JUNK 1.4L Turbo Chevy Cruze / Sonic Bad Engine Teardown. I Would AVOID these.

One of the easiest ways to tell if a vehicle has been neglected is to pull a spark plug out and if it's an Autolite don't buy it.

I find really touching, the care you take honoring the lives of these poor mistreated water pumps, who never got the love they deserved during their working lives. Rest in peace oh valiant warrior! 😂

This isn't the worst 4-cylinder engine GM ever made; that distinction goes to the 2.3 liter engine that was in the Vega from 1971-77. GREAT VIDEO!

We have this Engines in Germany too. But with less problems. Some off this Engines have over 300.000 kilometers on it (~190.000 Meilen!) In Germany we put in new Oil all 15.000 kilometers (9.000 Meilen). Some off the Engines have problems with the valvecover and needs a new one. Some off them have rattling timing changes and needs a new one. But the most off the Engineproblems are made by the owner. They just drive short trips to the Supermarket but use the hole Power of the Engine or do not the care of the car.

The water pump funeral was very touching.

8:40 Those oil-fed tensioners don't have ratchets and are easily my biggest complaint in GM engines of this era. If oil pressure hiccups for any reason, chain is fried, and you'll be lucky if it doesn't jump time.

2014 cruze LTZ owner here.. 1.4L turbo. Bought used with 78k miles on it, now second owner. So far it's a great car. Now, I will tell you after i bought it. The oil pan was re-sealed. New front crank seal. MSD coil pack. Iridium plugs. And new belt with tensioner. And full maintenance service including transmission I noticed some oil consumption. Pcv failure in the intake. And the valve cover, which was replaced as well. Oil was everywhere. Intercooler, intake and charge air piping. Ordered a catch can and pcv fix from supercruzes (he has a YT channel as well) Used my borescope and found that the wastegate was cracked around the valve mating surface in the turbine side. Went to supercruzes again. Ordered a black widow stage 2 turbo with upgraded wastegate. Aftermarket intercooler and new charge air piping. Then i started having coolant leak issues. one at the thermostat housing side and one on the driver side of the cylinder head. both parts, PLASTIC. i took a gamble and ordered replacement parts on amazon that were aluminum. just an FYI, if you do this. invest in an o ring assortment kit from a local auto parts store. they dont include the right diameter thickness o rings in the kits. and also, red scotchbrite pads are your friend. they will help remove any machining burs and will tell you if your mating surfaces are flat ( flat bar stock and fine grit sandpaper will cure that issue) and lastly, do not use the coolant sensors that comes in the kits either. the ECM doesn't recognize them. either re use your old ones or buy new ones from local auto parts store. All of this was done before the next service date. I'm a die hard Mobil 1 oil consumer. And the inside of this engine is a night and day difference internally and mechanically, since all of this work has been done. may seem biased on. but the results speak for themselves. It purs so smooth at idle and accelerates so nicely over what it was when I bought it. 10k car and put roughly 4k in it. It's ultimately what you're willing to invest, to make a vehicle last. And keep up with your maintenance

I worked on a Buick 1.4 today and was thinking “man these things are just f*****g junk. I hope Idocars does another one of these pieces of s**t soon” and my prayers were answered thank you Eric

DID WE JUST GET A MID WEEK TEARDOWN??? Why do I get so excited for engine teardowns??

As a proud owner of one of these engines, ive had to have the turbo replaced due to the impeller bearing failing, the ignition coil shorting out, and also the thermostat housing cracking. Currently working on a mystery coolant loss. Thanks chevy

Thanks for the teardown. I maintained my 2012 cruze 1.4 l till i sold it off with 150k miles. Kept me very busy with 2 turbos, multiple water pumps and valve covers, an intake, two coil packs, thermostats, numerous cooling system parts, oil leaks including a front cover gasket. Glad i'm done.

I have been working for a GM dealership for 28 years now. The previous of this engine the X10 and 12XE had chain problems. This engine has coolant leaking issues like the waterpump and waterhousing. But I have NEVER seen an engine fail mechanically! Yes the valve cover might leak after 60k miles, but we NEVER had a chain failure , they don't consume a lot of oil either. These engines were introduced in 2014 IIRC and are still in our dealership every day, NO mechanical problems to speak of. They suffer from coolanat leaks like said in the video but they probabably drove it until until it seized to an halt!

As a former owner of a 2011 Cruze.... can confirm the milkshake of death and the $2k spent for a replacement junkyard engine.

Two engine teardowns this week. How nice

In Opel classification, it’s A14NET. This engine is installed in Astra J, Mokka, and other models

My 2013 engine has been rock solid, max tuned with all bolt on power mods for 110k miles. M32 manual trans, changed the fluid a lot. I autocross race it and beat on it WOT every drive. I'm the mechanic, tech, calibrator and I do engineering for a living. 130k on the clock, 1 valve cover 1 intake 1 turbo, parts total $350.

Can confirm everything said here. Have a 12 cruze because it was an "upgrade" from a 10 corolla. This one had a coolant leak that we thought was the water pump but turned out to be the thermostat (it seriously looked like the coolant was coming from the pump). If only GM had used metal instead of plastic on the cooling system I think a lot of these issues wouldn't be as bad. However, there is no excuse for the location of the oil cooler. You can't tell it from this video but it's located behind the turbo and cat right on the block. Destined to be cooked alive and leak (which they all do).

That growth from the crank case vent was a rare oil tree from the GMsuctus-alotus family.

I'm one of them that bought new 2011 Chevy Cruze took care of it with oil changes every 5000, Followed manufacturers recommended fluid changes with the exception of the transmission which I drained and refilled every 30,000 miles and I'm happily still driving it with 260,000 miles. I'm also thoroughly impressed With the body on this I don't know what paint Chevy used on this but I live in Michigan and after all that time no rust. My daughter owns a 2014 and my sister a 2016 I maintenance both of those vehicles the same way I did my 2011 Bolt vehicles bought new and over 100,000 miles now trouble free so there is definitely something to be said about correct maintenance on these engines and that 6 speed transmission as well

Bought one new in a 2014 Sonic six-speed manual. Just gave it to a relative with 125K and almost no problems (plastic coolant parts and coil/plugs). Changed oil per manufacturer recommendation. Great usable power with manual transmission, never used a drop of oil, 36 mpg. Great engine if you care for it.