22nd Jun 2006, 13:55

Up until March of this year I had a 1996 Geo Metro that I absolutely adored!!! Great gas mileage and since I rarely had to drive in the last 2 years I only filled it up once a month (I moved close to a metro station)... I never had any problems with it... could be because I didn't drive it that much.. it had less than 70,000 miles on it... the only reason I don't still drive it is because I had an accident -- rear ended an SUV... there was damage to the hood... my air bag didn't deploy, the car didn't even cut off... and I was going about 50 mph before I hit the brakes (with very little breaking room). The only reason I don't still own it is because my insurance company totaled it... with the prior interior damage (sun damage to the dash board, a nasty bleach spill on the carpet behind the driver side and a broken door mirror, not from an accident, but kids playing too close to the car), before they took the deductions it was still worth $2,000 and I only paid $8,000 when I bought it in '96. I would have gotten it fixed and still be zipping through traffic and parking in those tight spots that only a Geo can. Outside of regular maintenance, I only put about $2500 worth of work in the car and most of that was a stalling problem that the mechanic thought may have been the fuel injector, but turned out to be some type of clog in the exhaust system.. it went away as soon as they replaced it.

Again... I thought it was a great little car and I'm sorry to hear of anyone that has problems with them.

25th Jun 2006, 18:45

I Have a 91 Geo with a 3 cylinder 1 liter motor and would like to put in a 4 cylinder motor. Has anyone ever done this?

Any helpful hints.

Ronjoe@shaw.ca.

8th Jul 2006, 00:50

Hey, I love my Geo, and I've been saying that even if it leaves me on the road one day, I'll not be sorry because it already paid for itself just because of the gas mileage.

My question is - the timing belt broke while driving at 65 mph. I replaced it, but it does not work (I spend the whole day...). Some people told me there is a chance that the engine is not broken, but others are very pessimistic. Is there any chance that the motor is not broken? I did not hear a big noise when this happened.

6th Aug 2006, 19:27

Well my brother has a 96 Geo Metro with a 1.3 litre 4 cylinder and has no trouble with it, till he runs into a hill at least. I was reading a previous comment, and one man said that he had a wiring problem with his fuel pump. Underneath the rear seat there are three plugins, and they might have corrosion, so check for that.

18th Aug 2006, 17:36

I have a 1996 5 speed manual transmission Geo Metro that I bought new and absolutely love, especially with gas prices now over $3.00 a gallon. I did home care nursing for more than 5 years in a very rural area and this car took me hundreds of miles every week without ever breaking down. The only money ever put into this car over the past 10 years was new tires and my husband had a timing belt replaced as part of preventative maintenance. The day this car dies on me is going to be a very sad one indeed.

30th Aug 2006, 13:00

Hello,

I found a 94 metro, 5spd, A/C works! But, the timing belt is either slipped or broken. Does anyone know if this is an interference type engine? (Does the pistons hit the valves if its not timed right?) If not, I'm going to buy the car and replace the belt myself.

Thanks!

7th Nov 2006, 14:08

I have a 1996 Geo Metro 4 door (not a hatch back) and it owns. It has sweet power and I go mobbing in it, and I hit 85 mph, and it is the sweetest car ever.

29th Dec 2006, 13:02

I have a 1999 Geo metro, although it is white and looks like an "egg"--I have not had to put much money into it at all. My Geo is great on gas (4speed) and only has needed new tires and brakes (I am rough on the brakes) and I just got a PVC valve, but don't know where it goes?

1st Feb 2007, 13:08

We just bought a '96 1.3 L metro for $200. It ran when we test drove it, but died on us about 6 blocks from the guy's house. We've checked the timing belt which is good. We're in the process of doing a tune-up to it, but we're not sure what else could be wrong. It sounded like it a valve was tapping on it when it was running. When we try to start it, the engine turns, but it stalls out and backfires. Any ideas? My e-mail is Auroradream21@earthlink.net if anyone has a suggestion of what we should try next.

8th Feb 2007, 12:52

I posted the last comment on it dying on us. Well, we got it home and reset the timing and viola!! It worked!! It's been running great since then though it is tapping a valve. It's also rather noisy as it has a hole in the exhaust, but hey, that's stuff we can fix. Great car! I love it!!

14th Feb 2007, 00:18

About your geo metro problem sticking in 3rd gear. I have the same problem on my 94 automatic geo metro (3 cylinder). It comes and goes. The only way I get around this problem is to manually start the vehicle in low and gradually shift until I reach Drive "D". It seems like it is sticking, but it isn't worth it to fix it. My geo has over 168,000 miles and still runs good. Sometimes this strange problem will completely disappear for several weeks then return. I learned to deal with it. Here is another trick to prevent the transmission from shifting hard into reverse: From park, shift it quickly to Neutral, then to reverse. This will prevent any damage to the transmission.

Also, here is some important info for everybody: The geo metro is a "NON interference engine" meaning that if the timing belts breaks, it will NOT destroy your engine at all. My timing belt broke on my geo and I put another one on myself. Everything still worked fine.

14th Feb 2007, 10:57

Never heard of a non interference engine. Sounds like a great idea that EVERY auto manufacturer should employ. I mean, if they can put in engine cut off systems (fuel is cut off if the car senses it is being stolen) why can't they implement the timing belt measure?

16th Feb 2007, 11:51

I have a 91 Geo Metro LSI that is my baby. Not much to look at, but even at over 150,000 she still gets me where I need to go and has cost me very

This morning, however, key would not turn in ignition; totally seized up. Steering wheel in lock position - could not get ANYthing to budge. Checked out Chilton and Haynes (not much help). This is my only car so I stranded without it. Is there an easy, inexpensive solution here? I am not a mechanic, and I can't get the car started to take it to a mechanic, so I'm pretty well stuck.