[bcruze16]

Hello everyone,

New here, but figured it'd be a good place to get some real answers.

I have a bit of a story:

Bought my 2016 Cruze LT automatic 1.4 in August 2016, used it for almost a year with no problems, loved it, amazing car, great mileage, etc.

Brought it in for oil change and tire rotation early in the summer of 2017, also decided to have dealer fix the 2 recalls that came up in the end of the year. After a lot of back and forth scheduling an appointment, and convincing a friend to loan me a car, I dropped it off in the morning before work. The dealership is only open weekdays from 7:30 - 5. I work roughly 8-6 every weekday. Needless to say, it was rough getting a time to bring it in. They agreed to take it between 7:30 and 8, and leave it for me in the evening to pick up (with all the work completed). I dropped it off, got a lot of crap from the guy working for coming late (came at 7:40, problem?).

At around 5 they called me and said they were only able to get to one of the recalls, and that I'd have to bring it back for the other one. They were able to do a tire rotation and oil change, and would leave it in the lot for me. Ok great, I guess I can bring it back some other time, not a huge deal. I asked them to leave an invoice in the car so i could see exactly what was done. They said no, they'd only give me an invoice when the other recall was completed. That seemed a little weird, but I guess it's ok, I'd probably have it back sometime the following week. I decided to schedule the second service on the phone, but the guy said they were booked up for 2 weeks. I was moving out of state in 4 weeks, and planning to be away the last week of those 4. I asked if they could call me if anything opened up, I'd bring it in.

They never called me, I tried to make an appointment before I left, and they again never called me back. I started noticing that on my daily commute, the same commute I had been doing for months before, that I was getting really bad mpg averages. We're talking 10 or so worse than normal. Typically I had been averaging mid to high 40s on highway and mid 30s on surface streets. Now it was more like 27 / 34, occasionally going into low 40s on long highway trips. This was really confusing, I tried getting in touch with the dealer to see if something they did may have caused this. Finally got through, asked the question, they said they could look at it but only when I came back for the other recall. I said no one called me back, and they said they wouldn't have openings until after I was moving across the country.

In the weeks before leaving I noticed two other problems: the car makes a creaking noise when moving at low speeds, maybe related to turning, I notice when parallel parking or driving in neighborhoods. Also the transmission is acting funny, clunky when shifting between gears, like the car jolts on low gear shifts including drive to reverse. These were sort of concerning, but no one could get me in to look at these concerns.

I decided I would just take it to a dealer in my new state, try and get them to look at it with fresh eyes. Made the move, drove 1200 miles in the car (~30-32 mpg hwy). After a week or so of settling in, I went to local chevrolet dealership for the recall and to check out the mpg problem I had. New dealership said my old dealer didn't do any recalls, even though they told me they did one. New dealer took care of one recall, and told me I had to come back for the other. They also told me they couldn't diagnose the other problems I was having if there was no check engine light. I think this is insane. Can a mechanic not notice problems without the computer telling them they're there? They gave me an invoice, told me to come back another time for the recall, and there's nothing they can do about mpg, transmission, and creaking.

I had it back in for the recall the other day, they again listened to my concerns regarding other problems, said there's nothing to be done without a light, kept the car overnight, and handed it over to me the next day, recalls completed. I asked for a technician to come out with me for a drive to try and replicate some problems, of course it drove perfectly and we didn't hear the creaking. They guy said keep track of mileage over the course of 5 tanks, and let them know what it is. If it's worse than manufacturer's spec they can try to look at it. I know the car is rated 35 combined, but I definitely used to get better... I'm not sure what to do.

Open to ideas at this point, just trying to get these problems looked at and maybe fixed.

Thanks! Good to be here, really like the car otherwise, but annoyed at dealerships!

 

[bcruze16]

Also, while I know a little bit about cars, I feel like I'm at a huge disadvantage because I can't even point towards something and say "it might be this thing". If anyone knows specific things I can ask them to look at, that would be great.

Thanks!

 

[Eddy Cruze]

Why not contact Chevy Customer Care, they have their own section in the Vendors area here at the forum and you can reach them by sending a PM if you can figure out how?

 

[jsusanka]

I would contact GM customer care about the first dealer. They probably didn't give you an invoice because they didn't want to put in writing they did a recall and actually didn't do one. Not sure about the MPG problem could be a coincidence but I would bet it isn't.

 

[ChevyGuy]

I would contact GM customer care about the first dealer. They probably didn't give you an invoice because they didn't want to put in writing they did a recall and actually didn't do one.

I think the problem is, if this is an actual recall and not a service bulletin, they're not supposed to allow the car to leave their control until all recalls are done. That's why no invoice and no record in the GM computer system.

