2013 1.8L LT intermittent smoking and loss of power

[Growlith1223]

I had gotten this car back in january of this year, the car drove great and i loved it, but i noticed that every once in a while going above 70mph it would sometimes start jerking and lose power, cruise control would cause it to downshift and it would stabilize. that's all it was until around the end of may, at which point it did it one last time and this massive cloud of smoke came barreling out the exhaust. immediately got it towed to a nearby shop. needless to say, it was $106 down the drain because all they did was test drive it, see it was smoking a little bit as they did, slapped a $5000 quote to replace the engine and called it a day. i ended up getting a second opinion on the diagnosis but when the second shop got it, aka, the dealership i got the car from, they had said they weren't able to recreate the problem. and this is pretty much where im at now. any time i have someone look at the car, it won't do it, but when it's me driving the car, it'll do it every time when getting onto the on-ramp to go to work and this big hill that i have to go over to get home. when it first started doing this, the check engine light would flash, but ever since it farted out that giant cloud, it hasn't flashed at all. i have a P0420 code which i've taken off the exhaust manifold to see that a) the gasket torn, likely due to taking off the manifold and b) the inside was just completely coated in black soot, the cat looked a pure white but nothing blocking it.

Every time it does this, there's several things that accompany it. it starts to jerk and slow down and i can hear this really loud ticking noise as it's doing it. and 2 codes will pop up, not at the same time, it like, changes between the 2; a P0324 and P0325. at times if i push the gas down further while it's happening even though i most likely shouldn't, i can get it to create a small cloud and then stops and resumes as normal. i had checked fluid levels and they all used to stay the same up until a couple weeks ago when i noticed that it consumed a fair amount of oil, to the point it wasn't even on the dipstick. valve cover's been replaced yet spark plugs had oil on threads still. the level of oil in it seems to vary whenever it wants to. at times it'll be fine, other times it'll be low, and then other times it's like way up the dipstick!

i've changed the oil like 3 times now, but i have noticed that each time, the oil is completely black. when i first replaced the valve cover back when i first got the car, there was a bit of sludge/deposits all over the inside of the crankcase which has been getting better with each change but this issue is still prevalent.

I've done a compression test and it comes back perfectly fine, 170psi, Coolant has no foul smell and it doesn't disappear outside of a very, VERY small leak on the water pump(at least i assume it is, i noticed it dripping off the pump when changing the serpentine belt and watching it run with the new one on. i've replaced the spark plugs like, 5 times now, and the coil pack once in hopes of fixing it(back when it didn't do the smoking). I've replaced serpentine belt recently because it was all chewed up(AC works whenever it wants to as well but that's a whole different issue i believe). Fuel injectors work just fine, there was a day that i did get a 301 but that was after i was messing with the fuel rail and reconnected the injectors. I'm genuinely frustrated and am about ready to take a full day and just disassemble the whole thing lol.

I've also noticed that in cold starts, it runs really rough for a few seconds and then runs perfectly fine, during that time if i press the pedal down slightly, rpms will dip.

As far as misfires go, i don't really see any crazy numbers going on. it's like, at most, 2 or 3 every drive cycle. whether or not bluedriver is accurate in that is another thing though.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

I don't want to just give up on the car, outside of this happening on occasion, like for example, it hasn't done it for the last couple days, the car runs great, it's got a decent amount of pep to it, and still getting 33mpg(according to the dash anyways) has been a godsend this year with the crazy gas prices

 

[ectoBRUH]

I'm having some very similar issues. Did you ever get this solved?

 

[Growlith1223]

I'm having some very similar issues. Did you ever get this solved?

i have not sadly. i did notice that the days that it doesn't do it, the car runs cooler? when ECT was at like 201f, it had no problems, but if i got to either of those spots when it was at like, 212f-221f, it would have its fit. i don't know if there's a connection there or not. i've also noticed that when it does it, according to bluedriver, it runs rich for a hot second as it's doing it. but that's about it, flooring it when it does it, it goes nowhere until a few seconds later and then it runs fine and speeds up like normal

 

[Growlith1223]

k so, now the issue has moved from occuring when going onto the highway and going up this really steep hill i have to drive up every time i go home, to now just doing it around town when im leaving for work. and when parked and walked out, i could smell a very distinct smell of sulfur. so i think it'd be best to assume the cat is gone but would that explain the white smoke and oil loss?

