[horaa]

My dear opel 1.4 T LUJ have the same issue, first it started to leak at bleeder hose water outlet, fixed that by having a machined adaptor, after that i replaced the timing chain and everything that is there to be replaced because it was already 10 years old and the water pump was going bad aswell. The leak stopped, one week later the valve cover membrane broke, unsealed the cap, put a cheaper membrane that is not original and not even the same size as the original one, glued the cap back, now it spills oil trhough the vent cap since the membrane is not sitting on properly. I bought myself a new very cheap engine cover(the quality of it is worse than the original one but the original one costs like 3-4 times more) and i will have to do modify the pcv system aswell because the rubber tittie is not present anymore in the intake.
Mileage: 87 000 miles but i doubt the valve cover is the original one

 

[horaa]

I took off the intake manifold, the intake is missing the nipple and both the intake manifold and the valve cover are original from 2011 when the car was built. I will temper with the PCV system and install a new valve cover. I was expecting more carbon built up but the intake manifold catch can system was full of oil so i had to drain it out

 

[horaa]

Nah, already taken off the intake manifold and plugged the hole. I won't order the kit because it's too much hassle to order it in romania and the cost is unjustified since i can fix it with 10-20$ bucks and i really wanted to take off the intake to give her a good clean. The catch can area of the intake was full of oil, you could hear it splashing all over the place. I was thinking of this system before finding out the cruzetalk since the russians complained a lot on forums aswell.

 

[horaa]

I'm gonna take vacuum from another side of the intake after the throttle body and put a check valve on the line, easy as a pie and much cheaper. You can ship them to romania but i need it now not in 4 weeks. If you look closely i already have a fitting on the intake after the throttle body for the LPG, already found on the junkyard T and Y fitting along rubber hoses and a few very good check valves aswell that fits like a charm

 

[horaa]

And this is the fix, it just needs tiding it up after i will have installed the intake manifold. For now i will let the selftapping screw with a rubber washer to do it's magic for 24 hours alongside the bicomponent plastic glue (metal color, i bought it when i had a headless bolt on the cover of timing chain and it failed, actually it isn't for metal) from bison. I have already used this glue before when i changed the valve cover diaphragm and i can break the plastic cover but not the glue.
If you're asking about the price: actually this one was literally ZERO aka for free. I was thinking of some other system with metal t fitting and so on but it was much hassle because i couldn't find any suitable hoses without except online. The check valve is from VW and trust me, it's much smoother compared to the ones from GM. If this fails i will revisit the system with the gm check valve and bigger hoses but for the time i hope this one works. The brass hose fitting was given from the LPG guys as a gift, they should usually costs like 10-15 cents at best, M6 fillet wich should be 1/4" in imperial units as far i remember. The hose split vacuum us from the injectors thingie because i can just unplug the y fitting and plug the hose back into it.
The only reason why i don't agree with the V3 kit is because the intake manifold was holding a lot of oil in it in that bell area(probably it ran without the nipple for a few years now). Like litterally a pint of oil and not many of the buyers are flexible enough to unclip the hose and spray a full bottle of brake cleaner inside to make the oil fluid so it would flow and not wait 5 hours for it to drip.
PS: i forgot to take a pic of the screw and the plastic washer so i uploaded the pic of the screw i had laying around from an online catalog.

 

[horaa]

And done, reinstalled everything, works like a charm now.

 

[horaa]

The crack pressure is ok, it's a check valve used from VW vacuum system, already tested it and it's working fine even pulled off the vacuum hose and it started to run a bit rougher but only time will tell. For now it works like a charm and the glue should hold up to 100+ degrees C

 

[horaa]

Will see, if they start leaking i can replace it whenever i want. I can get like 1000 vw check valves if i want to just go and pull them and they fit better on the hoses. They are more common than the crap gm used.

 

[horaa]

Yesterday i have changed the manifold breather hose (the one with the check valve to the turbo) with one that i've already ordered from china since it was very cheap compared to the one that was on the car market. So far everything works as it should

 

[horaa]

It is normal to be oily, that’s the point. Take off the inlet pcv tube that goes towards the turbo and blow into it, it might also be bad.

 

[horaa]

Or piston rings, it could be anything at this point honestly

 

[horaa]

There's nothing much else to diagnose. Replace the valve cover or the membrane(china 10$) and fix the intake manifold. The smoke will be gone after that.

