Other engine problem on the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier
Only 6 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other engine problem gets reported
There are 8 reports of other engine problem on the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier, 6 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 69,886 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 1997 carries the most reports, with 63; the 2002 has 8. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Engine and vehicle speed sometimes, but intermittently, do not respond to driver control - vehicle accelerates on its own. When that happens, had to ride brakes to control speed. This happened five times with increasing severity over a period of time - on the sixth time the vehicle reached 60mph without the accelerator being touched. Review of odi compliants shows an increasing number of similar related complaints on this model with age. Had purchased car to give to my newly licensed daughter, who, due to lack of experience, was initially unsure if the problem was with her or the car. The last time scared her, and the dealer's rep said "it was an accident waiting to happen". Dealer did a good job in persisting with the problem, which was finally (after two days) traced to the accelerator control cable dust cover coming loose and wedging itself between the cable an actuator in a difficult to detect location.*ak
Consumer engine makes a popping sound as if it is going to exploded. *ts the consuemr replaced the timing gear, chain, tensioner, and pulley on 2/22/2005. The vehicle continues to make loud noises. *nm
I started my car in the am and noticed my trac light was on(knowing it is not suppose to be on unless I am in 1st or 2nd gear. Then I smelled burning electrical. Took it to the chevy garage and found out my engine coolant fan internally shorted, they replaced the fan motor, a sensor an element and a fuse kit. At a substantial cost. I was without my car for 3 days and had to rent a vehicle to get back and forth to my job and home. *nm
Also reported on the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier
Other electrical problem
Fuel pump failure
Other body or interior problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
ABS module or sensor failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 8 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 8 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier?
8 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 46 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed