These vehicles are a real challenge. There’s got to be over 20 places it can leak oil, coolant or vacuum. Hoe GM ever got away with building these engines with the same issues for so long and without offering a warranty extension is almost criminal. People who own a 2011-2019 GM vehicle with this engine ( Cruze, Trax, Sonic and Encore as well as the European models ) should have expected a “ fix “ for these leaks and not the dealership simply replacing the parts so they can malfunction again 10,000-30,000 miles ( 16,000- 50,000 Kim’s ) later on. To top it off the plastic valve cover and plastic intake have increased in price by quite a lot.
Thanks from Scotand UK, just noticed an oil leak on my Vauxhall Astra j which I think is the same as a Cruz and nailed the leak down to this solenoid valve seal. Great to see it's an easy job. just ordered online from fleab*y 7 pounds
@@greasyfingergarage Almost May and only 12 degrees, ( oh that's 53Ffor you guys) crap weather here. I want to move back to Spain where I lived for 30 years
@@andrewmackay8856 I would love mid 50s. Just not all the rain. We have already been over 80 freedom units close to half of the month and came close to 90 a couple times. I just want fall all year long.
Came back to let you know I got the job done following your instructions. THANK YOU!!! Took a little less than an hour including set up and clean up (putting the tools away and parking the cars back in the garage). Weird thing. When I started the car when finished I did so with the hood up because I wanted to make sure everything was as it should be. The engine was revving at 1,500 rpm and the fan came on super fast and hard and wouldn't slow. I closed the hood. When I put the car in reverse the rpms dropped to normal but the fan was nuts. I drove a 1/4 mile and decided to turn off and restart the car. The fan was fine at that point and never went nuts again during my test drive. What would cause this? So weird.
Rockin. And no problem. As far as the car acting differently at first, sometimes a car just has to relearn what it should be doing after it is touched. I'm assuming you didn't disconnect the negative battery terminal when you did this. That is more than likely the cause of it. You don't need to disconnect the battery when you do it, but it could always be a good rule of thumb when it comes to dealing with anything electronic on a car.
@@greasyfingergarage you are correct. I left the battery untouched. I debated disconnecting it but dismissed it and moved forward. Thanks again! And thanks for replying.
@@ownSystem Depends on if it a Gen 1 or 2 Cruze since they switched midyear in 2016. If it has the same engine and part numbers as my 2011 in the video, it should be the same.
Just came across this video again and decided to watch it just in case. Our local GM dealership was bought by the guy who owned the dealership 100 miles up the road so getting parts is a drive of 1.5 hours each way, gas and a meal. Figure I might just pick a couple of these up. I’m not even sure how long we’re keeping this vehicle ( 2019 Buick Encore AWD ). So far none of the issues I’ve seen on TH-cam but you know what they say. I’m wondering what caused both of your seals to go basically at the same time. I can see one going and then the other one a month or two plus down the road. Maybe the same issue that caused the other leak you mentioned which from what I understand is from excessive pressure in the engine ( PCV ??? ). It looks like these seals are another “ under engineered “ GM part on these engines.
I can't say for sure, but I would imagine that the 2019 Encore would have the updated version of the 1.4 turbo. I know that most of the problems associated with the 1.4l engines are for the gen 1s which ran from 2010-2016.5 in the Cruzes. So you would want to verify which gen engine your car has. If it is a gen 2, I'm pretty sure they have addressed the issues like the PCV and plastic coolant parts to take care of the problems that my videos relate to. If for whatever reason your car has the earlier designed stuff, check out the rest of my Cruze videos to see what needs to be done to address all the issues. As far as finding the seals, I would imagine that if you search the part number you would be able to find them online for fairly cheap and save yourself the 3 hour drive. As far as them failing at the same time, well they are the same seal used in the same area doing the same thing and were installed at the same time on the assembly line. If they didn't fail around the same time that would be odder to me.
