ScarabEpic22
Member
No kidding, but at least you get a 12mo warranty on it so fingers crossed you never have a problem again!
2012 Sonic P2138 problems.
- Thread starter Dafson2
- Start date
No kidding, but at least you get a 12mo warranty on it so fingers crossed you never have a problem again!
The saga continues
So Chevy swapped the ECM, programming went fine. Apparently on the test drive the CEL came back. He didn’t know or wouldn’t tell me the code. He said they were going to work with Chevy engineering to figure it out so the car sits overnight.
I don’t know enough about ECM programming, but he claimed that because it programmed fine then at least at that time nothing was wrong, is that true?
So Chevy swapped the ECM, programming went fine. Apparently on the test drive the CEL came back. He didn’t know or wouldn’t tell me the code. He said they were going to work with Chevy engineering to figure it out so the car sits overnight.
I don’t know enough about ECM programming, but he claimed that because it programmed fine then at least at that time nothing was wrong, is that true?
Fml
Well. I no longer have faith in cars.
Took car to Chevy dealer.
Paid $99 diagnostic fee was told ECM is bad.
Paid$410 to replace ECM, problem still there.
Paid another $100 to fix some electrical connector under the battery, car tested fine. Picked it up and drove it today a few places and lights came back on. Taking it back into Chevy tomorrow.
Has anybody ever had any luck with Chevy helping out in these situations? I mean I have spent $510 to not fix my problem. Not counting all the parts I’ve changed.
Well. I no longer have faith in cars.
Took car to Chevy dealer.
Paid $99 diagnostic fee was told ECM is bad.
Paid$410 to replace ECM, problem still there.
Paid another $100 to fix some electrical connector under the battery, car tested fine. Picked it up and drove it today a few places and lights came back on. Taking it back into Chevy tomorrow.
Has anybody ever had any luck with Chevy helping out in these situations? I mean I have spent $510 to not fix my problem. Not counting all the parts I’ve changed.
I would talk to the Service Manager (not the service writer) and explain that both the ECM and electric connector was changed to address a specific problem and that the problem is still present. Tell him (most likely male) that you understand paying for the diagnostic fee, but hat you should not pay for work and parts that do not fix the problem.
Dealer still working on it.
Well Chevy has had the car for three days. They keep thinking they have it figured out but then all the lights come back during test drive. They are now changing out all the wiring associated with the pedal. Haven’t really discussed how much it’s going to cost me yet. They just keep doing things without asking so I am hoping they help out.
Well Chevy has had the car for three days. They keep thinking they have it figured out but then all the lights come back during test drive. They are now changing out all the wiring associated with the pedal. Haven’t really discussed how much it’s going to cost me yet. They just keep doing things without asking so I am hoping they help out.
For the future
Just figured I’d update for future generations. Chevy has continued to work on the car with not much success. They cleaned some battery acid corrosion out of X101 body to engine connector. Mechanic has ran direct wires from the gas pedal to the ECM to bypass all the connectors. Now the car sets the P2138 code whenever the clutch is pushed.
Mechanic thinks either the ECM is throwing a false code or one of the pedal assemblies is bad. I think next step is to change the pedal again (will be 3rd new pedal).
The dealer has been very awesome about covering most of the follow up work. They seemed determined to fix it and have told me they are going to bill GM for everything they can.
Just figured I’d update for future generations. Chevy has continued to work on the car with not much success. They cleaned some battery acid corrosion out of X101 body to engine connector. Mechanic has ran direct wires from the gas pedal to the ECM to bypass all the connectors. Now the car sets the P2138 code whenever the clutch is pushed.
Mechanic thinks either the ECM is throwing a false code or one of the pedal assemblies is bad. I think next step is to change the pedal again (will be 3rd new pedal).
The dealer has been very awesome about covering most of the follow up work. They seemed determined to fix it and have told me they are going to bill GM for everything they can.
Hopefully you have a rental that they are covering, makes life a little easier....
