Valve cover cracked. 1.4t 25k miles

[ChrisJ]

Every time I read about major engine problems like this with the 1.4T, I feel kinda glad that I bought 1.8Ls.

I don't miss my 1.8 opcorn:

I don't recall more than 1 or 2 major engine problems with the 1.4 on here. Water pumps and two popped safety valves due to a PCV problem are by no means major. Cracked pistons, cracked or bent connecting rods, those are major. Leaky valve covers and PCV cleaning and work used to be part of normal maintenance.

GM hasn't had a good history with plastic valve covers, especially with V6's. I seem to recall a number of 3800's having fires due to oil leaking onto exhaust manifolds.

If I recall that was due to gasket issues just like the intake leaks not the actual composite covers. I think that was the 3800 IIs as I had a 3800 III and don't think it was part of that.

 

[attrapereves]

I don't miss my 1.8 opcorn:

I don't recall more than 1 or 2 major engine problems with the 1.4 on here. Water pumps and two popped safety valves due to a PCV problem are by no means major. Cracked pistons, cracked or bent connecting rods, those are major. Leaky valve covers and PCV cleaning and work used to be part of normal maintenance.

My 1977 Mercedes 300D has had fewer problems in 34 years than some Sonics on this forum.

For me, any problem more than something cosmetic is unacceptable for a car that is less than 2 years old.

 

[Nimda]

My 1977 Mercedes 300D has had fewer problems in 34 years than some Sonics on this forum.

For me, any problem more than something cosmetic is unacceptable for a car that is less than 2 years old.

There will obviously be quite a difference in quality with a Mercedes sedan over a Chevy Eco-box.. but I get what you're saying with the difference in years. I understand there are plenty of people problem free with their 1.4T's but just click on the 1.4T section of this forum: Problem.. problem.. oh.. another problem.. sold my 1.4T for something else.. problem. No thanks.

 

[ChrisJ]

My 1977 Mercedes 300D has had fewer problems in 34 years than some Sonics on this forum.

For me, any problem more than something cosmetic is unacceptable for a car that is less than 2 years old.

I'm sorry attrapereves but statistics don't lie and I can't agree with you on this one.

Besides the fact the cheapest Mercedes is twice the cost of a Sonic you honestly don't think they ever produce a lemon?

My boss and his family drive almost nothing but Mercedes and they always say never own one without a warranty. This must be because they are just so darn reliable eh?


Mercedes has their share of problems, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if from time to time they have more problems than some of the Sonic's on this forum. However the difference I believe is when they do have issues, they get rectified swiftly but it costs. The repairs are extremely expensive as are the parts.

The fact is the 1.4T is overall an incredibly reliable engine, especially producing 100HP per liter. Curious what that 1977 Mercedes is doing, 25hp per liter?

If you want to bitch and complain about the sway bar links, fine, the questionable 6 speed manual transmission fine, the quality of the paint, the quality of the interior, the rear drum brakes etc all of that is fine. But the 1.4 turbo so far, in the hundreds of thousands of Cruzes and Sonics they have sold has proved to be very reliable putting the very early ones in the Cruze aside.


That's my point.

 

[attrapereves]

I'm sorry attrapereves but statistics don't lie and I can't agree with you on this one.

Besides the fact the cheapest Mercedes is twice the cost of a Sonic you honestly don't think they ever produce a lemon?

My boss and his family drive almost nothing but Mercedes and they always say never own one without a warranty. This must be because they are just so darn reliable eh?


Mercedes has their share of problems, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if from time to time they have more problems than some of the Sonic's on this forum. However the difference I believe is when they do have issues, they get rectified swiftly but it costs. The repairs are extremely expensive as are the parts.

The fact is the 1.4T is overall an incredibly reliable engine, especially producing 100HP per liter. Curious what that 1977 Mercedes is doing, 25hp per liter?

If you want to bitch and complain about the sway bar links, fine, the questionable 6 speed manual transmission fine, the quality of the paint, the quality of the interior, the rear drum brakes etc all of that is fine. But the 1.4 turbo so far, in the hundreds of thousands of Cruzes and Sonics they have sold has proved to be very reliable putting the very early ones in the Cruze aside.