 

[Growlith1223]

still having the same issue. i had posted on reddit as well, someone suggested that it might have been a VVT solenoid/sprocket, ended up replacing those and it didn't seem to fix it, i did end up fixing my mistake with the valve cover leaking(the cover was fine, i was just dumb and forgot to put some RTV in the sharp corners so it ended up leaking there a small bit). After still looking around and reading up, i have found the closest explanation of the knocking i am hearing is spark knock/pre-ignition knock? every video i have come across has sounded exactly the way my car is doing it. the issue is i don't know what is causing it....

Spark plugs are brand new, Coil pack has been replaced twice now(replaced just last month because i finally got a P0300 code and some really bad misfiring one day on my way to work. new plugs and coil pack at the same time resolved that). all of that did not fix it. I am going to try and replace the knock sensor probably on sunday. I know the alternator has a whine to it now but i don't think that would cause the spark knock. i recently replaced the Purge valve because it was getting pretty loud. again didn't fix the underlying issue lol

im just at a complete loss.... It still leaks oil, but with the RTV on the cover, any oil spots that were at the top of the engine is now dry, though i do have a leak the lower portion, i haven't taken the time to figure out where.

If anyone has any other help, that would be greatly appreciated. I finally have the money to take it into an actual shop but if i can help it, i'd love to learn how to diagnose this properly myself lol

 

[2014 Blue RS]

PCV valve failure. Go to cruzekits.com. They work and they are easy to install.

 

[JTee2017]

PCV valve failure. Go to cruzekits.com. They work and they are easy to install.

Isn't that all 1.4L engine stuff at crusekits?

OP has a 1.8L engine.

 

[Growlith1223]

yea i have the 1.8L, and regardless, the valve cover has been replaced multiple times, thinking it was that... needless to say it wasn't lol.

About the closest i can explain the noise that's happening would be spark blowout but from what i've read, it has to do with higher compression from a turbo but, being as i have the 1.8L, i don't have a turbo so it doesn't make sense.

I had someone recently mention to me that it might be electrical? but i wouldn't know where to even start looking into that... i mean the battery stays at a consistent 14v while driving, the alternator has a whine as stated prev. but it doesn't seem like its hurting anything. i've checked fuses and they are all good. the ignition coil connector does have the little locking pin broken off, so i could try and replace that but i have my doubts as to if that will fix this...

I don't know if this is of any help but this is the last set of spark plugs that i replaced a few hundred miles ago.

They were used for roughly 6k miles. The car doesn't run hot, it stays at the normal temp(i believe normal anyways. 212F), ignition timing at idle tends to jump around between -2 degrees to 10? i don't know if that's normal or not though. this is all still new to me, i have no prior knowledge to this stuff outside of this. and what i know mechanically and technologically from other crafts

 

[Growlith1223]

So, i went ahead and bought a little cheap borescope to look around and well, i think it's safe to say it's the cat causing all of my issues. Inspected all 4 cylinders and even my the cat. i had looked at the cat on the other end where it connects to the flex pipe before and it looked perfectly fine but sure enough, when looking through the O2 sensor port, it's damaged pretty bad.
Cylinders go from 1, 2, 3, 4 left to right

I don't really understand why it happened but given the age and mileage im also not surprised it turned out to be something like this. im just glad it wasn't too catastrophic lol

Unfortunately i don't have the funds to throw on a brand new manifold for $500 though, so im kinda stuck with this until i do....

 

[JTee2017]

So, i went ahead and bought a little cheap borescope to look around and well, i think it's safe to say it's the cat causing all of my issues. Inspected all 4 cylinders and even my the cat. i had looked at the cat on the other end where it connects to the flex pipe before and it looked perfectly fine but sure enough, when looking through the O2 sensor port, it's damaged pretty bad.
Cylinders go from 1, 2, 3, 4 left to right

I don't really understand why it happened but given the age and mileage im also not surprised it turned out to be something like this. im just glad it wasn't too catastrophic lol

Unfortunately i don't have the funds to throw on a brand new manifold for $500 though, so im kinda stuck with this until i do....

