New Owner - Day 4 - Some Questions

[ChicksHateMe]

I'm in day 4. Only drove it 2 days. Picked it up with 54 miles and it now has a whopping 215. I have some questions now, sorry in advance for being a newbie.

1. So far, while I am driving, the Brake light has come on, followed by the Stabilitrak light. Both stay on for a while, then the Brake light goes out. The Stabilitrak light stays on until I shut the car off. When I turn it ba back on, all the lights are normal.

It's happened 5 times now. 1 time the day I bought it, driving it home, and 4 times today. Of course the 4 times were AFTER I left the dealership today.

Any Ideas?
What should I do?


2. When I bought my Sonic, they told me the "Sticker Machine" was down, so I couldn't get a state inspection sticker that day. They told me to come back this week. I went in today and they told me it comes up "Not ready". I don't drive much, so when I went in it only had about 150 miles on it. They also said someone had disconnected the battery, so it needed some miles on it. I am now wondering if there's other reasons and I am being BS'd about it, and it's somehow related to #1 above.

I don't know how far I need to drive before it's "Ready" for a sticker. I don't drive much usually, and I am concerned, seeing as it's the brake light that's coming on and off. Right now there's no sticker, not even a rejection one. I think I have 7 days, which means I have 3 days left. I''m using up the "Free" tank of gas pretty quick.

Any Ideas?


3. Every once in a while I feel like it's banging into a lower gear, rather than a smooth transition, as I am slowing down. Is that common?


4. This isn't a complaint, I am just wondering about the ride, and if people do anything to it. What I mean is, I loved the test drives, and I know I've only put 200 miles on this one, but I was wondering about the ride. I feel everything. It seems more bumpy than the roads even look, especially on the smooth highway. Of course I am coming from a Jeep Grand Cherokee that's so broken in that it floats like a boat down the highway.

This feels pretty tight. Is that normal?
Any mods people do to make it even tighter, or smoother?



I do love this thing. I just want to figure these few things out.

Thanks in Advance for your input and recommendations....

 

[JustinMP91]

Congrats on your new Sonic, and welcome to the forum! I recently got a '13 Sonic LT Sedan.

To comment on some of your issues...

1. I'm not 100% certain on this, but I would assume that if the brake/Stabilitrak light are coming on and staying on, that would seem to indicate a fault with the system.
   
   Per the owner's manual: "If the light is on and not flashing, the TCS, and potentially the StabiliTrak system have been disabled.", and "The vehicle brake system consists of two hydraulic circuits. If one circuit is not working, the remaining circuit can still work to stop the vehicle. For normal braking performance, both circuits need to be working. If the warning light comes on, there is a brake problem. Have the brake system inspected right away."
   
   You should take your car to the dealership and have them check these issues.
   
2. They aren't BSing you... it sounds like they need to do an emissions test on your car for it to pass inspection. The car runs some built-in tests over time to determine if there are emissions issues or not. Some of these tests can take a few drive cycles to complete, as far as I know. If someone has disconnected the battery, that would explain why the emissions readiness monitors are not ready. I find this situation interesting... my dealership slapped an inspection sticker on the car, day 1, no problem.
   
3. I have noticed that occasionally, my transmission will shift abruptly into another gear if I coast and then get back on the gas, or if I'm on the gas and I suddenly let off, near a shift point. I have seen other people mention the banging into gear on slowdown, but mine doesn't seem to do that. I don't know enough about the Sonic yet to comment more.
   
4. I would have to say the "tightness"/harsh ride is pretty normal... In some respects, I "feel" a lot more of the road than I did in my Impala, but it's also a lot smoother, if that makes any sense.

So any of my $.02 above might be incorrect... but that's just my experiences/knowledge. I hope this helps somehow.

 

[ChicksHateMe]

Congrats on your new Sonic, and welcome to the forum! I recently got a '13 Sonic LT Sedan.

Thanks for the quick reply. And Congrats on your new one too!!!

I find this situation interesting... my dealership slapped an inspection sticker on the car, day 1, no problem.

I was just wondering how many miles on yours when you got it, and the sticker? Maybe it had enough? Maybe mine was from the disconnected battery. I only had put on about 100 miles from when I bought it til I went back, so it must not have been enough to get it back to the "Ready" state. I am wondering how much will be.

