My 2008 chevy aveo has electrical problems, I think, sense I purchased it. First off the clock goes on and off randomly and doesn’t keep time. Then the engine light is on one day then off the next. Sometimes on hot days sometimes on cold days. took it to Autozone and they have said two different times said there is a something wrong in the fuel sensor ??? took it to the Chevy dealer 3 time, Once they keep it for 3 days and said they couldn’t get the engine light to come on… ei. nothings wrong. the second time they said it was the sparkplugs and they charged me to replace them. 10 minutes after I got the car back the light came back on. The third time, again they said they can’t find anything wrong.
So the light as been going on one day and off others…I just ignored it…
Yesterday, I was in 5th gear and I lost all power. engine still running but now power when I press on the gas. I managed to pull over, turn off the car and it acted fine. It happened again on the way home from work. Now the light is off and it seems fine. grrrrr Any thoughts?
From what you state about the troubles there may be more than one problem. The error codes might be due to a failure with the power but without having the code numbers we can’t say for sure that is the case. The clock problem may be clue to a different problem or the same as the code problem but it does give a good clue to where to look for the trouble. The power circuit to the clock needs to be checked. Since it doesn’t keep time then it appears the memory power circuit is suspect at least. You don’t need to have the dealer look at this problem. I susggest you try to find a shop that specializes in electrical repairs and tell them all the clues you can think of when the troubles occur. They should be able to figure out what is going on, though intermittent problems are not easy to find when thiongs are working correctly.
How old is that battery?
Have that charging system checked out, also.
What were the codes?
It sounds like you were in limp home mode that last time. That could mean a problem with the accelerator pedal position sensor or the electronic throttle body.
Hold up i have the problem! My car is in the exact same problem.
Its your throttle body/sensor. You may have had it repaired with out beng told while it was under warranty.
Unfortunatly you camt replaceone or.the other you will have to do both. Its 600 for a part from checy, there are cheaper options used or from acdelco.
Take ot to an independent place like monroe auto zone or mineke that can diagnosethe engine codes, but cant fix it.
Get the print out.
Your clock is also bad. Good luck finding one, uness you go to a junk yard, i was told by the dealership there is one brand new one in chevys possesion in the entire country and i tried to order it and couldnt.
Youmay also be as lucky as me to have to replace the cam and crank position sensors too.
Try to do it yourself if possible… good luck
I have the EXACT same problem that Chandler Robertson reported. I spent $1500 last fall – bull… didn’t fix it but the car will run fine for a while and sudden lose power, lurch. I have been able to document that when this happens , afterwards, the clock will have gone nuts… for no reason spinning forward or backwards. If I drive somewhere with no incident of intermittent power loss, the clock keeps good time. My car is an Aveo 2009 with only 37,000 miles, bought new. WORST PIECE OF JUNK EVER!! The battery light was coming on last fall… had batter checked it was supposedly fine… then the car was lurching and losing power non-stop… took it back and theylooked at battery and – get this – found it “weirdly swollen”. They replaced the battery and did a bunch of other bull… still having power but I did find out that when I used my OnStar phone, that seemed to trigger an episode. I had the OnStar system cut off (remotely , not sure it is really totally off but phone is s) and thought that had solved the problem. it is better but happened again today-- dangerous. Yet no one can find what’s wrong! I am fed up with GM, even contacted national folks they claim they know NOTHING of this type of problem/complain. BALONEY. Just GOOGLE IT!!! many, many people have this weird problem . electrical/computer system checks out. I think it is a computer glitch somehow.
Swollen battery is often correlated with over charging. Too many volts in the system causing the problem? I am not sure if the voltage regulator is in the alternator, but I would check the voltage regulator performance.
@Sherstar, I suspect the trouble you are having is due to an alternator problem, not the battery. I suppose the ignition switch is another possibility but the alternator is the most likely I think.
This discussion was started in January 2013
Oh MY!