@@greasyfingergarage I’m thinking more of things like the Sylvania Halogen bulbs that many manufacturers used to use. Also, made at the same time, used the same amount of time and all the other things you mentioned but I have never seen both bulbs burn out at the same time. If fact in over 45 years of driving and replacing my own headlight bulbs or sealed beams ( at least 40-50 times ) I have never had one burn out and the other burn out in less than several months. For the past 20 years I have replaced them in pairs though and I just keep the one “ still works “ bulb in the box the new ones came in ( along with the receipt in case of a warranties bulb ) for a spare in case I’m on the road and a bulb fails. The 2019 Buick Encore that I have definitely has some changes from the earlier models because I watched one of “ Dre Dan’s “ installation videos for his V3.4 Cruze Kits on a Buick Encore and the plastic hose from the PCV area in the middle of the intake to the turbo intake on mine has a couple bends and enters the turbo intake higher up the “ hose “ ( tube ) than the Encore he worked on . Our 2019 Encore has the Luv 1.4 and it only has 47,000 Kim’s on it ( about 28,000 miles ). The only “ issue we’ve ha$ is that the ch3ck engine light came on on two occasions last winter. Once in stayed on for about 3 days before I took it to a friends shop and he found several codes pertaining to the PCV etc. This happened after a fairly long highway drive. Followed by4 or 5 days of ver cold weather. When we took the vehicle to my friends shop the check engine light had turned o f likely because the weather had warmed up to above freezing and I had driven for a 20 minute highway cruise with moderate acceleration. The engine never ran poorly or burned oil or idled poorly. The second time a month and a half later it also happened after a long drive and being parked overnight in even colder temperatures. Thank you for the suggestion of a “ Gen 2 “ 1.4 litre and some possibility of some improved parts. I’ll probably pick up a couple of those seals anyways just in case. I think the PCV issues which probably caused increased crankcase, head pressures is what caused your seals to fail or fail sooner than you would think they would. Oil does cause rubber seals to fail sooner but oil on those actuator seals is unavoidable maybe a light coat of a high temperature silicon based grease would protect the rubber for longer. I could never get any confirmation of the 1.4 litre turbo Luv engine having had any “ improvements “ in manufacturing from the earliest vehicles they phased them out after 2019.
Not surprising. Getting cars worked on by someone else is ridiculous at this point and just keeps getting more expensive. $760 for this repair is just plain egregious though.
@@greasyfingergarage I was shocked when I saw how easy it was. The estimate was for replacing both camshaft VVT's and not just the seals. But still, how can they possibly justify $760, even with charging me double the price for parts. What makes me angry is I've been using this garage for years and probably got way overcharged for many repairs. I have 54,000 miles on the SONIC and LOVE IT. I have a feeling the VVT seals may have been damaged when I lost the waterpump at 40k and slightly overheated the engine. IMO the waterpump should have been recalled like in the early SONICs.
Unfortunately their justification is pretty much "well if they could do it themselves they would so we will charge them as much as we want because we know they will pay it". You just have to know that anytime you have anyone else do something for you, you are being overcharged. And that doesn't just apply to having cars worked on. The main thing with the water pump is that it didn't pop the head gasket. Getting slightly hot may have helped them wear out faster, but the seals would have worn out anyway. Since you have pretty much the same engine as the Cruze, you can watch the ones I have related to the cooling system for issues you will end up running into in the future. I also have one of changing brakes in real time that you can follow to save yourself several hundred bucks when the time comes to swap those out.
@@greasyfingergarage Same stupid stuff is happening with construction. Quoted $6300 for a roofing job. I priced materials out for $2400 and it was a one day job for 2 people. Sorry, but $2000 a day for a low skilled job is stupid. I ended up doing it myself and saved $4000. Took me 3 days.
@@JohnSmith-gu6hf Its every industry. My fridge started dumping out water at random from the filler thing (can't think of the name right now). I figured it had to be either the switch or the board. Whirlpool decided they wanted to send someone out to evaluate it and offer up a fix. The "fix" was an entire new door for $1000. Needless to say, $35 for a used switch on Ebay and 20 minutes and the fridge has been working fine ever since.
If you don't have a check engine light or any stored codes but do have a leak around the solenoids, it is just a seal replacement. If the solenoids were needing replacement, you would be throwing some sort of code. As to what the exact codes would be, I have no clue.
@@nikamoney4172 I doubt it. I would think that would probably come from your coil starting to die or possibly bad gas if you just happened to fill up when that issue appeared.
Actuator makes them interchangeable terms I guess. It's what I told them at the dealership to get the seals and if you search "cam position sensor actuator" on O'reillys it brings it up as well as having it listed as variable valve timing solenoids. I'll update the title to cover them both.
