# 10 days of ownership and already having problems



## player52 (Apr 8, 2015)

I bought my cruze on 4/7/15 and everything was running absolutely beautifully until this morning on my way home from work. I pull out of work and stop at the red light which is less than 500 yards from my work parking lot and see a "AC off due to high temperature" (car wasn't on for anything over 5 minutes). i pull into a BP gas station and scroll thru the DIC for coolant engine temp and i see nothing so i pop the hood and check the coolant and look around for leaks and nothing. i let it idle for about 3 minutes and my coolant gauge on the dash was not moving at all and neither was the coolant temp on DIC. called onstar and had them tow it to the closes GM dealer which is literally 15 feet from the BP gas station. the tow truck driver wouldn't give me a ride home since i work in a different county from where i live and i had to call a taxi. disappointed i haven't even gotten my paperwork for my plates yet and im already getting it serviced and i just shelled out 90 bucks on a taxi just to get home. since its Sunday and the dealership is closed i have to wait till Monday morning for a rental and not to mention i have to rent a car to get to work tonight since none of my co workers live anywhere near me. :angry::angry:

EDIT: its actually 12 days of ownership but i couldn't fix the typo on my phone for some reason.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

Well it is a 2012 with 30,000 miles on it. I had a one day old new 2014 CRUZE that failed on day 2


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## danielp23 (May 14, 2013)

Most likely low coolant


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Eddy Cruze said:


> Well it is a 2012 with 30,000 miles on it. I had a one day old new 2014 CRUZE that failed on day 2


Dang Eddy has Jokes ... now me I would just kept driving ..went about me day . yapped about the dang message on here like that OP with the RDS message .. OH and No tow truck driver would be abandoning me on a Highway .. 

Dear OP ..Read your Owners Manual ! 
Where in that does it state that you have to be left on the curb and catch a cab because you can read a message about your AC being switched off do to high temps ... 
Now don't get me wrong , but now and then technology sucks and ya just have to limp along until you know better .. 
and I do think this topic has been discussed thuroughly in the past here with enough input to advise any some ones out there with this issue , until present ...


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## CruzeTech (Mar 23, 2012)

All newer GMs come with towing.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

CruzeTech said:


> All newer GMs come with towing.


OP didn't state it, but it's a '12 with 30K miles on the clock. Had to look at his latest posts (thanks Eddy) to see what he's talking about. Given his recent join date and number of posts, I'd guess this is a vehicle purchased used. Did it come with an OM? Still, I'd have driven it without AC until it was more convenient for me to get it to someone who could work on it. Bet lunch the surge tank is empty (or nearly so).


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

player52 said:


> I bought my cruze on 4/7/15 and everything was running absolutely beautifully until this morning on my way home from work. I pull out of work and stop at the red light which is less than 500 yards from my work parking lot and see a "AC off due to high temperature" (car wasn't on for anything over 5 minutes). i pull into a BP gas station and scroll thru the DIC for coolant engine temp and i see nothing so i pop the hood and check the coolant and look around for leaks and nothing. i let it idle for about 3 minutes and my coolant gauge on the dash was not moving at all and neither was the coolant temp on DIC. called onstar and had them tow it to the closes GM dealer which is literally 15 feet from the BP gas station. the tow truck driver wouldn't give me a ride home since i work in a different county from where i live and i had to call a taxi. disappointed i haven't even gotten my paperwork for my plates yet and im already getting it serviced and i just shelled out 90 bucks on a taxi just to get home. since its Sunday and the dealership is closed i have to wait till Monday morning for a rental and not to mention i have to rent a car to get to work tonight since none of my co workers live anywhere near me. :angry::angry:
> 
> EDIT: its actually 12 days of ownership but i couldn't fix the typo on my phone for some reason.


Hey Player52, 

We truly apologize for this! If you need any assistance with the dealership, we would be happy to look into this further for you. Feel free to send a private message along with your VIN, current mileage, contact information and a preferred dealership. We look forward to your updates tomorrow! 

