My own personal good news/bad news

[the_yellow_dart]

Bad News: Engine light on Cruze goes off for about the 7th time (not exaggerating)

Good News: Seems to be running mostly OK. Decide to drive it to work and fix it in the morning.

Bad News: Don't realize everything's iced over and fall down the front steps on the way out of my house, landing on my hip. Now I walk like an old man.

Good News: Get to the dealership and they're very helpful and promise to look at it quickly as they're not busy.

Bad News: More serious issues with this Cruze, the PCV valve needs replacement.

Good News: This time, it's covered under warranty. (unlike the trottle body - how the F--- is that not powertrain?)

Bad News: Parts are not readily available and it will be fixed next week sometime.

Good News: They offer a rental

Bad News: Get to the rental place and the only GM vehicle they have to give me is a Sierra. I have 600 km to drive this weekend and I really don't want to pay for pickup truck gas.

So the list so far is:

- Replaced water pump (warranty)

- Replaced valve covers and a part of the coolant loop (warranty - but unfortunately misdiagnosis by first garage and subsequent rental cars which should have been covered were not, f--- you again GM)

- Replaced throttle body (non-warranty)

- Repaced PCV valve (warranty)

At this point, I really just hate this car. I tell everybody how unreliable it is. I'm nowhere near the point where I can get out of it, as there's still 2 years left to pay it off.

[G. David Felt]

Sorry Dart you seem to have gotten a lemon. Never have I heard of this much problem on a cruze. Hopefully something wonderful will come along and you can move onto a happier place in Auto Ownership.

[balthazar]

Also sorry to hear. My folks have a Cruze- other than the TSB/recall WRT the lower shield catching oil/potential fire (which came out before their first oil change) the car has been excellent w/ no issues.

[ocnblu]

I do believe Mr. Dart drives a lot of miles, IIRC. Hopefully his troubles are not a preview of common issues as these cars age. :/

[knightfan26917]

Aye ... very sorry, Dart ... that is frustrating.

(Anyone else remember the childhood book "Fortunately, Unfortunately"?)

Cort | 39.m.IL | pigValve + paceMaker + cowValve | 2 MCs + '79 & '89 Caprice Classics

CHD.cars + RoadTrips.hobbies.RadioShows.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Just an everyday distraction" __ Ronnie Milsap __ 'Button Off My Shirt'

[the_yellow_dart]

I wanted to check out how the mileage I'm getting on the Sierra matches up with the ratings for the truck, so I checked out the GM Canada web page, and I'm left very confused.

It's a Crew Cab 4x4, so I gather from the webpage that it has the 4.8L. Driving it gently and doing mostly highway, I'm getting an average of 14.5 L/100km. Truck had less than 100 km on it when I picked it up - is fuel economy usually worse during the breakin period? Even if it is, I still want to get the hell out of this thing, as I'm used to my typical Cruze average tanks of 6.7 L/100km.

From the website, I see that the 4.8 has LESS power and WORSE fuel economy than the 5.3? Why would they use it?

Edited April 17, 2013 by the_yellow_dart

[G. David Felt]

The_yellow_dart, I am shocked as your comments made me check the web site and as you can see above there seems to be no compelling reason to buy a truck with the 4.9L V8 you might as well get the 5.3 or even the 6.2L.

I really wonder why GM even builds this smaller engine as the only thing I can think of is they can say our Small V8 is the most powerfull in below 5 L V8's and equal in Fuel economy to V6 powered equal trucks??????

Anyone have insight as to why this is like this? Maybe a email to GM needs to be done.

[GMTruckGuy74]

The 4.8L V8 is finally done with after 2013. GM had the 4.3L V6 and the 5.0L & 5.7L V8s in the GMT-400 pickups, so they continued that tradition with the all-new pickups for '99 (but with new displacements - 4.3L V6 stayed the same but now there was the 4.8L and 5.3L V8s). The 4.8L V8 was in a lot of vehicles between 1999 and current models. Most of the rental trucks you see (Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hertz) stock them with the 4.8L V8 and four-speed auto trans. However, as notes here the 4.8L V8 is not that great of an engine when compared to the 5.3L V8 and will be dropped at the end of 2013 (I assume this engine has not been made lately). The new K2xxx pickups will feature the all new trio of engines (with familiar displacements) - 4.3L V6, 5.3L V8, and 6.2L V8.

