Friday, August 7, 2026
RecallGazette

Vehicle problems, recalls & safety intelligence

1997 Chevrolet Cavalier engine and engine cooling problems

106 owner complaints filed with NHTSA name the engine and engine cooling on the 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier20% of all complaints for this model year.

106
Engine and Engine Cooling complaints
20%
share of all complaints
76,500 mi
median reported incident mileage
2 / 3
crash / fire reports

What owners report

  • The first incident that occur was in 2009. It was that the switch of the key engine did not want to start. Someone came to fix it but could not find a way to repair it. He had to add a button under the steering wheel and I would be tuning the key to the engine to start I would have to push that…

    filed Feb 27, 2014

  • I just got a used chevy cavalier a 97 model and it over heats constantly and there is a pop an sparks when starting the car and the lights won't turn off and now there is wobbling in the passenger side wheel and white smoke coming out the back . I only had it for maybe two days now and the fan to…

    filed Jun 21, 2008

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.

Counts are unique NHTSA complaints naming this component group. Complaints are unverified owner reports; mileage is computed only from complaints that included a usable odometer reading.