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New here, for all the wrong reasons: RESOLVED

9724 Views 31 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  GWiddison, 
K
Hey all I just found this forum. Wish I could say it was for a good reason. My cruze started acting up and I was Google searching for how to repair it or to try to estimate a cost. This place looks cool, just wish I didn't buy a car that had so many known issues.
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UpstateNYBill
First, welcome to the forum, and I'm happy you found us.

I saw the reference to your 2012(?) Cruze, and just want you to know that I feel confident that your problem can be fixed and that you will find it to be a good vehicle.

If you are dissatisfied with the level of service at your current dealer, give us an idea of where you are and maybe someone here can give you a suggestion on a different dealer near you. Also, contact one of the Chevy Customer Care representatives on here for help, and they can assist you in dealing with your dealer. There are a lot of resources here for you.

My 2012 Chevy Cruze is due to turn 150,000 miles tomorrow and is still going strong with the help of this forum, so stick around. Good luck!
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iedgar10
ChevyGuy said:
When you say "terminal" are you talking about part of the cable or something else?
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Well, I guess the correct wording would be cable terminal clamp? But, anyways, what I meant was go to the dealership and mention Special Coverage 14311. I'm certain a lot of the OPs issues will be solved. The cruze is overall a decent car BUT I would not buy a 2016 model if they are dropping warranty from 100k to 60k. I've had multiple issues covered under PT right under the 60k and recently 63k for an intake manifold.

#14311: Special Coverage Adjustment - Negative Battery Cable Loose - (Dec 3, 2014)
Subject:14311 — Special Coverage Adjustment – Negative Battery Cable Loose
Models:2011-2015 Chevrolet Cruze

[HR][/HR]ConditionOn certain 2011–2015 model year Chevrolet Cruze vehicles, the negative battery cable terminal clamp may have an insufficient crimp at the battery negative terminal. Over time, the internal resistance increases and vehicle electrical systems do not receive adequate power.
With this condition, the following effects are possible: the Radio/HVAC Display may turn off and on; the Antilock Brake System, Service Traction System, Service Stabilitrac and Steering vehicle messages may come on and off; the turn signal sound may not be heard; “Battery Saver Active” and “Service Steering” may display in the Driver Information Center (DIC); and the interior and exterior lighting may flicker. Power steering assist may also be lost, and greater effort may be needed to turn the steering wheel at low speeds or while the vehicle is stopped.
Special Coverage AdjustmentThis special coverage covers the condition described above for a period of 10 years or 120,000 miles (193,000 km), whichever occurs first, from the date the vehicle was originally placed in service, regardless of ownership.
Dealers will replace the battery negative cable, which will now require a bolt to fasten the small regulated voltage cable. The repairs will be made at no charge to the customer.
For vehicles covered by Vehicle Service Contracts, all eligible claims with repair orders on or after December 4, 2014 are covered by this special coverage and must be submitted using the labor operation codes provided with this bulletin. Claims with repair orders prior to December 4, 2014 must be submitted to the Service Contract provider.
Vehicles InvolvedAll involved vehicles are identified by Vehicle Identification Number on the Applicable Warranties section in GM Global Warranty Management system. Dealership service personnel should always check this site to confirm vehicle involvement prior to beginning any required inspections and/or repairs. It is important to routinely use this tool to verify eligibility because not all similar vehicles may be involved regardless of description or option content.
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C
Kaydan5678 said:
Well about a week ago my radio would cut off and on randomly but it wasn't bad so I didn't think much of it, then recently the service stabilitrak and service traction control warnings started popping up and going off but no check engine light. Then today it just constantly would throw up all those errors, saying trunk open, doors open, radio constantly going off and on and felt like it was losing power and would die when I come to a complete stop. So after Google searching for how to repair or for an estimate I found this forum and realized my problem was quite common. This is how I found the recall about the battery cable and I immediately called my local Chevy dealership and they towed my car and will "look at it" tomorrow. The lady on the phone seemed rude and getting impatient when I mentioned the recall. I'm just extremely frustrated since this is my only car and I thought I was getting a reliable vehicle. I'm no longer covered by my bumper to bumper. I still have my power train warranty but I don't know if any of these issues will be covered if the battery cable doesn't fix the problem. I can't afford a huge repair bill and after seeing page after page of similar complaints with these issues I'm upset my car is a lemon
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Contact GM customer service and they will contact your dealer of choice and request the cable is replaced for FREE along with free one hour Dyagnosis test. They will also let you know that your battery is no good (their fault if you ask me) and its $250 if you get from dealer. And it doesn't fix the problem. My car completely turned off at a red light yesterday morning.
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C
I actually took my car into Chevy for the negative battery cord replacement. Didn't work. Still getting same error message. I have a coworker who had the exact same year Cruze as me (2014) and coincidentally neither of our cars started this morning and we are having same exact error messages. I went to get new battery but autozone told me that mine was perfectly fine. I honestly think that GM really "effed up" when creating these vehicles. Anyone get a letter about Chevrolet buying back the Cruze?
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obermd
crisbyers said:
I actually took my car into Chevy for the negative battery cord replacement. Didn't work. Still getting same error message. I have a coworker who had the exact same year Cruze as me (2014) and coincidentally neither of our cars started this morning and we are having same exact error messages. I went to get new battery but autozone told me that mine was perfectly fine. I honestly think that GM really "effed up" when creating these vehicles. Anyone get a letter about Chevrolet buying back the Cruze?
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This sounds like the battery is bad. We have had several members report that Autozone or some other auto parts store has "tested the battery good" but upon replacement of the battery all their problems went away. I'm starting to think there may have been a bunch of bad batteries last year.
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spacedout
obermd said:
This sounds like the battery is bad. We have had several members report that Autozone or some other auto parts store has "tested the battery good" but upon replacement of the battery all their problems went away. I'm starting to think there may have been a bunch of bad batteries last year.
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My first year of ownership(2012) I had a few mechanical errors as well as numerous DIC error messages(service power steering, stabilitrac, Traction control, you name it). Since I drive at night in the middle of nowhere allot, I replaced my battery out of pocket September of 2013 with a Die Hard AGM battery. I currently have 83,000 miles on my cruze and have not had any error messages since, looking through my records I had 30,000 miles on the car when I replaced the battery.

