2009 Chevrolet Aveo
ecotec2009
Member Posts: 17
in Chevrolet
Does anyone know how to change/replace the spark plugs on a 2009 Chevy Aveo LS Sedan, manual front wheel drive?
Problem I am having is trying to figure out how to remove or take the black plastic "Ecotec" cover off of the the top of the engine so I can get to the spark plugs below this cover. Anyone with advice, knowledge or experience doing this please reply.
Problem I am having is trying to figure out how to remove or take the black plastic "Ecotec" cover off of the the top of the engine so I can get to the spark plugs below this cover. Anyone with advice, knowledge or experience doing this please reply.
Tagged:
0
Comments
I don't want to pollute the board here with garbage but I wanted to share my wonderful experience I've had with my new car. I bought an 09 Aveo - brand new with 13 miles on it - in September of last year. I had wore out my first ever car which was a 96 Pontiac Sunfire that was bright red with red interior dash and red seats. I loved that car but it was time for a new one. That Sunfire had been great to me and I just had to do routine maintenance on it for the 12 years I had it.
So, being so used to not having a car payment, I go for a new inexpensive car with supposedly good gas mileage in the Chevy Aveo. Price was right at $12,500 fully loaded after my other cars were factored in the trade. Ever since I got it the car has not got over 23 mpg - city or highway. They told me I was probably just a bit hard on it but even to its dying day I could still get over 30 mpg city on my old Sunfire. I have just accepted the fact that it doesn't get the gas mileage I thought and that's disappointing for such a small car.
Anyway, about a month ago driving to the golf course going down the interstate my friend looked over and said holy crap I think your car blew up. I had no idea what he was talking about and he pointed to the speedometer which was sitting on the big zero. It took a second to register with me but I said well the car is running fine and then it shot up to 120 and then to 70 - the speed I was actually running. I thought, "well that's pretty weird. Better have it checked out." I set up an appointment and the car kept doing it over the next couple of days before I got it into the dealership where I bought the car. They worked on it for 3 hours and told me that the battery was a little low and it just wasn't sending enough volts to make the speedometer work right.
Ok, that wasn't so bad. Well, the next day it starts doing it again. So, I call the service department and take it back in. They run a sweep test on the car and it failed it immediately. So they keep my car for 3 days and put a brand new gauge cluster in the car. They said that the gauge was bad and that's what was causing the problem. Ok, no big deal. I get the car back at 5:00 on Friday afternoon right as they closed. I got about halfway home and the stinking car done it again. I go back in there bring and early Monday morning and they are shocked to see me. I tell them that its still doing it and I want them to fix it. They put me in a rental car that Chevy is paying for and say they will have to do some extensive testing on it.
This was 2 weeks ago today when it went back in. Friday of the first week the service guy calls me and says that all the tests are pointing to the ECM of the car being torn up causing the speedometer to go haywire. Oh, did I mention the OnStar is out too? I discovered that about the same time this other thing started happening and they are supposedly putting a new OnStar system in it too. Anyway, he said that he had ordered the new computer and it should be in Friday and my car should be ready last Monday. Tuesday rolls around and I still haven't heard anything so I call back. The guy said well now Chevy is saying they want us to run more tests that they aren't sure its the ECM. Staying patient with them I said fine lets get it fixed.
Friday rolls around last week and the service manager calls me back and says well we have ran all of these tests and it still points to the ECM. He said he ordered another one Wednesday and Chevy called him Thursday and said they weren't going to send it. He said instead they are insisting on replacing the gauge cluster again that they think its torn up. Still calm because I know its not his fault personally I said what in the heck is going on? I said I had the new gauge 5 minutes before it tore up now c'mon its not the gauge. He said he can only do what Chevy tells him to do that his hands are tied. He said he agreed with me. But then the absolute biggest KICKER of all is that he said the gauge cluster was on back order and he didn't expect to get one until AT LEAST late this week. I said great so I am paying for a car I'm not even driving. I said then the frigging gauge will tear up again and then you will have to run these tests again and then we will be right back where we started 2 weeks ago. He said I am about dead sure its the ECM and its not the gauge but I have to replace it again right now and now that part is on back order.
So, I go in there Friday afternoon to talk to a manager since that's where I got my car. I was very nice to him and he was cordial back to my wife and I. He said he understood our frustrations and was going to call Chevy himself and try to get something done quicker. All I want is them to do something about this. I've had that car in there now 3 times for the same thing and they can't get it fixed. Now Chevy won't even send the ECM to fix it even though that is what the service department keeps ordering for my car.
