goofy ’95 cavalier with no passlock

Just did this one today - it was interesting to say the least. I thought I was going to have to deal with the stupid early Passlock (black, black, BLACK/ white) ribbon cable which doesn't separate with any kind of ease. I ended up taking the shroud off to find this:


It's sort of hard to make out, but there are no wires whatsoever going in to the key cylinder. Very bizarre to find this, as I was under the impression that all '95-up J bodies had Passlock. Apparently they didn't start quite that early (this car had a build date of January 1995). I ended up running a (probably unnecessary) wire to the bulb test wire, but the remote start worked fine and no bypass was necessary. Something curious to look out for.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

You got a new phone or camera?

Honestly i'm more surprised there are 14 year old Cavaliers still on the road....

-------------
Mike M2
Tech Manager
CS Dealer Services

howie: camera phone. LG VX9900(enV) which is the 4th of that phone I've had (3 replaced under warranty, generally due to poorly designed battery retention, and this one is about to give way to number 5).

Mike: mileage was 66666, interestingly enough. Old lady owned it, and it ran about as good as you'd expect for a POS 2.2 liter. It's too bad that the seats couldn't be solid metal and linked to the engine; then you'd get a nice massage after a long day's work.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

ah it could just be a 95 with the old 94 system still in it cuz they had them left over. that does happen once in a while.

jinstall wrote:

---

ah it could just be a 95 with the old 94 system still in it cuz they had them left over. that does happen once in a while.

---

That's the goofy thing. The cars were all new for '95, including the key cylinder. I'm thinking they might not have quite worked the bugs out of it in time, and figured that if there was a car that people weren't expecting to have any theft deterrence, this was it.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

lol yeah it's much more fun when it's something like the pcm is a year older than the rest of the car. lol that's lots of fun to troubleshoot

I hate to imagine having to run diagnostics that car - the plug was OBD-II, not the earlier GM 12-pin. I've heard some horror stories about scanner compatibility with '94-'95 OBD 1.5 cars.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

that's pretty awesome. what happens does it give you totally wrong diagnostics or just not work at all? or does it do something to the whole system?

There's just a bunch of conflicting information on it...like whether you're supposed to use an OBD-II scanner, or an older GM specific scanner with an adaptor. What codes it will give, and if it's possible to use a paperclip for diagnostic codes like you could do on conventional '82-'95 GMs. Whether or not special firmware or external power is needed on a scanner in order for it to communicate with the car. Etc. and so on.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

at least you now make more since the customer doesnt need a bypass

Chris, funny thing about PDA phones of a certain provenance, 3 months ago I got a Samsung i900 Omnia, lasted two days, battery shorting so running hot and no life, changed that, wonderful for emails and google maps when I'm stuck on a Virgin  (yes I think Branson now owns the UK) train, but what a performance to use as a phone. Went out and bought a Moto V9 (3.5G V8) , so easy to use, voice quality miles ahead. But I found the SP was still charging me for last year's rate so I got an HTC touch HD, also lovely big screen and REAL controls for end send etc....BUT still doesn't  get as good a sound or as good a signal as the Moto. I know everyone in the Cellular trade runs Moto down, but I've been using Vseries phones for the last 20 years from the Startac on, I've never had any grief. OK so we don't get the dinky antennae on the phone but that's my rant for today. The UK Cavalier was just as rotten.

Ehh...I don't think the Cavalier/Sunfire was that bad(owned an '02 Sunfire GT). The only things that I didn't like were the fact that my car was an oddball with keyless entry, power sunroof, manual windows. Doesn't make sense really. I'd have probably liked the car a lot less if it had the 2.2 base motor with more NVH and 30 fewer horsepower.

GM milked it for too long like they've done with a lot of cars though.

The Startac I had, however...there's a product I absolutely hated. Stupid unmounted antenna tip that broke off readily, and a display that was on the inside, only visible when you flipped the phone open, which made call screening totally impossible because opening the phone answered whatever call you were getting!

That phone ended up slipping out of the belt clip and in to the toilet one day - I told everyone that's where it belonged.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

cellphone talk? i thought this was about remote starts and alarms ! ahah just messing. i remebr the startac. my dad had one and i must say its an ugly phone. I got the htc touch and blackberry bold. very nice phones but phone rates are killer here in canada. i still prefer HTC over blackberry

My mom and brother have iPhones - I personally would rather save $40/month and give up the navigation/legible Web browsing.

Everyone on here can say what they will about me, but I think a navigation is an insult to my intelligence. I was memorizing maps when I was 5-10 years old and I can find what I need to just as quick as any gadget can. Then again...I use Google Maps. Why the hell do I have to be so inconsistent?

Anyway, I know all I need to know about Canada after watching this again. Please if you click on it, at least watch a minute until you get what I'm talking about.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

Still getting used to my current touch HD, similar to previous touch but bigger screen and 3.5G, yes I'm really going to to pay the SP's ridiculous data rates when I can go home and  light up my computor and get it for free. Incidentally we call them Crackberries here, the iphone is absolutely fabulous but it's tied to a poor network, (we have 6 major networks here) and we haven't had antennas for 20 years, it was a fashion thing, aparantly North America liked aerials and Europe didn't. I've found funies like the Cav before, generally the German manufacturers installed transponders from 93-4 onwards, it was a legal EU requirement for all cars from 1-1-97, except you still had minor markets, eg Greece, Portugal where you might get to work on one of these  missing AC, power windows, eg Mk lV Golf/Jetta, all UK spec had power locks and windows, I've done 2 Golfs without the windows, the owners swore they were UK cars but those minus options never listed. (easier to do the lock wires are in the module near the steering column not in the door).

everything is diff in the uk, i wanna head to the uk and see what its all about if i get a chance. must be nice over there.hey howie, do you own hendons  if i remeber, or you work there?

