Takes forever to heat up....

27089 Views 29 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Dvan5693, Jan 14, 2015

14BlueCruze

Discussion Starter · Jan 12, 2015 (Edited)

It's a 2014 1.4 Turbo 6 speed manual with 9,000 miles on it.

So far I have had two service engine lights and my car takes forever to get any heat.

I realize these are small engines but it's obviously not too small because GM chose regular heat from coolant instead of electric heat.

When it's under 30 I have timed it at about 25 minutes of city driving before the engine is up to temp.

I will even turn the thermostat all the way to cold to close the heater core to help it heat up faster and it does.....barely and then when the engine is finally up to temp and I turn the heat on many times the engine temp will go right back down so I will only get a few moments of actual good heat.

It's been in the shop twice for CEL's and I had them look at this issue as well. They claim both times that they were able to get heat in 5 minutes, which is complete BS. What to I do? I have had 23 vehicles over the years, some were $900 beaters and they had better heat than this thing. I find myself not shifting passed 4th gear just so the engine will heat up a little quicker.

I went out and started my car a couple days ago 30 minutes before I left work, when I got in the car the needle was still on dead cold. Do I keep taking it in? I'm tired of having to have rentals not to mention the fact that this is a new car with only 9000 miles on it. If I take it in one more time and it's not resolved I will qualify for Indiana's Lemon Law which I am more than willing to do at this point, I'm tired of being frozen my entire way home, not to mention it has a hard time defrosting until it's warm.

Suggestions? White trash it and zip tie some cardboard to the grill to help?

1 - 20 of 30 Posts

XtremeRevolution

· #2 · Jan 12, 2015

I was going to recommend AMSOIL coolant boost for this, but running your engine for half an hour and needle still being on cold? Sounds like the thermostat is stuck open.

That is, unless the heat was on max with recirculate off. Then, the heater could literally cool the engine down. Not sure if it would keep it that cold though.

Merc6

· #3 · Jan 12, 2015

what fan speed are you using?

14BlueCruze

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 12, 2015

Typically, anymore I leave the thermostat on cold and fan off so car will warm up which does help, barely. I know this is not normal but the dealership is saying that it is. Do I have to take a half hour video showing how long it takes to warm up and then send it to GM or what?

Merc6

· #5 · Jan 12, 2015

What is your coolant level in the tank?

14BlueCruze

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 12, 2015

Merc6 said:
What is your coolant level in the tank?

At the line where it is supposed to be.

XtremeRevolution

· #7 · Jan 12, 2015

Just how cold is it where you are?

14BlueCruze

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 12, 2015

It can get bitter cold in Indiana. Single digits to 40's are normal temps for winter here although we do see temps beyond 10 below in which case, I would understand it not warming up for a while, but in the normal winter temperatures it shouldn't be a problem.

XtremeRevolution

· #9 · Jan 12, 2015

14BlueCruze said:
It can get bitter cold in Indiana. Single digits to 40's are normal temps for winter here although we do see temps beyond 10 below in which case, I would understand it not warming up for a while, but in the normal winter temperatures it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm in NW Indiana so I know how cold it has been, but after half an hour, the car should be warmed up unless you had the heater on the max fan and heat setting. If you did, then it would be normal.

14BlueCruze

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 12, 2015

I'm going to take it to a different dealership and leave it with them overnight.

spacedout

· #11 · Jan 12, 2015

XtremeRevolution said:
I'm in NW Indiana so I know how cold it has been, but after half an hour, the car should be warmed up unless you had the heater on the max fan and heat setting. If you did, then it would be normal.

Takes my car 30 minutes of city driving/idling to hit full operating temps, details below.

At 5F the other day I remote started my car for 5 minutes before I left, starting coolant temperature was 6F(Heater cold/hot dial was left at max but fan on 1). When I got in the car the coolant was at 95F, turned fan to 2. Drove across town for lunch, got out and remote started my car(let fan on 1), came back 6 minutes later had gained only 10F more coolant temp. Ended up driving/idling around town a total of 25 minutes to hit full operating temps, with 5 minute remote start for a total of 30 minutes to fully warm up.

In the city as long as I was on the gas driving or idling on fan 2 I was gaining engine temp, it was every downhill section or road even at 25mph I would loose 10-15F.

Reactions: 2

Merc6

· #12 · Jan 12, 2015

For me I never go past 3rd gear in the city.

neile300c

· #13 · Jan 12, 2015

Funny this was brought up. Last week we had 2 mornings of 10-20 degree weather when I left for work. First day I let it warm up for about 10 minutes, decided to leave because the needle wasn't moving. It didn't start getting warm until I got on the interstate for a couple minutes. The next morning I didn't take the interstate, and it took 10 minutes of city driving to get it going (plus a couple minutes sitting there). I thought that it was strange, my 300c never took that long, but I figure it's just the way it is. It's a 14 with the 1.4 with stick.

Green

· #14 · Jan 12, 2015

Warmup is indeed different then any other vehicle I've owned (but I have only been driving for 48 years or so). It is engraved in my head that the temp guage has to start going up (t-stat open) before any measuable heat can be obtained, always been that way

.

Reality is heater is quite quick in supplying warm even on a cold day as long as it is turned up on high and fan (as others suggest) on slower speed. On a few cool days this winter it has taken 15 mins and 10~~>12 miles for temp gauge to get to normal place, but I've been well warmed long before that in cabin, thats what really matters.

obermd

· #15 · Jan 12, 2015

Just to give you a comparison - I left my ECO MT running one morning last week for nearly 30 minutes while I chipped the ice off the windshield. Heater was on defrost and blower on 1. The digital temperature gauge still read below 100F when I got in to drive off. It was 12F outside. These engines just don't produce a lot of heat at idle.

jblackburn

· #16 · Jan 12, 2015

Takes my car 30 minutes of city driving/idling to hit full operating temps, details below.

Same here, on really cold days.

Heat comes on once the gauge hits 1/4, which happens fairly quickly. From there on, it may take it another 9 miles with city driving/idling to actually hit 200F, at which point I'm usually turning the heater down because it's nice and toasty in the car.

mrod2014

· #17 · Jan 12, 2015

I am having the same issue with my temp gauge but I am at 61,000 miles. It was working fine before that however once the weather got done to 55 degrees in TX, i noticed the car took a while to warm. I have read other posts where the cruze has issues with defective thermostats at about 60,000 miles. Mainly, if the car doesn't heat like it should, there are roughly two generally answers and that is the thermostat is not behaving correctly, and/or there is an issue with the heater core. With 9,000 miles i would just ask the dealership to change the thermostat out since its relatively easy to do and see if that doesn't help.

obermd

· #18 · Jan 12, 2015

mrod,

The thermostat is under the power train warranty. Also, double check your coolant level.

Reactions: 1

Blue Angel

· #19 · Jan 12, 2015

Just throwing this out there, the Cruze (and most modern cars) do not stop coolant flow to the heater core when the heat selector dial is set to cold. There is always hot coolant flowing through the heater core, even in the summer with the AC running.

There is a blend door in the HVAC module that controls how much air from the fan goes through the heater core. When set to full cold the blend door keeps all air from flowing through the heater core, and when set to full hot all air goes through it.

If a thermostat is stuck open it will keep the car from warming up, but it must be understood that these tiny engines do not produce a lot of waste heat, and using the heater definitely increases the time it takes to get the engine up to temp.

BlkGrnetRS

· #20 · Jan 12, 2015

My car used to take forever too. I bought some amsoil coolant boost and it made a huge difference. Plus I leave my heat on recirulate and fan speed on 1. I have plenty of heat after running the car for 10 mins

Reactions: 1

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