I've always been able to lurk in this forum and find my answers without posting on my own. Finally though I think I have an issue that I could use advice about myself. Partly I could use some help because I'm dealing with this while traveling for work where I don't have access to my usual independent mechanic or dealership.
My 2012 Cruze 1.4L has about 108,000 miles on it. I'm the first owner.
A few days after a long highway drive I got in my car, drove to the store, and on the way back I received an alert on the dash that my A/C was disabled due to high engine temperatures. The engine temperature gauge seemed to be stuck on minimum. There was no visible sign in the engine compartment that the engine was in fact overheating, and the coolant level in the overflow tank looked normal.
Based on my research, including some time here in these forums, I thought I probably had problem with a coolant sensor. I took it to the neighborhood SpeeDee franchise, which my employer recommended as being reliable. They confirmed that there was no problem with the coolant levels and that they were getting bad signals from one of the sensors.
The folks at SpeeDee didn't charge me anything, always appreciated, and suggested I take the car to a Chevrolet dealership -- Banner Chevrolet in New Orleans is the one I wound up with. I carefully drove the car to the dealer, again without any sign that it was in fact overheating. Banner agreed that there was a bad sensor and replaced one of them. The cost was approximately $215.
After I picked up my car I drove it back about 10 miles to where I am staying things seemed fine. I didn't have reason to drive it for a few more days, and when I did it was again just a few miles for errands. On the way back, I lost power, got an alert on the dash that my engine was overheating and that engine power would be reduced.
I pulled to the side of the road and popped the hood. I could touch my hand to the surface of the engine and the coolant overflow tank, they were so cool. I drove the remaining 1/4 of a mile back to where I am staying and parked it for a couple more days.
Just to be sure in case it really was overheating, I had the car towed back to the dealership this time. They looked it over and called me back saying that I had a coolant leak and that I would need a new radiator.
Can someheone help provide some perspective on this issue?
It seems remarkable that I would have driven more than 700 miles and not had any symptoms from a coolant leak. Then I specifically had a mechanic at SpeeDee look for coolant leaks, and they didn't find any. Then I took it to this dealer the first time, also specifically to diagnose a cooling system issue, and they didn't notice a coolant leak.
It seems more likely to me that a coolant leak developed after someone was working in the engine compartment than that it coincidentally is an unrelated issue that just arose right after I had the cooling system worked on. Do folks have any advice? Am I being unreasonable in my suspicion? They want almost $800 for total the new radiator job -- this is really starting to add up, and I don't know if I have my car at the right service department any more at this point.
My 2012 Cruze 1.4L has about 108,000 miles on it. I'm the first owner.
A few days after a long highway drive I got in my car, drove to the store, and on the way back I received an alert on the dash that my A/C was disabled due to high engine temperatures. The engine temperature gauge seemed to be stuck on minimum. There was no visible sign in the engine compartment that the engine was in fact overheating, and the coolant level in the overflow tank looked normal.
Based on my research, including some time here in these forums, I thought I probably had problem with a coolant sensor. I took it to the neighborhood SpeeDee franchise, which my employer recommended as being reliable. They confirmed that there was no problem with the coolant levels and that they were getting bad signals from one of the sensors.
The folks at SpeeDee didn't charge me anything, always appreciated, and suggested I take the car to a Chevrolet dealership -- Banner Chevrolet in New Orleans is the one I wound up with. I carefully drove the car to the dealer, again without any sign that it was in fact overheating. Banner agreed that there was a bad sensor and replaced one of them. The cost was approximately $215.
After I picked up my car I drove it back about 10 miles to where I am staying things seemed fine. I didn't have reason to drive it for a few more days, and when I did it was again just a few miles for errands. On the way back, I lost power, got an alert on the dash that my engine was overheating and that engine power would be reduced.
I pulled to the side of the road and popped the hood. I could touch my hand to the surface of the engine and the coolant overflow tank, they were so cool. I drove the remaining 1/4 of a mile back to where I am staying and parked it for a couple more days.
Just to be sure in case it really was overheating, I had the car towed back to the dealership this time. They looked it over and called me back saying that I had a coolant leak and that I would need a new radiator.
Can someheone help provide some perspective on this issue?
It seems remarkable that I would have driven more than 700 miles and not had any symptoms from a coolant leak. Then I specifically had a mechanic at SpeeDee look for coolant leaks, and they didn't find any. Then I took it to this dealer the first time, also specifically to diagnose a cooling system issue, and they didn't notice a coolant leak.
It seems more likely to me that a coolant leak developed after someone was working in the engine compartment than that it coincidentally is an unrelated issue that just arose right after I had the cooling system worked on. Do folks have any advice? Am I being unreasonable in my suspicion? They want almost $800 for total the new radiator job -- this is really starting to add up, and I don't know if I have my car at the right service department any more at this point.