No Ted, do very little for them these days, the're clogged up with speakers and head units which they wil never shift, they are still going but only just, never seen so many close as in the last two years. They panic because every customer is punting around looking for a deal and they chop their price, then ask me to chop mine. At this point I tell them to take a running jump or words to that effect. I stil get the price when I talk to customers because I know the cars and how the alarm works on their car. How few people know about comfort close on Jags, BMW VW/Audi and Euro GM? Ooh look Henry he's made the alarm close the windows.(!!!) One of these days I'll post as general interest the differences between North America and the rest of the world. Just ask and I'll go into lecture mode. As an example go to Honda UK and Ford UK, look at the Civic and Focus over here, especially the 305hp Focus RS but more important, look at the equipment levels. Heck they even do the 335 BMW here with a TWIN turbo diesel engine, in practical terms it loses little in performance to the M3 with 45mpg.

BMW 335d - sold in the US for 2009.

Per Motor Trend, all the cool Focus models are much too expensive for U.S. buyers, and you really almost never see cars of that size selling for more than $25K (other than luxury badges like the 3-series and the WRX/Evo). If an American wants a fast Ford he buys a Mustang.

-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

It's perceived or cultural differences Chris, I was going to come back with something  trite like but at least the Focus goes around corners, but there again the Mustang costs less than the Focus and I doubt very much if you have the roads any more to appreciate the handling difference. Lets face it if you've got a hot Mustang and straight roads, who needs a hot Euro hatch? But where I live there's an off ramp where you leave the motorway at what ever speed, up a hill into a 90% right hander with an adverse camber,  it's a nice test of road holding v. courage. Average saloon about 60mph, 911 about 80mph, Lotus Elise, about 110. But how many cars do Lotus sell these days? Remember over here the 3Series outsells the Ford Mondeo (500) and that's image, the latest Mondeo is a superb car and a lot cheaper. A lot of people in the motor trade say the biggest problem with the Focus is the Ford Badge! Tell you what though I used to live in West Palm and apart from the weather and the (too) laid back attitudes I used to lust to get back here and find a twisty road or even a hill!

An hour south of where I live, you're in West Virginia, which isn't nicknamed "The Mountain State" for nothing. You can't drive less than 20 miles to get between any 2 points that are 10 miles apart as the crow flies.

The rural roads(which is basically all there is, the state's largest city is 50,000 people) there also generally come with the added benefit of nearly nonexistent guardrails and road signs. I've had some nice drives there in my GTO to say the least.

Just for s**ts and giggles I did a comparison build of a Mustang and a 128i...Mustang GT coupe, manual transmission maxes out at $30,120. The 128i, with no options whatsoever, is $30,025.

The Mustang has heated power leather seats, navi, HIDs, a great(by factory standards) sound system.

The 128i has vinyl seats that don't have the delightful thigh adjustment(you need to spend $1400 on the sport package for that), or heaters($500 as a standalone, $900 in the cold weather package), and it's got a third fewer horsepower than the Mustang.

Ok, you say, but handling! According to Car and Driver the 128i pulls .89g on a skidpad, the Mustang .86. Granted there's more to handling than skidpad numbers. But I don't think it's stretching to say that if you gave up a couple options and put the money into aftermarket performance parts, you'd totally blow away the Bimmer. And this basically illustrates the reason I'm not keen on them at U.S. prices. What's a 128i cost in the UK right now btw?

And if you want to say Lotus, yes, they are phenomenal cars. I've thought of selling/trading my GTO for a 4-cylinder Esprit occasionally. Can't drive a 2-seater year round in PA though.

Hondas are great too, but they don't currently make(or don't sell in the US) a) the Prelude, b) Accord Wagon, c) Civic hatchback, d) any practical rear-wheel-drive car. Also the new Accord is much too big for carving up mountain roads.



-------------
C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

You're so right, what weighted the situation for years over was the tax factor, many people went for company cars, also people bought on the drip or leased, in fact the best deal for an individual is to guess the value in 2-3 years time when you out the car. At this point a Benz is cheaper than say an Alfa Romeo because the residual is so much more. Hence UK roads filled with Audis, BMWs and C and E class. I would echo your point about the OLD pre- 94 Prelude, given one a couple of years ago, very comfy and the recaros wouldn't have cost any more and went like a dream. Unfortunately most front wheel drives with the exception of Honda and Ford (Mazda 2 is new Fiesta, Mazda 3 is Focus and Mazda 6 is Mondeo) understeer badly, not fun on interesting roads, P.S. The 335 ticks all the boxes rear wheel drive etc etc competitivly priced ref my first sentence and at this time probably the best built car in the world in terms of trim fit and reliability though I wouldn't argue against 07 onwards C and E class, Honda or Lexus or here we go SKODA PPS No one buys a BM as basic trim which is why apart from a trunk switch and a GPS based speed cam detector I've been able to put nothing into my mates.

Just thinking, in 81 I was driving down 95 to Florida and I did a detour to Crutchfields, it was a beautiful run and broke the monotomy of 95.