DelilahJo
New member
Okay, let me preface this with the fact that I still love the car, I trust it absolutely, I just had a crazy experience and hope that by sharing it I can add to the pool of knowledge and possibly help someone else avoid the same situation.
I have a 2012 LTZ turbo, just hit 20,000 miles. I baby it, always use mobil 1 oil, premium fuel and avoid ethanol like the plague. I've had the sway bar links and a couple of trim pieces replaced, and I had a check engine light come on in the mountains of nevada that prompted a barometric pressure sensor replacement--but I've never had any driveability issues with the engine.
I took a trip from Iowa to Texas this past weekend. My check engine light came on in Kansas, but I was pretty certain that it was the fuel cap--I knew I was distracted at the last fuel stop when I put it back on. There were no changes in the way it was driving, and since it was the saturday before christmas and it was after noon, I knew my odds of getting it looked at by a dealership were pretty much zilch. I am a service advisor by profession, and I didn't want to deal with someone like me
Everything was fine for the next several hours, but then it started ice raining in Oklahoma. It was 29 or so degrees and raining pretty hard, and everyone had at least an inch of ice over their entire cars. The roads weren't completely glazed over yet and everyone was just trying to get south as fast as they could so the temp would go over 32 and put us in the clear. There was a decent amount of traffic and everyone was going about 65-70, other cars weren't having any problems.
I started noticing my speed dropping--but I wasn't sure if it might be because I was going uphill. The check engine light was still on, but wasn't flashing or anything. I had the pedal just about floored and my speed gradually dropped over the next 10 minutes--55, 50, 45, 40.... I put my flashers on but was really reluctant to stop because the shoulder was only gravel, and had a huge layer of glazed over ice chunks-- I knew if I pulled off I'd have to get towed back out. Not to mention that nobody was lane changing much lest they slide off the road, so I was going to be directly next to semis traveling at full speed over ice. There were no exits or anywhere safe to pull off at all. Once I couldn't go over about 30 I knew I had to give up-- so I got over as far as I could but that still left my driver door only about one foot of clearance from the white line. It was terrifying. I've never been so glad to have so many airbags!
Once I had the car stopped I tried to rev the engine in park--I couldn't get it to rev higher than about 1000 rpm (usually idles at 500-800). Still the check engine light was only on solid, not flashing, and there were no other error messages at all. I turned the car off, and called roadside assistance. I really really wanted to go chip some ice off of the car--I was wondering if maybe the air intake or something was blocked, something stupid--but I knew if I got out of the car it'd be a death wish. Once I called roadside assistance, told him where I was and waited on hold, about fifteen minutes passed. I saw my vacation plans dissolving in front of my eyes, it was saturday afternoon and I didn't think there was any way a dealership or car rental place would be open. On a whim, I started the car again. I revved it--and it revved normally. I somehow got my front wheels out of the ice--and tried to get back on the interstate. It accelerated just fine. I hit about 65 and things were working normally--so when the roadside assistance guy came back on the line I told him I was going to try and make it elsewhere and I'd call back.
About 10 miles later I found an exit, and got off the road. It was still working fine. I got out and looked at the front--it was totally iced over. I chipped off all the ice I could find, as far as I can tell the air intake is in the passenger wheel well (?) and that was not blocked. The airflow to the radiator up front though most certainly was.
I ended up continuing to texas without incident. My check engine light went off by itself the next day, so I'm reasonably certain it was in fact just the gas cap and was unrelated.
My theory is that it may have been overheating, since we lack a temp gauge there wouldn't be a way to know. It could have had a reduced power mode, again, I wouldn't have known because we don't have a driver information center like other chevy models. My brother thinks the ice could have been restricting something to do with the turbo, which also could be the case. What we do know is that the 15 minute "sit" solved something, either cooling down an overheated engine or allowing some radiant heat to melt ice somewhere that it couldn't while I was actively driving. I'm not interested in letting a dealership explore, seeing as it's problem free now. I am SO GLAD I tried again and didn't get it towed, because if it has gotten to the dealer and had no issues since the ice would have thawed, I could have been responsible for the tow!!
