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CNN Says Recall for Engine Shields and Inspect Welds in Rear compartment

18K views 48 replies 25 participants last post by  obermd 
#1 ·
We all known about the "oil spill" fires. They will be modifing our engine shields. What I didn't know is that some cars may have "incomplete" welds in the rear compartments. Anybody heard of that before?

Recall letters will start going out from GM in July.
 
#3 ·
Actually, 3 weeks is pretty quick. Consider that GM needs to get the information and any required parts to their dealerships before the first owner calls in for the recall. I have seen up to six months from the time the recall was announced to the time the first notices were mailed.
 
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#12 ·
It is not my wish to argue with you.
I usually agree with your words but I have to disagree with your sentence
"GM had thrown Pontiac out the door"
I am of the opinion that Pontiac cut their own throat.
Pontiac made many generations of Bonneville. Those that traded their Bonnie every two to four years all of a sudden are told "No more Bonnie's it's now a G8." I would really like to know the sales number difference between the last four years on Bonnie's and the first years of G8.
Like if Chevy all of a sudden says "No more Impala's its now a F6. A stupid move that would loose customers.
Just my opinion.
 
#8 ·
I still love how the car gets recalled for the work of crappy technicians. I get the risk but if you don;t suck at your job there should not be an issue. spill oil, you clean it up.
 
#9 ·
Auto part Engine Vehicle Subcompact car Suspension


^Did the modification to mine today. It's nothing but hacking away the panel section that sits directly under the oil pan, filter, more room for the drain plug, and the vent on the transmission. No holes required. GM doesn't want to risk ANY fluid left behind to ignite after the previous Cruze fires.

As for the Rear compartment recall, very few Cruzes are applied to this one I believe (compared to 420,000 for the shield that is). The brackets for the fuel tank should be spot welded, if they are MIG welded, you need to go in for repair. I don't have a picture of this one, so I can't show where.
 
#10 ·
View attachment 6225

^Did the modification to mine today. It's nothing but hacking away the panel section that sits directly under the oil pan, filter, more room for the drain plug, and the vent on the transmission. No holes required. GM doesn't want to risk ANY fluid left behind to ignite after the previous Cruze fires.

As for the Rear compartment recall, very few Cruzes are applied to this one I believe (compared to 420,000 for the shield that is). The brackets for the fuel tank should be spot welded, if they are MIG welded, you need to go in for repair. I don't have a picture of this one, so I can't show where.
It's really hard to tell from that picture exactly how much material is hacked away.
 
#13 ·
So they hack away half the panel. Great. Just what I need, half the protection missing. I was looking forward to an engine and transmission not molested by salt when it comes time to do the clutch.

If that underbody panel had any fuel economy effect, it could affect the Cruze's fuel economy for the worse. I got this car for the fuel economy, so anything that messes with it is bad in my book.

Here's a picture of the unmolested underbody panel:

 
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#14 ·
Nice pic Sciphi.. I was meaning to get a pic before I started hacking but it was too late lol.

Guys, understand you DON'T have to get this done, you can simply deny the service, and it will eventually get done when you trade/sell the car. If you change your own oil, don't bother with this! If you don't trust your dealer who does your changes, maybe consider it. In the end regardless, its YOUR call.
 
#15 ·
Xtreme, take Sciphis pic, and keep about 8 inches from each side. Thats it.
 
#18 ·
Name aside, the G8 is, IMO, a much better car than the Bonnie
 
#21 ·
Can someone take Sciphi's photo & show where & how much of this lower cover is getting cut for this fix? I really don't want to loose any under car protection/aerodynamics. I took out an oil pan on my old car(a 2004 cavalier) hitting road debris ,even a plastic cover might have saved me a $500 repair.

When I changed my oil the first time I did not remove oil fill cap or open the filter housing before pulling the drain plug. I got a really bad glugging/chugging drain. Quickly I opened the fill cap to release the pressure & things started pouring nicely. The cover seemed WAY to close to drain plug & when the drain was glugging I thought I could see oil getting on the cover. I found none got on there when I went to wipe it off.