You sent this right as soon as I hopped to edit a new video so you are in luck with a quick response. The area that the lock slides out of is the tab you push down on. The lock sits underneath it to prevent it from being pushed accidentally. When you slide the lock out of the way from under the tab, you will be able to push down the back end of the tab (where the lock was touching when inserted) and slide the connector off.
The fix didn't last because what is causing the issue hasn't been addressed. The PCV systems in these cars hold way too much pressure in the crankcase causing all the various seals to start looking. You need to do the PCV fix to alleviate high pressures. I am installing one and a catch can today. I'll have the video up in a day or two.
I assume you are meaning what the purpose of the actuators are. In short, it allows for additional rotation of the cams to adjust timing on the fly to help with efficiency. If the cams are in a fixed position the valves open the exact same time every cycle. When it has variable valve timing, the cams change position to open/close the valves per the driving conditions.
If it is just a leak it is the seal. If the actuator goes bad that car will start running like crap and through some sort of code relating to timing in some way.
One thing is always certain when it comes to paying someone else to do work for you: you will get ripped off in some way. I did not disconnect the battery when I did it. But if ever you are in doubt, its only a couple seconds to disconnect the negative and not what to worry about anything.
These vehicles are a real challenge. There’s got to be over 20 places it can leak oil, coolant or vacuum. Hoe GM ever got away with building these engines with the same issues for so long and without offering a warranty extension is almost criminal. People who own a 2011-2019 GM vehicle with this engine ( Cruze, Trax, Sonic and Encore as well as the European models ) should have expected a “ fix “ for these leaks and not the dealership simply replacing the parts so they can malfunction again 10,000-30,000 miles ( 16,000- 50,000 Kim’s ) later on. To top it off the plastic valve cover and plastic intake have increased in price by quite a lot.
Agreed.
Thanks from Scotand UK, just noticed an oil leak on my Vauxhall Astra j which I think is the same as a Cruz and nailed the leak down to this solenoid valve seal. Great to see it's an easy job. just ordered online from fleab*y 7 pounds
When it comes to leaks on these engines, this is definitely the quickest fix. Hope you are getting some sun over there.
@@greasyfingergarage Almost May and only 12 degrees, ( oh that's 53Ffor you guys) crap weather here. I want to move back to Spain where I lived for 30 years
@@andrewmackay8856 I would love mid 50s. Just not all the rain. We have already been over 80 freedom units close to half of the month and came close to 90 a couple times. I just want fall all year long.
Came back to let you know I got the job done following your instructions. THANK YOU!!! Took a little less than an hour including set up and clean up (putting the tools away and parking the cars back in the garage).
Weird thing. When I started the car when finished I did so with the hood up because I wanted to make sure everything was as it should be.
The engine was revving at 1,500 rpm and the fan came on super fast and hard and wouldn't slow. I closed the hood. When I put the car in reverse the rpms dropped to normal but the fan was nuts. I drove a 1/4 mile and decided to turn off and restart the car. The fan was fine at that point and never went nuts again during my test drive. What would cause this? So weird.
Rockin. And no problem. As far as the car acting differently at first, sometimes a car just has to relearn what it should be doing after it is touched. I'm assuming you didn't disconnect the negative battery terminal when you did this. That is more than likely the cause of it. You don't need to disconnect the battery when you do it, but it could always be a good rule of thumb when it comes to dealing with anything electronic on a car.
@@greasyfingergarage you are correct. I left the battery untouched. I debated disconnecting it but dismissed it and moved forward.
Thanks again! And thanks for replying.
THANK YOU!!!! Thank you for including the part number.
No problem. I try to make it a point to put all of the part numbers I use in all my videos to make it all as easy as possible.
Thanks for providing the part number!
No problem. I try to do that on everything since it takes out all the guess work in tracking stuff down.
Torque wrench setting is 8Nm in the easy, sensible, metric system. Job done 5 mins. Thanks.
I only work in freedom units but I'm sure the rest of the world will appreciate that bit of info. Thanks.
@@andrewmackay8856 I see the joke was missed. I will just move on to avoid any sort of political fight. Thanks for watching my video.
Does this work on a 16 ls?
@@ownSystem Depends on if it a Gen 1 or 2 Cruze since they switched midyear in 2016. If it has the same engine and part numbers as my 2011 in the video, it should be the same.
