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- Jul 2, 2007
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How is this engine? Do you like it? We're looking at GMC Terrain which uses this motor as the base mill, coupled to a nine speed auto trans.
Anyone Driving a GM 1.5L GDI DOHC Turbo ?
- Thread starter LoneRanger
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My buddy has one in his '18 Equinox AWD but, with the 6 speed auto. Yes IMO it's nice. The horsepower(170 hp)is on the low side but, I never felt the need for more after driving for many hours. The torque(over 200 ft.lb.) is what makes up for the lack of horsepower. Fuel economy is excellent.
My wife has an '18 Equinox with the 1.5L and 6 speed. It is worlds better than the previous gen 2.4L. A hint of off-the-line turbo lag, but torque comes on really strong after that. Lots of low and mid-range torque making it easy to squirt around in traffic. It tends to wheeze out at higher revs, but that's the trade-off you get with a small, responsive turbo.
Fuel economy has been outstanding. My wife has a 3 mile each way commute. Even with this extremely short daily trip, it was returning 22 MPG this past winter. Longer trip city driving on the weekends will turn 26-28 and it's not difficult to get 30+ MPG highway, even at 75+ MPH. Best tank I've seen was 36 MPG, which was mostly back-road driving at ~60 MPH.
It does have a darn small fuel tank, so overall range is a bit limited.
Fuel economy has been outstanding. My wife has a 3 mile each way commute. Even with this extremely short daily trip, it was returning 22 MPG this past winter. Longer trip city driving on the weekends will turn 26-28 and it's not difficult to get 30+ MPG highway, even at 75+ MPH. Best tank I've seen was 36 MPG, which was mostly back-road driving at ~60 MPH.
It does have a darn small fuel tank, so overall range is a bit limited.
Is that the engine that's in my wife's Malibu? If so we love it. 40,000 miles so far and running strong with great mileage.
My work car is a 18 Equinox LS AWD with the 1.5 turbo. Overall I think it's a decent motor but I did have a bad experience with it (more on that below). Not gonna win any races but has OK power. Do notice off the line turbo lag. Once it gets over 2000 RPM's it's starts to pull decent. Never had any issues getting up to speed merging onto freeways. Was averaging 24-26 MPG during the winter. Back up to 28-29 now that its warmed up. Recently I was on a stretch of 55 MPH road going with the wind and my 25 mile economy was 38 MPG.
During a trip in mid February I started to notice some motor hesitation when accelerating or maintaining speed with cruise going up hills. Almost acting like it was a little low on power. Also noticed engine wouldn't go into 6th gear unless you were over 75 MPH. Never seen this before. Anything under 75 MPH, would stay in 5th gear. Get to 75 MPH and it would go into 6th gear. After I got home I brought the car into my heated garage. Figured it was due for a de-icing after many weeks of sub-zero temps. Car sat for a couple days before I took it out for a quick trip up town for some lunch. Started fine and initially drove fine. Made it a couple blocks from my house when suddenly it started to stumble then die. Happened right in the middle of the street. Luckily it was a quiet residential area. Put the car back in park and tried to re-start. Would not turn over. Only heard a slight electrical sounding wine but wouldn't not crank. Put car back in neutral and pushed off to the side of the road. Had a friend tow me back home. I then had it towed the to local Chevrolet dealer.
First report back was it they could not get the engine to crank over. Even tried manually with a socket on the crank pulley. Engine is locked up. Said they need to diagnose further. 2nd update was the engine is seized and they have ordered a new one. Didn't have a lot of details but said they would get me that information later. Took about a week for the motor to come in and install. When I picked up the car they had some more information for me. Found water inside the cylinders. Took apart and found #4 connecting rod had broke. Basically it was hydrolocked. Found excessive amount of water in intercooler. Theory was water/ice had built up in the intercooler. When the car thawed it was nothing but water which then got sucked up into the engine causing it to hydrolock. All was taken care of under warranty (about 12,500 miles on car).
I have done some searching looking for anyone else who has experienced this problem. Haven't found any engine failures so I assume this isn't common. I did find one report where someone was experiencing the same 5th gear issue I had experienced. Their report said that the dealer had told them this was normal for cold weather. Below a certain temp, the transmission won't go into 6th gear. My theory is GM realizes their is a potential for the intercooler to build up moisture and they are trying to keep the RPM's up to mitigate this.
Now that the weather has warmed up I imagine I shouldn't have any problems. I do have some concerns about next winter. I've started to drive the car a little more aggressively when given the chance. My theory is that extended highway use with cruise isn't putting enough heat through the intercooler to burn off any moisture. We'll see what happens next winter but I know what too look for now. If I notice any lack of power or stumbling it's going in and will have them disconnect the intercooler and check for water.
I think my experience was a worst case scenario and I don't think this is wide spread issue but wanted to share my story. If it wasn't for warranty, this would have been a very expensive repair.
