2014 Sonic With Failed Turbo

[efultz]

How common is it for the turbo to need to be replaced. My car was having terrible fuel mileage and check engine light came on. I took it to dealer because I thought it might still be under warranty (had $110k miles) and found out I need a new turbo to the tune of $2k

I am living without it and getting less fuel mileage.

Turns out the warranty ran out on this at 80k miles

 

[Disruptfulninja]

I personally have found turbo failure to be very common. I am on my I have had 2 engines, 1 rebuild and 3 turbos in the 98k miles I have put on my car since I bought the car new. Everyone was under warranty except the last turbo. If you have some mechanic abilities and a willingness to rebuild your turbo that can be from $80 to $150. You can get a dorman turbo assembly for about $350 to $400, and put it in yourself. Or even buy the assembly and have a good reputable shop put it in would be less than $2k. Heck you can even pick up an engine and turbo assembly off ebay for about 500 bucks and have a shop put it in for about $2k. But it all depends on what you are willing to do, how long you want the fix to last, quality of parts, etc.

 

[efultz]

If I fix the car I want it to be really fixed - I will have to investigate altlernatives which I did not realize existed

 

[Disruptfulninja]

Where there's a will there's a way. I personally did the cartridge replacement as a "bandaid" fix per say. But that's only because in February I will have my sonic paid off and plan on spending the money I will be saving in a car payment and putting it into the car itself. At that time I will be replacing the turbo with either a bnr gtx250 or a larger turbo, along with an engine rebuild with new internals and many other upgrades. I truly believe the 1.4t is a great platform for really anyone to work on. It's a fairly simple design, with a few drawback, but there are many documented fixes for the known issues. I plan on keeping this car until it's either totaled or parts become unavailable lol.

 

[skurtov]

Turbos do not go often. It's often misdiagnosed from PCV failure. Read into my common Sonic problems through my thread in my profile.

 

[Manie Booyjens]

I had a cracked waist gate seat on my Sonic at 140 000 km.

 

[SillySonic]

2k sounds really high. I would take it to a different shop.

Personally, I just put in the Doorman turbo yesterday. It requires time and a lot of patience. Turbo cost me $450, 2 oil lines $70, and 2 water lines and ends $70.

Let me know if you have any questions changing the turbo. With bad lines and other issues I took it out and put it in 3x.

If your reading the Cruze forum it is a little different.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JJP]

I personally have found turbo failure to be very common. I am on my I have had 2 engines, 1 rebuild and 3 turbos in the 98k miles I have put on my car since I bought the car new. ...

Why are you burning thru turbos so quickly, that's like 30K miles or less each?

Is this vehicle engine that unreliable?

I'd like to know before buying a Sonic since the 1.4T engine is the only option now and the 1.8 was underwhelming to drive (as a rental)...

 

[efultz]

Very Reliable

I feel the Sonic is very reliable. The Turbo going is the first truly high-priced issue I have encountered. I love the car and wish I had the money to fix the Turbo because without it my fuel mileage stinks.

The only other things I have are (which I consider normal)
cruise control switch but I have over 114k miles and I use the cruise control heavily so it was expected.
sun visor on driver side - the clip part broke (which I still have to fix) and the little cover over the mirror broke - again both items get lots of use.
floor mat on drive side is worn out (from my foot while sitting on gas pedal)

I have driven this on long trips, on lengthy commutes (with heavy traffic). I would recommend Sonic to people without hesitation. This is actually my second as we traded in a 2012 for a 2014 (because we got a good deal)

 

[JJP]

I feel the Sonic is very reliable. The Turbo going is the first truly high-priced issue I have encountered. I love the car and wish I had the money to fix the Turbo because without it my fuel mileage stinks.

The only other things I have are (which I consider normal)
cruise control switch but I have over 114k miles and I use the cruise control heavily so it was expected.
sun visor on driver side - the clip part broke (which I still have to fix) and the little cover over the mirror broke - again both items get lots of use.
floor mat on drive side is worn out (from my foot while sitting on gas pedal)

I have driven this on long trips, on lengthy commutes (with heavy traffic). I would recommend Sonic to people without hesitation. This is actually my second as we traded in a 2012 for a 2014 (because we got a good deal)

Thank you for the update on your experiences, most appreciated!

 

[BigLee]

I have over 134K miles on my original turbocharger,
still going strong.
I believe that keeping on top of maintenance (oil changes)
is critical to keeping the turbo's bearings alive.
I've also reduced engine operating temperature, which probably helps with heat soak issues after shutdown.
I also removed the heat shield from the turbo, which probably helps to keep more airflow across the turbo as well.
In the past couple of years, I have also started changing the oil twice as often as the OLM recomends.
When the OLM reaches around 50%, I change the oil only, and when it reaches around 0%, I change the oil and filter.

 

[JJP]

Thank you, how do you reduce the engine ops temps?

Would you also recommend a turbo timer to be installed?

 

[Maddmatts]

The turbo's bearing housing is cooled by engine coolant, so a turbo timer isn't really necessary. If you're really worried, just let the engine idle a few seconds before shutdown.

Reducing engine temp requires either reprogramming the engine computer or modifying a thermostat housing to accept old style thermostats.

 

[BigLee]

I agree that letting it idle for a short time is fine.
But, there is an alternative to modifying the thermostat
to take an old style.
The Dorman 902-2080 will allow ~176°F operation in warmer weather, and ~178-183° in colder weater.
It can be had for as little as $40 from Ebay.
Its basically the same as the stock thermostat, except for the operating temp, and the housing doesnt have the heater hose provision on it.
It also keeps the heating element.
You'll have to swap the the guts of the new thermostat into your original housing, but that takes about 5 minutes.
DO NOT buy any other brand than this Dorman number.
Some have tried the Motorad version, but it's made slightly differently, and it wont swap into the original housing.

 

[BigLee]

And apparently, this Dorman thermostat is made by the same company in the Czech Republic that makes the stock thermostats for GM/ACDelco...