[Andrew S]

Just wanted to share with everyone that my cruze just got out of the shop after needing a new cylinder head and cracking a piston. The car has a BNR EFIlive tune, intake and DP. I'm not going to point fingers and say this or that caused the problem, however im sure turning the boost up and adding timing didnt help. As far as i know im one of the only ones to have said problem after tuning and in no way am i saying this is Jerrys fault as he has done great work on other cars, but just be ready if your engine goes "pop" you may be in for quite a large bill as you may not be as lucky as me to have the warranty cover it.

I'm planning on having Jerry re-tune it and just turn the boost down a bit as a precaution. It turned out that there was some detonation in the motor, not sure if it was a bad plug, problem with the tune, or what, but after pulling the plugs they found one was fowled, took the car for a drive, still missing, smoking like a chimney and stuttering. pulled the head found a crack. replaced that, still missing. pulled the head again, broken piston. Shes finally back together and running smooth again.

I believe most of you have had good luck so far but i just wanted to share. im fairly confident this wouldnt of happened if the car was stock, so just know the risks you take when modifying... i knew them and got lucky. hopefully no ones else runs into an issue like this.

 

[obermd]

One of the things a performance tune does is put more stress on the engine. This translates into shorter life expectancy for the engine and once in a while you'll get a part that simply is marginal to begin with.

 

[blk88verde]

Just curious - for how many miles was the ne on you car?

 

[Tomko]

Just curious - for how many miles was the ne on you car?

34,000.

Although I'm curious to know what warranty covered the repair?

 

[Andrew S]

im guessing you meant "tune." i got the final adjustments loaded up in November so im guessing somewhere between 7-9K maybe?

 

[Andrew S]

GM covered it.

 

[Tomko]

GM covered it.

Wow. You got lucky.

They didn't detect a tune?

 

[Andrew S]

Wow. You got lucky.

They didn't detect a tune?

i dont think the dealership can detect them with whatever they use but they said if i needed the whole motor replaced i would have to send my ECU to GM so they would probably find it then.

 

[Snipesy]

You can read every single tune ever flashed with a Tech 2. Been that way since 07 or 08 or something. But they don't seem to check as often as they used to, probably got sued over it or something.

 

[pandrad61]

well end of the day the cruze motor is a economy based motor not a performance design. your pushing a motor that already squeezes a lot out of Not much as it is... add boost and agressive timing and it wont end as well as youd like. some cars have natural strength like the 7m-gte or 2jz a ls, vrg motor ext.. some have have a lot replaced to make it strong. got lucky OP and happy it worked out for ya but again this is a econ motor not a performance one

 

[obermd]

GM expects to have a small number of these fail. If too many start failing then GM will start asking dealerships to check for aftermarket tunes.

 

[Chevy Customer Care]

GM covered it.

Hi Andrew S,

We are happy to hear you have your Cruze back and your concern has been resolved. Please know that you can always contact us in the future if you need any assistance.

Best,

Cristina
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[countryboy90]

pulled the head found a crack. replaced that, still missing. pulled the head again, broken piston. Shes finally back together and running smooth again.

good that they got it fixed, but in the quote above I kept a bit that bothers me. Why did they not see the broken piston when they had the head off the first time. IMO any good mechanic would look at the pistons also because you are right there and only takes a minute to look at them for cracks or chunks missing.

 

[Christopher_2]

I figure if my motor blows I will go to a salvage yard and get a replacement. I can get a low mileage around 5000 mile replacement for less than $1000.00 locally. You have to pay to play and it is a price we pay for a car that has a smaller motor than my motorcycle. That is why I will look at a Verano with a 2.0 when I get my next car.

 

[obermd]

I figure if my motor blows I will go to a salvage yard and get a replacement. I can get a low mileage around 5000 mile replacement for less than $1000.00 locally. You have to pay to play and it is a price we pay for a car that has a smaller motor than my motorcycle. That is why I will look at a Verano with a 2.0 when I get my next car.

The Verano has been discontinued.

 

[Christopher_2]

Son of a #$^%$, oh well maybe I'll get an Elio.

The Verano has been discontinued.

 

[Tomko]

The Verano has been discontinued.

2017 model year currently in production but it will be a brief run ending in September or October.

Turbo engine and manual transmission dropped for 2017.

If you want a Verano you'll have to move fast.

 

[Steelmesh]

I figure if my motor blows I will go to a salvage yard and get a replacement. I can get a low mileage around 5000 mile replacement for less than $1000.00 locally. You have to pay to play and it is a price we pay for a car that has a smaller motor than my motorcycle. That is why I will look at a Verano with a 2.0 when I get my next car.

This is one of the reasons I got a Cruze to play with, engine or transmissions with very low miles are going for $500 in my area!!

 

[cufarmer]

Uh, ya... That happened to me at 148K miles. As you can imagine, my anger with the level of care given at the dealership was greeted with less than hoped-for support here. Perhaps you will have better luck since you have taken the high road.
I don't think it was the tune either. Mine was stock when it burned a hole through the piston. I still don't know what caused the fuel/air issue.