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care


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## player52 (Apr 8, 2015)

Eddy Cruze said:


> Well it is a 2012 with 30,000 miles on it. I had a one day old new 2014 CRUZE that failed on day 2


its actually got 66,480 and i hope your cruze is fine now.



danielp23 said:


> Most likely low coolant


that was first thing i checked when i popped the hood and started checking for leaks.



brian v said:


> Dang Eddy has Jokes ...* now me I would just kept driving ..went about me day* . yapped about the dang message on here like that OP with the RDS message .. OH and No tow truck driver would be abandoning me on a Highway ..
> 
> Dear OP ..Read your Owners Manual !
> Where in that does it state that you have to be left on the curb and catch a cab because you can read a message about your AC being switched off do to high temps ...
> ...


personally i didn't want to risk damaging my engine since i know very little about cars and this is my first vehicle so i did not want to risk it so i took the advice from onstar. 



CruzeTech said:


> All newer GMs come with towing.


yeah i know that and the onstar lady told me i'd get a ride home but the tow truck driver did not want to drive 45 minutes to my town guess next time i'll tough it out to the county line.



Jim Frye said:


> OP didn't state it, but it's a '12 with 30K miles on the clock. Had to look at his latest posts (thanks Eddy) to see what he's talking about. Given his recent join date and number of posts, I'd guess this is a vehicle purchased used. * Did it come with an OM?* Still, I'd have driven it without AC until it was more convenient for me to get it to someone who could work on it. * Bet lunch the surge tank is empty (or nearly so)*.


whats the meaning of OM? first time reading this acronym. 

the coolant reservoir was first thing i checked and it was completely full and the onstar lady did a diagnostic and said i had low coolant to which i told her it wasn't and i could email her a picture of it for proof so  she advised me to just turn it off and called me a tow truck instead since the radiator fan was loud enough for her to hear over the intercom. 


i personally love my cruze but this is my first car and i don't want to risk damaging something i know nothing about.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

OM = Owner's Manual. Can't wait to see what caused the overheating message.


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## player52 (Apr 8, 2015)

Jim Frye said:


> OM = Owner's Manual. Can't wait to see what caused the overheating message.


oh yes of course it did but i will agree that im guilty of just reading the parts i cared for and ignored the other stuff. i will let you know what the problem was as soon as im aware of it.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

player52 said:


> the coolant reservoir was first thing i checked and it was completely full and the onstar lady did a diagnostic and said i had low coolant to which i told her it wasn't and i could email her a picture of it for proof so she advised me to just turn it off and called me a tow truck instead since the radiator fan was loud enough for her to hear over the intercom.


My guess is the thermostat died. The coolant temperature is read there. Did GM send the tow truck? If so, once this is declared a warranty claim give them the taxi bill as their contracted tow truck didn't do his job.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Take it from a slightly older old timer. All the new brand new trouble started when some AH, guess what this stands for, got rid of the radiator cap. 

Also use to be design rule where the complete cooling system was lower than the radiator cap. But aerodynamics change all this, now the radiator cap or was is no longer at the highest point. But jacking the front end of the vehicle up so it is at the highest point solves making sure all air pockets are out works.

Use to fill radiators 2" below the caps, not a good idea, air would be in the system accelerating corrosion. Good idea was adding a reservoir for an overfill so the fluid was always to the top of the cap.

Getting rid of that radiator cap and now treating the reservoir or recovery tank as they call it is not a good idea, This piece of plastic is seeing the same pressure with plastic hoses as the internal part of the engine and in the Cruze 20-22 PSI, this is a lot of pressure for plastic increasing the possibility of blowing it losing all of your coolant. Would never happen in a zero pressure reservoir. 

Then that stupid plastic cap with an O-Ring in it, already stated many times, O-Rings have no place in automotive, but does help to coat it with silicone grease to keep it more flexible and get a better seal. And this darn cap is always coming loose. See far better caps on throwaway food jars, and even the SAE suggested that automotive look into the food business for superior materials and seals, but this was only a suggestion.

Just like the EPA suggested to the automotive industry to use better seals and materials to AC systems to prevent so-call hazardous refrigerants from escaping into the atmosphere causing climate change, but again, only a suggestion.

Anyway, the Cruze cooling system is suppose to be a self purging system, other systems used bleeder valves to help prevent air pockets, Cruze doesn't have these. But one thing sure helps is to park your car uphill, doesn't work very well if parked downhill. 

