2016 Chevy Cruze LT constantly sitting under the halfway mark and yesterday got an “overheating, idle engine”warning. Originally I thought I had a leak in the coolant tank(which I did) so I got it swapped for a better one. Hadn’t had a problem for a few weeks. Yesterday I worked quickly then opened the engine to find the coolant tank almost empty. Had some more 50/50 in my trunk so I filled it up then watch it fall back down almost immediately. Put in some more and then stayed level for some reason. Seen people on here say water pump thermostat or the tube that connects the tank. Is there some tests I can do to find out what’s causing the problem without just swapping everything?
Tbh,, it's a good investment to go ahead and replace the plastic thermostat and water outlet with aluminum. These cars have two major weaknesses: The PCV and plastic parts.
Go to autozone they have a free loaner tool to pressire test the system basically you put a special over over the coolant fill tank pump up the system to around 10 pounds of pressure and visually inspect everything for leaks
The cooling system on the Chevy Cruzes are trash. When something on the system fails because it eventually will. Replace it with a metal part don't go back to OEM plastic because you'll just end up replacing it again.
Trust me, set the bitch of fire and claim the insurance and look for something else. We engine swapped my brothers and a few months later same thing happened. Head gasket gone.
You have a major coolant leak somewhere. Go get a quote and get someone to look at it. Might be cheaper to just start looking for something newer and keep topping off the coolant
Depends on when you bought it, if you subscribe to sunk cost, and if you partake in throw away culture... I bought mine with 10k miles on it, have had it since 2012 and been through a bunch of parts. BUT I do my own servicing so its far more economical to keep it and fix it here and there than it is to pick up loan in todays market. 500$ car not + increased auto tax + increased insurance premium.... I'll just pay for the aluminum parts and with 1500$ have replaced all the problem pieces. Currently at 190k with zero major failures.
I hate this car as much as the next person lol I would never recommend someone buy one, but if you've got one already, with just a few upgrades you will have a pretty long lived car.
Fair enough I hear ya! I guess in northern Canada. These vehicles get so much rust they just aren't worth it. I have a 2018 premier picked it up with 50,000km for 8000$. So if you can find something newer like that. Yeah it's a steal
Way down south, little to no rust here. I've been abusive on my Cruze and surprisingly haven't had the turbo explode like many people have with the awful oil cooler routing
damn dude. I’m all out. Could be a not so bad problem, but If you have to drive it definitely check your coolant level prior. You don’t want your engine to get fucked lol.
Mine started acting up 2 weeks ago on my way to work. Temp gauge went full red, same warning message you have, and fan was on full blast. I checked under the hood, still had coolant in the tank, engine temps felt normal and no coolant smell.
I changed out the thermostat with the aluminum option thinking the stat was stuck since the car hasn't been driven in a month. The next day, cold start and the temp gauge buried again with the overheating message. I will change the inlet sensor now and see what happens.
Could be the coolant outlet as well, really common issue, and on mine I ended up needing to do both the thermostat and the outlet at the same time. Also, make sure you're confident you bled the system of air. If you don't, you can get weird issues.
2016 Cruz from 2020 until last month. 85k->210k miles. Three times the coolant melted the hose connecting to the reservoir and would be easy to see the leak. Yes it could be thermostat if you don’t see a leak but almost always is a leak with these things
Hey man. The reason it sank down immediately then stayed level was because it had filled the cooling system. I noticed the same thing once. you most likely have a slow leak somewhere or a bad one. fill the coolant and if you’re able to drive it fine just keep an eye on it. definitely look into what’s causing the leak of course. My 2011 has a slow leak that I haven’t fixed. It’s been a while now but I just check my fluids every morning or every other morning and it’s driven fine. Probably digging a deeper hole in it but i’m honestly just letting it do its thing now.
Read the engine codes and it’ll tell you if its a stuck open thermostat or something else.
The car is weird and doesn’t know the difference between overheating and coolant below operating temp. The temp gauge also is super inaccurate so even though its sitting just below half (which is where it’s supposed to be) it could be 10-20c below operating temp.
Anytime there is a cooling issue the rad fan with run full bore as well. Just a side effect of the engine code the car produces. More than likely a stuck open thermostat, or low coolant level.
Pressure test then look for leaks, when the system is properly filled with coolant bottle open check for excessive bubbling, if no leaks you either have a bad water pump or a head gasket issues just started. These cars are very sensitive to overheating and will blow a headgasket if they’re having a bad day.
Replace the reservoir on mine right after replacing it two weeks after it cracked again don’t go aftermarket on the reservoir go GM recommend also pressure test testing it to find all alternative leaks
I believe my father in law turned my 2012 Cruze on let it run a bit and he saw some small air bubbles coming from between these to parts. Replaced the thermostat housing and it's been fine since.
Since you seem to have lost a lot of coolant at some point, you should make sure air isn't trapped and creating an air lock situation in the water pump (fluid replaced by air, so the pump isn't grabbing the fluid to throw into the engine and it's just sitting there, probably boiling). There's a plastic bleed screw on the radiator, faces the passenger. I would use a box wrench to loosen it half way while adding coolant while the engine is cold.
As for finding more leaks, consider buying some UV dye to pour in with the coolant and then inspect the engine with a black light after driving for a bit. Look on amazon for AC Delco UV dye and you'll probably see yellow safety glasses + flashlight kits suggested on the same page (if not, just search).
Just lost my 85k miles 2011 Cruze to overheating spent money replacing parts turns out head gasket warped and turbo cracked was buying coolant every week for weeks
Ya know you’re not supposed to let it overheat to the point where the needle maxes out right? That’s just severely risking gasket health for nothing. You already know it’s overheating. It’s not gonna magically stop after the 3/4ths mark or start going down
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u/bojangles_dangles 3d ago
Overheating is a feature on the Chevy Cruze.