Cooling system imploded on my car @ 64k

Gimpster

Gimpster

New member
I figured I'd put this here vs. the 1.4T section. It's mostly me being annoyed... and ranting. Also before you say it, yes I could have gotten GM to do the water pump. I tend to not trust dealer mechanics much though.

Well, over Christmas we took the car to Alabama and back. Had 62.5k when we left and seemed to be more/less all good. I knew the cooling fan was starting to fail due to noises it was making, but it was still working pretty well enough for Winter.

Got back to Iowa Jan 2nd, car reeked of coolant from the engine compartment. Parked the car in the garage until today when I had time to diagnose the issue(s) and been sharing my kids car with her.

Also, if you don't own these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015W17OSW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You really should. Coolant reflects UV light really well (dexcool and normal) and helped me figure things out pretty quick.

So, here are the issues I found:

1.) Cooling fan as mentioned bad, $138 for genuine GM fan. Note to others replacing the fan, it can be done on the turbo cars without removing the radiator. I had to move everything out of the way, but I was able to finagle it out without destroying the radiator or anything. Also, the original fan was Denso (no makers mark on this replacement, but looks identical). Was kinda surprised, Denso usually makes ok stuff....

2.) Water pump was weeping an oil and coolant mixture. This was pretty concerning to me, and it had started leaking down to the crank pulley and was getting slung around. At first I thought it was the exhaust cam phaser, but it isnt... So that was fun to clean up. ~$100 for genuine water pump + gasket. Pump had clearly been weeping a while, it was very crusted up with dexcool. Whomever designed this engine was high. 10 bolts on the water pump, almost all of differing lengths/types.

3.) Drivers side coolant neck. This wasn't cracked like usual, it was losing coolant from the temperature sensor on it. It was leaking enough that there was coolant pooled on the transmission in places. I just went ahead and replaced the whole thing, $22.

4.) Thermostat. I went ahead and replaced since I was there, and its a hassle to get to. Genuine GM part was $55.

So, about $305 in unscheduled maintenance and 6 hours of my time. You could argue I didn't need to do the thermostat, but you'd be a fool not to.

Hoses all looked good for NOW, but as most of you know, this car has a ton of little hoses tucked/hidden behind things waiting to fail. If you have your turbo off for any reason, ... replace them. Pretty much the only thing not failed on my car *knock on wood* WAS the turbocharger coolant inlet/outlet :p

I'm honestly trying to decide how much longer I want to keep this car. I like it, and I don't mind some maintenance now and then, but the cooling system has an insane amount of failure points in it. All of the orings w/clips and what not... really just piss poor engineering. Maybe I'm just kinda annoyed right now, but this is my point A-to-B car thats only 5yrs old w/64k miles. This isn't some 200k+ Cavalier.

On top of all this, pretty sure my turbocharger is ****ting out. Still have warranty on that though, so making an appointment this week now that all the other little stuff is fixe.d
 
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Maddmatts

Maddmatts

Member
The cooling system was clearly designed optimistically and then built down to an undercutting price.

A few weeks ago I had to replace the temp sensor on the radiator since it was leaking. Before I could even determine that the leak was fixed, the heatercore outlet hose gave out from a hole worn into it by a sharp mold-line on the back of the intake manifold. I think that one caught a few others by surprise too.

I'm planning on replacing the thermostat and water outlet this spring purely for anxiety reduction.
 
Gimpster

Gimpster

New member
The parts counter guy was all confused about our themostats. He was shocked at the price given its a lowly Sonic. I just laughed and paid up.

I will have to check out that heater hose and see if mine is rubbing. I really don't need another leak.

I saw the temp sensor on the radiator when I drained it. This car has like 2-3 different coolant temperature sensors it seems?
 
carsNskis

carsNskis

New member
Only $305 spent to keep your car running without a catastrophic failure. Why does this seem like a complaint?

[emoji593][emoji809][emoji472]
 
Gimpster

Gimpster

New member
It is a compliant. The whole post was me ranting lol.