Anyway in a nutshell, I have learned and I hope some of you will learn now, to EXIT AND CHIP THE DAMN ICE OFF. Preventatively.
I have a 2012 LTZ turbo, just hit 20,000 miles. I baby it, always use mobil 1 oil, premium fuel and avoid ethanol like the plague. I've had the sway bar links and a couple of trim pieces replaced, and I had a check engine light come on in the mountains of nevada that prompted a barometric pressure sensor replacement--but I've never had any driveability issues with the engine.
I took a trip from Iowa to Texas this past weekend. My check engine light came on in Kansas, but I was pretty certain that it was the fuel cap--I knew I was distracted at the last fuel stop when I put it back on. There were no changes in the way it was driving, and since it was the saturday before christmas and it was after noon, I knew my odds of getting it looked at by a dealership were pretty much zilch. I am a service advisor by profession, and I didn't want to deal with someone like me
Everything was fine for the next several hours, but then it started ice raining in Oklahoma. It was 29 or so degrees and raining pretty hard, and everyone had at least an inch of ice over their entire cars. The roads weren't completely glazed over yet and everyone was just trying to get south as fast as they could so the temp would go over 32 and put us in the clear. There was a decent amount of traffic and everyone was going about 65-70, other cars weren't having any problems.
I started noticing my speed dropping--but I wasn't sure if it might be because I was going uphill. The check engine light was still on, but wasn't flashing or anything. I had the pedal just about floored and my speed gradually dropped over the next 10 minutes--55, 50, 45, 40.... I put my flashers on but was really reluctant to stop because the shoulder was only gravel, and had a huge layer of glazed over ice chunks-- I knew if I pulled off I'd have to get towed back out. Not to mention that nobody was lane changing much lest they slide off the road, so I was going to be directly next to semis traveling at full speed over ice. There were no exits or anywhere safe to pull off at all. Once I couldn't go over about 30 I knew I had to give up-- so I got over as far as I could but that still left my driver door only about one foot of clearance from the white line. It was terrifying. I've never been so glad to have so many airbags!
Once I had the car stopped I tried to rev the engine in park--I couldn't get it to rev higher than about 1000 rpm (usually idles at 500-800). Still the check engine light was only on solid, not flashing, and there were no other error messages at all. I turned the car off, and called roadside assistance. I really really wanted to go chip some ice off of the car--I was wondering if maybe the air intake or something was blocked, something stupid--but I knew if I got out of the car it'd be a death wish. Once I called roadside assistance, told him where I was and waited on hold, about fifteen minutes passed. I saw my vacation plans dissolving in front of my eyes, it was saturday afternoon and I didn't think there was any way a dealership or car rental place would be open. On a whim, I started the car again. I revved it--and it revved normally. I somehow got my front wheels out of the ice--and tried to get back on the interstate. It accelerated just fine. I hit about 65 and things were working normally--so when the roadside assistance guy came back on the line I told him I was going to try and make it elsewhere and I'd call back.
About 10 miles later I found an exit, and got off the road. It was still working fine. I got out and looked at the front--it was totally iced over. I chipped off all the ice I could find, as far as I can tell the air intake is in the passenger wheel well (?) and that was not blocked. The airflow to the radiator up front though most certainly was.
I ended up continuing to texas without incident. My check engine light went off by itself the next day, so I'm reasonably certain it was in fact just the gas cap and was unrelated.
My theory is that it may have been overheating, since we lack a temp gauge there wouldn't be a way to know. It could have had a reduced power mode, again, I wouldn't have known because we don't have a driver information center like other chevy models. My brother thinks the ice could have been restricting something to do with the turbo, which also could be the case. What we do know is that the 15 minute "sit" solved something, either cooling down an overheated engine or allowing some radiant heat to melt ice somewhere that it couldn't while I was actively driving. I'm not interested in letting a dealership explore, seeing as it's problem free now. I am SO GLAD I tried again and didn't get it towed, because if it has gotten to the dealer and had no issues since the ice would have thawed, I could have been responsible for the tow!!
Anyway in a nutshell, I have learned and I hope some of you will learn now, to EXIT AND CHIP THE DAMN ICE OFF. Preventatively.
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