During a trip in mid February I started to notice some motor hesitation when accelerating or maintaining speed with cruise going up hills. Almost acting like it was a little low on power. Also noticed engine wouldn't go into 6th gear unless you were over 75 MPH. Never seen this before. Anything under 75 MPH, would stay in 5th gear. Get to 75 MPH and it would go into 6th gear. After I got home I brought the car into my heated garage. Figured it was due for a de-icing after many weeks of sub-zero temps. Car sat for a couple days before I took it out for a quick trip up town for some lunch. Started fine and initially drove fine. Made it a couple blocks from my house when suddenly it started to stumble then die. Happened right in the middle of the street. Luckily it was a quiet residential area. Put the car back in park and tried to re-start. Would not turn over. Only heard a slight electrical sounding wine but wouldn't not crank. Put car back in neutral and pushed off to the side of the road. Had a friend tow me back home. I then had it towed the to local Chevrolet dealer.
First report back was it they could not get the engine to crank over. Even tried manually with a socket on the crank pulley. Engine is locked up. Said they need to diagnose further. 2nd update was the engine is seized and they have ordered a new one. Didn't have a lot of details but said they would get me that information later. Took about a week for the motor to come in and install. When I picked up the car they had some more information for me. Found water inside the cylinders. Took apart and found #4 connecting rod had broke. Basically it was hydrolocked. Found excessive amount of water in intercooler. Theory was water/ice had built up in the intercooler. When the car thawed it was nothing but water which then got sucked up into the engine causing it to hydrolock. All was taken care of under warranty (about 12,500 miles on car).
I have done some searching looking for anyone else who has experienced this problem. Haven't found any engine failures so I assume this isn't common. I did find one report where someone was experiencing the same 5th gear issue I had experienced. Their report said that the dealer had told them this was normal for cold weather. Below a certain temp, the transmission won't go into 6th gear. My theory is GM realizes their is a potential for the intercooler to build up moisture and they are trying to keep the RPM's up to mitigate this.
Now that the weather has warmed up I imagine I shouldn't have any problems. I do have some concerns about next winter. I've started to drive the car a little more aggressively when given the chance. My theory is that extended highway use with cruise isn't putting enough heat through the intercooler to burn off any moisture. We'll see what happens next winter but I know what too look for now. If I notice any lack of power or stumbling it's going in and will have them disconnect the intercooler and check for water.
I think my experience was a worst case scenario and I don't think this is wide spread issue but wanted to share my story. If it wasn't for warranty, this would have been a very expensive repair.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I drove my aunt's 18' Malibu rental. Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww........
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
Originally Posted by Nick1994
I drove my aunt's 18' Malibu rental. Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww........
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.4L - 8.4 0-60:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/hyundai/sonata/2015/2015-hyundai-sonata-limited-24-first-test/
2018 Chevrolet Malibu 1.5L - 8.2 0-60:
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a21946008/2018-chevrolet-malibu-15t-test-review/
I think maybe your mind is inflating the performance of your Hyundai. They're both flipping "Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww".
I drove my aunt's 18' Malibu rental. Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww........
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.4L - 8.4 0-60:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/hyundai/sonata/2015/2015-hyundai-sonata-limited-24-first-test/
2018 Chevrolet Malibu 1.5L - 8.2 0-60:
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a21946008/2018-chevrolet-malibu-15t-test-review/
I think maybe your mind is inflating the performance of your Hyundai. They're both flipping "Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww".
Water in the intercooler happened a lot to the first gen Ecoboost F150s which caused stumbling and in some cases engine failure. gonefishings' experience is a textbook example.
The forums came up with the fix: drill a small hole in the intercooler and let it drain. It pretty much fixed the problem. I never had the problem because I hammered my truck regularly- I guess it sucked the condensate up in little chunks keeping a massive buildup from happening. I have a feeling the same thing happened to you.
I live in the desert now so water in the intercooler isn't a problem; heck the relative humidity rarely goes above 20%! If it does, it's a short lived event. And of course there are the days of 2% that help to keep ones intercooler powder house dry.
The forums came up with the fix: drill a small hole in the intercooler and let it drain. It pretty much fixed the problem. I never had the problem because I hammered my truck regularly- I guess it sucked the condensate up in little chunks keeping a massive buildup from happening. I have a feeling the same thing happened to you.
I live in the desert now so water in the intercooler isn't a problem; heck the relative humidity rarely goes above 20%! If it does, it's a short lived event. And of course there are the days of 2% that help to keep ones intercooler powder house dry.
Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
I think you left your dentures over by that glass of prune juice.
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
I think you left your dentures over by that glass of prune juice.
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2007
- Messages
- 5,293
So far so good she doesn't need to win any races and when I want fun I ride my motorcycle. Cars are simply utilitarian devices to me for the most part, ever since I re-embraced riding years ago. The Terrain will get her around town for her work commute and running the usual errands. We don't have kids to haul around, we're empty nester's. She has grand kid, I don't have any yet but confident my son and daughter in law may have children some day.
Just wanted to make sure this motor was solid and okay, and sounds like it is.
