[pramodkumar]

I have a chevy cruze diesel automatic and its causing a lot of headache.

The history

I have had this car since 2016 and i have maintained it extremely lovingly. It has been tastefully modified with custom front bumper from Autopsyche and a sweet set of wheels, along with a full black interiors and other tastefully done mods like aftermarket lights. I have never skipped a service and has made sure every service is done on or before time.

When i bought the car it had 72k Kms on the odo and its now at 150k Odo.

The problem

One day it started idling rough, like an old transport bus that will keep on revving up and down + - 100 rpm, the moment i slot in neutral or park the issue will disappear. I took it to the ASS and they said they can try changing the ATF. After an hour they tell me that they do not have the expertise to do that.

I had done to two ATF change with this ASS and when i told them they denied doing it as they never had the expertise from the inception of their ASS. This made me very frustrated and i left the ASS and started researching independent garages.

on the following morning during the school run it started jerking from the rear end and i could feel as if its loosing traction and i was puzzled since its a FWD and i thought it could be something simple, the car completely went into limp mode while i was at my designated parking slot at work.

I decided to limp it to a nearest multiband garage they scanned the car and said that a solenoid valve is stuck open and they suggested a complete ATF flush with a filter change, I gave them the go ahead and after two days they call me to inform that the car is ready and it will be delivered to me, after a couple of hours they informed that the issue is back, I asked them to look into it and they informed me that they will get a Transmission specialist to look into it, it took them 2 months to finally throw the towel and i took the car to another garage.

The nightmare starts

This new garage informed me that the oil pressure it too low to enable gear shifting, and they suggested a new torque converter, we got a new torque converter and still the issue persists, this workshop guy's scanner was not able to catch the solenoid valve issue so i thought i dodged the bullet, then upon testing each solenoid on the bench one solenoid (the main one) was not opening and closing properly, we found one on aliexpress and thanks to the ban we had to get it shipped to Dubai and finally it landed here and guess what? That wasn't the problem now, it went to a different solenoid and finally the issue was zeroed down to the mechatronics circuit being bad, we got another mechatronics board and now since we installed the new board it is not able to detect the neutral/Park position and is not even cranking, we swapped the old board and it cranks but doesn't shift. I am kind of loosing my patience since the car is in workshop for over a year now. We are now loosing time and money since the approach the workshop guy has taken is to put a new part test if it works if it doesnt then move on with a new idea.

I am sitting on top of a torque converter, a mechatronics board, a few solenoids and we are at square 1. Can someone who owns a cruze and had a similar issue point me to someone who can look at this issue?

Few things about GM India and their ASS

GM has not fooled customers once but thrice, They tried the same stunt with Opel, then Daewoo and now chevvy. They say that the auto GB is sealed for life and no ATF change is needed, I have done it twice and after this debacle happened i decided to go through the invoices for the ATF change. The engine oil was changed at 79K Kms and the ATF at 80k Kms, when i saw the bill i was shocked to see that both the time they had changed the engine oil and not the ATF. How stupid or complacent one has to be to such things, first you sell and product which is substandard, then you claim its ATF is good for life then you cheat customers by doing things which are unnecessary, I am glad that chevvy left the country.


Pramod

[d3mon]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Have you tried sourcing a used gearbox from a salvage car? Due to the lack of experience with automatic gearboxes in India, repair will always be a hit and trial affair and you seem to have suffered enough because of it.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Have you tried sourcing a used gearbox from a salvage car? Due to the lack of experience with automatic gearboxes in India, repair will always be a hit and trial affair and you seem to have suffered enough because of it.

A whole GB is an expensive affair especially at around 50k to a lac, they want the old one in exchange and they don’t guarantee it will work. The biggest issue with a complete GB transplant is coding the new GB to work with the existing electronic system. That’s another challenge we are yet to figure out.

Pramod

[zing007]

Rather than totally replacing the control board, they getting it repaired, may be a few electronics components would have gone bad but the microcontroller must be in good shape considering you didn't get any errors during scan. Other option could be to check Chevy forums and look for cars with similar gearbox.

[Knighted06]

I feel you are spending too much on a car that isn't worth that much. While I cannot really give you much input technically, I feel since its already done 1.5 lac km, just get another Cruz that has run less and swap all your aftermarket parts and just get rid of this car. Cruz was going for dirt cheap prices 3 years back. I think it'll be even cheaper now. Just find a good example and swap the parts.

[shashankagarwal]

Hi Pramod,

Thanks for your post! It was really insightful. I have a 2012 Cruze LTZ AT as well, and I've also been getting the P0700/P0796 code on the scanner. The local mechanic shops here in Mumbai are all saying that I need to change the entire transmission module.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to proceed. Do you think it's worth it to replace the entire module, or would it be better to try replacing just the solenoid? Also, do you know of any places in India where I could get a solenoid to test?

I'm looking forward to connecting with you and hearing your thoughts.

Thanks,
Shashank