Series of issues with my Sonic

[hmae37]

They magically recreated mine after the first time GM called them, after almost 2 weeks they told GM it was normal and there were no issues, and that they were done with it. Again magically, the next day it had issues outside of the normal GM specs. They cleaned the valve and then its fixed. NOT. it was worse. I got my car back last Wed and it is way worse. The dealer called me yesterday to "see how it was doing". I flat told them horrible, and I was sure they wanted me to get in a wreck since it was worse and that I flat didn't trust them. They asked for a shot to regain my trust. I dropped it off today. The service guy I have been dealing with joked with me, "If you keep showin your face around here, we're gonna have to put you on payroll". Ha fat chance. So as of 9:30a they have my car again. But I have to say. Atleast they are aware of the problems I were having since they recreated them, and now are worse, so they have some idea. I guess he said they're shop foreman will be the only one to handle my car. Maybe the kid they had messing with it before is a dipsh** and that's why I was told 4 previous times nothing was wrong with it. Ugh. But, upside, loaner is a 2013 malibu and full package. LOVE THAT CAR!!

 

[hmae37]

Just an add on as of today. The general manager of the dealership called me today. He advised me that as of 6pm tonight, they have no idea why it's doing what it's doing. They have recreated the issue. The gm agreed it sounds significantly different than other models and from before. Still nothing is showing up in the computers. A GM rep is flying out tomorrow to personally drive my car so they can diagnose it since they make em and don't have to go off of a computer. I have had a rough few months lately with this issue, with it not showing any codes or engine light it was passed off easily. The dealer is being wonderful lately and taking a serious concern to my car. We're even crackin jokes. I feel quite a bit more comfortable but still cautious. These forums have been a huge help, and thanks Eric for your assistance, Sir. Hopefully, I will have a resolution tomorrow or soon. Will keep posted.

 

[Eric Smit]

Awesome to hear! I mean, I know your car is still messed up, but it's great that they are actively working on the issue now.


-Eric Smit

 

[THKPIC]

Now I'm interested to see what happens. I'd ask for a straight up,even trade to a ZR1 Vette....eh, you can dream.

 

[hmae37]

So just a quick update. GM diagnosed it and the verdict is..... they are replacing the camshaft and timing chain. Funny part about this is, when I took it in in August I showed them a TSB about the camshaft and flywheel bolts. Then it didn't apply to my issue. 3 weeks ago I told them about another dealer mentioning it may be the timing. It didn't apply 3 weeks ago. As of yesterday per GM they both apply now. Still no coding for it, no check engine light, hell my rpm gauge wasn't even fluctuating during the surges. Crazyness. Hopefully it will fix it and problem solved. It makes sense for all the issues. As soon as it is fixed it will be in the dealer body shop for a bumper repair from a minor fender bender so I will update with it's improvements in a week or so.

 

[Eric Smit]

Well, it's fantastic that it's getting fixed. Great to see you're finally being taken care of.


-Eric Smit

 

[THKPIC]

Keep us posted. i wonder if any newer cars are experiencing this like the 13's. I bought mine in late July.

 

[GeneralZod]

So just a quick update. GM diagnosed it and the verdict is..... they are replacing the camshaft and timing chain. Funny part about this is, when I took it in in August I showed them a TSB about the camshaft and flywheel bolts. Then it didn't apply to my issue. 3 weeks ago I told them about another dealer mentioning it may be the timing. It didn't apply 3 weeks ago. As of yesterday per GM they both apply now. Still no coding for it, no check engine light, hell my rpm gauge wasn't even fluctuating during the surges. Crazyness. Hopefully it will fix it and problem solved. It makes sense for all the issues. As soon as it is fixed it will be in the dealer body shop for a bumper repair from a minor fender bender so I will update with it's improvements in a week or so.

My guess, Just a tad off on the timing chain and cam the on board programming will compensate. And, as long as it can be corrected it won't throw codes.