I do understand what you mean about feeling more, but it's still smoother. I do love the ride. I just feel everything, and it will take a little getting use to. I'm use to the boat ride. But when I do get back in the Jeep, I think "How the heck did I drive this thing 21 years?" LOL

I wrote to the Salesman at the dealership I bought it, to find out what he suggest I do. They are about 35 miles away. I don't really mind the drive, and seem to need to put on the miles to get the sticker, which is already paid for. I do have a dealer about 2 miles away, I'm not sure if I should just start going there. Both have a good rep, but I think the closer one gets greater marks in the service dept. I just feel weird bringing it to them, seeing as I didn't buy it there.

 

[JustinMP91]

Thanks . My car had about 50 miles on it when I bought it... I'm not sure if the readiness monitors come ready from the factory, or if they just assume that since it's a new car, it doesn't need to have emissions testing done for the first inspection...

I can say, I have driven my mom's 2013 Toyota Corolla a lot ... And after driving my Sonic, the Corolla feels so cheap and nasty... The steering is light and loose, the turn signal stalk feels like it's going to snap off, and it reminds you when you hit bumps, in a not so good way. I find that the Sonic feels connected to the road but in a good way...

If it were me, I probably would prefer to take the car to the dealership I bought it from ... But warranty work can be done at any Chevy dealership, so if you have a closer one... I'd probably take your car there to have them look at the brake/TCS issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ChicksHateMe]

Oh, one other thing I did, that I learned from this place, was to call OnStar and ask them to do a diagnostics. I got them on the line and just as she started the test, the brake light went off. It ended up showing no problem. When the brake light comes on, it's on for right around a minute. Too quick for me to get them on the line to catch it. And I don't see any codes coming up.

I will eventually go local, but for now, I'd feel like I am kicking sand in their face. I went to them 4 times looking to buy. They have a great rep and the salesman there was more like a Car buying Coach than a Salesman. I even called to see if they could match the deal I was getting, but I really stole this car. I am thinking now, there may be a reason I got the steal.

A month or two and I will start going local... And I'd tip, sorta begging for forgiveness

 

[stever525]

1- Is your parking brake handle all the way down? (Sorry for the stupid question, but it has to be asked).

2- Do your daytime running lights go out when you get your brake light?

3- Do you notice any loss of power when this happens?

4- Can you reproduce the light by going over bumps?

 

[ChicksHateMe]

1- Is your parking brake handle all the way down? (Sorry for the stupid question, but it has to be asked).

After it happened the first time, I did move that up and down, and it turned the brake light on and off as it should, but it was down all the way.

2- Do your daytime running lights go out when you get your brake light?

The last 4 times, it was night time, and I didn't notice any lights, othe than that sequence of - Brake light on, Stabilitrak on, Delay, Brake light off.

3- Do you notice any loss of power when this happens?

Nope.

4- Can you reproduce the light by going over bumps?

It was really random. After it happened a few times, I tried banging on the brake, and around the console, near the stabilitrak switch, and it was pretty solid, so nothing happened.


I haven't been able to reproduce it yet. I did read somewhere that someone had some frayed wires doing something weird. I imagine it's something like that.

Or, maybe one of the two brake hydraulics is low or defective? I wonder if one of those going out would cause the Brake and the Stabilitrak to kick in?

 

[ChicksHateMe]

Just to give this story an ending. I have 397 Miles on my Sonic. 300 of those miles is from driving back and forth to the dealers 4 times. But, it's good news.

1. I got my sticker FINALLY. From what I understand now is that because the battery was disconnected it needed to go through a number of starts or hot-cold cycles. I had only driven it back and forth and to the store a couple times, so by the 4th time it was ready for the test.

2. As far as the Brake light coming on and going off and the Stabilitrak coming on and staying on until the car was turned off the on again. They found a few things.

2a. Break fluid was low.
2b. There was some code related to the brakes and they had to do something to it which reset it. Something related to getting the system to re-learn the braking?

Over my head, but I have to say, the ride since they did that is TOTALLY different. No more brake light coming on and going off. PLUS, it seems to ride a lot smoother, especially when slowing down and the transmission drops gears.

I fi I remember, I will get the paper from my car and post the code they found, and anything they said related to it, in case others have issues related, like the feeling the transmission is banging when slowing down.

I liked the car before, but I LOVE it now. Whatever they did REALLY made a difference.

I think all my issues have been resolved....

 

[stever525]

That's great that they were able too finally get you squared away!