New coolant hose and still leaking...

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
^^^I am looking at a pre-owned '12 1LT RS at a local dealer now.

ANY turbo issues at all? CV joints/axle half shafts still good?
These model years were still port injection, correct?
Are they timing chain or belt?

Does anyone make short shifter kits/firmer shift linkage bushings for these cars, as that was about the only thing that bothered me during the test drive.


Turbo-related issues are from poor maintenance, not anything inherently wrong design-wise. 127k miles on the original turbo in my car, and it burns zero oil. It's had full synthetic oil changed at 7500 mile intervals from brand-new. The folks who will have issues have generally run cheap oil for too long.

Manual transmission cars generally don't have axle issues. There are solid shifter bushings available, but not sure how much they do. Best thing to do for improved shifting is to change the transmission fluid to some sort of synchromesh, like Amsoil or Pennzoil. I've used Amsoil, but am going to try out the Pennzoil in mine.

All in all, these are solid cars, assuming regular maintenance. Parts are cheap and the car is fairly easy to work on for a DIY'er.

 

[dailydriver]

THANKS sciphi.

I suspect that this car has had cheap dino oil changes for it's life so far, given that it was bought at auction from a lease return.
Even the dealer selling it did an oil change with the cheapest Dexos 1 oil they could use, given the price per quart they listed on the CarFax report ($3.50).

I wonder if I should pass?

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
THANKS sciphi.

I suspect that this car has had cheap dino oil changes for it's life so far, given that it was bought at auction from a lease return.
Even the dealer selling it did an oil change with the cheapest Dexos 1 oil they could use, given the price per quart they listed on the CarFax report ($3.50).

I wonder if I should pass?


The LUJ engine doesn't tolerate sloppy maintenance habits terribly well. Also knowing that the OLM on the 2011-2013.25ish models was optimistic, I'd pass. Syn-blend oil changed when the OLM said to was too long by a fair bit.

 

[SHOZ]

i bought some of this last fall for sealing coolant hoses. Haven't got a chance to use it yet. The custom lower radiator hose on my car is really tricky as to keeping it from leaking.

http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-85420-Per...i_detailpages00

 

[Trav]

Use this on the hose connection with a constant tension clamp. Plastic hose connections are usually the worst but this will stop it dead.

http://www.amazon.com/Hylomar-Universal-...+universal+blue

You can get these from Rock Auto.

http://www.gates.com/products/automotive...-tension-clamps

 

[stephen9666]

My Cruze had a coolant flange leak at 50k miles. It's really common on these.

The frequent cooling system problems and poor performance in the summer on 87 are my only complaints about the car, mechanically.

 

[Michael_P]

Is this Eco a 1.8 or 1.4T?

 

[stephen9666]

Eco has the 1.4T.

 

[Michael_P]

1.4T's are hard on water pumps. I know two people who have the 1.4T who are on their third and fourth water pump. My parents Buick Encore is on it second water pump and has under 35,000 miles. It seems like this could be an easy fix. Here is a post from NY. Could this be you sciphi?

GM letter on "engine coolant leak from water pump"

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Use this on the hose connection with a constant tension clamp. Plastic hose connections are usually the worst but this will stop it dead.

http://www.amazon.com/Hylomar-Universal-...+universal+blue

You can get these from Rock Auto.

http://www.gates.com/products/automotive...-tension-clamps


Thanks! If any more hoses need to be re-done, I'll be putting that stuff on there. It's not leaking so far.

Originally Posted By: Michael_P
1.4T's are hard on water pumps. I know two people who have the 1.4T who are on their third and fourth water pump. My parents Buick Encore is on it second water pump and has under 35,000 miles. It seems like this could be an easy fix. Here is a post from NY. Could this be you sciphi?

GM letter on "engine coolant leak from water pump"


That's not me. I got a similar letter from GM stating that my pump was covered for 10 years/150k miles, though.

The 1.4T water pump issue is a combination of a few factors. One is a marginal bearing in the pump. Another is dealer techs gunning replacement pumps onto customer cars without doing all the prep work that should be done. A third are other cooling system issues caused by swapping pumps out multiple times, like the leaky heater hose I found. There is a reason I did this job myself this time.

 

[mike7139]

If you have had alot of problems with your Cruze you can call GM and complain. My mom has a 2012 Cruze with similar miles to yours and last fall the car was in the shop every couple weeks for things like oil leaks, coolant leaks, engine throwing codes, car stalling etc... and everytime it went in the shop the repair bills average 500-800 dollars per visit.

She called GM and to make a long story short they ended up giving her a 2 year 24k mile bumper to bumper warranty.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: mike7139
If you have had alot of problems with your Cruze you can call GM and complain. My mom has a 2012 Cruze with similar miles to yours and last fall the car was in the shop every couple weeks for things like oil leaks, coolant leaks, engine throwing codes, car stalling etc... and everytime it went in the shop the repair bills average 500-800 dollars per visit.

She called GM and to make a long story short they ended up giving her a 2 year 24k mile bumper to bumper warranty.



Was this the 1.4 EcoTec, or the 1.8??

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
THANKS sciphi.

I suspect that this car has had cheap dino oil changes for it's life so far, given that it was bought at auction from a lease return.
Even the dealer selling it did an oil change with the cheapest Dexos 1 oil they could use, given the price per quart they listed on the CarFax report ($3.50).

I wonder if I should pass?


The LUJ engine doesn't tolerate sloppy maintenance habits terribly well. Also knowing that the OLM on the 2011-2013.25ish models was optimistic, I'd pass. Syn-blend oil changed when the OLM said to was too long by a fair bit.


I guess I will keep trying to get a Fiesta ST then, but believe it or not, I actually like the aesthetics of the Cruze better (it lacks that BIG, TALL body/tiny wheel syndrome of the Fiesta, and it does not look too long and 'goofy' in a 4 door configuration), and it does not have the direct injection to worry about.

It does however (the Cruze) have about half the performance of the ST, along with about 350 lbs. more fat.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
THANKS sciphi.

I suspect that this car has had cheap dino oil changes for it's life so far, given that it was bought at auction from a lease return.
Even the dealer selling it did an oil change with the cheapest Dexos 1 oil they could use, given the price per quart they listed on the CarFax report ($3.50).

I wonder if I should pass?


The LUJ engine doesn't tolerate sloppy maintenance habits terribly well. Also knowing that the OLM on the 2011-2013.25ish models was optimistic, I'd pass. Syn-blend oil changed when the OLM said to was too long by a fair bit.


I guess I will keep trying to get a Fiesta ST then, but believe it or not, I actually like the aesthetics of the Cruze better (it lacks that BIG, TALL body/tiny wheel syndrome of the Fiesta, and it does not look too long and 'goofy' in a 4 door configuration), and it does not have the direct injection to worry about.

It does however (the Cruze) have about half the performance of the ST, along with about 350 lbs. more fat.

That's quite the choice there! The FiST will absolutely destroy a 1.4T Cruze in all performance metrics. The Cruze will, well, cruise better.

The coolant level has remained about steady. So it's pretty well fixed, at least at this point.