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Durability of the 1.4 turbo engine

81K views 42 replies 24 participants last post by  jc. 
#1 ·
I know this is highly speculative, but has anyone an opinion of how long a properly maintained 1.4 turbo engine will last? At 20,000 a year, 50% highway, will it go 200,000 without major repairs? Have we any data on this yet?

Will it for example be as tough as the old 3.8 litre GM engine?

thanks,
Joe
 
#5 · (Edited)
The key word is "with proper maintenance."

The GM L67 and L36 required significant work to remain reliable. Regarding the L36, we had a faulty upper intake plenum that required replacing due to the EGR valve causing the plastic to crack around the coolant passages, potentially flooding the engine with coolant, in addition to lower intake manifold gaskets that were in terrible shape well before 200k miles. We had the coolant elbows that liked to crack, an oil pan gasket that was notorious for leaks and required a removal of the subframe to remedy, and very common idler pulley bearing failures. The supercharger added another maintenance item that was very often ignored.

I suspect that, like the 3800 series, the 1.4T will be just as reliable once known issues are remedied. The key to this is proper maintenance and preventive maintenance. It goes without saying that good lubricants that are changed according to their usable service life will go a long way. Going 10,000 miles on DEXOS1 oil in city driving is a sure way to reduce the life of your engine just as going over 90,000 miles on transmission fluid for either engine is sure to reduce the life of your transmission.

The turbocharger is lubricated through the use of scroll bearings and cooled by both the oil and the turbo. So long as a lubricant is used that withstands the heat produced by that turbocharger without shearing, oxidizing, or becoming acidic, the turbo should theoretically last the life of the engine. This would also assume that the antifreeze is maintained to its service life of 150,000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first. The cooler you can keep the turbo and the better you can keep it lubricated, the longer it will last you.

Mazdaspeed3 owners learned this lesson the hard way when Mazda insisted that they use conventional oil. Turbo failures between 30k and 60k miles were not uncommon. Subaru WRX/STI motors suffered the same fate, only those turbos ran so hot that they oxidized the heck out of the oil, which then caused it to sludge and clog the oil mesh screen inside the oiling system, thus starving the turbo of oil. With turbocharged applications, oil is absolutely critical to the turbo's service life.

That being said, there was one instance of a turbo failure reported where the compressor housing literally cracked. Unfortunately, the best lubrication won't save you from that, but excellent cooling will help prevent it. This is not intended as an AMSOIL plug, but this is one reason why I run the Dominator Coolant Boost, which increases surface tension between the metal and the antifreeze to provide better heat transfer. In theory, this should keep the turbo cooler, which in theory should extend its life.
 
#6 ·
It is worth noting that your driving conditions are especially light and easy given that your driving is 100% highway at relatively calm highway speeds. Your car also experiences far fewer heat cycles as a result of your trip duration than any other outside those driving conditions would.
 
#10 ·
Yep. My Eco runs 2000RPM at 65mph. Very impressive for a 1.4L four cylinder engine. In addition, the pistons are very low friction using a DLC (diamond-like coating) on the pistons rings that allowed GM to significantly close tolerances. This is also why the engine barely consumes any oil, if not none at all.
 
#11 ·
Personally, I think that any modern car that is well taken care of can last a long time. As for how long, I'm not really sure, but I'd say that you could probably expect the 1.4T to be reliable for 200,000 miles or more as long as it was well taken care of. For comparing it to GM's 3800's, I'm really not sure. My sister has an '04 Monte Carlo with the L67 in it. However, it has less than 45,000 miles on it. Although, I can say that in those 45,000 miles it hasn't had any issues. I've read too about how tight the tolerances are and the low friction pistons in the 1.4T, so take care of it, and I'm sure it'll keep going for a long time :)
 
#13 ·
Those Series I 3800's were absolutely fantastic engines.

I would be happy if the car got to 150,000 miles before it needs major maintenance - a clutch, radiator, sensors - stuff like that. I fully expect to do a suspension overhaul around or before 100,000 miles living where I do.

The only cars we've EVER had powertrain issues from were 30 years old and 20 years old, that one with 320,000 miles. It's everything else that falls apart first.
 
#15 ·
I am currently at 67k and I have had a water pump, and a turbo replaced. I am not confident in the life of the second turbo. I also have the whining manual transmission, so I am hoping by 70k+ I can get it replaced as well. I plan to ditch this cruze at the end of my extended warranty. Fun car , but I don't trust it.
 
#19 ·
On the first 10k on my cruze i lost a manual transmission. (The bearing whine) On my replacement i didn't mess around and swapped the trans fluid with ams oil. Still runs great. @ 55K miles now.