Thee service manager told me that he honestly thought they won't replace that ECM until its the very last resort because it costs them so much to replace it. I said well its costing them $120 a day on this Enterprise car rental that I've had a couple of weeks now.
Just frustrated beyond belief at this point. I never expected a brand new car with less than 5,000 miles to have so many problems so soon. I hope I haven't got a lemon for life. To anyone that read this entire novel pat yourself on the back. Sorry it was so long.
5/13/09
I've talked to the finance manager again today. He said he's 99.9% sure that GM has agreed after "review" of my car problems to go ahead and change out the ECM. (Find out later they agreed to replace it because the 2nd replacement gauge cluster came in and it was bad as well)
5/20/09
Update!
I call yesterday to see where they were with it. The service manager says good news and bad news......
He said the good news was that they got the new ECM and got it installed yesterday in the car.
Then he turns around and tells me the bad news. After they "booted" the ECM up after installing it the ECM proceeded to wipe itself clean out. I said well what are you going to do about that then? He said honestly I'm at a complete loss. I've never seen anything like this. We can't program your car no matter what we try to do the ECM just keeps wiping itself clean. So now that's twice my car has done things they have never seen before. He said that it had just happened 30 minutes ago and they were all trying to figure out what in the world is going on. So I said well I'll get back in touch tomorrow.
I think I'm going to go back up there and ask for my two old cars back. I know 8 months removed they are probably looooooong gone by now. But I'm going to say then replace it with something comparable - pay this piece of crap off - and we'll be done. Now that my wife has a new car for herself I don't have to have a new one anyway. And quite fran
Went back today to talk to the service manager. He says he's been on the phone with lead engineers at GM. Apparently there are 4 other cars (all 09 Aveo's like mine) that are having the same problem across America. He is saying that GM is saying that there is a major problem with the coding. So he's telling me the ECM is not bad rather the computer code is so messed up that it won't read it correctly. He said have you ever heard of bricking a cell phone or something? I said sure you mess something up and its as good as a brick. He said well your car is a brick right now - it can't be programmed. And there are 4 other cars across the US that can't be programmed either. But he assures me that the lead GM engineers are on this problem because he thinks that this could be a widespread problem on 09 Aveo's and others just aren't having the symptoms yet. So GM is working, as he said, quadruple time to get the programming fixed in this car because alot more of them could start coming back for the same problem. And as of right now they don't have a solution to the problem.
I think that GM should just give me a new car. If Aveo's are having that big of a problem give me a Cobalt for the same price and call it a fair trade. I can't imagine how you could have such a fatal programming error in such a car. Its blowing my mind really. The service guy said he would call me back tomorrow because he says GM is now well aware of a problem since its happening to several other cars at the same time so they are trying to fix it ASAP. What it does now is once you try to do a reprogram it bricks your entire car. He said they can't even get my car to fire anymore that they just roll it around.
Its almost becoming comical.........almost.
End of rant but just thought I'd share this for amusement purposes.
Buying an inexpensive, but poor quality vehicle such as the Aveo is not a great idea. I dread seeing what I get for this thing when I go to sell at the end of the warranty period in the fall. GM customer service, thus far, has not inspired me to continue my LONG relationship with that company in the future.
I've read reports of poor gas mileage and suspect these Aveo's are automatics with the a/c running full blast all the time. I've also read reports of electrical issues for 2007-09, but my car has been perfect.
They are going to look into it further and get back to me.
How did it turn out for you in the end?
I made GM repurchase the vehicle. They wanted to do a repurchase/replacement but I didn't want anything to do with it. See, in their grand wisdom, GM makes you pay FULL MSRP for the price of the new car you are getting. Since you can readily get cars anywhere from $1,000-$2,500 under MSRP any day of the week I wouldn't do it.
In the end we worked out a deal where I paid HALF price usage on the car. The usage fees they charge are 27.5 cents/mile. I got him to cut that in half. That made me go from owing them $1,800 worth of usage to $900. Then, they factored in how much I had paid and took some other crap off of it and we wound up getting a check for $250 or something in the end. Yes, we technically paid them $900 usage but after they ran the numbers and subtracted some other things on the original deal it came out in our favor.
I would go the route I went if I were anyone else having these problems. You have to fuss, cuss, fight, and get down to their level but you CAN talk them into something like this if you stick with it. They tried fixing my car many times though and never could get it fixed so I did have that working for me. However, by law, all they had to do was replace the Aveo with another Aveo. And even then they were going to charge me FULL PRICE on the replacement Aveo so with the Aveo prices going up I would have had a higher car payment and more financed.