Seems like these cooling systems never leaves the factory, air free, maybe I was lucky, my coolant went down about 3 days later. Figured this was the cause so topped it off, cold with Dex-Cool. Hasn't lost a drop since, but only took Chevy three years, not days to realize this, finally just received a letter to this effect, three years later. 

With road side assistance, first thing you learn is that dealers maintain bankers hours, still paying for my AAA is towing up to 200 miles with no battles. But could have asked, nicely to be towed home to your own dealer. Not for your convenience, but for theirs. 

Ha, I still get tense whenever I drive past my 200 mile limit. The way they make cars today, not one thing, but a million things can go wrong and not exaggerating. Millions of transistors in a microcontroller, and if just one FET fails, you are dead meat.

Ha, you got me started again, not only your problem, we all share this.


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

AH asz whole ........PAH ...........professional asz whole .........I thought now why would these underlings be calling me PAH .. not any more ..

Sir PAH what is that ?


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## Classy56 (Jul 16, 2014)

I'll second the bad thermostat. You probably would have warped the head and blew a head gasket if you tried to drive further. But I'm surprised the gauge didn't peg to "Hot"


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## Vetterin (Mar 27, 2011)

player52 said:


> called onstar and had them tow it to the closes GM dealer which is literally 15 feet from the BP gas station.


:signs053: Tell me you really meant 15 miles.


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## player52 (Apr 8, 2015)

obermd said:


> My guess is the thermostat died. The coolant temperature is read there. Did GM send the tow truck? If so, once this is declared a warranty claim give them the taxi bill as their contracted tow truck didn't do his job.


yeah GM roadside assistance sent the tow truck i will definitely send them the bill now that im aware of this.



NickD said:


> Take it from a slightly older old timer. All the new brand new trouble started when some AH, guess what this stands for, got rid of the radiator cap.
> 
> Also use to be design rule where the complete cooling system was lower than the radiator cap. But aerodynamics change all this, now the radiator cap or was is no longer at the highest point. But jacking the front end of the vehicle up so it is at the highest point solves making sure all air pockets are out works.
> 
> ...


thanks nick i learned something new and i work in the automotive industry making gas tanks for a few major car manufactures and i agree that O-rings (we call them seals) have no place in cars but sometimes the car companies like to save a few extra bucks and go with less than desirable parts.


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## cufarmer (Oct 16, 2014)

It's most likely low coolant (due to H20 evaperation) and an air pocket.
Happened to me twice. One time cost me $800, second time I knew better.


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## player52 (Apr 8, 2015)

cufarmer said:


> It's most likely low coolant (due to H20 evaperation) and an air pocket.
> Happened to me twice. One time cost me $800, second time I knew better.


just got the call from the dealer and it was an engine coolant temperature sensor that was telling the computer my engine was 300 degrees. dealer is telling me its not covered under PT warranty so it'll cost me 195 to get it done. he also did a ECM module recall upgrade


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## SneakerFix (Jul 28, 2013)

player52 said:


> just got the call from the dealer and it was an engine coolant temperature sensor that was telling the computer my engine was 300 degrees. dealer is telling me its not covered under PT warranty so it'll cost me 195 to get it done. he also did a ECM module recall upgrade



if it was that sensor you would have got a check engine light I would hold off on the repair for now to see if it comes back


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## player52 (Apr 8, 2015)

SneakerFix said:


> if it was that sensor you would have got a check engine light I would hold off on the repair for now to see if it comes back


i guess its too late now i already told him to go for it. i will give him the benefit of the doubt and just trust him.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

You've had the car for less than two weeks - were there any sort of warranties with the sale itself or just the remaining factory warranty?


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

How old/how many miles on the car? If under 3years/36K, it's covered by B2B. PT is 5years/100K (unless you got the shorter 60K).


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## player52 (Apr 8, 2015)

obermd said:


> You've had the car for less than two weeks - were there any sort of warranties with the sale itself or just the remaining factory warranty?


yeah the dealer gave me 6 month bumper to bumper so it was covered under their standard warranty and they even offered to refund me my taxi expenses.



ChevyGuy said:


> How old/how many miles on the car? If under 3years/36K, it's covered by B2B. PT is 5years/100K (unless you got the shorter 60K).


its a 2012 with 66,508 (as of right now)


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Thread closed by request; OP's problems taken care of by dealer.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

player52, sounds to me like you have a good dealership. Please keep them and stick around here.


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