The saga continues
So Chevy had car for about a week and half. They did a bunch of stuff that didn’t work. Eventually he found some battery acid corrosion in the ECM X1 Harness. (SHOULDNT HE HAVE SEEN THT WHEN HE REPLACED ECM?). He “repaired” that and thought issue was fixed. Put about 500 miles on car (he test drove 300 I drove 200 after pickup) and code/lights came back. Waiting for call back from dealership now. I sadly thought this was behind me. I wish very badly that I didn’t owe money on it or I would dump it off and get on a lease.
Yea no talk of rental car at all. Lots of bumming rides from friends.
So Chevy had car for about a week and half. They did a bunch of stuff that didn’t work. Eventually he found some battery acid corrosion in the ECM X1 Harness. (SHOULDNT HE HAVE SEEN THT WHEN HE REPLACED ECM?). He “repaired” that and thought issue was fixed. Put about 500 miles on car (he test drove 300 I drove 200 after pickup) and code/lights came back. Waiting for call back from dealership now. I sadly thought this was behind me. I wish very badly that I didn’t owe money on it or I would dump it off and get on a lease.
Yea no talk of rental car at all. Lots of bumming rides from friends.
mja
Site Supporter
Dafson, all of the fixes you've listed are standard shop manual approaches to electrical issues.
If you really want to track this down you or your mechanic is going to have to break out an ohm meter and start testing wiring and connectors. Tracking down an electrical gremlin can be a slow and frustrating process.
If you really want to track this down you or your mechanic is going to have to break out an ohm meter and start testing wiring and connectors. Tracking down an electrical gremlin can be a slow and frustrating process.
Solution?
So I took the ECM connector off and blew some compressed air and saw some water come out. Issue went away right after that. Gonna put some grease on there and try and figure how the hell water is getting way over to the ECM.
I’m not angry at all with the dealership, at least not after I just started talking right to the mechanic. I knew it was complicated going into it, and they did cover a lot of the work they had to do. The “inside” people were a little dense and never once called when they said they would but eh whatever.
I am just hoping to build up some confidence in the car again. I twitch whenever anything beeps now.
So I took the ECM connector off and blew some compressed air and saw some water come out. Issue went away right after that. Gonna put some grease on there and try and figure how the hell water is getting way over to the ECM.
I’m not angry at all with the dealership, at least not after I just started talking right to the mechanic. I knew it was complicated going into it, and they did cover a lot of the work they had to do. The “inside” people were a little dense and never once called when they said they would but eh whatever.
I am just hoping to build up some confidence in the car again. I twitch whenever anything beeps now.
As I understand things, and I might be wrong, disconnecting the ECM resets the ECM, so that might be why your CEL went off and the the codes were reset.
That said, water in the ECM connector would cause all sorts of odd codes, and it makes sense with your previous posts about it not happening at first in colder weather. Ice may not be as conductive as melted water and that are would thaw as you drive.
If this does fix it, I'd want to know why the dealer could not figure this out and, as you ask, where the water is coming from.
That said, water in the ECM connector would cause all sorts of odd codes, and it makes sense with your previous posts about it not happening at first in colder weather. Ice may not be as conductive as melted water and that are would thaw as you drive.
If this does fix it, I'd want to know why the dealer could not figure this out and, as you ask, where the water is coming from.
Yea I agree it makes sense with colder weather causing the issue where it would happen after driving.
So car drove fine yesterday but it rained all day. Drove to work this morning and lights came on while on interstate about 30 miles into my drive. 40°+ today so no ice. Blew out connector again, and sure enough water again. I think the CEL does clear after pulling off ECM, but the code never reset after for the rest of my drive. Gonna wrap the hell out of the ECM connector with electrical tape. There is a seal on it too that I’m going to try and find.
While frustrating I don’t really blame the mechanic. I mean he “should” have found it sooner, but I’m sure he realied on his computer pointing him where to go. I’m more pissed that I didn’t find it earlier. To be honest I was a bit scared to take off ECM Harness as I didn’t know how.
Only thing I can think of is water coming in through front grill and blowing up there. I kinda wanna put a go pro in there to find out.
mja
Site Supporter
Inside the front left/driver side of my bumper gets a lot of water and shorts out my fogs now and then from the louvers under the fender liner/bumper cover area. Had some rusty screws around there. But never near the ECM 
Maybe ice is doing weird things with the hood/cowl weatherstripping.
Maybe ice is doing weird things with the hood/cowl weatherstripping.