 

[horaa]

The description says it's for the 1.4L valve cover: Ventildeckel Reparatursatz Membran für Chevrolet Cruze Trax 25198874 55573746 | eBay
But I'm skeptical too.
I'll give it a try, can't make things worse.

That's a good pcv membrane. You will need to either heat up the engine or just get a hot air blower to heat the membrane cover and pry it carefully with a big fat flat screwdriver. The membrane cover can be glued back but it's only a one time job and you will only be able to glue it from the outside, also you will need to press that baby with whatever you find. I've put a dumbbell on it as it was a must to fix before the valve cover arrived and i had to leave town for more than 10 days. I still have the old one as a backup for the future emergency.
LE: buy it from alliexpress they arrive in about the same time. This are my ordered ones

8.11US $ 30% OFF|Brand New Pcv Valve Cover Repair Kit Valve Cap With Membrane For Gm Chevy Cruze Sonic Trax Chevrolet 1.4l 25198874 55573746 - Valve Covers - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

2.2US $ 15% OFF|Engine Valve Cover Pcv Valve Diaphragm Membrane For Gm Chevy Cruze Sonic Trax Chevrolet 1.4l 25198874 55573746 25198498 - Valve Covers - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[horaa]

Depends, 3$ vs 90 afm shitty ones, oem one is higher in the 200$

 

[horaa]

Where are you located that you're seeing those prices? OEM valve covers here are $65-$80 USD.

I may try to develop a process that allows one to remove those valve cover diaphragms and replace them cleanly. It would sure help the community if I can figure it out. I'd keep those diaphragms in stock as well.

Sent from my BlackBerry Key2 using Tapatalk

Can you find GM ones in USA/CANADA? Not AFM like doorman, GM made. I doubt there will be a fixeable valve cover. I would rather replace it every 7-8 years because it's plastic anyway and it will warp no matter what.

 

[horaa]

For the purge valve you will need to remove the round check valve and blow into the purge valve. Same thing goes for the turbo pcv valve. My shitbox is stutering for 1 second when i start it in the morning but i’m too lazy to check the issue for now.

 

[horaa]

If it hiss check the vacuum hoses. I replaced 1 already since it was hissing aswell and planning to replace all of them since they can be replaced wihout needing a mechanic.
Is just that i don’t have any proper low gauges hoses shops in the city so i’ll have to look over the internet for the correct size and guess what? I’m lazy for a job like that atm.

 

[horaa]

PCV system worked perfecly up to the last second of it. Unfortunately there is no more car thanks to a moron who crashed into me. For what there is to tell i can only say that this engine is very easy to maintain and DIY repairs at home. Also low fuel consumption, it can run on vapours and still have enough grunt out of his small capacity. Maybe one of the last good engines in the past 10 years or so before direct injection unreliabilty across all the car makers. Unfortunately this is my last chapter in here as i don't plan to buy another car like this because honestly they are way too expensive nowadays.

 

[horaa]

I did removed it. If it’s only 45$ to buy a new one don’t bother. You will need to glue down the cap wich taxes time.

 

[horaa]

Hey guys, long time no see, it's been a few months. Didn't manage to sell the car because i didn't want the auto sharks to make a lot of money on my behalf so i kept the price up that or i was going to take it apart and sell bits of it.. I got a few calls, one of them was for sure the right buyer but as usual fate happens on both sides, one happy note one very sad note. My mum's 2005 astra (previous model to cruze) automatic (very rare in romania) with 1.8 liter engine (the one from the good old days when the engine cover was made of aluminium) and LPG all of sudden decided to lock itself. Eventually started but was running very rough, in 10 seconds all of the coolant went into the oil pan. Removed the spark plug, it barely cranked(most certainly the crankshaft seals went kaput), so she had 2 choices: repair my crashed car, or replace the engine on her + miscelanious repairs(bushings, brakes, struts etc). She made the right choice, she will have my old astra for free but she will have to fix it, i mean i will take care of parts, body workshop but she will have to pay. Now i'm driving a car that i love more than the cruze/astra. Fate really likes to play jokes on you, i had a buyer that wanted to buy the car but didn't call afterwards to scheudle the selling, so he was late by about 1 day when i got the call to sign the papers.
PS: i'm driving a opel signum with a saab engine + LPG. What a joyfull engine, and the turbo spools are yum yum. With a bit more luck i am going to tune it a bit, nothing ridiculous, about 240 horses.
How much i am in the hole so far? Over 6000$