Just came across this video again and decided to watch it just in case. Our local GM dealership was bought by the guy who owned the dealership 100 miles up the road so getting parts is a drive of 1.5 hours each way, gas and a meal. Figure I might just pick a couple of these up. I’m not even sure how long we’re keeping this vehicle ( 2019 Buick Encore AWD ). So far none of the issues I’ve seen on TH-cam but you know what they say. I’m wondering what caused both of your seals to go basically at the same time. I can see one going and then the other one a month or two plus down the road. Maybe the same issue that caused the other leak you mentioned which from what I understand is from excessive pressure in the engine ( PCV ??? ). It looks like these seals are another “ under engineered “ GM part on these engines.
I can't say for sure, but I would imagine that the 2019 Encore would have the updated version of the 1.4 turbo. I know that most of the problems associated with the 1.4l engines are for the gen 1s which ran from 2010-2016.5 in the Cruzes. So you would want to verify which gen engine your car has. If it is a gen 2, I'm pretty sure they have addressed the issues like the PCV and plastic coolant parts to take care of the problems that my videos relate to. If for whatever reason your car has the earlier designed stuff, check out the rest of my Cruze videos to see what needs to be done to address all the issues.
As far as finding the seals, I would imagine that if you search the part number you would be able to find them online for fairly cheap and save yourself the 3 hour drive. As far as them failing at the same time, well they are the same seal used in the same area doing the same thing and were installed at the same time on the assembly line. If they didn't fail around the same time that would be odder to me.
@@greasyfingergarage I’m thinking more of things like the Sylvania Halogen bulbs that many manufacturers used to use. Also, made at the same time, used the same amount of time and all the other things you mentioned but I have never seen both bulbs burn out at the same time. If fact in over 45 years of driving and replacing my own headlight bulbs or sealed beams ( at least 40-50 times ) I have never had one burn out and the other burn out in less than several months. For the past 20 years I have replaced them in pairs though and I just keep the one “ still works “ bulb in the box the new ones came in ( along with the receipt in case of a warranties bulb ) for a spare in case I’m on the road and a bulb fails. The 2019 Buick Encore that I have definitely has some changes from the earlier models because I watched one of “ Dre Dan’s “ installation videos for his V3.4 Cruze Kits on a Buick Encore and the plastic hose from the PCV area in the middle of the intake to the turbo intake on mine has a couple bends and enters the turbo intake higher up the “ hose “ ( tube ) than the Encore he worked on . Our 2019 Encore has the Luv 1.4 and it only has 47,000 Kim’s on it ( about 28,000 miles ). The only “ issue we’ve ha$ is that the ch3ck engine light came on on two occasions last winter. Once in stayed on for about 3 days before I took it to a friends shop and he found several codes pertaining to the PCV etc. This happened after a fairly long highway drive. Followed by4 or 5 days of ver cold weather. When we took the vehicle to my friends shop the check engine light had turned o f likely because the weather had warmed up to above freezing and I had driven for a 20 minute highway cruise with moderate acceleration. The engine never ran poorly or burned oil or idled poorly. The second time a month and a half later it also happened after a long drive and being parked overnight in even colder temperatures. Thank you for the suggestion of a “ Gen 2 “ 1.4 litre and some possibility of some improved parts. I’ll probably pick up a couple of those seals anyways just in case. I think the PCV issues which probably caused increased crankcase, head pressures is what caused your seals to fail or fail sooner than you would think they would. Oil does cause rubber seals to fail sooner but oil on those actuator seals is unavoidable maybe a light coat of a high temperature silicon based grease would protect the rubber for longer. I could never get any confirmation of the 1.4 litre turbo Luv engine having had any “ improvements “ in manufacturing from the earliest vehicles they phased them out after 2019.
Thank you. I took my car in for an oil change. They noticed this and wanted to charge me $760 for this repair.
Not surprising. Getting cars worked on by someone else is ridiculous at this point and just keeps getting more expensive. $760 for this repair is just plain egregious though.
@@greasyfingergarage I was shocked when I saw how easy it was. The estimate was for replacing both camshaft VVT's and not just the seals. But still, how can they possibly justify $760, even with charging me double the price for parts. What makes me angry is I've been using this garage for years and probably got way overcharged for many repairs. I have 54,000 miles on the SONIC and LOVE IT. I have a feeling the VVT seals may have been damaged when I lost the waterpump at 40k and slightly overheated the engine. IMO the waterpump should have been recalled like in the early SONICs.