Unless the dealer is willing to log this they would never really see it. There are times when any dealer will wait for codes and tell you, that you are nuts.

This reminds me of my first VW. I told them the turbo was boosting oddly after 30k. They said "diesel take a long time to be broken in, and if we scan it and find no codes we will charge you $125."

After 1000K miles it threw a code, and they tried to say I did it.

Glad you are on the right path. I wouldn't be surpised if the think about a buy back.

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

So just a quick update. GM diagnosed it and the verdict is..... they are replacing the camshaft and timing chain. Funny part about this is, when I took it in in August I showed them a TSB about the camshaft and flywheel bolts. Then it didn't apply to my issue. 3 weeks ago I told them about another dealer mentioning it may be the timing. It didn't apply 3 weeks ago. As of yesterday per GM they both apply now. Still no coding for it, no check engine light, hell my rpm gauge wasn't even fluctuating during the surges. Crazyness. Hopefully it will fix it and problem solved. It makes sense for all the issues. As soon as it is fixed it will be in the dealer body shop for a bumper repair from a minor fender bender so I will update with it's improvements in a week or so.

Glad to hear your issues are being taken care of finally. Hopefully it won't be much longer until your Sonic is back to normal. Keep us posted.


Vanessa
GM Customer Service

 

[hmae37]

Well, I believe I was too optimistic and hopeful. They ended up replacing the camshaft actuators. It corrected the terrible knocking when I started my car. Now....now...the car is....I don't even know how to explain it properly so I'm gonna try my best. It still idles rough, now this happens at any given time, even when sitting in park and neutral. When in drive it's worse. It has a horrible and not necessarily new but very pronounced now, misfire. Constantly misfiring (at least thats what it feels like). In any gear without digging my foot into the pedal it is extremely slow to get up and go, so much so that I almost was t-boned this afternoon turning left at a light because it did not want to put out enough power to get up and go, once I pushed my pedal to the floor, the dohc kicked in to a much higher gear and thrust me forward that I almost ended up in a light pole. I am glad my daughter wasn't with me, the car would have plowed into her side. Luckily there was enough room to correct the thrust so i just missed the curb and pole by inches. Talk about heart into stomach. And the bad part is.....I've only had my car back for almost 5 hrs. Lovely. I am scared to death, literally of this car. So for the knockin, camshaft actuators. Everything else, no update. Sorry about the rant guys, just scared and frustrated. Any suggestions?? Other than running it off a cliff.....

 

[SonicMan]

Dude you don't deserve this **** from a new car ! Take it to the dealer and tell them to call you when everything is fixed and fixed properly, you are gonna make matters worse by driving it like that !

 

[SonicMan]

And if they can't get it fixed and they don't want to help you then go talk to a lawyer in your area about the lemon law !!

 

[hmae37]

I agree. I've never had so many problems with a used vehicle let alone a brand new one. It's not necessarily the dealer. The problem is, with all these problems, there is no coding errors and mis-coding popping up at all. NONE. It's insane. So they have no idea what to fix, all the codes show normal to them, even when they recreate it themselves. GM reviewed it and came up with "check the camshaft and actuators and also the timing chain, replace as needed" They did and it's fixed one small part of the issues I have being the knocking. I'm stuck.... I feel terrible for the dealer cuz they have no idea, GM has no idea, that leaves me with.... well you said it. A lemon. It's salt to an open wounded for me at this point. Frozen in pain and wishing it was over.....

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

have you checked the gaps on the plugs?

 

[hmae37]

have you checked the gaps on the plugs?

I mentioned it to em, the 3rd visit....I think....whichever one was like 2 1/2 months ago....I'm losing track. lol. They said at first it wasn't a factor in the symptoms but when I picked it up they said they looked at em and they were fine. Which I think is a load because they kept telling me they couldn't recreate it for over 6 months and per them they don't do anything without error codes. Weird, right?? Do I still sound crazy??