I personally think its unreasonable given the age and mileage of the vehicle to essentially have every major component of the cooling system replaced.

It's like... 10% the value of the car :D also thats $305 for the parts, you know if some other poor joe paid some shop it would have been substantially more.

carsNskis said:
Only $305 spent to keep your car running without a catastrophic failure. Why does this seem like a complaint?

[emoji593][emoji809][emoji472]
Click to expand...
 
B

brainpause

Member
Interesting....

Currently have 64K on my 1.8L

Dealer replaced thermostat couple thousand miles ago.

Today, dealer replaced cooling fan(?s) because of overheating.

Guess our cooling systems were designed to go 64K miles.

Larry
 
mja

mja

Site Supporter
Apparently the cooling system on our cars have had problems since the first gen family 0 Opel's. The water pump on the Z10XE and Z12XE that bolts to the timing chain cover didn't seal and leaked since new motors in 1996, this is the best pic I found.
old%2Bpump.jpg


The same gen 1 design carried over to the 2nd gen family 0 Z10XEP, Z12XEP, and Z14XEP. Sometime around 2000-2002 Opel updated the water pump with steel connectors instead of plastic seen in the 1st pic. It was used in the Vauxhall/Opel Corsa's smaller engines until 2014 and has a history of blowing head gaskets when there's a leak at the timing chain.
new%2Bwater%2Bpump.jpg

underside%2Bnew%2Bpump.jpg


The first of the 3rd gen Opel family 0 came around 2006 no doubt for the new Corsa D model. The Opel Astra also received new motors, our Saturn Astra. When GM dropped Saturn, the Astra became the Buick Verano. Since Opel was dropped, the Verano is being phased out...anyway. My point is the 2008 Saturn never came with the 1.4 but the Vauxhall did and here's the new version of that water pump. The same in Vauxhall/Opel N/A 1.2 & 1.4's dating to 2006.
sonic%2Bpump.jpg

sonic%2Bpump%2Bunderside.jpg


The Opel water malestrom was first seen in the states in 2011 Chevy Cruze A14NET (our LUJ/LUV) and 2011 Opel Ampera (2012 Chevy Volt) A14XFL. Volt forums also report cases of disappearing coolant and water pump leaks on the 1.4 Ecoflex. Firey Volts used to be a problem from coolant leaks (ok maybe not the same coolant system but still Opel designed :rolleyes:). It's still fixed to the timing chain cover with 100 bolts :blankface:

There's a fix on the Euro forums for every hose and component of the '06+ Opel family 0 cooling systems. As if every component were a weak link. Most common fixes are water pump replacement, and for the 1.4t's replacing the turbo coolant lines, which Mokka forums report as the Euro-dealers fix to the small amounts of disappearing coolant. The good news is it seems less head gaskets blow than the previous water pump design :confused:
 
P

Ponchoguy

New member
mja said:
Apparently the cooling system on our cars have had problems since the first gen family 0 Opel's. The water pump on the Z10XE and Z12XE that bolts to the timing chain cover didn't seal and leaked since new motors in 1996, this is the best pic I found.
old%2Bpump.jpg


The same gen 1 design carried over to the 2nd gen family 0 Z10XEP, Z12XEP, and Z14XEP. Sometime around 2000-2002 Opel updated the water pump with steel connectors instead of plastic seen in the 1st pic. It was used in the Vauxhall/Opel Corsa's smaller engines until 2014 and has a history of blowing head gaskets when there's a leak at the timing chain.
new%2Bwater%2Bpump.jpg

underside%2Bnew%2Bpump.jpg


The first of the 3rd gen Opel family 0 came around 2006 no doubt for the new Corsa D model. The Opel Astra also received new motors, our Saturn Astra. When GM dropped Saturn, the Astra became the Buick Verano. Since Opel was dropped, the Verano is being phased out...anyway. My point is the 2008 Saturn never came with the 1.4 but the Vauxhall did and here's the new version of that water pump. The same in Vauxhall/Opel N/A 1.2 & 1.4's dating to 2006.
sonic%2Bpump.jpg