No idea about the MPG drop. Dealers are reluctant to dig into that as it's hard to "prove" and can influenced by so many things. And I'm having a hard time trying to think of what the dealer could have done that would have affected that.

 

[bcruze16]

Hm, if that is the case, then twice dealers have let me pick up the car without finishing the recalls.

MPG thing is tricky, I would be willing to forget it, but it was so apparent as I drove the same route to work every day and it started right after the service. I'm just spit-balling, but could it be the type of oil used? A problem during tire rotation?

The big thing is I just want someone to seriously look at it and try to diagnose the problems...

 

[ChevyGuy]

I suppose putting in 30W dino oil instead of 5W-30W could do something. But 10 MPG is a pretty big jump with no performance issues.

Tire rotation won't do it.

 

[bcruze16]

I do think there are performance issues, the transmission feels like it's struggling with every gear shift. I find it hard to show this to other people, but it feels very clunky like it hits each gear hard before shifting

 

[HatchLifeRS]

I know it can sound a little silly but what are your tire pressures at? There is a possibility that you were sitting up at say 35-40 PSI and then they set it to 32 with a bad gauge which is actually 28 so you're driving around on significantly more tread causing a lot more friction and worse gas mileage. That's the only oil change related service that I can think of that could cause such a quick and drastic change.

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[bcruze16]

So interestingly when I just had my car in they uniformly brought the tires down to 32 psi (according to invoice). By the time I was home the gauge on the dash system said 28, 30, 31, 30. The sticker inside the door says max 35, the tires say max 51, and I distinctly recall seeing them around 40 for most of the first year I had the car. What is the recommended pressure? I always have gone by the door sticker, but the 51 on the tires is so drastically different. Also why would the dealership bring them down so low?

 

[pontiacgt]

The door sticker is what the manufacture has tested the car to be at for handling, ride confort and good gas mileage. You can go higher up to 51. But the ride will suffer and you don't go over the vehicle weight limits. If its 35 thats when the tires are at air temperature. When you drive it may shoot up to 40 as they warm up.

 

[Robby]

As stated above, you can go as high as 51psi at ambient temperature......this gets best fuel economy and tire life at the expense of ride with a possible handling loss (extreme conditions) due to shortening of the tire footprint.
My eco was always operated at 50psi cold (ambient). Dropping to 45psi would cost me almost 3mpg on the highway.
My overall mpg was in the mid 40s on mid grade fuel with frequent low 50s on the highway, still air, speeds in the 60/65 range. I found best mileage if operated right in 2000 rpm range (mine was a autobox).
One of the most fuel efficient cars I ever owned and was amazed at how such simple things (tire pressure, operating rpm, wind direction, wet roads) could have such a dramatic effect on mileage.

Currently driving a 2015 Trax, now at 15k miles....average fuel economy for the duration is at 30.6 with the tires at 41psi (44 max).....this car has the same driveline as my Cruze had.

Rob

 

[HatchLifeRS]

So interestingly when I just had my car in they uniformly brought the tires down to 32 psi (according to invoice). By the time I was home the gauge on the dash system said 28, 30, 31, 30. The sticker inside the door says max 35, the tires say max 51, and I distinctly recall seeing them around 40 for most of the first year I had the car. What is the recommended pressure? I always have gone by the door sticker, but the 51 on the tires is so drastically different. Also why would the dealership bring them down so low?

They made a mistake. Gen 1 Cruze had a door sticker pressure of 32 so they probably haven't checked the door sticker, or like I said, they have a bad gauge which reads 35 and is actually 32(ish). The gauge I use at home was off from when I bought it. This also could have been set when tires were warm (temperature outside or if it was just driven before they set them) and they aren't going to wait a few hours for the tires to cool down so once they cooled down they actually lowered in pressure.

I would not set them as high as 51. Not only will it increase braking distance and reduce traction in the rain significantly but, you will decrease the life of the tire as you'll only be wearing on the center of the tread versus wearing uniformly across the tread of the tire. I'm not sure how much setting your tires to 40 PSI will effect braking/tread wear, I can't see it being that significant as its only 5 PSI. What you can do is in the morning (tires cold basically) is set your tire pressures to your desired pressure and then drive it. See how that effects your gas mileage.

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[bcruze16]

Ok for anyone who's still thinking about this, I think I finally have some answers.

I did eventually make contact with the original dealership in my story and convinced them to mail me an invoice for the partial work they had done. In the invoice under the Chevrolet Maintenance Program section it lists the Oil/Filter service. According to the part numbers they used the 12640445 Filter, and 19293000 Oil. With some searching on Google and these forums I have determined that this oil is no longer recommended for turbos, and the filter is also not the right type for my car.

I wonder if they wanted me back quickly so they could swap with the proper filter without my noticing / fix the recall (as someone else suggested). I am very disappointed in the service I received, and the fact that I drove across the country + hundreds of additional miles since this oil change was completed.

