Turbo Problems

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

I have a 2013 sonic LT 1.4t automatic. Only mod I have is an injen intake. My turbo intermittently cuts out. It will be fine for a week straight and then it will have a random bad day and the car will have a hard time accelerating. When it happens, I will make the car downshift and it will start working again for 20 minutes or so until it cuts out again. This has been happening for a couple months now. Even though this happens quite often now and my car just doesn't feel like it has the performance it once did, I never get any underboost lights or anything whatsoever. No lights or codes ever. I'm going to call the dealer sometime in the next couple days but does anyone else's turbo randomly cut out without causing any codes or lights on their dash? I wonder if I were to put the stock intake back on if I would get the underboost code everyone else gets. I think I'm going to try it tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

Hey there,

Very sorry for these concerns with your Sonic. If you need any additional assistance into the dealership, please let me know in a private message. Be sure to provide your VIN, current mileage, contact information and your preferred dealership.

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[PocketRocket]

Unplugged battery for half hour and see what happens

I shall give that a try this weekend. Standby

 

[Eric Smit]

what octane fuel do you use?

 

[PocketRocket]

what octane fuel do you use?

91 octane from shell stations only. We don't have 93 here in Vegas so 91 is what I'm forced to use. I've always wanted to try adding some octane booster and see if that makes a difference

So what exactly is disconnecting the battery supposed to do?
Will the computer accommodate the extra air from the intake and run better?

 

[Eric Smit]

resetting the computer is accomplished by unplugging the battery.

 

[PocketRocket]

I disconnected the battery. The car seems to run smoother. My car will usually have a little pressure release sound right around 3000rpm. And now its not doing it. So hopefully that was a simple fix. I still have to go to the dealer and get my emissions sticker replaced and I guess theres a software update of some sort I need to get. Think I should put my stock intake on before I go to the dealer? I want to change my muffler and make the car just slightly louder too. Any suggestions on a muffler that gives a deeper noise?

 

[Frizodanizzo]

Little late

I disconnected the battery. The car seems to run smoother. My car will usually have a little pressure release sound right around 3000rpm. And now its not doing it. So hopefully that was a simple fix. I still have to go to the dealer and get my emissions sticker replaced and I guess theres a software update of some sort I need to get. Think I should put my stock intake on before I go to the dealer? I want to change my muffler and make the car just slightly louder too. Any suggestions on a muffler that gives a deeper noise?

Little late but I just took the muffler off had a double wall tip and pipe put in its place. Sounds really nice not overly loud deep tone and can hear the turbo some through it.

 

[Bondy]

I get the P0299 cell once in a while. I'm tuned with trifecta budget tune.

Once the CEL triggers it only gives me 5 to 6 psi boost.
I always reset it with the ultraguage and it goes back to normal tuned boost levels.

 

[imahog317]

I have replaced the turbo with a new oem turbo but I am still getting a p0299. Any suggestions? I have 265,000 miles on the old turbo but only about 6 miles on the new turbo.

 

[JesusTheAgnostic]

I have replaced the turbo with a new oem turbo but I am still getting a p0299. Any suggestions? I have 265,000 miles on the old turbo but only about 6 miles on the new turbo.

You had 256k miles on your old turbo? As in on your engine as well? When I got the P0299 underboost code it was the broken PCV. Have you checked the little disk on top of the engine? Remove the coil cover with the engine running and put your finger up to the little hole on the disk if it sucks you need to replace the entire "valve" cover. The whole black part on top. If not then I'd say make sure everything is plugged in and connected right.

 

[Llia]

Remove the coil cover with the engine running and put your finger up to the little hole on the disk if it sucks you need to replace the entire "valve" cover..

So there is supposed to be a hole on that black disk? My disk looks sealed.

 

[Stew]

It's normally closed off. The vent port is to allow the diaphragm to move throughout its range of movement freely, if it was sealed the air trapped behind the diaphragm would act like a spring and add resistance to its movement. When the rubber diaphragm material fatigues enough to split you then get PCV gasses escaping in/out of this new path of least resistance.

 

[imahog317]

Sorry for the slow response. I am not on here a lot. I am too busy driving.... Yes I had 256K on my original turbo when I replaced it. I now have 285K on yet the original motor but replaced turbo!!

 

[JesusTheAgnostic]

So there is supposed to be a hole on that black disk? My disk looks sealed.

Sorry! I barely saw this, yeah there should be kind of like a tip with a hole in it, if it sucks air in the cover needs replacing. Happens around 40k on the early 1.4's from what I can tell, I think they re engineered it after that so it fails less.