[obermd]

Got my car back today. No rattles so far. One scratch in the silver cover around the gear shift - replacement part should be here tomorrow. The tech apologized to me for damaging the cover. Way too much Dexcool in the surge tank - nearly half an inch above the full cold line. I'll let that vent out as I drive. I did, for the first time, however, smell coolant outside the car which I fully expected to smell after seeing the coolant level. On the flip side, it appears the cowl seals for my car are working as designed as there was no, zero, zilch, etc. odor in the cabin.

 

[Robby]

I advise against allowing it to vent......it'll wreck your new cabin filter.

Rob

 

[obermd]

Thanks - when I go in to have the scratched plate replaced I'll see if they can drain some of the Dexcool out.

 

[1990tsi]

So I picked up my car saturday and the coolant smell was seemingly gone. There was a chemical smell when running the heater, but the dexcool smell is gone. I still havn't gotten an invoice saying what they replaced (including the engine) but i'm baffled as to what they did. (sorry to whoever asked a few pages ago, still no invoice)

I will add that after a few more days the chemical smell is gone, but when i get her really hot i smell dirty socks from the hvac system, only on heat, only when hottt. I am losing coolant though car was cold when i picked her up and i checked everything under the hood. no more oil leak and coolant was right on the line with the arrow. Now i'm half a line down when cold, and oil is still leaking out the throttle body(oil level still full at least)

I do smell coolant in the engine bay, which I didn't before. so this car has gotten very interesting!

as far as they've told me all they replaced was the long block and "A hose that had swelled" but no idea what hose that was. I've also had a few instances of 'hyper active fan' under the hood after a good drive since the new engine and whatever reflash they did to kill the misfiring the new engine caused.


dropping car off saturday for a full day (again) will report back!


*edit* I should also add that I can smell the oil burning under the hood like a champ, but never in the cabin. even though my 'wiper cover plastic'(cowl) foam seal is peeling off I can't smell any of the rancid fumes from my engine bay in the cabin. That makes me wonder even more how i could smell dexcool before and now nothing, when they havn't repaired anything inside to my knowledge.

 

[Blue Angel]

Thanks - when I go in to have the scratched plate replaced I'll see if they can drain some of the Dexcool out.

Check the level again when you take it in after driving for a day or two. Sometimes air will get trapped in the system and need a while to work its way out.

One more thing to check. There's an air bleed on the top of the passenger side rad tank. This lets air out of the upper half of the rad after filling. It might be worth it to crack that bleeder open and make sure the rad is full of coolant in case the tech may have overlooked it.

If you're venting it's not too likely that you have much air in the system, but it never hurts to make sure. Also, it will take FOREVER for venting to reduce the fluid level in the surge tank. I topped mine off back in January and the level has been pretty much solid since then, and my car vents every time I shut it off.

Glad to see your car back and hopefully permanently odor free!

 

[Blue Angel]

That makes me wonder even more how i could smell dexcool before and now nothing, when they havn't repaired anything inside to my knowledge.

Interesting case you've got going on there!

Dirty socks could be mold in the AC Evaporator. I think obermd went through the same thing and had to have it cleaned. I'm sure he'll chime in.

Losing coolant could just be air trapped in the system: see my post above to obermd.

Oil fed into the engine for a long period of time can be very bad. I neglected to change a bad PCV valve in my '96 Saturn and it started leaking oil into the intake manifold. All of this oil was going into the intake port of #3 cyclinder, and after years of driving the exhaust valves got burnt out; litterally half of each exhaust valve was missing, they were "D" shaped. I installed a re-built head.

Oil burning for a short period of time is no big deal, but I wouldn't want to be burning oil long term, that's for sure. It might also affect your emissions controls (air/fuel sensors and catalytic converters). Get'r fixed.

 

[obermd]

So I picked up my car saturday and the coolant smell was seemingly gone. There was a chemical smell when running the heater, but the dexcool smell is gone. I still havn't gotten an invoice saying what they replaced (including the engine) but i'm baffled as to what they did. (sorry to whoever asked a few pages ago, still no invoice)

You need to push them for the invoice for your records.