sonic%2Bpump%2Bunderside.jpg


The Opel water malestrom was first seen in the states in 2011 Chevy Cruze A14NET (our LUJ/LUV) and 2011 Opel Ampera (2012 Chevy Volt) A14XFL. Volt forums also report cases of disappearing coolant and water pump leaks on the 1.4 Ecoflex. Firey Volts used to be a problem from coolant leaks (ok maybe not the same coolant system but still Opel designed :rolleyes:). It's still fixed to the timing chain cover with 100 bolts :blankface:

There's a fix on the Euro forums for every hose and component of the '06+ Opel family 0 cooling systems. As if every component were a weak link. Most common fixes are water pump replacement, and for the 1.4t's replacing the turbo coolant lines, which Mokka forums report as the Euro-dealers fix to the small amounts of disappearing coolant. The good news is it seems less head gaskets blow than the previous water pump design :confused:
Click to expand...

Or if GM stopped using bottom barrel quality parts on the lower end cars (I realize not every part can be top quality due to price concerns), I think things would go a lot better.
 
mja

mja

Site Supporter
Poncho - that post was to show the problem with the cooling systems is from the 1st family 0 motors.

The biggest design flaw with the pump is where it bolts to, less likely to do with part quality. Some people have 90-100k+ miles on the stock water pump, which is reasonable. We always have the option to remove the pump internals, make a blockoff, & run an electric water pump between the blockoff and thermostat. It still doesn't fix all the other problems with the coolant system.
 
P

Ponchoguy

New member
mja said:
Poncho - that post was to show the problem with the cooling systems is from the 1st family 0 motors.

The biggest design flaw with the pump is where it bolts to, less likely to do with part quality. Some people have 90-100k+ miles on the stock water pump, which is reasonable. We always have the option to remove the pump internals, make a blockoff, & run an electric water pump between the blockoff and thermostat. It still doesn't fix all the other problems with the coolant system.
Click to expand...

In normal use, GM says the coolant should last 5 years or 100k miles (or 150, I forgot which), so in theory you shouldn't have to touch the cooling system based on their recommendations. I made GM flush my coolant twice since that time since it's gotten dirty, and told them it's a warranty item. Both times they did it under warranty.
 
Gimpster

Gimpster

New member
I actually did the coolant change on my car @ 60k, and the Dexcool was definitely not the right color anymore. Then the cooling system subsequently fell apart, but I doubt it was that :)

As an update to all this, so far the car seems to be doing OK after all of that work. I am not losing coolant in the reservoir. I feel like I am still getting a faint coolant smell now/then though from the engine compartment, and I'm hoping its not the turbo lines.... thats like the one thing I didn't do. If I do those, I am swapping to an aftermarket (BNR or the like) turbocharger... because reasons. I look around with my UV flashlight now/then and I don't see anything leaking fresh. It's also nice to hear the cooling fan run without sounding like a bicycle with a baseball card in the spokes.

It's still cold out here, I will try to wash the engine bay thoroughly when Spring is here and go from there.
 
jhgascho

jhgascho

New member
I've been having similar issues with my 2012 53k. The whole cooling system seems to be dying all at once. Already replaced the thermostat and water pump and needing to replace the cooling sensor. These parts look cheaply built and a lot of them use plastic for vital components.
 
Gimpster

Gimpster

New member
That RacerX company seems willing to make sheetmetal intakes, turbo manifolds and intakes. Wonder if they'd be willing to make some quality cooling replacement components.

jhgascho said:
I've been having similar issues with my 2012 53k. The whole cooling system seems to be dying all at once. Already replaced the thermostat and water pump and needing to replace the cooling sensor. These parts look cheaply built and a lot of them use plastic for vital components.
Click to expand...
 
efaily

efaily

Member
Good to know. I ordered one to try out on one of kid's Sonics. If I like it I'll probably get another to eliminate that weak point on both their cars.
 
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