That's my point.

I love my Sonics! However, I am a still worried about long term reliability. Grinding transmission, glitchy radio, and a non-functioning key fob receiver are just some of the problems I've had. Luckily I haven't had some of the other major issues like other members have had (water pump, replaced transmissions, turbos, etc.)

My Benz was definitely a more expensive vehicle originally, but you'd think that a 1977 would have more problems than a 2013. It's got 253K miles (before the odometer stopped working). That being said, I had had problems, but none of the problems have left me stranded. The saying goes, for owners of old Mercedes: "You must either be rich, or a mechanic".

 

[ChrisJ]

I love my Sonics! However, I am a still worried about long term reliability. Grinding transmission, glitchy radio, and a non-functioning key fob receiver are just some of the problems I've had. Luckily I haven't had some of the other major issues like other members have had (water pump, replaced transmissions, turbos, etc.)

My Benz was definitely a more expensive vehicle originally, but you'd think that a 1977 would have more problems than a 2013. It's got 253K miles (before the odometer stopped working). That being said, I had had problems, but none of the problems have left me stranded. The saying goes, for owners of old Mercedes: "You must either be rich, or a mechanic".

I'll be honest, I stopped worrying about my cars a few years ago. It's just not worth it, if something starts being a headache I'll just go trade it in and take the hit.

So far, between the two Sonic's I've owned I don't see any reason I shouldn't get to 100K without a major problem but my crystal ball is broke so who knows.

This is sort of something I've talked to others about over the years. You can buy a truck (semi) for what, $250K I think and the thing is built rock solid. Chances of going 800K-1Mil miles are very good without a rebuild and they very rarely have issues. It doesn't matter what you spend on a car, $30K, $60K, $200K they are all fairly unreliable compared to a semi.

Why doesn't anyone make a "boring, but ultra reliable" car for $40-50K? My best guess is because the market is extremely small.

 

[Swordsmith]

If there are 100 people with a device, only 10 of them post on a forum about the device, one person with a problem is among those ten, and one person with a problem is not, then is there a 10% chance of failure? No, there is a 2% chance, but we only know that because I told you how many problems there were among the people who did not post.

So there could be 4 people or 10 people or even 20 people with problems not reporting them. BUT people with problems are more likely to seek out a forum than people .. so that's not really the way to bet.

The other consideration is, folks on the forum, particularly the 1.4 engine folks, are also likely to be the ones who push their cars hard, looking for the edge of the envelope. So we're canaries in the coal mine, and just because this or that problem crops up for one of us doesn't really mean it's particularly likely to with a car driven normally with no mods.

 

[ChrisJ]

If there are 100 people with a device, only 10 of them post on a forum about the device, one person with a problem is among those ten, and one person with a problem is not, then is there a 10% chance of failure? No, there is a 2% chance, but we only know that because I told you how many problems there were among the people who did not post.

So there could be 4 people or 10 people or even 20 people with problems not reporting them. BUT people with problems are more likely to seek out a forum than people .. so that's not really the way to bet.

The other consideration is, folks on the forum, particularly the 1.4 engine folks, are also likely to be the ones who push their cars hard, looking for the edge of the envelope. So we're canaries in the coal mine, and just because this or that problem crops up for one of us doesn't really mean it's particularly likely to with a car driven normally with no mods.

If there have been 300,000 1.4s sold and 3000 of them failed that would still only be a 0.25% failure rate per year if I did my math correctly? That's pretty damn impressive for a car engine especially one that is pushed hard just by the nature of it's size vs the cars weight.

Most turbocharged cars in the past if not all didn't need the turbo, it was an added bonus. The 1.4T in the Sonic and especially the Cruze need the turbo just to survive.

 

[94383Z71]

If there are 100 people with a device, only 10 of them post on a forum about the device, one person with a problem is among those ten, and one person with a problem is not, then is there a 10% chance of failure? No, there is a 2% chance, but we only know that because I told you how many problems there were among the people who did not post.

