Thrown Rod?
 

I have a 2002 Chevy Cavalier with 128k on it. Its been a good little car for the 3 or so years that I have had it. A few months after buying it I started noticing a problem. It would randomly cut out pulling in to or out of a parking spot. Eventually I also found that if i was parked and I turned the wheel all the way in either direction it would idle weird and sometimes cut off. If I hit the brakes with the wheel turned it would immediately cut off. A few months of driving it and this problem just stopped. In October I bought another car and decided i was going to sell the cavalier. It is now January and I just got around to cleaning it to sell it. We have went out every week or so and cranked/drove it. Well everything was going good. Someone came out and looked and test drove it yesterday and was coming back to buy it this morning so before they got here I took it and drove it, made sure everything was working perfect and it was working just fine. The people brought someone with them to check it out, he wanted to test drive it (for his grand daughter) got it about 3 miles down the road and it just cut off on him. (they were coming up a hill) He tried to crank it back up and it sounded like it had a dead battery. Jumped it off and it was acting real weird. Check Engine, Oil, Check Gauge and Traction control light were all on, as well as the engine was making a knocking sound (the not normal ticking of a cavalier) Then it Died out twice before we were able to keep it running long enough to get it back to the house. As soon as he went to pull in the parking space it died again. We got it cranked up again and all the (above mentioned) lights were still on. They rightfully decided not to buy the car. After they left we cranked it yet again and it still sounded like something was knocking in the motor and all dash light were still on. The knocking quieted a little after a few minutes. I went to the parts store and got a code reader, came back home, went out to the car and no more lights, no code. Car cranked right up, although there was still a knocking sound real bad but after a few minutes it quieted down a lot. I could still hear it but it is a lot quieter. Although it was running really rough, we were able to put it in drive and reverse without it cutting out. I did find that turning the wheel and or pumping the brakes will make it cut off.


Details
I live in GA and it has been pretty cold at night (although I am not sure this is important)
The belt is fraying but still intact and tight
The Traction Control light stayed on a little longer than the others
Oil is old, Miles wise just coming up on needing to be changed

* I am so annoyed because this was such a good little car for me. We had decided that if we did not get a decent amount on the car we were just going to keep it as a spare because it has never had a problem.

Welcome to the forum...
I would check the compression for each cylinder, they need to all be within the same range....
Check the condition of the plugs, if your getting a mis-fire that could cause rough idle and lack of power and stalling under load...
A thrown rod knock won't go away...

Thank you for the reply! Not to sound too dumb, but to check the compression you just get the tool from like autozone and screw it into each spark plug hole. Then rotate the engine and check the reading right?

Something like that. Google/youtube will surely have information on that.

What did you find out?

Engine Compression Test
 

Engine Compression Test

• Charge the battery if the battery is not fully charged.

• Disable the ignition system.

• Disable the fuel injection system.

• Remove all spark plugs.

• Turn the ignition to the ON position.

• Depress the accelerator pedal to position the throttle plate wide open.

• Start with the compression gage at zero and crank the engine through 4 compression strokes, 4 puffs.

• Measure the compression for each cylinder. Record the readings.

• If a cylinder has low compression, inject approximately 15 ml (1 tablespoon) of engine oil into the combustion chamber through the spark plug hole. Measure the compression again and record the reading.

• The minimum compression in any 1 cylinder should not be less than 70 percent of the highest cylinder. No cylinder should read less than 690 kPa (100 psi). For example, if the highest pressure in any 1 cylinder is 1 035 kPa (150 psi), the lowest allowable pressure for any other cylinder would be 725 kPa (105 psi). (1 035 x 70% = 725) (150 x 70% = 105).

• Normal -- Compression builds up quickly and evenly to the specified compression for each cylinder.

• Piston Rings Leaking -- Compression is low on the first stroke. Compression builds up with the following strokes, but does not reach normal. Compression improves considerably when you add oil.

• Valves Leaking -- Compression is low on the first stroke. Compression usually does not build up on the following strokes. Compression does not improve much when you add oil.

• If 2 adjacent cylinders have lower than normal compression, and injecting oil into the cylinders does not increase the compression, the cause may be a head gasket leaking between the cylinders.