I blew my second turbo by hitting the track 5 days in a row, by the 5th day i could hear a whine when it was spooled. A week later it failed on my way to work. Stock turbo is amazingly reliable as long as you let it rest between pulls.

Im very confident in the engine *knock on wood* We'll see how it holds up to the bigger turbo.
 
#22 · (Edited)
The 3800 Series II and III are the best pushrod v6 engine ever made for mass production. I almost dumped buying my Cruze to buy a 2007 Grand Prix with an L32, SC 3800 Series III. GM first made the v6 in 1962, sold it to Jeep and then bought it back. In the late 70's the 231CI or 3.8L became the standard displacement for the v6. Then during the 80's this v6 was put in the Turbo Regals, with the most famous being the Grand National. However, the 109 block(from the Grand National) is nowhere near as good as the 3800 Series II and Series III. The Series II and III blocks are just are strong as Buick Motor Sports racing stage 2 3.8L block made in the 80's. The stage 2 blocks easily crank out 1600HP, as long as it had a stage 2 crank, rods, etc. Buick or GM had a lot of time to refine the 3800 and people are now starting to put the 3800 Series II and III (L67 and L32) in Grand Nationals and T-Types because they are so superior to the LC2. Anyway, comparing the family0 1.4L ecotec to the 3800 Series II and III is an apple to oranges comparison. The Buick v6 3.8L or 3800 had a very long life. From 62 to 08, the family 0 1.4L ecotec has only been out for how long. For the family 1 1.0 to 1.5L ecotec, from I what I have read these blocks should be an improvement over the family 0. For one the turbo engines will get a forged crank, instead of a cast crank. I guess we'll see. It would be nice to get 200k miles out of my Cruze with no major repairs.
 
#23 ·
In my experience owning two series 2 L67s and one Series 1 3800 L27, I have to admit the L27 was from a reliability standpoint a superior motor. Easier to work on, simpler, and the longer stroke with a taller deck made for some interesting performance gains as the piston spent more time near TDC. I had the intake and heads ported on mine with YT roller rockers and I was doing 94% injector duty cycle on the stock injectors. Blew a roller on a lifter before I ever had the chance to see how much power it actually made unfortunately. The series 2 had the LIM gasket issue, the UIM plenum issue, the coolant elbow issue, and far more evap issues while not feeling all that much faster despite making 35hp more.

I miss that L27.
 
#35 ·
Ahh yeah mines a manual. Shifts pretty smooth at 250K but I get a grind here or there. Clutch can be somewhat temperamental at times but has excellent feel. Id imagine an automatic not shifting like brand new either @ the quarter million mile mark. But hey thats all they give ya'll now is automatics. So I guess u have to deal with however it shifts.
 
#37 ·
Hard to believe it's been over five years since I started this thread. I now have 98,000 miles on my 1.4 turbo and all is well.

Any further feedback on the general durability of the 1.4 turbo? I'm hoping to make it to 200,000.
I would like to hit 200,000 also I just hit 71,000
 
#39 ·
Daughter's '12 1.4 has 251000 on it now. We bought it last April with 236,000 after her Grand Prix got totaled in an accident (luckily that car saved her life!). The Cruze itself was in beautiful condition, drove down the road like a car with 1/4 the miles, and was surprisingly well maintained. We figured the previous owner had a very long freeway commute to rack up that many miles that fast.
We got it for a very good price. I had researched beforehand what a low-mileage drivetrain would cost, just in case, added that to the price of the car and it was still a good deal, so what the heck.
So far, its been a very good car with the typical 1.4 issues that are easy and inexpensive to repair. **** thing simply scoots down the road and shifts great.
 
#41 ·
[QUOTE = "Cruze2.0TD, message: 1434666, membre: 38065"]
Personnellement, je pense que toute voiture moderne bien entretenue peut durer longtemps. Quant à la durée, je ne suis pas vraiment sûr, mais je dirais que vous pourriez probablement vous attendre à ce que le 1.4T soit fiable pour 200 000 miles ou plus tant qu'il a été bien pris en charge. Pour le comparer aux 3800 de GM, je ne suis vraiment pas sûr. Ma sœur a un Monte Carlo 2004 avec le L67 dedans. Cependant, il a moins de 45 000 milles dessus. Cependant, je peux dire que dans ces 45 000 milles, il n'y a eu aucun problème. J'ai aussi lu à quel point les tolérances sont serrées et les pistons à faible friction dans le 1.4T, alors prenez-en soin, et je suis sûr que ça va continuer pendant longtemps:)
[/CITATION]
je suis a 170,000 km et aucun prôbleme avec ma turbo cruze 2012.changer les frein seulement
 

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