# 2016 Cruze. Recall failures?



## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

I have a 2016 Cruze. In 2018 we had the 17119 water intrusion into battery tub and 16147 center high lamp water leak recalls supposedly completed at our local Chevrolet dealership in GA. Last week the car battery apparently died. It was 10 hours away in Florida with my daughter. We got to her house on Thursday and Friday we were able to get into the trunk and found water in the battery box. We had it towed to the dealership in Florida near her and they informed me the damage will cost us $1900. I thought the recalls were supposed to stop the leaks and the battery drains were supposed to prevent the box from filling up with water. I'm beyond angry at this point since the service person states it wasn't leaking from the high mount lamp, but two or three other places. What the heck! This is a four year old car. Why is it leaking? My thought is, even if the leaks are coming from another location, shouldn't the battery box replacement drains have prevented the water from accumulating in the battery box and destroying the battery and the control module with fuses in the same box? Am I wrong in my thinking that this should be on Chevy to cover? Please offer advise, I'm beyond stumped.


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## Carminooch (Mar 23, 2018)

You’re completely right to feel that Chevy could cover this. Absolutely refuse to pay, call GM customer care and see if they can push the case. That’s abhorrent, I’m sorry you’re experiencing the runaround.

I’ve had 4 dealerships jerk me around with no solution, the Chevy dealership experience for me has been excruciatingly terrible. I wish you the best of luck, keep us informed


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Did you see if the recall was actually performed. That should be in the system and a receipt would be printed out. 

They did mine and I knew nothing about it.. I got a receipt.


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## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

Yes. I had it in for something unrelated and they "Supposedly" did the recall. It's on my receipt.


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

What are they having to replace for $1900?


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## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

All the components in the trunk and the battery. And fix the supposed leaks not related to the rear head lamp assembly. Which I'm doubtful exist.


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

Obviously there is a leak somewhere. By law dealerships are required to perform recalls. What else did they say was leaking?


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## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

We had already had the battery box and rear head lamp recalls done in March 2018. I'm not sure where the leaks could possibly be on a car that's just approaching 4 years old. Apparently there are two or three leaks, not really sure where and the battery box recall which was supposed to prevent water from filling the box failed to perform as required. So I'm very sceptical as to whether or not the recalls were actually done in 2018 by the dealership or they just said they did them.


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## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

So the latest is the car is running but there was a lot of water in it. Under the seat and such. Two leaks were found, one was the lamp and another was a valve. Anyway, even though the car is running, now there is a check engine light on and they want an additional $900 to check through the electrical system. $900? Can't they put a code reader on it and get a code? I'm beyond frustrated. The car is 10 1/2 hours away in Florida. Ugh! Can't trust these dealership's. Such a shame.


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

SuzieQ64 said:


> So the latest is the car is running but there was a lot of water in it. Under the seat and such. Two leaks were found, one was the lamp and another was a valve. Anyway, even though the car is running, now there is a check engine light on and they want an additional $900 to check through the electrical system. $900? Can't they put a code reader on it and get a code? I'm beyond frustrated. The car is 10 1/2 hours away in Florida. Ugh! Can't trust these dealership's. Such a shame.


That's the misconception most people have with automotive diagnostics. Trouble codes are only a starting point in diagnostics. 99% of the time, a trouble code will NOT tell a technician exactly what the problem is; LET ALONE tell them how to fix it. When someone pays for diagnostics, what they are paying for is a technician's knowledge and ability to solve a problem that they themselves don't have the knowledge and/or the ability to fix.


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## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

So now the dealership service says because there was so much water in the car it must have been in a flood. Seriously! We drove the car from GA to Florida on July 30th to move my daughter into a condo for Grad school. She's only driven it to go to class once a week and usually combines the trip with a grocery store run. Car was running fine up until a week ago when we though the battery had died. It has not been in a flood and she had not driven through any deep puddles. Apparently there was a lot of water under the rear seat. There was rain, but it always rains in Florida. The service manager keeps telling me the water leaking into the car was not from the recall on the rear break lamp that was fixed, which is one of the places it was leaking from, or the fact that the battery box that should have drained but didn't were not part of the problem. I'm beyond pissed. We got into the trunk and I noticed the water. We pulled everything out and noticed water in the battery box. We sucked the water out with a shop vac and let it dry overnight. Unfortunately, it rained overnight and there was a significant amount of water in the box again. I did finally hear back from both the Service manager and customer care manager. They will look at the car tomorrow and see what else is going on. My poor daughter is stranded down in south florida with no car and you can't even rent one if your under age 26. Crazy crap!


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## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

JLL said:


> That's the misconception most people have with automotive diagnostics. Trouble codes are only a starting point in diagnostics. 99% of the time, a trouble code will NOT tell a technician exactly what the problem is; LET ALONE tell them how to fix it. When someone pays for diagnostics, what they are paying for is a technician's knowledge and ability to solve a problem that they themselves don't have the knowledge and/or the ability to fix.


I do understand that. I took auto mechanics and my husband does most of our car repairs. We also have a mechanic across the street. We've only had one occasion using the code reader where it failed to help us fix the problem. Car ended up needing a new engine due. That was a 2008 Chevy Cobalt. Crap cars.


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

How Ironic. I had a 2008 Cobalt also. It was a great car. I owned it since new. 10 years and 170,000 miles until it was rear ended. I'm a big believer of: If you care enough to take care of the car, it'll take car of you. But It's all a matter of perspective. If you believe that the cars that you choose to drive are crap, you'll never be happy with any car you own.


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## SuzieQ64 (Oct 13, 2020)

We bought the Cobalt from a friend who was the original owner in 2014. We've also got a 2001 Isuzu Rodeo with over 300,000 miles. Only had to replace the transmission at 280,000. It won't pass emissions in our county so it's no longer running. I just would not expect this magnitude of problems with a 4 year old car with low miles.


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