[Stefan Baer]

Well, on the way home from work my 2014 Chevy Trax dashboard lit up and I had to pull over. The car was shaky and so when the hood was popped, there was coolant sprayed all over my engine. After that, the reservoir emptied. After getting it towed to the dealership, they got it fixed up for me. They said the radiator cap loosened because of an excess of pressure.

Prior to this, I had to pay $800 to get my turbo coolant feed pipes replaced because my car was leaking oil/coolant or something. The turbo is covered under warranty, yet the parts that help out work are not. Go figure...

They said maybe it was because the feed pipes were replaced that there was maybe a pressure issue. Kind of unsure, no real cause was given.

Anyway, next day, my car takes 5 or 6 tries to start. It'll start and stall. Start and stall. Over and over. Once it does start, it's shaking and feels very sluggish. When I accelerate, I feel vibration in the pedal and when I take my foot off the acceleration pedal, it loses speed very quickly. I brought it back again and they mentioned they could smell coolant, and i have not yet heard back from them as to what is wrong.

Prior to those issues, I had water get in one of my spark plug coils and corrode it, which was because earlier, my turbo got plugged with ice. That caused an acceleration issue.

I enjoy my Trax, but I'm becoming very unsatisfied with it based on the amount of issues I've now experienced. I'm at 97,000 kms of mostly Highway driving and I don't really think there should be so many issues before a car hits 100,000 kms. I've gotten it inspected with every oil change and no issues have been noted, so who knows. I barely maintained my Kia and it gave me 5 years without a single engine issue. Go figure.

Anyway, rant aside, might anyone have some clues as to what my most current problem could be?

 

[probak118]

Ok, the 2014 three year warranty is up but, what about any warranties on the parts you had replaced ? ( or, do they simply stay under the original 3 year ? ) Can you contribute the cause now to some issues to the parts that failed still under warranty ? Just trying to think of ways to make an argument for warranty still ?

 

[Stefan Baer]

There is a one year warranty for the turbo coolant feed lines yeah. I don't quite know what the issue is yet though to be able to argue that its been caused by previous issues. They called and left a message to call back, and since then I've left 3 messages asking them to call me back. Either they're very busy or they are unsure. I know with a spark plug coil corroding, it can cause engine issues so that could be an avenue I explore. As for right now though, I'm in the dark.

 

[Rlittle650]

Sounds like the motor overheated. That is not good.
Have them run a pressure check on the coolant system.
Worst case is a leaking head gasket.
Best case is a bad radiator cap.

 

[beeguz]

I had a problem with a corvette years ago after washing down the engine.

One particular wire plugged into the top of the Opti-spark distributor they used on a 94 corvette, I pulled the wire off and found water in the bottom of the hole I blew out the water the car went back to running normal.

If your engine is not toast from overheating it then perhaps coolant is in one of these wire ends, I hope your engine isn't cooked.

 

[DustTrax]

Sorry to hear that you're having so many problems with your TRax. Can't really help you, but hopefully the dealership can fix it once and for all.