[kend]

2012 Chevy Cruze Automatic Dies Randomly. Recently, the car was idling hard and I replaced the head cover and the spark plugs. Car ran fine for about a 3 weeks and now it will die randomly. When running it idles fine and the check engine light is not on at all. Sometimes you can drive for miles and it will be find and then others you can drive it for a few minutes and it will just shut off. When the head cover was changed, I made sure to buy the OEM model and torqued it to specs and also changed the spark plugs to OEM, pregapped to specs. No apparent air leaks or oil leaks anywhere. My thoughts are that it could be the fuel pump going out? It seems to happen most often when idleing and then hitting the gas to go, it cuts off. Currently waiting on a device ordered to tell me any error codes. I checked the fuses and they all seem to be fine. Battery cables are connected and no issues. (have new ground cable.) The car will eventually start after about 20-30 minutes of waiting but it doesn't appear to be overheating or happen after its been driven a while. also swapped out the air filter recently. Any ideas?

Video of the issue:

 

[TDCruze]

Is the fuel pump still running when the engine stalls?

 

[kend]

What is the best way to tell if it's still running? Is there a sound it makes that can be heard inside the car because usually I'm alone when it happens? What happens is that when you start to go, it will go a little and then the engine will die but you keep rolling with lights on and everything. Alternatively, I have considered the coil pack as a possibility. I did take the current coil pack out and put it back in but this video is of it happening again afterwards.

 

[TDCruze]

It should be a faint higher piched sound. You would hear it when you turn the key to the run position as well before starting the engine.

If the pump is not running there will be no fuel pressure to start or keep the engine running.

 

[kend]

I think I understand what you are referring to. It is a slight humming sound for about 2-3 seconds after turning the key. It does still do that sound. I could even hear it in my video if i turned it up a bit. At about 44 seconds of the video, you can hear the car start and then just turn idle off again. Perhaps an air leak? I had an old Chevy Cavalier that had a problem with an air leak and the car would start and i could keep it running so long as I could keep my foot on the gas but this one doesn't seem to start so easily. Also, I think I tried to hit the gas to rev the engine and it didn't seem to stay running after it started and fell the second time.

 

[TDCruze]

It could be a vacuum leak then. Getting the CEL codes will help diagnose for sure.

 

[obermd]

Recheck the torque on the head cover. I agree with TDCruze that this sounds like a vacuum leak and since the last thing you did was replace the head cover, I'm guessing one or more of the screws has come loose.

 

[kend]

I torqued the screws to 71 inch pounds before. Also made sure to blow out the oil with canned air from the holes but I’ll check again. Wouldn’t there be an oil leak if it had come lose again? Then again maybe because it’s getting warm the seal is heating up and letting air pass through.. hrm

 

[obermd]

I torqued the screws to 71 inch pounds before. Also made sure to blow out the oil with canned air from the holes but I’ll check again. Wouldn’t there be an oil leak if it had come lose again? Then again maybe because it’s getting warm the seal is heating up and letting air pass through.. hrm

It's a place to start and rule out.

 

[kend]

Ok, so I checked the torque of each of the bolts on the head cover and they were all tightened to spec. In fact, while checking I probably tightened them a little bit more. I also pulled the plugs and checked them and they appear to be fine. Gap all seems the same as they are supposed to be pre-gapped, however, I'm not familiar with how to gap spark plugs anyway. I also pulled all the plugs and put them back in and torqued them to the recommended 18 foot lbs. I do hear an audible sound coming from the PCV valve whenever I pull out the dip stick, however I'm not sure if that is an issue or not. I will have to drive it a bit and see if anything happens until I get the unit that can tell me the error codes.

Video of Issue:

 

[kend]

Today, I drove to work in the morning for about 15 minutes and everything seemed fine. When I went to leave, I started the car and waited for a few moments for my phone to charge while it was still running in the parking spot. After about 2-3 minutes the car shut off on its own again and would not start. I'm still waiting on the coil pack to arrive and the device to check the codes but for now it looks like verifying the torque on the bolts and the spark plugs made no difference.. still not a clue what the issue is atm.

 

[Blasirl]

Today, I drove to work in the morning for about 15 minutes and everything seemed fine. When I went to leave, I started the car and waited for a few moments for my phone to charge while it was still running in the parking spot. After about 2-3 minutes the car shut off on its own again and would not start. I'm still waiting on the coil pack to arrive and the device to check the codes but for now it looks like verifying the torque on the bolts and the spark plugs made no difference.. still not a clue what the issue is atm.

Your best bet is posting the codes ASAP.

 

[kend]

So, I checked to codes today, and there aren't any that seem to pertain to the issue that I am having. I have attached a live log that I got from turning the car off and waiting a few minutes til it would die a few times. When I turned on the car it crank with no issues and then I could hear the engine sounding like it was slowly losing power until it gave up. After I think the 3rd try, it seemed to run okay for a while but had a rough idle for a few minutes. Also some screenshots from the app showing a few things. Only thing that I saw that might be an issue (but I'm not very familiar with it) is the O2 Bank One voltage seemed to fluctuate a lot. Any ideas? It seems to be acting different now... I'm stumped honestly.

*I did notice that my clock has reset to 0:00 at some point. I didn't remove the battery cable anytime recently. The car has sat idle in the same spot for the past few days.

 

[kend]

The codes didn’t really give me anything so I’m starting to consider that it may be an electrical issue also from advice from a friend. I just replaced the ignition relay (07 Relay, 1191) with a new one and so far the car has idled for a while without dying like before. I haven’t driven it yet, but I’ll update if It happens again.

 

[kend]

Well... after four days of running okay, it died while parked and idling and back at it again...same thing as the first video I posted. Still waiting on a new coil pack to try. I didn’t hear a sound of the fuel pump when I just turned the key. When I finally did, I started to turn the key and it started but died immediately. If I had to guess, maybe there is a loose connection to something that controls the fuel pump, but I’m not sure where that is under the hood. It seemed after I opened the hood and check the wires, I hopped back in and it started. This time it was enough to drive it and get it parked until I have time to look at it again.

 

[kend]

Here is a quick video of the engine dying while parked.

 

[a2chris]

I suggest you either buy or rent a fuel pressure gauge. That will let you know if it is a fuel pump issue. It does sound like it dies slower than if it was the coil pack which could also point to it being fuel related.

 

[kend]

I think I figured it out... I couldn't get the car started for the past few days. I tried to remove the pipe connected to the intake manifold and noticed it appears to have a lot of gunk inside. When I tried to start the car, it started but obviously had a bit of a stutter and started again when I put the tube back on... I think it's just extremely clogged and needs to be cleaned. Going to see if I can find some foaming air intake cleaner and get it cleaned up.

 

[kend]

Ended up taking the car to a mechanic and it has been there for 3 weeks now. Not sure yet what they tried but so far they can't figure it out either. Once the issue is discovered I'll update this forum as to the solution.

 

[Blasirl]

Ended up taking the car to a mechanic and it has been there for 3 weeks now. Not sure yet what they tried but so far they can't figure it out either. Once the issue is discovered I'll update this forum as to the solution.

Why didn't you post the codes? Less work than what you have done so far, just sayin' not knowin'!