5000 mile service, list of things to have checked..

[robinsonmac]

8 AM drop for 5000 mile service & I have a list of items to be checked. They are; grinding into reverse, sputtering or misfiring, more than usual loss of power with AC on, crappy gas mileage & the return of brake chatter. oh and the AC vents above the radio have started to chirp like a bird and the drivers side wind noise has increased.....

 

[mitdr774]

I have only had the reverse grind when I was not at a complete stop before putting it in reverse. Be prepared for them to NPF that issue. I do not believe that reverse has a synchroniser on it (most transmissions from my experience do not) and as a result any forward movement will make it not want to engage reverse.

 

[robinsonmac]

Thought of that, still does it with foot on brake & parking brake on. It been documented by others on this forum. Hope they figure it out.

 

[Leverus]

Good luck man. My last dealer said they couldn't reproduce my reverse issue and claimed that even if it was indeed grinding, it was probably because the car isn't broken in yet(?!). They also couldn't reproduce the random rare loss of power I've experienced both with the AC on and once without. To be fair about that last one it's happened to me only a handful of times so I'm stumped too.

Edit: Just want to add that putting it in forward gear before reverse seems to help it get into reverse a bit easier. At least one person from the thread about the issue said it doesn't work 100% of the time, but I've had luck so far.

 

[TheFallenAngel12]

8 AM drop for 5000 mile service & I have a list of items to be checked. They are; grinding into reverse, sputtering or misfiring, more than usual loss of power with AC on, crappy gas mileage & the return of brake chatter. oh and the AC vents above the radio have started to chirp like a bird and the drivers side wind noise has increased.....

Just want to Give you some helpful advice towards your A/c Problem your experiencing. I had the same problem of my car bogging and so forth, gears not shifting when they were suppose to and so on. I firmly believe the reason for these happening is simply because the stock Air Intake system is just purely too restrictive. more than most other stock units.

To help you out and solve some the the problems if not all concerning the A/c loss of power and gears sticking, and crappy gas mileage... Do this simple fix. Will require spending a little money but well worth it! Buy the K&N Air Filter for the stock box. Install it and you will be amazed at how much of an improvemnet that makes on this car. I have a DIY Thread showing you step by step how to change it in the DIY Section.

Since installing the K&N Air Filter in my Sonic, I have noticed improved Acceleration, Does not bogg anymore, Gears shift when there suppose to and dont stick hardly ever. If they do, just simply ease off the gas slightly as it hits the top of the rpms of each gear and then ease back on and it will make the transmission shift to the next gear (If you have the automatic). I have seen a huge improvement in gas mileage on my sonic. I went from using 3/4ths of a tank in one week to barely 1/2 a tank in a weeks time. and that was with some aggressive driving during that period too. So if you do it right you can have alot of improvements just with a change of the stock air filter to the K&N air Filter. Sounds odd and unlikely, but it does work. I know of 3 other people that have done this and have seen improvements in a weeks time with there sonics by just changing out the stock air filter with the K&N Filter.

Hope this helps you out. Best of luck with your sonic! I have the 1.8 LT2 Sedan for reference.

 

[sonic_bob]

I have a DIY Thread showing you step by step how to change it in the DIY Section.

I can't find the thread; is this the stock box filter or high performance filter?

 

[Leverus]

I can't find the thread; is this the stock box filter or high performance filter?

http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/t3597/

I plan on doing that as soon as I have spare cash.

 

[sonic_bob]

Thanks for posting the link, and although I want to believe you and have no reason not to. I just have a hard time understanding how changing a new clean stock air filter with the K&N filter would have a significant difference, OK, well maybe a little better; like 2% better. If Chevy was trying to eck out every mpg and performance from the Sonic; why would they settle on a crappy air filter. Even GM isn't that dumb.

 

[Leverus]

I'm not sure how much it'll change the way my Sonic drives but I figure it's worth a try. People have posted that changing the filter does help a little bit, and there's definitely a reason aftermarket filters exist. I assume if the stock filter is poor it's more due to cheapness than GM being dumb.

 

[Luv2xlr8]

Have you seen the filter thats on your stock air box how restricted it is? Put it up against a light and you will see. I'm actually thinking taking my car to DaSilva Racing and getting it dyno'ed before and after to see the comparison.

 

[SuperFudd]

Wouldn't removing the filter temporarily confirm that installing a less restrictive filter would help?