 

[hmae37]

I should add that I can tell them to check anything but unless instructed by GM they usually don't do it. They hang solely on what GM says since there is no coding from them to get direction. So yeah giving them pointers obviously goes nowhere unless GM tells em. The first work order on record for this per the dealer starts in Feb 2012. That's a total (on paper) of 6-7 on record, I mentioned the same issues during my first service and they said they didn't recreate anything then too, with that one it makes 7.

 

[hmae37]

Well, I believe I was too optimistic and hopeful. They ended up replacing the camshaft actuators. It corrected the terrible knocking when I started my car. Now....now...the car is....I don't even know how to explain it properly so I'm gonna try my best. It still idles rough, now this happens at any given time, even when sitting in park and neutral. When in drive it's worse. It has a horrible and not necessarily new but very pronounced now, misfire. Constantly misfiring (at least thats what it feels like). In any gear without digging my foot into the pedal it is extremely slow to get up and go, so much so that I almost was t-boned this afternoon turning left at a light because it did not want to put out enough power to get up and go, once I pushed my pedal to the floor, the dohc kicked in to a much higher gear and thrust me forward that I almost ended up in a light pole. I am glad my daughter wasn't with me, the car would have plowed into her side. Luckily there was enough room to correct the thrust so i just missed the curb and pole by inches. Talk about heart into stomach. And the bad part is.....I've only had my car back for almost 5 hrs. Lovely. I am scared to death, literally of this car. So for the knockin, camshaft actuators. Everything else, no update. Sorry about the rant guys, just scared and frustrated. Any suggestions?? Other than running it off a cliff.....

A couple new symptoms to add, After my car sitting for about 2 hrs, I went to go pick up my son from the sitter. Now in all the driving I have done today I have had no radio, no air, windows up. So while on the way with that done, on a very smooth even road, watching the rpm during the misfires, I noticed with it colder the misfires went from feeling like....well...misfires to the feeling like it is downshifting, it was completely tripping me out, but after coasting for a while, it actually downshifted itself, running in high rpm's and did not downgrade my cars speed AT ALL. Like a ghost shift. freaked me out. this happened while coasting no gas, steady road, speed did not even decreased a mph for it to downshift. no feeling of it slowing down, speed didn't change at all. oh and when starting it there was a very loud humming/whining noise, while accelerating it was louder, when coasting it was a steady hum, accelerate even into the next gear it was there. Like older pick-ups do when they drive. when i got back out to my car, and started it....no more humming/whining noise, not even while driving. WTF is going on with my car?!?!? Someone fricken help me please......I'm only posting these and so much to give more detail so I can somehow get help in figuring out wtf is going on with my car. Any suggestion, good or bad, at this point may be helpful.......

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

I would suggest you go get a GoPro recorder and mount it on the back window facing forward and record all your driving so you can show it to the dealer. If they still cannot fix it tell them you want to start the proceedings for a lemon law or want the car replaced.

 

[hmae37]

I did try that, on suggestion from the forums, when it was making noises. When I did show, or at least tried on 2 separate visits he flat told me it didn't matter whether I had a recording or not. I was told all that matters is whether they can recreate it and see the error codes, even if they recreate it, if they get no error codes there's not much they can do. Again saying they are limited to what they can do for warranty diagnostics. That's why they said they got GM involved this last time because the problems were worse, they were able to recreate them and found no codes. But GM's fix didn't work either. And what's it's doing now is more of the feel while it's running and driving. A video may not necessarily help since it wont show the nasty shaking while idling (except in the image quality possibly) which is very dominant while sitting in it and driving it. the misfires are felt more than seen. I am starting to think that just my car all around is defective. I have not seen nor found anyone with all the same issues I have in one bundle. Alot have one or 2 of the symptoms I have but not all of them. Maybe it's my whole car or a (as the forum says, lol) a series of issues with mine all at once.

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

Isn't the lemon law like 3-4 visits with no fix? Tell them you won't pursue any legal actions if they swap you into a 1.4 and call it even.