Transcription
Alex Car Doctor, welcome back to another top five problems that I see in my shop. And today's patient is a 2014 Chevy Cruze. And of course, I not only one example, got a 2016 Chevy Sonic.
Um, now when I do these videos, I don't talk about, "Oh yeah, drives good. It, you know, this get this much gas mileage." Many other channels out there for that. I'm mainly focused on what goes on up of the hood and keeping you guys off the side of the road. Let's jump right into this thing and pop the hood.
Let's kick this thing off talking about the engine options that's found in the Chevy Cruze. Now, these come in three different types of engines. The 1.4 is what you see here. It's a 1.4 turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. Um, you have the 1.8 and you have the 2-liter diesel. Now, I don't have that example in my shop today. I, to be honest with you, I don't see too many of them, so we're not going to talk about that today because I have nothing for you. So, sorry.
Might not have the 2-liter diesel engine in here today, but I do have the 1.8 engine that's found in its little sister, the Chevy Sonic. That's the only reason it's in here today. I see a lot of these cars come through my shop with blown head gaskets. That usually comes down to two things: use the air and design, which brings me to number one. These engines have a lot, a lot of plastic cooling pieces on them. Um, they're not metal. It's a plastic water outlet housing that I see crack and break all the time. Um, they put this stuff right next to hot exhaust parts, and it just can't hold up to the heat. Um, and plastic elbow fittings that will crack and break over time, causing leaking problems. And people just keep driving it and running hot and blowing the head gasket. So, it's very important once you reach about 100,000 miles to just change out this plastic stuff. Um, with either, if you can find the aluminum upgraded version, or you may have to go back with the plastic if you can't find that.
Number two, water pump. I see a lot of faulty water pumps, and it is right here. This is the water pump pulley. And normally, what I see is the bearings will go out, uh, causing some type of roaring noise. It'll sound real funny while the engine is idling, or it'll start leaking from the weep hole, causing a loss of coolant. Both situations resulting overheating, and if you keep driving, blown head gas. The solution for that water pump issue, I recommend replacing it around 100,000 miles. Yes, it's kind of a trend at 100,000 miles, you kind of have to do a lot of things. Uh, unfortunately. Uh, but to back up what I was saying, guys, we can, can not run these vehicles hot. They do not hold up well to heat at all. Um, do not try to make it. Do not try to make it to the next exit. You can turn a $100 problem into needing a motor. We know, we all know how much that costs.
Number three, and probably the most expensive thing you're going to do to this car, if you don't blow your head gaskets, of course, this beautiful thing right here is a turbocharger. And what normally happens on these turbochargers, they will crack. Let's see, I'll show you right there. You got a nasty crack. Can you see that on camera, sweetie? Mhm. Crack. You lose boost. Um, also, they just, if not properly taken care of, meaning if you don't get normal oil changes, regular oil changes, and use high-quality oil, I recommend full synthetic dealing with turbocharged engines. Um, you would destroy your turbo. Also, there's going back to the cooling lines for some. I, I should have covered this before, but I've seen a lot of times where these turbo cooler lines will start leaking going to the turbo. Kind of went backwards there, but I wanted to cover it with the turbo. Um, cuz it's so hot and it just messes up the lines. Goes back to I, cheap parts. I don't know. Um, to prevent this, I think I've already covered it. Just change your oil. Good people, you cannot neglect these engines when it comes to oil changes, and you cannot use cheap oil. Use full synthetic, and you'll be okay.
Number four. Now, I see this so much. Oh my gosh. It's the valve cover gaskets on these cars. The valve cover is right here, and it will start leaking. And also, the valve cover has this built-in valve. It will start leaking, causing your car to run funny. And if you suspect it leaking, it'll make like a whistle noise or make funny little noises, and your RPMs will be jumping up and down. You can simply pull off that cover like I did and put your finger right here, and if the noise pitch changes, or if you feel any type of suction, unfortunately, you have to replace your whole valve cover. I recommend doing that anyway when it, when it starts leaking. Just replace the whole valve cover. It's like one of these throwaway valve covers, that's what I call it. Um, make sure you torque the valve cover down. Let me go grab the torque spec for you so I can let you know so you guys know how to do it at home. Pretty simple job, but you will fail at the job if you don't properly torque it down.