Interestingly Sears did not charge me a core charge on the new battery, so I ended up putting the old cruze battery in a 1950 Case DC-3 Tractor(Previously converted to 12V). That thing sat all last fall and winter but still cranked its 4.3L engine over this spring. Seems my battery wasn't dying, just not capable of consistent voltage that was needed with all the computer systems in the cruze.
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iedgar10
Your car is 4+ years old. If you're rocking the original battery, I'd replace that too. I have a 13 and my battery needed replacement last month.
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N
Was on the very first day I discovered my negative battery terminal with a very tight bolt was loose, removed it and filed that contact area so there would be a gap in it. Also greased the terminal to retard corrosion. Three years later get a letter that is a problem.

Radio also started flashing on and off, but not the traction. All those push buttons and switches you have fire commands to the BCM and ECU, but point contact relays in the underhood fuse/relay box do the actual power switching.

In my over 58 years experience in electronics and electric, a very poor practice, but was also well known some odd 60 years before my time. The most reliable switch contact is a sliding switch contact with a wiping action that helps to keep the contact clean. Your wall light switches in your home are made this way and last for years.

But a point contact switch, slightest bit of carbon due to arcing can prevent a good contact, and not only the Cruze, all new vehicles are made this way. My first guess was the ignition relay, tested that with high contact resistance, had to cut the cover off, and sure enough, carbon formed between those two silver alloy contacts prevent a good connection. Cleaned that off and okay again.

A far superior material to use is tungsten, has a much higher melting point than silver, but a sliding contact relay would be better yet. We use to be very critical on items like this on say your headlamp switch, large sliding contacts. But with DRL's, these idiots are using tiny made in China point contact relays, and the ignition switch, supposing rated at 45 amps is a joke with extremely small contacts.

So you wonder why you have problems, perfectly obvious to engineers that been around for awhile. And sure doesn't help to have a mechanic good at installing an exhaust system to even attempt to solve problems like this.
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K
Just thought I would give an update. Had the dealer do the cable swap and that seems to have fixed the problem..... so far. Fingers crossed that this issue will not return. They tested the battery and that passed as well. So far this crisis has been averted. Thanks to everyone and this forum for all the help. If I wasn't for this place I would not have known about the battery cable.
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Tomko
Thanks for getting back to us agent 5678. Pending any further outcome I'm going to mark this case resolved.
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D
Glad to read that your problems seemed to have been resolved by the negative battery cable replacement. I had a similar story a few weeks back and was advised here to have the cable replaced. So far I too have experienced no further problems. This is a GREAT resource, with lots of helpful members! Thanks all!
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G
I am also new to this forum, for the same reason! Exactly the same reason!! I just purchased a used 2014 Cruze LTZ w/ 32k miles and absolutely LOVE it, but, today we started having issues with the radio and HVAC randomly turning off and on!!! After reading this thread I am going to take it in to the same dealer that replaced the dash in my Silverado under warranty and have them look at the Negative Battery Terminal AND replace the relay just to cover all the bases. Will post update. Thank you everyone for the info :]
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