Wondering how long the PCV issues existed?
It does look like a fair amount of oil must have been getting ingested into the throttle body and cylinders.
The spark plugs look pretty dirty for just 6,000 miles of run time.
I can;t remember. . . have you inspected the intake tube and throttle body for oil contamination? If so, that should be cleaned and the PCV valve and other parts assured of no leakage of vapors.
Those cats indicate a good deal of oil burning to clog up that badly.

 

[Growlith1223]

Wondering how long the PCV issues existed?
It does look like a fair amount of oil must have been getting ingested into the throttle body and cylinders.
The spark plugs look pretty dirty for just 6,000 miles of run time.
I can;t remember. . . have you inspected the intake tube and throttle body for oil contamination? If so, that should be cleaned and the PCV valve and other parts assured of no leakage of vapors.
Those cats indicate a good deal of oil burning to clog up that badly.

the pcv was an issue for at most a week, i ordered the part as soon as i found it(i check everything on this car daily anymore to make sure nothing new is going on). As far as oil contamination i know there's consumption somewhere, i just can't for the life of me figure out where, i sealed the valve cover which fixed the leak on the top end of things but the whole oil pan is completely covered in oil so i am suspecting that my pan gasket needs to be replaced. i threw the borescope through the intake hose and seen nothing wet, let alone any deposits even on the throttle body. i know when it does its misfires it does smoke a little grey/gray. do keep in mind that this is a 1.8L engine, not the 1.4L. if i can ever get something to take the darn clamp off the intake tube, i want to put the borescope down into the intake manifold and inspect further but so far no luck. it's annoying to get to lol

 

[james foster]

I have a 2013 1.8L sonic and it has the same issues. If I drive under 70mph it runs well but if I work it hard it blows smoke and goes through at least 1/2 a quart of oil. These engines run with an internal vacuum. If for any reason there is a leak you have a problem. The dip stick and oil cap both have "O" rings to help maintain the vacuum. I think my engine has a leak but I can't find it. Yours may too.

 

[Growlith1223]

I have a 2013 1.8L sonic and it has the same issues. If I drive under 70mph it runs well but if I work it hard it blows smoke and goes through at least 1/2 a quart of oil. These engines run with an internal vacuum. If for any reason there is a leak you have a problem. The dip stick and oil cap both have "O" rings to help maintain the vacuum. I think my engine has a leak but I can't find it. Yours may too.

i don't think that would be it but i've also dealt with this issue for the last 2 years and nothing i've done has seemingly made any improvement on my whole situation with this car so honestly, im open to ideas! I don't necessarily have the time to dismantle the whole freakin thing head and all right now but im open to trying other things if anyone has any ideas! I can try and replace the o-rings on the oil cap and dipstick tomorrow and reply back with results in a couple days, i do know the oil cap has a slight amount of play even when tightened? i don't know if that's by design though. to be fair until i started driving anything a couple years ago, i knew nothing except how to change brake pads lmao

 

[Growlith1223]

K, after a month i bring news. whether it's good news or bad is up to you, but it's news nonetheless. So a few days ago, it finally started having an issue where at idle, it would sit there and misfire heavily on Cylinder 3. replaced spark plugs, nothing. replaced coil pack, nothing. I then done a compression test to check if anything was wrong and sure enough...

Cylinder 1 - 195 psi
Cylinder 2 - 205 psi
Cylinder 3 - 90 psi
Cylinder 4 - 200 psi

My first thought was i definitely damaged the head gasket, so i said screw it and used a couple vacation days from work and took the entire head off, which... i'm going to be honest was not as bad as i thought it was going to be, unironically. after taking the head off, i found that all 4 cylinders had an insane amount of carbon build up with cylinder 3 having less than others. Checked the old head gasket and it was pretty dilapidated but there were no like, tears? regardless, i didn't see anything out of the ordinary in either the head or block. there was no scoring on the inside of the chambers, worry #1... the piston heads didn't have any damage other than the carbon which i cleaned to the best of my ability(which isn't much)