To top it all off, perhaps someone can weigh in, but it looks to me as if the oil is/was overfilled. I've attached an image below, and as you can tell by the snow I haven't driven today. Oil level is about a quarter inch above the top crosshatch.

Does anyone know if blended oil will have a detrimental effect if full synthetic is recommended? Also is this filter a major problem? I guess what I'm wondering is do I have to rush off to my local dealer to get this corrected urgently, or can I talk with Chevy customer care next week and deal with it through their channels.

This is all so frustrating and I'm annoyed it took me so long to figure out the problem...fingers crossed this finally fixes the knocking and mpg problems.

 

[Robby]

The filter number is a for a spin on type.....evidently they posted the incorrect part number since your car uses a cartridge type......one could not be used in place of the other.
The oil part number is for dexos 1.......this is the original type oil your engine called for and it is a blend. The specification has been changed and all dexos at the dealer level are now a full synthetic as opposed to a blend.
Yes, your oil is slightly overfilled but not near enough to harm a thing.

Other than inserting the incorrect filter part number I see nothing to cause any alarm relative to the oil service.

Rob

 

[17Hatch6MT]

We're in the 'Gen 2' forum, but the Gen 1 car was also made for 2016. Does bcruze16 have a Gen 1 (what did they call it for '16, 'Cruze Classic'?), or a Gen 2, the redesigned car? If bcruze16 has a Gen 1, then a cartridge filter and the oil they put in might be right, and also the 32 psi tire setting. If bcruze16 has a Gen 2, then the car uses a spin-on filter and needs reformulated oil. The formulation of the oil for Gen 2 is of critical importance due to the low-speed preignition (LSPI) issue.

 

[bcruze16]

I have a Gen 2, what is the LSPI issue? Could it be what I'm experiencing with a sort of knock during acceleration sometimes? I am in touch with GM customer care, but every time I talk to them it feels like I have to re-explain the whole issue. It feels like they move at the speed of molasses. But in all seriousness I am concerned about the (botched?) service and long term effects it may have on the car.

 

[17Hatch6MT]

Low-speed preignition. There have been some reports of piston failures on the Gen 2 engines. More frequent with the Malibu 1.5 liter turbo GDI. My dealer also botched a service I believe, put in an older or incorrect type of oil. I also had at least two episodes of pre-ignition that I'm aware of, which occurred after the first oil change if I recall correctly. Under hard acceleration, a sudden grinding noise from under the hood and greatly reduced power. I'm not sure if my foot reacted faster or the ECM did.

GM found that it was certain additives (calcium-containing, particularly) that were associated, and revised the specifications for oil for these cars. (I forgot the name they use for their spec; look in your owner's manual or search out LSPI here.) I took it back to the dealer & had them change the oil (they had also overfilled it). That may have solved it. Have not had any known/felt episodes after one that was in the early miles after the change. I am paying for premium and midgrade gas hoping that has some effect. Consensus among experts here is that using midgrade (winter) or premium (summer) improves peak power and the smoothness of power delivery, but probably doesn't affect LSPI.

That same dealer was also unable to solve a very annoying wind whistle from around the B pillar by my left ear. I think they just left it sit in the bay rather than doing anything. Seems they have lazy and/or incompetent and/or uncaring staff. Don't think I'll go back there and I'm beginning to regret that I bought a GM. My parents always had GMs and I liked the cars. I haven't bought a GM in my adult life until now (I'm 58) in large part because almost every one of my parents' cars had engine problems early.

 

[17Hatch6MT]

Not sure if there are any long-term effects. The engine note is a little bit uneven now under hard acceleration, and the gas mileage seems to be not quite as good, and peak power may not be as good. Can't be sure of any of this, can't say it's defective, maybe I just need to (as we used to say) 'turn up the radio'.

For my part, I will forego the next and last 'free' (but very costly it seems) dealer oil change and pay my local shop to do it. I may bring them the oil, something good while making sure it's "Dexos 2" (or whatever) compliant.

Can't be sure it wasn't an intentional act on the part of the dealer. Wanting to bring in warranty work, customer be damned.

 

[bcruze16]

Your dealership and specific problems sound very similar to what I'm experiencing. I'm especially mad because I've moved away from the location of the original dealership so I can't go back and complain to them. Instead I'm stuck explaining that someone else caused these problems, but relying on my new local shop to fix it. It feels like they have no stake in this and thus are not willing to actually diagnose the problems.

Anyway, good to know that this is a known issue that arises based on the errors I've found in my first and only service trip. Pretty fed up too because this is my first GM, less than a year and a half old, only 11k miles, and so many problems. Waiting to hear from customer service, so we'll see how this one turns out.

I was really hoping this car would last me awhile, but I fear these early problems might persist