I am done with GM/Chevy. Once we got that out from under us we went and got a 2009 Nissan Sentra with the Sports Package. It was $20,000 sticker at the dealership but we got the $2,500 rebate, he lowered the price a little more than that, and we took a dealer car with 1,000 miles and walked out of there with a brand new Sentra financed for under $16,000 and a lower payment than on the Aveo. Oh, and this car is hundreds of times nicer, more comfy, much better looking, and gets 34-38 MPG.
Get out of the Aveo if you can - I still don't think they have figured out how to fix the issue I - and now looks like you - are having.
Interestingly, they have had a 2009 Aveo 4dr sedan in there for a month with the same problem. They have been good about it and I hope to "expedite" the repair by asking for a loaner car. Hopefully, that cost to them will speed things up.
It's a shame, I really like the car (less than 1K since 7/24). I was getting 28.5 in town. Guess we'll have to see what transpires. Keep you all posted.
Ron
Ron
I have just been having the same problems for year now, it comes and it goes. Dealer has been very good trying to fix it, but partial success so far. Took to dealer now 3 times, First they have taken off the plastic trim piece under the windshield wiper arms now 2 times and put a stick adhesive tape on back side of it to hold it in place against windshield or stop any wind flow under it.
After doing this the first time at dealership, it did improve the noise, it stopped the squeal from coming on the driver side of the front windshield. But still at speeds over 60-65 mph, or in a cross wind blowing 20-30 mph, or when meeting a large semi truck and the air flow it pushed across the Aveo causes the squeal.
Took back second time and took plastic piece off again and they tore off old adhesive tape stick and tried a new different kind and that made another big improvement. BUT still now the squeal or wind noise is very loud and annoying, comes on passenger side right where the front windshield and the passenger side door frame meet just above the front car hood, I can even put my hand on the inside or passenger side door frame and feel it vibrate with noise inside that area, somehow air is getting in through the car and thus making a loud wind noise or high pitched squeal.
3rd time I took it by the dealer, I had noticed upon inspection myself that on the driver side when you open the door, look straight ahead between the front wheel well/side fender and the frame of the car there is a hollow spot that is stuffed with a black foam piece from top to bottom. I noticed on the passenger side, there is no black foam piece at all, it is just empty space and you can see the inside between the side fender well and the frame of engine. Well I thought I had discovered the solution and problem to take and show the dealer. So I show dealer autobody guys, the think it is good idea also, so we then head inside to their parts dept man and he looks it up on computer and shows us that it is normal and how Aveo is built, for some reason the do not include that foam fill piece on passenger side. SO I get the sorry we will not be able to put a piece in there for you and if you want you can go to hardware store, buy your own and put piece of foam in yourself and let us know if it fixes it.
I had just replaced the bad Kumho original tires, about 2-3 days earlier before taking it to the dealer, and the wind noise had stopped. Naturally the day I take dealer in test drive with it the noise never happens at all! Thus Dealer thinks it was the old tires I replaced. I personally have never heard of such a thing nor seen that or experienced that and I do not buy it at all, no way a tire makes or causes a squeal in the frame of car near front windshield and passenger door. This lasted about 2 weeks or so and the noise came back again!
Once again when I drive Interstate at 65 mph or higher, drive into the wind or in a cross wind or when I meet a large semi the noise starts again. I am going to try putting some duct tape over areas of the windshield trim or door windshield trim to see if this stops the wind squeal noise and also in the passenger door where the missing foam piece should be, I hope to locate where the air/wind is getting in to cause the noise then I will determine what to use to plug up the gap or hole or spot leaking that air. Sucks.
I was hoping if anyone else has figured out anything or had any success at what to do to stop or fix this noise. Please reply.
I have an '09 Aveo5 with automatic. It is used for city driving exclusively as a commuter car, with no highway driving at all. Currently we are getting about 22 mpg. This is disappointing relative to the EPA estimates, which were originally stated to be 27 city, and were then revised downward to 25. Unless the EPA figures are rigged (which they may well be, considering that the US government now owns GM) we can't blame Chevy specifically for the EPA estimates that were inflated.
It is winter, and with ethanol blend gas and sub-freezing temps the mileage is disappointing but not surprising under these conditions. Some trips we make are that of only going one mile, with a stop sign on almost every corner of the route - the car barely warms up, and under those conditions a car consumes about twice as much fuel as it would otherwise. These cars seem to get good mileage when they are running mostly in high gear. Unfortunately, in anything short of that, they seem to be gas thirsty in the lower gears.
I dropped by my local O'Reilly (Auto Parts), and grabbed a $10 roll of universal weatherstrip (not the crummy gray foam stuff, but the black rubber tubing type). Applied to the inside of the door jamb at top, and the noise is all gone. Notice the factory stripping goes all the way round the door frame; my addition is just along the top (attempting to link image):
YMMV, but this worked like a charm for me. There are a couple of inches of space without weatherstripping from the factory, and it seems like wind whips over that cavity to create this noise. Could be something else, but this fixed our ungodly howling.
Good luck,
Chris
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
A) when facing the engine, look down at the black plastic cover on top of the engine, underneath that cover is the coil, and then below the coil bridge is the 4 spark plugs.
C) then put your fingers underneath the portion of the black plastic piece(ECOTEC) that is now slid out to the right and sticking out about a 1/4 of inch; now pull or lift straight up with your fingers underneath that black center piece. It is snug but do not worry you will not break it, it should pop straight up for you. Now you can see the coil bridge on top of the engine.
D) Then on the right hand side of the bridge coil there is a electric type plug that goes into the right hand side of the bridge coil, you need to unplug it from the bridge coil. You will need a 40 Torx bit to unscrew the two screws that are holding the coil bridge in place over the spark plugs.
E) Then once you unscrew those two screws, you just lift the coil straight up or pull straight up.
D) Then looking down inside the top of the engine you will see the 4 spark plugs. You will need a 5/8 spark plug socket to unscrew the spark plugs.
I am happy that you finally found the information you were looking for. If you have any other questions, comments or concerns please feel free to email me directly.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Since then, the following has needed repair or replacement (and I have 43,000 miles on it):
all 4 tires
brakes
front and passenger side window engines
hatchback door will open selectively (but mostly will not open unless you hit the "sweet spot")
car won't start the first time
silver key part fell into the drivers door (while in dealership's possession)
turning the key in the passenger door only locks the door
second key doesn't work, need to call onstar to get into my car
tire balancing every oil change
alignment
air vent
wiper blades x 3
mold on ceiling
I've lost count of the times I've called GM and been to the local dealership (Ed Morse Chevrolet). I've had independent mechanics look at my car and give me diagnoses which the dealership said none of the above was wrong with my car, but lo and behold AFTER my warranty was over, all of it was broken and needed repair.
The dealership told me it would be $250 to LOOK AT MY WINDOWS. Not fix them but to examine my windows. I told them I didn't care about the windows as the car didn't start (and they were able to replicate it).
To date, this has been THE WORST CAR I HAVE EVER PURCHASED and have since dubbed it "the black lemon". State of Florida and Better Business Bureau have said Ed Morse has so many complaints it's not worth it to file another one and they are not BBB accredited.
GM calls and says "we can't find a supervisor" so I will eventually unload this piece of crap on someone else, but in the meantime CANNOT see why Edmunds gives this car a good rating! Email me about the 8" pile of bills, invoices, and repairs done on my car!
Your car has 43.000 miles on it. By then ANY car will need things like new tires, brakes and wiper blades. It needing things like continual tire balancing and alignment might be due to whomever did the work of tire replacement (and whatever else), probably done by the "independent mechanics" you mentioned.
On a 2009 this car has a five year warranty, so your car is hardly out of warranty at all. If you don't know how to get warranty work done by a dealership, that seems to be your primary problem.
I am probably the last person on earth wanting to be an apologist for GM and their dealerships, who are pros at making excuses and issuing apologies. (Don't take it personally - they try to do that with everyone if they can.) But if you don't know to complain in a way that is effective in getting results, this will happen.
With a posting name like "aveosucks" it suggests you are biased, angry, and don't know how to complain in a way that will get your car repaired under warranty.
Well, I got as far as removing the Ecotec cover, and identified the two torx screws which need to be removed - but I am unsure of the electric type plug on the right side of the bridge coil - its kinda tight in there, and seeing this is my first time intending on changing the plugs, I don't want to mess anything up with the wiring, soooo...just how does one go about removing this electric type plug? I did try to gently pry it off with a flathead screwdriver but didn't seem to make progress, so I returned everything to the way it was and came inside to type this.
Thanks for any suggestions!
20Aveo09
Anyway. Let me go look and see real quick but if I remember correctly I just used my hand to pull the electric type plug/black plastic connector(it is black with all sorts of wires running into the connector on one side from engine area or somewhere from rest of car, then the other side of connector plugs into the right hand side of coil pack) out off right hand side of coil pack, then used the 40 Torx bit to take out the two screws holding in the coil pack, basically under that coil pack you will have 4 black rubber boots that sit down over top of the spark plugs and connect to them, it will look kind of like 4 black milk cow [non-permissible content removed] hanging down when turned upside down, sorry only thing I could think of to describe those black boots and how they really look.