I put everything back together, and it would crank, but there was a loud clicking going on which me being dumb forgot to tighten down the exhaust manifold all the way, afterwards the clicking went away, but then i started hearing a knock... heart attack started to set in, and for the next 2 days stressing about the knocking, it wasn't like a rod knock, it was top-end but still! I eventually came across videos of people doing the same thing and then found that in the camshaft sprockets there's these little black dowels that go in there, and at the time of putting everything back together, they weren't in there. sure enough, around where i sat the head down, those little dowels fell out... so i put them back in and the knocking went away. now, i keep getting a P0017 code, Camshaft Bank 1 Sensor B timing correlation. now, i made sure everything was locked. timing is good, i've redone the timing so many freaking times now. i've checked the crank, and there's nothing wrong, but this p0017 code keeps coming up! I have messed around with this car for the last 2 days again and refuse to drive it until i can figure it out because i don't trust it. the ONLY thing i can think of is maybe i got the sensor dirty or something? it idles a little rough, like small shakes every once in a while but nothing crazy. I do know that there were these little valleys in the camshaft crankcase that had small bits of sludge still and i cleaned them out, and yes, i've done an oil change on it. i also renewed the coolant and everything. if anyone has any ideas that would be great.

One thing i noticed is that the exhaust side camshaft is like... off ever so slightly compared to the intake?? like, i have to physically rotate the exhaust camshaft clockwise by like.... a degree to get the locking tool in place to keep them both in place, maybe that has something to do with it...?

 

[imills001]

I rebuild the motor in my son's 2013 Sonic LT earlier this year and to my great disappointment, had this same issue which I son term "smoke screen mode". Long story short, turned out to be bad valve stem seals. While the head was out, for the 2nd time this year, and in addition to some quality valve stem seals (FELPRO SS 72931) I replaced the exhaust valves and, at the recommendation of the machine shop that did the head work, the exhaust valve guides. The motor finally run like it should with no "smoke screen mode". Hope this helps someone else.

 

[Z71]

These compression readings are way high for a naturally aspirated gas motor with normal compression ratio. They should be closer to 140 or 150 psi in each cylinder based on my experience with many gasoline engines with 8.5:1 compression ratio or slightly above. If they are this high, this indicates serious carbon buildup on tops of pistons and this would definitely cause preignition once the engine gets hot. Using higher octane gas will help control the pre ignition temporarily, but the carbon should be removed for permanent fix. Replacing spark plugs and/or ignition coil will do nothing to fix this problem. GM used to sell "Top engine cleaner" which was great to use with carbureted engines. You would pour the liquid chemical slowly into the carburetor and it would effectively remove the carbon from the tops of pistons and this was evidenced by clouds of smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I actually successfully used this product years ago on my 1983 Pontiac Bonneville with a 305 cu in (5.0 liter) V8 engine which had serious carbon buildup on tops of pistons and associated high compression in each cylinder. With fuel injected cars a pressurized canister cleaner would be required but it is worth asking a GM dealer if they have such a product and if they provide carbon removing service using such a product.

 

[Growlith1223]

These compression readings are way high for a naturally aspirated gas motor with normal compression ratio. They should be closer to 140 or 150 psi in each cylinder based on my experience with many gasoline engines with 8.5:1 compression ratio or slightly above. If they are this high, this indicates serious carbon buildup on tops of pistons and this would definitely cause preignition once the engine gets hot. Using higher octane gas will help control the pre ignition temporarily, but the carbon should be removed for permanent fix. Replacing spark plugs and/or ignition coil will do nothing to fix this problem. GM used to sell "Top engine cleaner" which was great to use with carbureted engines. You would pour the liquid chemical slowly into the carburetor and it would effectively remove the carbon from the tops of pistons and this was evidenced by clouds of smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I actually successfully used this product years ago on my 1983 Pontiac Bonneville with a 305 cu in (5.0 liter) V8 engine which had serious carbon buildup on tops of pistons and associated high compression in each cylinder. With fuel injected cars a pressurized canister cleaner would be required but it is worth asking a GM dealer if they have such a product and if they provide carbon removing service using such a product.

this would make sense if it was a 8.5 compression ratio engine, the 1.8l is 10.5:1 lol. regardless i unfortunately had to trade it in, i couldn't deal with the issues anymore.

 

[reil1503]

The same thing happened to me last night well going 70 on the freeway I just got this car from a used car dealership. I don't even want to drive it. It park at my house and will be taking it back to the dealer on Monday morning. On paper I have only had this car 11 days. I going to ask them to give me a different car I work 7 days a week and can not be dealing with this issue. This information that everyone has provide make me know that I'm not the only one this has happened to with this car.