Seems it was within 3inches of drain plug, all it would take is to cut the area even a few inches more to eliminate the possibility of oil getting on there.
 
#23 ·
Wouldn't it be much easier, instead of chopping the thing in half, to just notch it under the drain plug an inch or so? If the oil can't get on the shield there is no reason to drain it out.
 
#24 ·
Perhaps the 2013 Models coming out in January will have the new factory panel installed. I will wait till then to see if GM will have this panel to be added to the recalled models. They just may redo the current mold panel and make it so. Cutting the ones they have now and making new panels that need to be cut will become very costly. It will be cheaper to have the dealers just add the new design panel instead of making cuts that may cause other problems.:)
 
#26 ·
Perhaps the 2013 Models coming out in January will have the new factory panel installed.
The GM notice states that Cruzen built after the end of May 2012 are not affected by the recall. That has to mean that the fix is already in production assembly at Lordstown. 2013 Cruze production is supposedly due to start the week of August 4th, 2012. The '13 models should be on the dealership's lots by November at the latest.
 
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#27 ·
Thanks for posting the link to this diagram. I just looked at it. I noticed that the engine plate alreay has huge open areas where hot liquids can drop through. I remember seeing an "after" photo in another thread yesterday and it simply appears they are making it wider and a little longer towards the front of the engine. It appears GM engineers had already considered this issue and simply went back to the drawing board to figure out the new cut size. Knowing how engineering design works, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the "new" cut may actually have been a previously proposed design that wasn't selected.
 
#25 ·
OK, so we don't know exactly how the engine shields are going to modified. We'll find out soon enough when they start doing them, or release the details. And I'm sure that whatever modification is made has been tested so it won't adversely affect the car. In the meantime, it must be noted that this fix is not due to just sloppy oil changes. If you read the whole recall notice, leaks of any kind are mentioned as a concern, and specifically manual transmission leaks. I can't believe the number of people who think that GM is trying to screw them one way or another with this recall. If you really think that you are being screwed and conspired against, then you should take your business elsewhere for your own peace of mind. The fix involves no parts, which will save GM money and time over producing enough parts to replace the current engine shield. It would take many addition weeks to ramp up production to cover the whole fleet. Remember how long it took for the new front suspension struts to become available? By simply cutting the current shield to the shape the fix will be a quick in and out procedure and they'll be able to start addressing it sooner than having to waiti for a new part to become available.
 
#30 ·
The fix involves no parts, which will save GM money and time over producing enough parts to replace the current engine shield. It would take many addition weeks to ramp up production to cover the whole fleet. Remember how long it took for the new front suspension struts to become available? By simply cutting the current shield to the shape the fix will be a quick in and out procedure and they'll be able to start addressing it sooner than having to waiti for a new part to become available.
For something as minor as this is I would rather wait for a new production part then to just hack up a part on my car. Did they address the issue, yes they did. But IMO it is not a satisfactory solution to ME for having it done to my car. I have an automatic so don't need to worry about the transmission leak. I love my Cruze and have always been a GM guy as long as I don't get negative thoughts from my sales guy I just won't have this done to my car.
 
#28 ·
From looking at the parts diagram on gmpartselect.com, it appears the catalytic converters are still above the modified engine plate.
 
#29 ·
...so, other than these few issues, how do you like your car?
At 10,000 miles I have had no problems with my car at all. And this recall does not change my opinion of it. For that matter, the fact that GM proactively found and issued a recall on the gas tank strap issue has improved my opinion. They did what other auto makers failed to do (hello Toyota!). Instead of trying to ignore or hide an issue, they are doing something about it before someone gets hurt. Sure, it's less than 300 cars affected, but they are trying to correct the problem.
 
#32 ·
Although no replacement parts are involved, I bet GM is sending a "cutting template" along with instructions to their dealerships. This would explain the three week delay in sending out bulk recall mailings. I definitely wouldn't want my dealership to cut the shield without a template to show where to cut.
 