All right, good people. I got the torque specs for you. It is 71 inch-pounds. Let me show you on my torque wrench. This is a torque wrench. You're either going to have an electrical one like I have, or the one that clicks. This is an electrical one, like I mentioned before. So, this is foot-pounds. You're going to want to change it to inch-pounds and bring it down to 71 inch-pounds and make sure you torque it. Because if you don't torque it, you can mess this head, uh, valve cover up because it is plastic and very sensitive. Well, also for the people that's getting the job done elsewhere, if they didn't torque it, oh yeah, you know, you'll be able to tell and say, "Hey, you guys must didn't torque my, uh, valve cover properly because it's leaking or whatever." Yeah, it still leaks. Yeah. So hopefully that helps.
Moving on at number five. The fifth problem that I see in my shop with these Chevy Cruzes all the time and cause all types of weird issues. Um, is this purge valve right here. This purge valve will get stuck open, dragging too too much exhaust fumes, not exhaust fumes, I always mix this up, gas fumes. It'll pull too many gas fumes inside the engine, causing no start up after fuel up. It'll throw off, throw system to lean codes, cause performance issues. It'll cause all kind of weird issues. And the fix for that is pretty cheap. There's something that you can quickly do at home yourself. The part, I forgot how much the part cost, but you know, pretty common issue that I see on these cars.
So now that we've wrapped up top five for this engine, the 1.4 turbocharger, I'm going to move on to the 1.8. Of course, I didn't mention all the issues this thing has. So many other issues, don't get it twisted, but I was just covering the top five that I see commonly in my shop. So, just had to clear that up for you guys. If you have the Chevy Cruze with the 1.8, remember that was the 1.4 over there. This engine has its own set of little issues that's going on, and I'm not going to be redundant because most of those issues transfer over to this engine right here, but it's not the same engine. Total different beast here. Um, non-turbocharged, turbochargers, so built different. Let's kick it off with number. Well, I can't do number one. Well, let's do it. Let's try it. Let's see what, how many problems is different. The top problem I see, it really comes down to maintenance, is this timing belt right here. It's behind this cover. Now, the reason I didn't mention timing belt over there because that one has a timing chain. The 1.4 has a timing chain, so it's one less thing you have to do. Um, this one is driven by a timing belt. You must change this around between 70 to 100 miles. I forgot the exact amount. Somebody drop down in the comment and let me know. If you don't do that, you will mess up your engine. That timing belt break. Oh, might as well get another engine, I say anyway, because it's going to make contact. The valves are going to make contact with the pistons, bending internal engine parts. We don't want that.
All right, number two. Other common thing that I see with this particular engine is the oil cooler. Uh, the oil cooler. This is the oil filter housing right here. Uh, if I remove this exhaust manifold, you'll see an oil cooler right behind that. These always leak for some odd reason. I normally just replace it. Come with new seals, you know, just replace it.
All right, guys, I think that is about it. Um, I want to kick it off. I want to end this with one last thing. Three things. For some, some odd reason, I'm always replacing all the coolant hoses on this, on these cars. They'll get real soft and, um, they just wear out quicker than the 1.8 for some reason. So I end up just replacing it all. Um, other than that, which car I prefer? Well, not which car, which engine I prefer to have, the 1.8 or the 1.4? I think I choose the 1.4.
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Is these cars reliable? I would say so because it really comes down to maintenance. I did some brief research and it actually got a four out of a five on the reliability off of some website. I can't think of it right now, I do apologize, but I will put my daughter in one of these little cars. Especially the turbocharger one, if properly maintained. I've seen these cars up in the 200,000 miles range. Yes, it's a cheap economy car. Yes, they sell like hotcakes. This is actually one of my wife's cars. It may go today. People love these things. Now, I don't drive this car, but I do sell them. They're really good on fuel. Um, the 1.4, I think can get up to like in the high 30s, almost 40 miles to the gallon. This one's kind of right behind it, so, you know, pretty good.
Anything to add, sweetie? No. Um, I think you covered it. They're good cars. You just gotta maintain them. Don't run them hot. Uh, get to change your oil. Something that you would have to do on every car. And the maintenance, the items that you mentioned aren't that expensive. No, not at all, cuz it's a very easy car to work on. I always tell my customers, if it's easy for me, it's easy for your pockets.
On that note, guys, I hope you enjoyed this top five video. If you like it, please hit that like and subscribe button. It really helps my channel out and it's showing me love and I appreciate that. Alex the Car Doc out. See you guys on the next next video. Love you. Bye-bye.