I will add that after a few more days the chemical smell is gone, but when i get her really hot i smell dirty socks from the hvac system, only on heat, only when hottt. I am losing coolant though car was cold when i picked her up and i checked everything under the hood. no more oil leak and coolant was right on the line with the arrow. Now i'm half a line down when cold, and oil is still leaking out the throttle body(oil level still full at least)

If you still smell dirty socks after the chemical smell is gone, then take it back to have the mold/mildew removal TSB applied. I don't know the TSB number unfortunately but I saw it on the system so I know it does exist. It's possible that something fell into the cabin intake.

I do smell coolant in the engine bay, which I didn't before. so this car has gotten very interesting!

Check your coolant levels cold and monitor them. To assist in finding any leaks or designed venting, there is a florescent dye that your dealer can put in for you. This should always be the first step in searching for a "hidden" leak. In my case I discovered that I had too much pressure in my coolant system and the "leak" was actually the designed venting of excess pressure. The dye shows up as orange specs on the vent channel when this happens.

as far as they've told me all they replaced was the long block and "A hose that had swelled" but no idea what hose that was. I've also had a few instances of 'hyper active fan' under the hood after a good drive since the new engine and whatever reflash they did to kill the misfiring the new engine caused.

The hyper active fan is most likely a result of the reflash. The ECU will run the main fans for a while after you turn the car off to help cool the turbo charger.

dropping car off saturday for a full day (again) will report back!

Good luck.

*edit* I should also add that I can smell the oil burning under the hood like a champ, but never in the cabin. even though my 'wiper cover plastic'(cowl) foam seal is peeling off I can't smell any of the rancid fumes from my engine bay in the cabin. That makes me wonder even more how i could smell dexcool before and now nothing, when they havn't repaired anything inside to my knowledge.

When they took the engine out there are several hoses that run from the engine bay into the cabin. At least two of these carry dexcool to the cabin heater core (one in/one out). These hoses had to be disconnected to do the engine work. Also, ask if they cleaned the engine supports when they swapped the block. If you had a leak before, which you probably did, you almost certainly have oil sitting on the supports and bracing under the engine.

 

[BigSkyMontana]

Got my car back today. No rattles so far. One scratch in the silver cover around the gear shift - replacement part should be here tomorrow. The tech apologized to me for damaging the cover. Way too much Dexcool in the surge tank - nearly half an inch above the full cold line. I'll let that vent out as I drive. I did, for the first time, however, smell coolant outside the car which I fully expected to smell after seeing the coolant level. On the flip side, it appears the cowl seals for my car are working as designed as there was no, zero, zilch, etc. odor in the cabin.

Glad to hear that everything appears to be working or "operating as designed" --where did I recently hear that phrase? I noticed when they had my car "gutted" out that they placed some "yellow colored tape" over the shift and center console areas that were exposed. They informed me that this was to protect the area from scratches or other minor damage while they were working inside the car.

The cowl area seals......I will speculate that if a the cowl seals are not properly sealing as designed (when the car came off the assembly line which I think is highly possible and believe that was the case with my car) and/or the surge tank is topped off (which we now suspect increases coolant vapors when at high temps) and/or you have a tank/cap issue then there may be a possibility that hot coolant vapors could be drawn into the air intake to the cabin. That is why it is important to ensure the cowl sealing areas are sealed. Most importantly, I think you have to ensure that the cowls seals are sealing first before trying to troubleshoot the HVAC lube issue. In my case, it was difficult to pinpoint the HVAC lube issue when I had coolant vapors seeping through the gaps of my cowl seals and coming into the cabin. In your case obermd, it appears that your seals are doing the job--great news! It appears that there is always a possibility of someone's surge tank (emitting hot coolant vapors) and seeping through a gap (or gaps) around the cowl area which could enter the cabin area. Something this simple could become a major headache. There are so many variables in tackling this issue, but looking better as everyone continues to post their thoughts and expertise

 

[obermd]

Glad to hear that everything appears to be working or "operating as designed" --where did I recently hear that phrase? I noticed when they had my car "gutted" out that they placed some "orange colored tape" over the shift and center console areas that were exposed. They informed me that this was to protect the area from scratches or other minor damage while they were working inside the car.