Just wanted to make sure this motor was solid and okay, and sounds like it is.
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2007
- Messages
- 5,293
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
I think you left your dentures over by that glass of prune juice.
Because someone comments on the pointlessness of street racing you make a dentures comment at them? Wow.
Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
I think you left your dentures over by that glass of prune juice.
Because someone comments on the pointlessness of street racing you make a dentures comment at them? Wow.
Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
I think you left your dentures over by that glass of prune juice.
Because someone comments on the pointlessness of street racing you make a dentures comment at them? Wow.
The child Max is constantly making derogatory comments against older people.
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
I think you left your dentures over by that glass of prune juice.
Because someone comments on the pointlessness of street racing you make a dentures comment at them? Wow.
The child Max is constantly making derogatory comments against older people.
i work in service at a chevy dealer. the 1.5 is a reliable engine, but a bit underpowered for many of its applications. my girlfriend has a 2017 malibu with this motor. it's been a good vehicle.
Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
Originally Posted by Nick1994
I drove my aunt's 18' Malibu rental. Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww........
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.4L - 8.4 0-60:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/hyundai/sonata/2015/2015-hyundai-sonata-limited-24-first-test/
2018 Chevrolet Malibu 1.5L - 8.2 0-60:
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a21946008/2018-chevrolet-malibu-15t-test-review/
I think maybe your mind is inflating the performance of your Hyundai. They're both flipping "Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww".
Car and driver 0-60 specs. Ha.
My jetta turbo is picky. somedays it will give you all ts got to give and more, others its a Mother Lady in A 1998 Camry slow.
Right now i got 75% 93 octane 25% 87 E10. Didnt fix it.
Some video reviewer, maybe that odd savageese guy, mentioned this regarding the mazda 6 turbo in his utube review IIRC.
"Inconsistent power delivery"
Originally Posted by Nick1994
I drove my aunt's 18' Malibu rental. Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww........
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.4L - 8.4 0-60:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/hyundai/sonata/2015/2015-hyundai-sonata-limited-24-first-test/
2018 Chevrolet Malibu 1.5L - 8.2 0-60:
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a21946008/2018-chevrolet-malibu-15t-test-review/
I think maybe your mind is inflating the performance of your Hyundai. They're both flipping "Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww".
Car and driver 0-60 specs. Ha.
My jetta turbo is picky. somedays it will give you all ts got to give and more, others its a Mother Lady in A 1998 Camry slow.
Right now i got 75% 93 octane 25% 87 E10. Didnt fix it.
Some video reviewer, maybe that odd savageese guy, mentioned this regarding the mazda 6 turbo in his utube review IIRC.
"Inconsistent power delivery"
Last edited:
Cant you get a 2.5 L in this? I would imagine that would be preferable.
Little Turbos under boost eat gasoline. Worse than double their displacement N/A equivalent at WOT. Assume this is excess fuel covering knock and providing cooling.Lambda of 0.8 or below are noted
My Jetta 1.4TSI instantaneous MPG is under 9 MPG when boosting 1/4 throttle in 3 gear. It only gets that 40-50 mpg at light throttle/ high vacuum which is slight down hill or level - just tickling the pedal.
Or, Lightly used of lease BMW X3 turbo 2 litre.
Little Turbos under boost eat gasoline. Worse than double their displacement N/A equivalent at WOT. Assume this is excess fuel covering knock and providing cooling.Lambda of 0.8 or below are noted
My Jetta 1.4TSI instantaneous MPG is under 9 MPG when boosting 1/4 throttle in 3 gear. It only gets that 40-50 mpg at light throttle/ high vacuum which is slight down hill or level - just tickling the pedal.
Or, Lightly used of lease BMW X3 turbo 2 litre.
Last edited:
Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
Originally Posted by Nick1994
I drove my aunt's 18' Malibu rental. Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww........
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.4L - 8.4 0-60:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/hyundai/sonata/2015/2015-hyundai-sonata-limited-24-first-test/
2018 Chevrolet Malibu 1.5L - 8.2 0-60:
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a21946008/2018-chevrolet-malibu-15t-test-review/
I think maybe your mind is inflating the performance of your Hyundai. They're both flipping "Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww".
Racing? Sounds like they were impeding traffic.
Originally Posted by Nick1994
I drove my aunt's 18' Malibu rental. Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww........
We raced from a light, I was in my Sonata and I blew the doors off that thing. She swore up and down she was floored, and when I drove it I realized she was telling the truth
First, who stoplight races a Hyundai and a rental Malibu? Did you just get your license last week?
2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.4L - 8.4 0-60:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/hyundai/sonata/2015/2015-hyundai-sonata-limited-24-first-test/
2018 Chevrolet Malibu 1.5L - 8.2 0-60:
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a21946008/2018-chevrolet-malibu-15t-test-review/
I think maybe your mind is inflating the performance of your Hyundai. They're both flipping "Ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww".
Racing? Sounds like they were impeding traffic.
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