Unfortunately their justification is pretty much "well if they could do it themselves they would so we will charge them as much as we want because we know they will pay it". You just have to know that anytime you have anyone else do something for you, you are being overcharged. And that doesn't just apply to having cars worked on. The main thing with the water pump is that it didn't pop the head gasket. Getting slightly hot may have helped them wear out faster, but the seals would have worn out anyway. Since you have pretty much the same engine as the Cruze, you can watch the ones I have related to the cooling system for issues you will end up running into in the future. I also have one of changing brakes in real time that you can follow to save yourself several hundred bucks when the time comes to swap those out.
@@greasyfingergarage Same stupid stuff is happening with construction. Quoted $6300 for a roofing job. I priced materials out for $2400 and it was a one day job for 2 people. Sorry, but $2000 a day for a low skilled job is stupid. I ended up doing it myself and saved $4000. Took me 3 days.
@@JohnSmith-gu6hf Its every industry. My fridge started dumping out water at random from the filler thing (can't think of the name right now). I figured it had to be either the switch or the board. Whirlpool decided they wanted to send someone out to evaluate it and offer up a fix. The "fix" was an entire new door for $1000. Needless to say, $35 for a used switch on Ebay and 20 minutes and the fridge has been working fine ever since.
How would I know if I need to replace the whole part instead of the seals ?
If you don't have a check engine light or any stored codes but do have a leak around the solenoids, it is just a seal replacement. If the solenoids were needing replacement, you would be throwing some sort of code. As to what the exact codes would be, I have no clue.
@@greasyfingergarage Thank you!
Do you know if the connector are suppose to be oily?
They should not. But they are getting oily because of the leak.
@@greasyfingergarage do you think it can cause a p0300 code which is a random misfire?
@@nikamoney4172 I doubt it. I would think that would probably come from your coil starting to die or possibly bad gas if you just happened to fill up when that issue appeared.
I thought those were the variable valve timing solenoids
Actuator makes them interchangeable terms I guess. It's what I told them at the dealership to get the seals and if you search "cam position sensor actuator" on O'reillys it brings it up as well as having it listed as variable valve timing solenoids. I'll update the title to cover them both.
In my case I will have to replace the new part, because the oil leak is internal,
Well at least its still the same process. Just more expensive.
Im struggling with taking of the wire. You said squeeze the tab, but i cant find it!! I released the lock, but i cant find where the tab is at all
You sent this right as soon as I hopped to edit a new video so you are in luck with a quick response. The area that the lock slides out of is the tab you push down on. The lock sits underneath it to prevent it from being pushed accidentally. When you slide the lock out of the way from under the tab, you will be able to push down the back end of the tab (where the lock was touching when inserted) and slide the connector off.
Ohhhh, thank you! I got it
2nd try i put the new gasket and added little bit of gasket maker. The first time i replace it the seals didn't last long.
The fix didn't last because what is causing the issue hasn't been addressed. The PCV systems in these cars hold way too much pressure in the crankcase causing all the various seals to start looking. You need to do the PCV fix to alleviate high pressures. I am installing one and a catch can today. I'll have the video up in a day or two.
I have the aftermarket alum valve cover , pcv valve kit from ZZP performance so far its made a big difference
What does these do exactly?
I assume you are meaning what the purpose of the actuators are. In short, it allows for additional rotation of the cams to adjust timing on the fly to help with efficiency. If the cams are in a fixed position the valves open the exact same time every cycle. When it has variable valve timing, the cams change position to open/close the valves per the driving conditions.
For both sensors same seal part number ?
Yes. They are the same.
How do you know if you have to change just the actuator seal vs replacing the whole actuator
If it is just a leak it is the seal. If the actuator goes bad that car will start running like crap and through some sort of code relating to timing in some way.
Wow and the mechanic was gone charge me $400 dollars to replace this... I'll do it my damn self... Oh yeah do you have to disconnect the battery.
One thing is always certain when it comes to paying someone else to do work for you: you will get ripped off in some way. I did not disconnect the battery when I did it. But if ever you are in doubt, its only a couple seconds to disconnect the negative and not what to worry about anything.
So easy even Biden can do it :)
Woah woah woah. Let's not get carried away.