Hello everyone. Let me know if this isn't the place for this and I will gladly remove the post.
I'm looking at purchasing a 2012 Chevy Sonic RS off of a private owner. The issue however, is that the turbo is bad on it. I've never owned a car with a turbo, so I had a few questions that hopefully you can answer to see if this would be a good idea or not. It has about 60,000 miles, and they want about $2500-$3000 below KBB for it, so I have my suspicions.
1. How hard is it to replace the stock turbo on these 1.4L engines? I can't seem to find a good video on how to do it, unless it is the same 1.4L that is in the Chevy Cruze (from what I can tell it is). I'm pretty capable with a wrench, I just don't have hardware to lift an engine if that is needed.
2. If it's crazy hard to fix yourself, how much does it usually cost at a non-dealer mechanic? Has anyone had it done not at the dealer?
3. Is it possible that the turbo going bad completely destroyed the engine (bent valves, etc)? According to the owner: "The car had the engine light on one day so I went to auto zone had them plug in, it was a code for the turbo. I drove it probably a week like that and the turbo went out, it just started whining really loud, and you could tell it lost boost and then shut off. It didn't smoke when it went. It's been sitting ever since (about 3 months). The car won't start because the computer won't allow it to start I was told, just in case the turbo would cause internal motor damage." Does the ECU in these cars even do this? Or is it possible that it won't start due to engine damage?
4. If the engine isn't damaged, and I can replace the turbo, and the ECU legitmately is keeping the car from starting, would I need to take it to a Chevy dealer to reflash the ECU to be able to start the car? Any idea on how much that would be?
Thank you very much for any insight you can give me. I really appreciate it!
I'm looking at purchasing a 2012 Chevy Sonic RS off of a private owner. The issue however, is that the turbo is bad on it. I've never owned a car with a turbo, so I had a few questions that hopefully you can answer to see if this would be a good idea or not. It has about 60,000 miles, and they want about $2500-$3000 below KBB for it, so I have my suspicions.
1. How hard is it to replace the stock turbo on these 1.4L engines? I can't seem to find a good video on how to do it, unless it is the same 1.4L that is in the Chevy Cruze (from what I can tell it is). I'm pretty capable with a wrench, I just don't have hardware to lift an engine if that is needed.
2. If it's crazy hard to fix yourself, how much does it usually cost at a non-dealer mechanic? Has anyone had it done not at the dealer?
3. Is it possible that the turbo going bad completely destroyed the engine (bent valves, etc)? According to the owner: "The car had the engine light on one day so I went to auto zone had them plug in, it was a code for the turbo. I drove it probably a week like that and the turbo went out, it just started whining really loud, and you could tell it lost boost and then shut off. It didn't smoke when it went. It's been sitting ever since (about 3 months). The car won't start because the computer won't allow it to start I was told, just in case the turbo would cause internal motor damage." Does the ECU in these cars even do this? Or is it possible that it won't start due to engine damage?
4. If the engine isn't damaged, and I can replace the turbo, and the ECU legitmately is keeping the car from starting, would I need to take it to a Chevy dealer to reflash the ECU to be able to start the car? Any idea on how much that would be?
Thank you very much for any insight you can give me. I really appreciate it!