So there could be 4 people or 10 people or even 20 people with problems not reporting them. BUT people with problems are more likely to seek out a forum than people .. so that's not really the way to bet.

The other consideration is, folks on the forum, particularly the 1.4 engine folks, are also likely to be the ones who push their cars hard, looking for the edge of the envelope. So we're canaries in the coal mine, and just because this or that problem crops up for one of us doesn't really mean it's particularly likely to with a car driven normally with no mods.

Both points here are HUGE. People always bitch louder than they praise, and will spend more time and effort to find an audience. And I'm someone who drives the piss out of my sonic, and I won't blame GM when something fails (within reason) because they didn't build this car for people like us to do what we do.

If there have been 300,000 1.4s sold and 3000 of them failed that would still only be a 0.25% failure rate per year if I did my math correctly?

edit, I missed the per year. Have they been running 4 years now, or three?

 

[ChrisJ]

edit, I missed the per year. Have they been running 4 years now, or three?

I'm including the Cruze in that which I think started in 2010 or 2011? Between the Sonic and the Cruze I could see 300,000 1.4Ts being on the road.

 

[94383Z71]

You're totally right, I forgot the Cruze started earlier. I believe it was 2011.

 

[HollywoodTurbo]

Digging this up from the past. Another valve cover cracked, this time at 67k miles. Same symptoms: Rough idle, surging, quick RPM drop between shifts making it hard to shift.

4th valve cover now. Makes me wonder why I didn't investigate that 'crank pressure' or whatever it was they were talking about.

 

[ahtoxa]

I'm willing to bet Joe is right and ahtoxa is going to have a repeat of the same problem in the very near future.

Then ahtoxa will bash GM (rightfully so) because the dealer didn't take the time to properly diagnose the problem and it will have to go back.

Old post, but I didn't catch it back then.

The diagnosis was right, these covers actually crack. I've not had a repeat of this issue, and it's been about, what, 10k miles since the repair.

 

[ahtoxa]

Digging this up from the past. Another valve cover cracked, this time at 67k miles. Same symptoms: Rough idle, surging, quick RPM drop between shifts making it hard to shift.

4th valve cover now. Makes me wonder why I didn't investigate that 'crank pressure' or whatever it was they were talking about.

At which intervals did the previous ones failed?

As I've posted, I've had mine fail at about 38k miles, which was about 10k miles ago.

 

[stimpy2301]

Rut roh ... I might be joining the club. I'm at 63K mi, threw P0171 (too lean) yesterday. Also threw a TCS warning light, which promptly disappeared, as mentioned in this thread. I have the 1.4L. Can anyone post a pic where specifically I should be looking (based on your experience) -- as in where specifically was it cracking? Near the fasteners? Along one particular edge? etc.

 

[HollywoodTurbo]

Rut roh ... I might be joining the club. I'm at 63K mi, threw P0171 (too lean) yesterday. Also threw a TCS warning light, which promptly disappeared, as mentioned in this thread. I have the 1.4L. Can anyone post a pic where specifically I should be looking (based on your experience) -- as in where specifically was it cracking? Near the fasteners? Along one particular edge? etc.

i never looked under the hood but could hear an audible air noise under the hood. It had a horrible idle (felt like the clutch was always trying to catch, real lumpy). When I reved up to around 2k, it would hold 2k rpm and take a few seconds to return to 500rpm. It also held no boost or vacuum. Normally I see -10 at idle and 10 at full load. When the problem started I only saw -2 at idle and -1 at full load. My trouble codes were : p0507 and p1101.

 

[HollywoodTurbo]

At which intervals did the previous ones failed?

As I've posted, I've had mine fail at about 38k miles, which was about 10k miles ago.

The first two were at 25k. The dealer replaced one with another that was cracked. The last one was 67k.

 

[HollywoodTurbo]

Another valve cover cracked. It was replaced last week and its already broke. Replaced again under warranty. On number 5!!! First time it actually sprayed out oil.

 

[HollywoodTurbo]

Oil spill

 

[HollywoodTurbo]

They said its leaking around that little open area on the circle