What to look for?
 

In the market for a car for the Mrs. Came across what looks to be a promising Alero.

However it has this 2.4 in it.

What are common problems with these motors?

Any common issue with the trans?

About how many miles are most people getting on these before major issues arise or they blow a gasket?

Shes not to hard on cars, FWIW.

Car has 83K on it, pictures make it look nice. Price is high at $3800 but I can work on that ;)

bought my car about 2 years ago. had 50k on it one owner from a dealer for only $2,800.00 work on the price. get it check by your tech first. or just pay your fav. shop to look at it.

^quit relying on paying shops to do everything for you

ignition housing cracking, MAP sensor vacuum hose leaking, cam towers leaking. nothing major.

no issue with trans.

The cam towers aren't that fun. Timing chain, cam sprockets, and chain housing have to be removed. Well the chain housing doesn't have to be removed but moved far enough to get the cam towers off the head.

Right but the cam tower leak isn't typically an immediate attention item. It's minor and takes a long time to leak. :)

But yeah, replacing the gaskets is like almost doing the head gasket. (Don't need to take off the intake/exhaust/water outlet/etc. though)

I wasn't saying it was an immediate thing, just not a fun job. I just got done doing it on a motor with 270,xxx. First time I have ever worked on the 2.4 that deep. The chain guides still looked damn good for the miles.

water pump is internal and is also chain drive. if you ever have to replace the water pump or thermostate your going to ahve a blast....

thermostat is easy

yea it actually really is easy to change I did it at home instead of at work on the ground in less then 20 minutes it truely is quite simple all you need is a 8mm socket and a 1/4 rachet for your 8mm to fit in the tight space and a 13mm racheting wrench for the lower bolt on the lower rad hose ( the metal part one ) and your good to go.

you can check to see if the water pump is leaking from up top if your not afraid to crawl ontop of the engine and look but it is kinda hard to see at the same time ( they normally seep not just piss out )

my alero has 266k ( km's ) on it and everyday I tramp on it and impressed that the old motor still has tons of pep and will still be a stock cobalt or g5 ( non-ss ) mine has the manual trans however and 0 issues with that im unsure if the one your looking at is auto or not

I've owned mine since 2005, bought with 77,000 miles on it and it is a daily driver.

Work I've had done:
Water outlet 2x
Upper radiator hose 2x.
Brakes often - pins seize on the passenger side constantly.
Quick connect between the the heating core return hose and the pipe on the back of the engine.
Alternator 2x - because the replacement was bad.
Tie Rods - outer

I've been blessed that this car hasn't had a major malfunction, although some of the things I listed still cost an arm and a leg in my opinion to do.

Eh the guy wants dealer pricing. Not responding to email either.

I can buy a 3.5 intrigue with less miles for $600 more w/nice leather.

id grab the intrigue then altho they are uglier on the outside....its one of my least fav looking olds unless their like vapor silver then they look good but I haven't liked any other colors

Eh, the dealer with the intrigue wanted $1K over blue book.

We ended up going for a 2004 Malibu LT V6 73K miles for $6900. Thats 2750 bellow blue book.

I got $4K cash and will loan the rest, hopefully.

Ok no Alero. We ended up getting the Malibu.

nice any pics of new car. I like malibu's they are good cars.