2012 Chevy Cruze eco

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2012 Chevy Cruze eco

Unread post by Guest » Sat Nov 13, 2021 10:42 pm

I have a 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco 1.4L turbo charged engine with a manual transmission. My problems began 2 weeks ago when while driving the 30 miles to work I randomly got an “engine power reduced” message and the car wouldn’t accelerate over 15 mph. I attempted different gears, releasing then re-engaging the accelerator but all yielded the same result. After calling my coworker to swoop in, and save the day by picking me up, I pulled the vehicle into a parking lot and killed the engine. While gathering my necessary belongings it occurred to me that this could have been cause by an electrical short or failure which might self resolve if I recranked it so I did. Everything was normal and I was able to continue the commute to work without incident. A few days later during the same commute I caught a slight whiff of oil burning and upon arriving at work noticed smoke coming from under the hood. Opening the hood would reveal that the oil cap had been blown off and oil shot all over the engine. Keep in mind it has been 3 months since my last oil change but I suppose it’s possible that they did not reattach the cap correctly. Added oil and replaced the cap which I luckily found caught below the engine. Later that evening upon starting the car all the gauge needles shot all the way to the right, then back again and the car died. Several attempts to restart it yielded a no crank no start condition. As I began to pull out the jump box my son said mom try it one more time which I did and it cranked right up. This exact situation occurred randomly 3-4 more times over the next 2 days. Friday morning it did this again. After waiting a few minutes the car started and began driving normally. Then the engine power reduced flashed up on the screen and i immediately killed the car where it was and waited. I restarted it again and the anti theft warning flashed up on the screen. Once again I killed the car, restarted it, and a new traction control warning was displayed. I killed the car again and was able to restart it and drive 5 miles to the gas station without further incident. Attempting to leave the station proved more difficult beginning with the car dying immediately after start and not cranking for longer than 5 minutes. Then it started and died while I was reversing out of the space and since it wouldn’t crank I opted to push it backwards out of the way. After waiting a while I was finally able to start and drive the vehicle but as I turned out of the gas station “service power steering” warning came on the screen and I had no power steering
All the way to my street where I finally killed it and restarted it with no issue. I dropped my son off and proceeded to head to work but within 12 miles I got the engine temp too high A/C off warning (fyi a/c wasn’t even on) I immediately pulled off and killed the engine before the guard reached H. When I opened the hood I discovered that water was everywhere and the overflow hose going to the overflow bottle has been blown off and was sitting on top of the engine along with the 2 o-rings. I left the car, got a ride to work and bought a thermostat after work to put on it. After replacing Taft the car weak cranks but won’t kick off
I just bought the car in March and have had no issues with it. It does have 165k miles though and I’ve been wanting to take it in for regular maintenance/ check up but haven’t been able to afford to do so. Regular oil changes only and I replaced the water flow outlet and that overflow hose which blew off last month when it overheated and was Spraying water out a crack in the side. I’m wondering if this could be the anti theft system or the ignition coil pack.

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carriedi
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Re: 2012 Chevy Cruze eco

Unread post by carriedi » Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:41 am

wow, that's so many things going on here.

I would have the car scanned for all codes and figure out what to look at first on that. scan all codes. If there are codes stored look for the freeze frames to see what the computer recorded at the time the code happened. That should give you some clues as to what set the code. then erase them all after you record them. See if you have a security code. use a wiring diagram to look at the codes stored and see if they use a common power or ground.

You may have to drive the vehicle around with the scanner attached to see if you can graph a glitch if it happens and see where to concentrate your diagnosis efforts

Make sure you have a good power and ground connections at the battery and the body ground.

the oil cap I would verify the PCV system was working normally (vacuum from pcv system and turbo) (the PCV system could also cause problems with the throttle actuator control motor too)

Coolant pressure tested.

If the car is in the "crank, no start" condition now make sure the security is not the problem that check for the basic: spark, fuel and compression at the right time.

I know that's a lot of stuff but it seems like you have a lot of troubles. Some appear not to be related so that makes it a lot harder.

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