The cowl area seals......I will speculate that if a the cowl seals are not properly sealing as designed (when the car came off the assembly line which I think is highly possible and believe that was the case with my car) and/or the surge tank is topped off (which we now suspect increases coolant vapors when at high temps) and/or you have a tank/cap issue then there may be a possibility that hot coolant vapors could be drawn into the air intake to the cabin. That is why it is important to ensure the cowl sealing areas are sealed. Most importantly, I think you have to ensure that the cowls seals are sealing first before trying to troubleshoot the HVAC lube issue. In my case, it was difficult to pinpoint the HVAC lube issue when I had coolant vapors seeping through the gaps of my cowl seals and coming into the cabin. In your case obermd, it appears that your seals are doing the job--great news! It appears that there is always a possibility of someone's surge tank (emitting hot coolant vapors) and seeping through a gap (or gaps) around the cowl area which could enter the cabin area. Something this simple could become a major headache. There are so many variables in tackling this issue, but looking better as everyone continues to post their thoughts and expertise

No coolant smells inside the cabin but boy did the outside stink. The silver piece was damaged during reassembly - it looks like a screwdriver got dropped on it tip down. You are correct that there are a lot of different possibilities which really makes this hard to troubleshoot. When I take it in to have the scratched trim replaced I'll have them siphon out some of the extra coolant. Rob made a good point to get that lowered so I don't clog my brand new cabin air filter with Dexcool particles.

 

[obermd]

Still no rattles. I got the scratched trim replaced today and the DexCool lowered to the "full cold" line while the engine was hot. No odors inside or outside - yeah :signs015:

 

[BigSkyMontana]

Picked up my Cruze and drove around after having the HVAC assembly replaced. Definitely a difference--no more glycol-based smell :wavetowel2:Ran the heater through all the mode and fan settings. Only smell is like a burnt rubber smell. I will contribute this smell to the new case assembly. Dash looks like it was never touched. Everything on and around the dash appears to be in alignment with no rattles. All the instruments working and it appears that everything is in order. Car is detailed and clean. It is nice to finally have the car in a state that is comfortable while driving. I did ask for an extended warranty. It appears that my service manager is going to work something out for me. I am VERY SATISFIED with the way my service department has handled this situation from start to finish. I hope that anyone else who may have to tackle this issue will have a satisfied and pleasant experience as I have encountered with my service department. I do have some pics of the HVAC case assembly and a few others that I will post later.

 

[fastdriver]

Agreed. Many of these issues, however, are supplier quality issues and not design/Engineering issues. As for your transmission, it's too bad someone from GM tried to blow smoke up your @$$ instead of admitting there was an issue they could fix. That is, unfortunately, the way some people think issues are to be dealt with. A small group of employees can tarnish the image of the whole company. Generally speaking I am VERY supportive of GM Engineering, but much less so of their service departments.

So, the suppliers for the Cruzes in those other 163 countries was/is completely different than the US Cruzes?

You are saying that there IS a fix for the 2011 transmission? Exactly what would that be? WHY wouldn't they fix it? Originally GM "customer service" got involved quite by accident. I ended up dealing with THREE different people in the Early Response Business Resource Center whatever that is and wherever that is. WHY 3 different people, I have NO clue! I assume that each one was higher up the ladder than the previous one? Anyway, while waiting for over a MONTH for GM to send my dealer the updated info for the data recorder that they wanted to install in my car, nothing was happening. The day I went to the dealer for the appointed time to have this installed, the dealer told me that they did not get the info from GM yet. It would have been nice if he had called me to tell me this, but since I'm only minutes from the dealer it was no big deal. So, I told the dealer that maybe if I called the "customer service" person I was dealing with, the 3rd one, that maybe he could speed things up and see what was taking GM so long to send this updated data recorder info. When I called GM, he told me that there was nothing else he could do for me! That was when I decided that it was time to call GM Corporate directly. I did and nothing really happened there either. All of this nonsense went on for over SIX months. The ONLY thing they ever replaced was the TCM at around 10,200 miles, but that did nothing. The dealer told me that replacing the transmission would NOT solve the problem because he had done that on someone else's car and it shifted the same way. The GM Corporate guy told me that they could NOT put in a 2012 transmission is a 2011 model. Then, at the end of January, a GM engineer came to the dealer to check out my car. After 5 days and driving it for 13 miles, he came to the conclusion that it was "operating as designed"! Five days later the car was history!