#33 ·
Whether the panel is/was there to serve to help aerodynamics, gas mileage, and/or to prevent water, road debris, or other liquids from reaching the engine and other essential parts that needed to be protected, it no longer can serve the purpose it was initially designed and put there to do after this recall! Obviously, Chevy wouldn't have designed this panel the way they did if it benefits the car in some way. Obviously now, we know that the engine shield/panel could be a possible fire starter if certain fluids gather or are trapped. I just don't see how cutting the panel up and changing the overall design of it, could not also now negatively affect what and why it was designed the way it was in the first place?! I see this recall causing more harm then good.

To me I see this recall as like when EA tries to fix Madden games year after, because in their pursuit to fix one or two issues that would make the game perfect, they wind up making more problems and making the game worst rather than better. I see this being the same case with Chevy having to cut the panel. I personally like how others have suggested that it would likely be better and feasible for Chevy to just drill a few appropriately placed holes in the panel instead of hacking it all up and leaving the underside of the Cruze (especially the engine and transmission) over exposed to road debris and the elements, especially when winter (snow, ice, road salt,pot holes) and Autumn (tree branches, acorns, and leafs, especially if you parking over them) rolls around.

Having a over exposed engine, transmission and underside of a car is never a good thing and I don't see how the panel that was built and designed to prevent problems such as water maybe leading to engine stall, if not for any other reason, can now properly do the job it was built to do? I would like to know how Chevy plans to go about the actual redesign/cutting of the panel during this recall visit and what tools will be used to do it, if any at all? I just see this leading to possible cracks, leaks and punctures on the things that used to be protected prior to this recall if cutting and reshaping the panel is what's taking place.

In this case it just might be that with this new panel, comes a new design, which will come with new problems, and new complaints, and more new so-called "solutions" and so therefore more new unhappy costumers and so on. A snow ball effect really, but let's hope not and pray that Chevy/GM really thought this thing out before issuing this recall and knows the possible negative side effects that this new panel design could have on all aspects of the car, as well as knowing how they would go about being proactive and pre-countering any new foreseeable issues in a effective and thorough manner!!

All this is just IMHO and those more knowledgeable about it, I guess can tell me to shut up, go to **** and that I don't know what I'm talking about, but this is just how I feel about the whole thing. I personally was looking to buy a 2013 Cruze but I would like to know with confidence that this new recall resulting in altering the engine panel or whatever, won't be causing any new problems in the current/newly built 2012 Cruzes or the 2013 Cruzes coming out down the road.
 
#34 ·
If anyone would like me to look to see if your vehicle is affected by this recall please send me a PM with your VIN. I would be happy to answer any questions anyone may have regarding this concern as well. I am always here to help!
~Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service
 
#35 ·
Thank you Stacy.
The recall letter if I get it will not be my first. It will be my first from Chevy.
If or when I get a letter from Chevy telling me my Cruze has been recalled I promise to;
Remove my wife from the Cruze. She loves it and talks of it like she used to talk of the 1992 Euro Sport.
Take letter and Cruze to my dealer and let them do whatever to the Cruze.
This recall don't worry me none.
 
#36 ·
This really pisses me off... I get good gas mileage now, but what is going to happen once this gets chopped up & it could potentially affect MPG. Not to mention they just chopped off about half of what I'VE PAID for the entire piece. Where is my refund for the difference of loss materials, time, MPG, etc.?
 
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#37 ·
Can or would any of the current Chevy Cruze owners on this forum who do their own oil change on this car and view themselves as someone who has taken extra precautions and hardly makes any mess be willing to do a HOW TO video on how to properly change the oil on this car?! Or at least a picture slide show with detail? I have seen some members who say they place rags at different places, pull the dip stick and loosen the filter and other stuff that helps prevent any spills or burping of the oil. Maybe this sounds like a dumb request but for those who now want to take on doing our own oil changes, and especially avoid having to get the recall hack, it would be especially helpful to know how to change this car's oil in the most effective and least messy of manner. Thanks!
 
#39 ·
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