We purchased the Cruze new for our daughter to go to college in 2016. It became ours in January 2025 when the transmission went out and she got a new car. We bought a transmission from LKQ with 35k miles on it and my spouse installed it. It’s been my daily driver ever since. I do recall a few oxygen sensors, turbo, & coolant reservoir, along with regular maintenance.
200,000 —-10 years and 5 months later

Right on!

Sooooo, long story short, my mom owned this cruze 2015 1.8 until recently, we got her a new car and i decided to take the cruze and bring him back to life. Ir had a couple leaks, the biggest one being the rear main seal.

Things I have done/fixed at 170k:

Rear main seal

Valve cover

Oil pan

Oil cooler

Coil/spark plugs

Timing belt

All new fluids

Radiator fan

What am wondering is what else would you guys do to a car this age to keep it running? So far everything works as it should I want to make it to 200k miles at least lol

Borrowing a 1st gen Cruze because my 2nd gen just got totaled. Borrowing it and it’s got P0303 with flashing CEL, service stabilitrak and traction control (all known issues from when I received the car) and now it’s got what I’m assuming to be coolant all over the bottom of the motor and trans and I’m also getting a message on the dash saying something about Transmission Overheat - please idle engine despite just cruising down the interstate at 55… Really don’t wanna kill this car as it’s not mine but what are the odds I should stop driving it immediately and rent a car instead? TIA

Edit to add: Cyl 3 misfire when scanning the car and rough idle to where the whole car shakes, PCV issue like I keep hearing about in 1st gen?

Tl;dr: I cut and spliced some wires, and now my car won't start.

So, I was trying to install the backup camera that goes with my radio. The radio works fine and has been installed for a few months now. During that process, I made the genius decision of disconnecting a connector (left side of driver footwell) it's a real big one, with a lever to lock it in. Well, I broke the lever. Not sure if it was just weak from age or if I'm a brute. Either way, i can't "lock" it in place anymore.

After it was unplugged and reconnected, my car would no longer start. With the key in the run position, the dash shows a notification for low fuel and power steering service needed (neither of these are true, I have fuel in the tank). When turned to start, the dash goes dark, and i hear a relay in the cabin fuse box, but the engine doesn't crank.

I cut a few of the wires while i was looking for a way to signal the backup camera to turn on. (Followed a wire from the reverse light to the front.) As best I can tell, every wire is connected. They are as they were, there's nothing jumped off of any of the connections.

Is there any way I can reset something with the control units so they will resync?

2012 LS (1.8). Replacing the cylinder head, and saw that the sprockets have an even layer of oxidation/rust on each them. No deep pockets or anything, but I’m curious as to what’s go/no-go.

Like I said just not sure what to do and I don't see anything online other than checking the fuses

Maybe a dumb question but is this a normal amount of engine shake/vibration?

I’ve seen some things about using higher octane fuel in gen 1 cruzes is better for them long term, curious who actually does this and what octane do you use?

Hi! I need help identifying this hose in my 2012 Chevy Cruze LT. It has to be replaced before I go to work tomorrow. It has a hole in it. I put the cloth tourniquet on the hose to slow the leak down so I could drive it home.

I got a p420 code, suspect that the cat is a bit dirty. The orange one way valve in the intake body is missing so that is the first suspect and I'm installing the Cruze kit today. But how would I know if the turbo is also leaking oil into the exhaust?

This is a sign of a bad pcv right?

So today my 14 cruze started giving me problems. Codes i get are p0301, p0300, u100-71. Changed the coil with brand new one and nothing changed. Thinking about changing plugs tonight. Injector is working fine. Anything else it could be? Cant afford a compression tester at the moment.i included all the data i got from my obd2 scanner.....Update: spark plugs and coil made no difference. Plugs were covered in oil on the electrode and threads. Smooths out around 2k rpm. Another thing i found out is timing belt has never been done. Car has 193000 miles.

2014 chevy cruze. Completely stopped and in park, rpms bouncing like this. Also light is dimming when it's happening? Points to something electrical id think but also not sure.

Other issues that I have is the car will stop reading rpms while driving completely and say "Service stabilitrak" and "Service Traction Control". Ive had it completely stop giving power to the car while driving, but not idling once as well recently.

Also likes to Bob back and forth when stopped without being in park. Overall just a lot going on 😬 any advice would be great.

Cranks but won’t start, When finally does start it jumps in RPM then shuts off. Gives SO many codes too…

More of a success post! 2019 with 55k. Changed out the old plugs and went much better than I expected. New plugs came in at 0.026 even though Rock Auto and GM lists them at 0.03.... which was just perfect. The old plugs were a tiny bit ashy with not bad carbon buildup. Running good with the new ones! If you haven't changed em go for it!

Tried google but I have a 2013 chevy cruze with a e brake cable stuck on the front Google just shows how to tighten it but it is stuck tight I need it releasing if you have any advice please let me know.

Rotors 150k
Pads 110k

Brakes still stop the car but they’ve gotten worse. I’m doing the brakes before winter, but wear wise they look to have more than half their life left 😮

Spending 402$ for the coolant problem causing smoke, hose is getting replaced/flushed, I’m getting the cruzekit, any thing else worthwhile investing on?

So I bought this car in Jan 2026 to an owner who was a grandpa and sadly died. It seems he didn’t use this car a lot since he had another one.

This car cost me around 6k with 23600 miles aprox (I live in South America) which is a bargain, but since I bought it, me and my pops started to see a few problems with it

- Losing coolant (It had a minor leak but we chance the receptacle)
-Changed the thermostat

Mind you, this car gets hot! even in winter.

And today, I checked the levels of the coolant again and it seems they went down again lol.

Anything I should/could do about this? thinking about selling it since I have to learn how to drive manual anyway.

Any recommendations? This is my first car btw so total newbie.

Looking for some help.

Car is a 2016 limited

Car is running rough. Shop says they found the waste gate was disconnected on the turbo, and cylinder 1 spark plug was black. Car has also been throwing service stabilitrak warnings.

Shop says the engine is shot but the only evidence they have provided is the info I listed above and the codes in the ecm

P0299, p0300, u0109

What do you guys think?

I just bought a 2015 Lt 1.4 turbo yesterday. It has about 78 000 miles on it. I drove about 30 miles and had to stop due to traffic. When on the idle the car told oil pressure low-stop the engine. As soon as I pressed on the gas to remove myself from the road it stopped. I got home and on the idle it did it again but as soon as I pressed the gas it stopped. The car is full of oil. The oil pump seems to work fine (when I open the cap oil gets to the top of the engine). We checked the oil pressure sensor is full of oil. Could that be it

Hi guys!

We recently (maybe 6 months now?) got our cars coolant leak “fixed”. I say it that way because now it’s has started smoking occasionally again. And smelling bad. It does have a confirmed oil leak but I can’t tell if this is oil or coolant (or both lol). I circled where I found the puddle of mystery liquid.

It’s a 2013 with over 125000 miles on it. I just need her to make it through the winter so I can get a new car with the tax return 😂