair now (cv joints,vacuum lines), needed repair sooner or later(rod bolts, power steering hose, valve cover gaskets) or are just worn out (like shocks/springs/bent rims)/

Smaller shops are better than dealers but dealers will work (and charge you more).

Expect to see a myriad of issues on a beater that old.
 
Ack! Friends don't let friends buy sun birds 😉 Take a look here and also here for cars for sale. These are incredibly little cars, let me know if you seeanything that you like and I&quot;ll tell you more about it and hwhat I think of the price.
 
sunbird is a good $500 car if its in good shape. I'd pay $500 for one right now..

(not a dime more mind you)
 


<< These are incredibly little cars >>


I think he meant to say they're &quot;incredible little cars&quot; 😉 And that they are
 
what you guys are failing to realize is I CANT AFFORD ANYTHING OTHER THAN OLDER POS CARS!!

What exactly is wrong with a Sunbird? Dont say &quot;You can get a way better car for just a little more $$$&quot; then show me a link to something that is $3000 more than I want to spend.

If the car is notorious for having real problems, then tell me what that problem is!


Christ, My knowledge to cars is what most of the worlds knowledge of computers is. They think AMD sucks ass cause its not Intel. Now you guys are calling a Sunbird a Sunturd. Or &quot;Gasp a pontiac dead after 50K&quot;

So now I'm questioning myself on getting a car that could be in great shape and last me until I have enough to buy a better car maybe 5-6 years from now.!
 
If its a great car, take it to a mechanic.

It should have all records (receipts) showing all work done from date of inception, all parts replaced, all oil changes, etc. Run the VIN # against carfax, as well, to look for salvage issue.

my opinion, a &quot;Performance&quot; vehicle with that age and miles is probably gonna be ragged out. Go buy a car that an old fart would have owned and taken care of instead of thinking performance.

more than once i've been bitten by the &quot;cheap speed bug&quot; and ended up with a basket case.

Turbo's last between 100K-150K dependent on the care of the turbo, oil changes, air filter quality etc. Using a turbo timer, changing your oil every 3K, using synthetics, k&amp;n cleaned regularily you're gonna see near the 150K range for a turbocharger. Poorer maintenance expect to see more issues and shorter turbo/engine life.



there are good chances if it hasn't been replaced it may need to be soon.

Good luck, i'd personally avoid the car if you don't have the cash or &quot;credit&quot; to make sudden large repair bills.



 
Were those turbos water-cooled or no? I've heard that domestic turbos (besides Chrysler) back in the 80's were prone to dying early because of poor cooling.
 
all turbo's are prone to dying because of poor cooling.

A turbo spins up to a minute after you turn off the motor, your oil flow stops when the motor stops. This causes a very hot turbo to spin with no oil flow, and it &quot;cokes&quot; the oil into a resin on the bearings/spindle.

The solution, which every turbo owners should have is a &quot;turbo timer&quot;. it allows you to leave your car running on a timer for a minute or two to let the turbo cool down properly and achieve oil flow.

About $100 for a turbo timer will double your turbo's life easily.
 
Emulex, I was aware of that - but wouldn't the coking effect be worse if there wasn't any liquid cooling going on? I wasn't sure if there was any truth to that in regards to the other domestic turbos out there, and if this Sunbird's turbo isn't, then he should take a little extra care to not blow the turbo up
 


<< This causes a very hot turbo to spin with no oil flow, and it &quot;cokes&quot; the oil into a resin on the bearings/spindle.
The solution, which every turbo owners should have is a &quot;turbo timer&quot;. it allows you to leave your car running on a timer for a minute or two to let the turbo cool down properly and achieve oil flow. >>


I disagee with you, I still say if you're not an idiot and drive your last 2 blocks like a sane person and dont boost too much you're fine with no timer. Also synthetic oil really makes coking pretty much a nonissue.

Anyway actually the sunbirds aren't taht bad I don't think. I've never been an 80's pontiac fan really, hate the dash in them, think they're way too cramped inside and a few other things, but I've known a few people with them that beat the tar out of them and they kept on ticking. Have it checked out by a mechanic which should include things like a compression or leakdown test, be sure its not smoking and its building boost properly and it would probably be just fine for you. Take a look at those classifieds sites I linked to?
 
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