2016 Chevrolet Cruze - Needs pistons

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Why are piston wearing out?

  1. Purchased 2016 from Car Guru- 50,000 miles
  2. December 2019 - 85,000 - Piston to be replaced
  3. $6,700 - Per Chevy Dealer
  4. I really need this car…Young and Confused…
    Krystle P…Decatur, Georgia
2

Why does the dealer say a piston needs to be replaced?

3

Your car is out of warranty. Suggest you get an opinion from an independent mechanic. Use the mechanic button from the home page on this site, friends&family, yelp reviews to find one.
Then just tell the shop the symptoms you are experiencing, not what the Chevy dealer told you.
Then come back to us. Tell us if they pulled any computer codes and what the codes were, format will be P0123.

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4

If a piston is worn out (how in the world did they determine this…) then it’s likely an entire engine is needed. I can’t imagine going into a higher miles engine to only replace one piston so I am curious as to how this diagnosis was arrived at.

The usual cause of excessively worn cylinders/pistons is lack of oil changes, running the engine low on oil, or severe overheating.

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5

It seems that nearly all manufactures have revised pistons for one or more of their engines to resolve an oil consumption problem caused by stuck oil rings.

For about 6 years we were replacing pistons and rings in engines with up to 150,000 miles on them, those engines had no noticeable wear.

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6

Do you think that has something to do with the extended oil change intervals many manufacturers use these days? Fine for wear but short-tripping gums up the oil rings, maybe?

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7

I think, before replacing pistons because of stuck rings, folks should try your concoction of ATF and wine, AKA Mustangman’s Mystery Oil.

8

Second opinion time. There’s a serious lack of clarity here.

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9

Definitely a time for more clarification. Lack of oil changes in it’s previous life could be part o the problem. Had coked up rings on my boat on 1 cylinder, 30lb less pressure, tried some yamaha ring free, 10 years ago, still running strong. It is an 86 2 stroke engine, not sure how this applies to cars

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10

If the routine maintenance, esp oil and filter changes, were done on schedule, and no cooling system problem, and normal driving habits, my guess is the piston damage was the result of pinging. Common causes of pinging

  • faulty ping knock sensor
  • faulty ignition timing
  • overly lean air/fuel mixture
  • turbo engine

There’s three service bullitns your shop should be aware

pip5490b, pi1394a, 16 na 222

11

“ping sensor” . . . ?!

image

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12

Look, there’s really no evidence of anything here. The OP says needs new pistons for $6300. That’s a very radical diagnosis. Why? What are the symptoms? How did someone arrive at this conclusion? It takes a bit of serious investigation to come to this sort of conclusion, and we have nothing.

13

Mr. West is correct. The person posted this vague post 2 days ago and has not even viewed the thread since. So maybe this should just float off into cyber space.

2 Likes