[G. David Felt]

New Modern versions probably all DI engines as part of the complete EcoTec Engine family?

[the_yellow_dart]

The Sierra I had has a 6-speed, does that mean it's the 5.3L? Never checked under the hood.

Enterprise finally called me yesterday to say that they had a 2012 Malibu in, and I'm driving that now. Getting about 8.5 L/100 km now, which is much closer to the Cruze than the Sierra.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Yes, if the Sierra had a six-speed auto trans than it had the 5.3L V8. The 4.3L V6 and the 4.8L V8 engines are only available with the 4-speed auto trans. That's changing with the 2014 models (all get the six speed now).

[the_yellow_dart]

It's confusing, because the GM Canada web site seems to say that the Crew Cab models all come with the 4.8 v8.

[the_yellow_dart]

From GM Canada website:

• 195 hp Vortec^TM 4.3L V6 (WT Regular Cab models and WT Extended Cab 2WD)
• 302 hp Vortec^TM 4.8L V8 (WT Extended Cab 4x4 with standard cargo box and WT Crew Cab models)
• 315 hp Vortec^TM 5.3L V8 (WT Extended Cab 4x4 long box)

[G. David Felt]

wow that is interesting line up, so you do not have the option for the 6.2 or 8.1 L engines?

[the_yellow_dart]

The website seems to disagree with itself, because when you look under the Specifications section, it shows the 6.2 under the Extended Cab and Crew Cab/Denali section. However the Models section of the website where I copied that text of makes no mention of the 6.2. I see no mention of the 8.1 in either location.

The Sierra HD page (separate from normal Sierra) shows only 6.0 and diesel 6.6 as options.

[ocnblu]

They haven't used the 8.1 in years, at least since before the '07 redesign.

I believe the 4.8L is the standard engine in all half tons except for the base W/T, which still uses the 4.3L, but the 5.3L is an option in all half tons. And the 6-speed is standard and only available on the 5.3L and up.

[G. David Felt]

wow, I was reviewing cause I thought I had seen the 8.1L, but what I have just realized is you have for the following engines in the US:

1500 Line up

4.3L V6

4.8L V8

5.3L V8

6.2L V8

2500/3500 Line up

6.0L Vortec MAX V8

6.6L Duramax Diesel

I truly got confused between the models.

[GMTruckGuy74]

The L18 8100 (8.1L) V8 was introduced in 2001 and was discontinued in 2007. It was an optional engine on the 2500/3500 series pickups, 2500 SUVs (Suburban/Yukon XL), 2500/3500 vans (Express/Savana) and the Avalanche 2500. The 2003+ Kodiak and Topkick models also featured this engine.\

I think balthazar has the 8.1L V8 in his Silverado 2500 Crew Cab, and I believe Camino did too in his his Silverado 2500 Regular Cab.

[G. David Felt]

The 8.1L was very cool in my book and if you supercharged them you had a true beast.

[the_yellow_dart]

Forgot to mention this - I was the very first renter of that Sierra, and when I folded up the rear seat I found a checklist from when the truck was painted (all in Spanish). I was surprised to see that the truck was painted on March 9th, 2013. That shipment and sale went quick!

[G. David Felt]

Sounds Like it was a fleet sale.

[the_yellow_dart]

Well, it was Enterprise, so yes it was a fleet sale. Still. One month from Mexico to an Enterprise lot in Canada is still quick.

[the_yellow_dart]

Forgot to wrap this up - got the Cruze back. Running like it did before the issue.

[G. David Felt]

Very cool, did you have to pay much out of pocket or all covered under warranty?

[the_yellow_dart]

It was all covered under warranty.

Only side effect "out of pocket" for me was the extra fuel I spent on the Sierra, probably about $100.

[G. David Felt]

It was all covered under warranty.

Only side effect "out of pocket" for me was the extra fuel I spent on the Sierra, probably about $100.

Glad to hear it all got fixed for you. Fuel is always a pricing item. Hope this is the last of your issues with the auto. Smooth sailing from here.

[the_yellow_dart]

I hope so too. Part of me says everything will be fine because so many things have now been replaced and inspected. Part of me, however, still says, "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT'S A LEMON!"