WHY do you think they would not fix it if there was indeed a solution? I never fought with them or argued. I just went along with the BS until that engineer came to that conclusion. This is where I blame GM for NOT cracking down on their dealers! GM Corporate was aware of the problem and did NOTHING!

 

[fastdriver]

Actually, if you think about it, the cowl sealing would never be necessary if the blinking surge tank operated as designed.

Ultimatly this will become a surge issue, a grease issue, or a combination of the two.

The reseal/vent redirect was a piss poor band aid idea developed by a D minus class engineer in the hopes of covering up a component failure.

My opinion.....but based on rather basic conclusions.
Now I have to wonder what other G.M. models are running around with the lubricant thing waiting for the right set of circumstances for them to display the same problem......I'm sure the Cruze wasn't the only product from G.M. using this stuff.

Rob

Don't you think that if there were other GM models with this same lubricant issue that they would have popped up by now from 2011? Do you know of any other GM car that has this problem?

 

[steve333]

What amazes me is that they knew of this since 2011 and still used the same lubricant for 2012 AND 2013 Models.
What about the 2014 that will come out? If I'm a betting man I say GM is using exactly the same crap, same parts as well that have been giving owners issues as well, same steering components that are locking up on people, etc.
Does anyone here think otherwise?

 

[fastdriver]

Glad to hear that everything appears to be working or "operating as designed" --where did I recently hear that phrase?

A phrase I will NEVER forget!

 

[fastdriver]

Still no rattles. I got the scratched trim replaced today and the DexCool lowered to the "full cold" line while the engine was hot. No odors inside or outside - yeah :signs015:

YIPPEE!!! Maybe now you can enjoy your new car! Congratulations.

 

[fastdriver]

Picked up my Cruze and drove around after having the HVAC assembly replaced. Definitely a difference--no more glycol-based smell :wavetowel2:Ran the heater through all the mode and fan settings. Only smell is like a burnt rubber smell. I will contribute this smell to the new case assembly. Dash looks like it was never touched. Everything on and around the dash appears to be in alignment with no rattles. All the instruments working and it appears that everything is in order. Car is detailed and clean. It is nice to finally have the car in a state that is comfortable while driving. I did ask for an extended warranty. It appears that my service manager is going to work something out for me. I am VERY SATISFIED with the way my service department has handled this situation from start to finish. I hope that anyone else who may have to tackle this issue will have a satisfied and pleasant experience as I have encountered with my service department. I do have some pics of the HVAC case assembly and a few others that I will post later.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! When is that job offer from GM coming? :biglaugha:

 

[fastdriver]

fftopic: TERRORIST CAUGHT!!!!

 

[obermd]

Actually, if you think about it, the cowl sealing would never be necessary if the blinking surge tank operated as designed.

I can see two sides to the cowl sealing. On one side ICE engines create, even when operating normally, all sorts of odd odors at times and this seal keeps them out of the cabin. On the other side by keeping the odors out of the cabin the driver won't know they have a problem. Given that most people would recognize a normal odor from an abnormal odor I think the cowling is a good idea.

 

[BigSkyMontana]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! When is that job offer from GM coming? :biglaugha:

Shhhhh........covert operation.......they did ask me if I knew anyone that could "slip or slide" into the transmission department.........I sort of "dropped" your.........name:biglaugha: