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maybe there is something funky with the Eco grille-flaps (?) - aren't there some closable flaps - like diesels use to block the radiator? on eco are they controlled by ECM? maybe they are a factor you can control or are malfunctioning? seems like they could affect coolant temp big time in winter.
This morning I used lower hose heater, on 10 minutes started and idle 20 seconds, shut off and left it for another 10 minutes, my temp was at 150 1.5 miles out and at 4 miles was at 180 which is acceptable but I did not use the heater and I started at 38 degrees. This will do the job, I plan to remove heater and hose for warmer weather, already got a new hose ordered thru GM.
I am surprised that the 1.8L warms up so slow, not known for it's efficiency.
I think GM needs to offer an engine pre-heater for moderate to cold temps on all these smaller cars.
Gary
cool about the grill shutter. i was wondering what would happen if i took the eco grill shutter set up and put it onto the front of a 1.8L cruze. some sort of matter/antimatter implosion perhaps...
g-man, the distances you are mentioning still seem amazingly low for anything resembling full warmup. these cars warm up SUPER fast in my opinion, since I am measuring by cabin heat not coolant temp. I dump max heat into the cabin intentionally, as soon as the coolant gets any warmth at all. the item i wish for is a heated steering wheel...
possibly consider that the engine is NOT warmed up when the coolant reaches whatever temp you want, 180, 195, 210, whatever... it takes another 10 minutes for the block to warm to that temp, after the coolant, man!
On the VW TDIs, some folks would put a foam tube thing around the grille/airdam crossmember, to physically block some of the grille, and to allow the engine to retain heat in winter. I never tried that and don't recommend it for your Cruze! There were some mornings/days where I would drive TDI 75 mph for 25 minutes and it would never get fully warmed up.
2012 ECO ~7650 miles
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with fuel prices increasing, the tradeoff # of miles is decreasing, the tradeoff point where eco costs less overall than non-eco cruze. maybe tradeoff point is below 100k miles with fuel at $5/gallon ...
i'm hoping to trade for an electric-Cruze before 100k miles. (Volt!) Or a Corvette, not sure which.
btw, in the eco, isn't it sort of cheating that they increased mpg by reducing fuel tank size by 15% just to save the weight?
Took $40 to fill the tank @ $3.46/gallon here in Dallas which is the most a tank has cost me thus far. Saw this morning that it has jumped to $3.69 so that will add another $3-$4 next time.
Does anyone know what the differences are on the ECO model? I know about the shutters and tires...just curious! :shades:
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
gpara it is seriously that is wild and cool how you are ultra-eco-ing your cruze.
how much does underpan weigh? running at 12V instead of 13.8V is also very interesting. Eco gearing is already taller/wider and you made it taller yet? gearing doesn't necessarily do what one wants- results dependent on power & torque curve ! ?
20k miles on it so far, zero dealer visits, just the one oil change and now time for #2 (synthetic).
home-run, GM: An actual 4.3 (A+) should go to the team that conceived/designed/built Cruze.
I bring this up because of an issue I have had with V.M. Motori diesels. Chrysler in Europe has been using this company for some years now and in 2005 and 2006 used one of their engines in the Jeep Liberty. I had a 2005 Liberty with one of these engines and it did not hold up. It threw a rod at 77,594 miles without warning and destroyed the engine in short order in spite of getting very good care. If you look on the forum here on Edmunds at the Jeep Liberty diesel you will see that there have been numerous issues.
I am not trying to dissuade anyone from buying a diesel, but engines from this company leave something to be desired. I wonder why GM did not use one of their Opel diesels instead?
The deal breaker for me, was the auto transmission. While I prefer a stick (and that engine was well suited to utilizing the most efficiency out of a stick with so much torque down low in the rpm range) I was still considering a purchase with the only trans available, being the corporate Chrysler 5 speed auto. But it shifted so badly, that I lost total interest after driving a second demo at a different dealer. The two trans shifted a bit differently from each other (even that was curious) but they both were busy shifters when they needn't have been, and lazy when they needed to be responsive. Just terrible software communicative management with the engine. A total deal-breaker. And wouldn't you know it, years later we learn that that trans did in fact have a very troublesome torque-converter. Little did I know at the time that Chrysler's sourced engine emission systems would also cause a myriad of issues down the road that can't really be blamed on VM.
But, your crank issue (and I have heard of other mechanical issues also) can't be blamed on emission devices or Chrysler; or at least I surely don't think they can. But what can be blamed on Chrysler is how poorly they handled their customers who got saddled with this troublesome, expensive power train. And for that I have a memory like an elephant and feel relieved that the auto trans was such a disaster on my demo drives because if it hadn't, I too would be experiencing the premature and even fatal issues you guys who bought one, have. I feel badly for you. And I thank you for your info post about the Cruze VM diesel. Had I not known this, I probably would have stilled passed if the auto was not available, but only because of some health complications that make shifting a stick a problem for me in my years now.
I am extremely impressed with the mileage that Cruze owners are getting in real world driving, with both engines and trans combos. I have personally driven the turbo with 6 auto and the 1.8 with 6 stick and was very impressed with both. The 1.8 with the stick left me suspecting that given the weight of car and the 1.8 with auto would make it not too swift for pickup, and if driven hard in stick or auto would be harder on gas than the turbo driven normally. But I also believe the great mileage owners like alias are getting with the 1.8 stick if driven not too aggressively. Now that I know about where GM is foolishly sourcing their diesel (instead of using the Holden?/Opel) and not offering the auto, my choice would be the turbo with auto when I am in the market again. Of course the bar is constantly being raised so who knows. And we also won't know if GM does a better job than Chrysler, of making emission systems more compatible with VM's diesel, but also offer longevity. Visions of crank failures on a cared-for engine is hard to forgive though.
If this VM/GM hybrid engine is more VM than GM then expect issues, especially with emissions and mechanical issues. The EGR valve on the CRD was a nightmare. It was not properly designed to handle the soot in the exhaust stream and from time to time you had to "blow out" the soot from the EGR which left clouds of soot behind you when you did it. Another quirk was the intake manifold pressure sensor. It needed cleaning with every oil change and of course the location left something to be desired. Forget to clean this sensor and you would blow a hose from the turbo to the intercooler. Then we come to the variable geometry turbo, made by Garrett. Only lasted about 80K miles before you had to repair it or replace it. I wish Chrysler had used a twin-scroll turbo, yes more money, a little harder to package, but in reality simpler and more rugged. The Cruze diesel will have a DPF and potentially urea (DEF) spray into the exhaust stream for emissions. This should prove interesting.
As to the trans, you must have driven an early model in 2005. The trans in my CRD always shifted smoothly in fact almost too smoothly. When Chrysler recalled the CRD to modify the engine torque and replace parts in the trans including the torque converter (F37 recall) the vehicle acted very much the same except that power delivery was not quite as potent. I was into my third torque converter at the time my engine threw a rod and I had read of other Jeep CRD owners having even more torque converters installed than I did.
Now back to the Cruze diesel. If GM has more say than VM, I am not sure what to expect. I still remember the 5.7L V-8 diesel nightmare from the late 70's to early 80's. GM gave diesel a bad name and an undeserved bad reputation with that engine.
Frankly, I am intrigued by this development but I am very scared of anything associated with VM Motori or GM.
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2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I've had mine for 6 months now. I drive it everyday and have had zero problems or complaints with it.
in Cruze news, my 2011 M6 had the two safety recall/inspections done yesterday. It took less than an hour.
The car did need the shield thing for engine/clutch.
It did not need the disassembly/welding/re-assembly procedure - a 24 page process - would have required two techs.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
After showing the technician the trouble area I was given a loaner vehicle and told they would call me as soon as they inspected it further. I recieved a call later in the day and was told the water pump has a bad leak...r u kidding me?!?! 56K miles and the water pump goes bad! Anyway, while they were replacing it they replaced the thermostat and also found a cracked engine mount which was also replaced. Never owned a vehicle that had less than 100K on it and had issues of this sort. All together I paid nothing for the repairs and I am still happy with my Cruze. I would still buy another one if I had my choice.
Sarah, GM Customer Service
Good luck with your Cruze!
The Sandman :sick: :shades:
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
People have said the plugs in their cruze were gapped at .020 to .025. All of them pulled the plugs and installed new plugs at .035 and reported a difference in their engines smoothness and responsiveness. I removed my plugs 3 days ago and found that it was true, had plugs gapped from .020 to .027. I installed new plugs gapped at .032 and have noticed a smoothness on acceleration and at idle. Just an FYI for you other cruzers out there! :shades:
The Sandman :sick: :shades:
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
The Sandman
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
The Sandman
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
Congratulations. I keep looking and looking trying to decide what cars I want to test drive and whether to include Malibu along with Cruze.
>my watched list.
At top of the messages there are thee links at the right side: Post New Message, Watch This Discussion, Mark as Read.
Just click on the Watch This Discussion then click okay. It will be added as a new topic to which you've subscribed. The servers will try to take you through all the old messages. If you don't want to read 900 messages, click the Mark as Read. Then everytime there's a new message and you've logged in, you'll be shown the new messages + one old message just before those.
Good luck with your car.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,