Known Piston Ring Failure

[NewZJ]

I saw this post on the Cruze forum
#PIP5036: Possible Oil Consumption With Cracked Piston Or Pistons - (Jun 25, 2012)*

Subject:

Possible Oil Consumption With Cracked Piston Or Pistons

Models:

2011 - 2013 Chevrolet Cruze, Sonic
1.4 LUJ

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The following diagnosis might be helpful if the vehicle exhibits the symptom(s) described in this PI.

Condition/Concern:


You may encounter a customer concern of oil consumption, blue smoke from the exhaust.

There may be oil in the intake and turbo ducts or no oil found in the intake system.

Verify that oil consumption is greater than 0.946 L (1 qt) in 3,200 km (2000 mi).

Recommendation/Instructions:


If all diagnostic have been followed without isolating the concern.

We need to remove the pistons to inspect for a crack piston or pistons at the ring land between the number 1 and 2 ring.

Replace the pistons as needed using the part numbers in the catalog.

Do not replace the engine for this unless the block is damaged which is not common.

Please follow this diagnostic or repair process thoroughly and complete each step. If the condition exhibited is resolved without completing every step, the remaining steps do not need to be performed.


I had this issue on my sonic, the dealer replaced all the pistons and said the block and head wasn't affected. The dealership I went to had not encountered this issue when I dropped it off but when I picked it up they said they might have another sonic with the same issue that was just turned in.

I have only 15500 miles on my sonic.

They sent me this pic of the ring

 

[ss2000slp]

Nice to know. I had thought that the piston problems were limited to early run Cruze's only. Guess not.

 

[NewZJ]

As you can tell, it's not a subtle failure. You won't second guess what the problem is. Massive oil burning, giant smoke clouds, lots of blowby causing the pcv system to get clogged, barely any power, and I even heard a sound kinda like a distant siren coming from the passenger side of the motor.

 

[ChrisJ]

You know it's not funny but for some reason I can hear a dealer saying that looks perfectly normal for 15,000 miles.

 

[River_Rat]

And here I thought I remembered reading once upon a time that the manufacturing-defect-causing ring land failure affected only early production Cruzes.

 

[laborsmith]

And here I thought I remembered reading once upon a time that the manufacturing-defect-causing ring land failure affected only early production Cruzes.

You did in the summer of 2011 before the Sonic started regular production.

Laborsmith

 

[Italianjoe1]

That's simple, detonation causing broken pistons. We get piston failures on Cobalts with raised boost and too much timing all the time, looks just like that. That's probably why they reduced the timing and such in the newer tunes. The sonic tune stock pulls all the timing out as the boost pressure rises, keeps the car safe but kills the power.

 

[ChrisJ]

That's simple, detonation causing broken pistons. We get piston failures on Cobalts with raised boost and too much timing all the time, looks just like that. That's probably why they reduced the timing and such in the newer tunes. The sonic tune stock pulls all the timing out as the boost pressure rises, keeps the car safe but kills the power.

So basically what you're saying is anyone running a tune risks this damage if the conditions are correct which is very possible?

 

[NewZJ]

It happens to untuned and tuned.

The dealership I took it to said that it was a fault in the rings and couldn't be caused by anything I did to the motor.

 

[ChrisJ]

It happens to untuned and tuned.

The dealership I took it to said that it was a fault in the rings and couldn't be caused by anything I did to the motor.

Do we know for a fact that it happens to untuned Sonics?

 

[ranvette]

It was more or less early engines this happened to.There have been a few 2012s to.But for the amout on the road its only a very small number that have had problems.I work on a lot of them.So far i have replaced 3 turbos and had 1 engine with bent valves.But never any broken pistons.And yes by all means a tuned motor could could break a piston.But your not going to see that happen with Vtuner or trifecta Programing.

 

[ChrisJ]

It was more or less early engines this happened to.There have been a few 2012s to.But for the amout on the road its only a very small number that have had problems.I work on a lot of them.So far i have replaced 3 turbos and had 1 engine with bent valves.But never any broken pistons.And yes by all means a tuned motor could could break a piston.But your not going to see that happen with Vtuner or trifecta Programing.

If that is the case, why didn't GM use the same programming right from the factory?

Everyone claims a tune increases gas mileage which also must lower emissions so I can't see either of those being the reason.

 

[rcmn0022]

My 2013 RS is in for service and I've got 3 of the cracked pistons. Who's going to try and make it all 4???

 

[ChrisJ]

My 2013 RS is in for service and I've got 3 of the cracked pistons. Who's going to try and make it all 4???

Did you have a tune and if so which one?
What kind of fuel were you using?

Did this happen all at once or did you noticed it progressively get worse over time?

 

[rcmn0022]

Did you have a tune and if so which one?
What kind of fuel were you using?

Did this happen all at once or did you noticed it progressively get worse over time?

I guess I could have mentioned more details...

I always use the Ultra94 from Petro-Canada. I have added in just enough 91 to get me to the next station that has Ultra94. I'm Currently at 34000km and purchased the car back in March 2013.

First my turbo blew from mild abuse and my coolant was too low, which allowed the turbo to overheat. This was on a custom HPTuners tune but it went stock before the turbo spewed out a gallon of oil. This happened at about 31500km.

The car has been stock since and about 1000km of no oil consumption. Then I had low oil consumption of about 1 quart in 400km then 2 quarts in 400km. And finally at least a quart for every time that the car was driven.

I had called my dealer after I went through the first quart and noticed that the oil was still dropping but they were not able to get me in for at least a week and I could not get in until about 2.5 weeks after I had called. The good news is that they found the problem within a day.

 

[Tango71]

Does anyone know if the problem has been rectified for the 2014 model year? My car comes in this week and now I'm going to be scared to drive it lol.

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

Does anyone know if the problem has been rectified for the 2014 model year? My car comes in this week and now I'm going to be scared to drive it lol.

Hi Tango71,

We definitely don't want you to be afraid of driving your vehicle when it arrives. If you have any concerns with your Sonic definitely make your dealership service team aware. If there's ever anything we can do to address your concerns please don't hesitate to send us a private message.

Amber N.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[ChrisJ]

Does anyone know if the problem has been rectified for the 2014 model year? My car comes in this week and now I'm going to be scared to drive it lol.

Does GM give the same standard 5 year 100,000 mile (or km equivalent) warranty on the powertrain in Canada (eh)? If so, what are you afraid of?

I'm at almost 38,000 miles on my 2012 and no issues. We also have a 2012 Cruze with over 20,000 miles on it and no problems.

If it is an issue it's rare and will be covered under warranty.

 

[project sonic]

Dont think he qualifys the tune would void the warranty. Did this start when he used thr 91 instead of 94? if so id say detonation caused it.

Sent from my SCH-I200PP using Tapatalk

 

[rcmn0022]

Dont think he qualifys the tune would void the warranty. Did this start when he used thr 91 instead of 94? if so id say detonation caused it.

Sent from my SCH-I200PP using Tapatalk

They never looked for the tune and it was the stock tune when I sent it in. I also don't put in a full tank of 91. The only time I have run 91 is when I would not be able to make it over to the pumps that have 94. And I only put in about enough to get me to the 94 pump and don't go trying to do any WOT runs in between the pumps.

Also, this seemed to have started before the turbo failed but my dealer won't admit that. They may have to put another one in my car since the cat is plugged up and may be choking the turbo down to the point of damaging it. But that is a separate issue that they seemed to overlook after the car consuming so much oil.