Hi, I just made an account. If I'm posting in the wrong area, please let me know. Ok, so I just purchased a used 98 Cavalier 4 door with a 2.2 engine. The private seller said that everything was working good %100. He met me at a supermarket about a quarter mile from his home. When he pulled up, he told me to get in and drive him home. I did. When we arrived, he showed me that all the fluids were topped off. that there was a spare/doughnut in the trunk and that the ac was working and blowing cold. He gave me the notarized title and I gave him the cash. Now, when I was headed home about 8 miles away, the check engine light came on and I also noticed a weird noise from the left area near the steering wheel which eventually went away after pulling off from a red light. Also, I can hear a slight rattling noise coming from the right rear wheel. So I bypassed my house and went straight to Autozone for a reading. It gave me code P1133 and pending P1133 for the upward oxygen sensor. I informed him and his response was that it went through emissions fine and to just have it cleared. I called a friend who came and dropped off his Blue Driver device to which I then screenshot and cleared the codes. As I was spinning the car around the neighborhood to see if the light would come back on, the "check gage" light came on. I noticed the car was on E so I went to the corner store gas station and threw 10 dollars in the tank. When I started the car, the gas guage read a little over a half of tank of gas which was weird. As I drove off, the needle went to the halfway mark as I watched it. I pulled up home and here I am. Apologies for the long post but, it has 75,000 miles. I payed $2200 for it. Do it seem worth it or should I go get my money back? Or am I just being paranoid? Thanks in advance.

 

well i doubt you can get your money back. when you buy private theres no warranty unless one is implied and that would be in a contract. you could ask him for it back and see what he says if he says "sorry but no" then try to ask him what hes tried to do with it.

 

I can. I have him saying in writing that the car works 100 percent no problems and that if it don't, i can bring it back.
I'm asking, should I or can someone give me an idea of it's normal/nothing to worry about or these are problems that'll cost more.

 

paying that much for that old of a car i wouldnt sink anymore money into it. those 2.2 are great little motors i had one in a sunfire and my father in-law had two in his 96 and 97 cavaliers. i think i paid about 2k for my sunfire back in 2005ish. if youre thinking about keeping it as the condition is pretty good maybe talk to him anyway and see whats hes done maybe work out a deal where he pays to fix it or you split the bill or you can just return the car. but by no means would i assume full responsibility and take on the repairs by myself

 

***update***
He finally contacted me back and said the noise in the back is the spare tire. I took it out and everything else out the trunk and driven it around a cul de sac in the neighborhood and still heard the noise. I pressed on the trunk and could hear it outside the car. I had a friend press on it while i had my head near the tire and seen that the strut was clicking. That's fine, i can easily replace it sometime down the line. The code has yet to pop back up. But, i noticed that all the guages are down except the fuel guage. It's sitting a little before the half mark. Is that normal? If not, could it be the floater? Or?

 

Get your money back! I would never pay that much for an 11 year old Cavalier. They're throw away cars.

 

yeah get your money back this seams way to much to repair it and all its problems.

 

You guys are making feel like I got ripped off. Lol. I'm going to contact him and see if he can pay for the strut and I'll replace it. Where I live, it's hard to find any car under 2000 dollars that's road ready (in this case, the strut kind of makes it "iffy".) I was taking 2 long bus trips and an uber just to get to work. With this car, it'll be a 30 minute drive. But, if he doesn't want to, I'm just going to return it. The strut is just 26 and the upward oxygen sensor is 20 bucks. And yes, the car is a little old to be up a couple hundred. I'll give an update after work. Thanks for the replies.

 

i wouldnt say you got ripped off as you did get a contract with a warranty. see how much hes willing to help with the cost of things. are you going to install them or a shop or him? it does seam odd that he would say its 100% good but has these problems almost as if he cleared the codes before you got the car and hoped they wouldnt come back on

 

Well, he offered to pay for the strut and the oxygen sensor. It'll just be around 60 bucks altogether and I said I'll install. It's fairly easy. I guess I'm not refreshing my phone or something because I didn't see much of the other responses. He said he'll fork over for the parts and said he's got credit at some specific shop if I'd like them to install them. But, the upward is a pretty simple unscrew and replace and the struts are a simple take off tire, unbolt from hub, unbolt the top, replace. I don't know. I'm going to contact a couple people and weigh out the inputs. Again, I'll keep you guys updated. Kind of more leaning to returning it, though. Thanks.