Yes I used my hands holding one side of connector/electric plug and pulling it out apart from coil pack with other hand. You might try spraying WD 40 inside or on it or around it and letting it soak then try it. Or you could try holding one side with your hand and using pliers to pull out other side, you will not break it or hurt it, it will slide or come apart, mine was stuck stiff at first until I pulled on it firmly, I just made sure I was gripping the black plastic and not pulling on the wires at all, you should be able to see where the electric connector/plug attaches in center of the connector piece.
Hope this helps, let me know how it turns out for you.
Good luck.
Just did some checking online and if anyone ever stumbles across this looking for the actual ignition coil pack or coil pack bridge to replace that covers these 4 spark plugs, go online to look at Amazon or RockAuto or Autozone, the prices have dropped like a rock compared to what I was going to have to pay back in Feb of 2011 of $800-$900 range at Autozone then.
Look for "ACDelco D517C OE Service Ignition Coil Assembly" or "Alternate/OEM Part Number(s): 96476983, C164AIRTEX / WELLS Part # 5C1703 {#96476983, C1646}" on Autozone it was just ignition coil under the 2009 Aveo model.
Prices are now $74 @ Amazon.com for ACDelco and $59.99 on Ebay for this AC/Delco to $139 for DuraLast at Autozone to $138 at Rock Auto for Airtex and $96 for ACDelco! Damn I missed it by about 6-8 months or less of OEM parts being made available to order myself instead of having to go to the GMAC dealership shop and pay big time to have them replace the coil which I could have done myself easily. Oh well, I am noticing that it seems to take at least 1-3 years minimum before we have a really good selection on basic maintenance parts for Chevrolet Aveos, took me one year before I could find oil filters under $10 when I first started looking for them it was $30 plus a filter, a ripoff. Then after year I found all kinds available for $5-$10 or less. And same with windshield wiper blades, air filters, cabin filter, etc, I mean you name it. Hope this helps someone save some money in future, since from what I can see a lot of the coil packs on 2009 Aveos konk out at 30,000-60,000 mile range conveniently after warranty covers them.
I noticed manual states to change it out at 100,000 miles.
1) Has anyone on here already had to change the belt out yet and if so at how many miles?
2) What name brand or type of belt did you replace it with, style, name, brand, price?
3) Has anyone on here had the timing belt break on them yet and have to be replaced and did it ruin the engine or any other parts or cause any other problems or expensive repairs?
I have not had any problems yet and have over 70,000 miles on mine after almost 3 years driving mostly highway at 55-65 mph and with manual transmission. But it is coming up here in next 12-24 months when I will be approaching 100,000 miles and wanted to be proactive on this issue since I have read on this forum where a lot of 2004-2008 owners seemed to have lot of issues with their timing belts breaking before 50,000 miles or less and then totally ruining their engines severely.
Thanks
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
The the reason that I am replying to your post is because of the tire alignment at every oil change. I was having to do that and replace back tires often. I had to have the car tires shimmed and Chevy refused to help cover the cost because they told me I may have done something to the car to cause that. The car was still under warranty as well. If you still have the car, and you are still having to re-align, look into having the car shimmed. Just be prepared to pay out of pocket.
There is a eco-tec cover on the top of the motor, it easily comes off if you pull it up on the right side.
You will see a gray-ish cover (this is your coil pack, Ill abbreviate this as CP from here on) with two torx bolts, you can take it off using torx-bits. The next step is a bit tricky. On the left side of the CP there is an electrical connector that you need to take off. Its easy. There is a clip you can insert a flat head screwdriver into and pull off (i think its purple) do not remove, it just pulls out a few millimeters. Then there is a clip you can push down with your thumb and pull off the connector.
Once you have done this, you can pull of your CP and expose your spark plugs. You will need a ratchet, long extension and a screwdriver socket.
I like to do one spark plug at a time.
Now put your new spark plugs in. It is good practice to put a nice coat of a quality anti seize on the threads of your new spark plugs. Be careful tho, this stuff can be messy.
Once you have put in all new spark plus, its time to put your coil pack back on. Its good practice to put dielectric grease on the tips of the coils that attach to your spark plugs. This will aid in removal next time you have to do spark plugs. Put the connector back on the CP. Clip the connector on then push the purple safety tab back on. Screw the CP on with the torx bolts. These don't need to be super tight, just an 1/8th of a turn past snug. put your eco-tec cover back on and you are in business!
Hope this helps. If any errors are found in this posting please let me be aware.
If you need clarification on anything, send me a message.
-Jeff
And good luck!