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Stalling when stopped


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I have a 2013 Chevy Spark that has about 42,000 miles on it. Over the last 4 months it has randomly started stalling when I am sitting in traffic. Usually every few days it will stall has I am sitting or starting to press the gas to go after being stopped. It has even stalled as soon as I place it into park. It usually starts right back up, but there are days it has done this 6 times in a matter of 20 minutes. Also around 30 mph it "jerks/studders" a little like it can't decide if it wants to actually continue going. Any ideas what this could be? I am at a loss and I am extremely frustrated because the car is still new. I bought it 2 weeks after they were on the market and it only had 16 miles on it. The oil changes have been done regularly and the first time this problem started was 3 days after I had an oil change.

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Did you verify that they really put oil in it? Is the engine louder than normal? Does it lack power when driving? Also what brand of oil (Chevy/Mobile/etc.)

Also auto or manual transmission? If auto it could be that the engine is not related but that the torque converter isn't unlocking. If the convertor isn't unlocking you normally have a harder time getting the brakes to make it stop.

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It is an automatic, and I would say yes it lacks power when driving. I took it to Firestone and they used a 5w-20 Kendall Oil (I just called and asked them).

It does not sound loud at all. I barely notice when it stalls sometimes because the care is so quiet, I just see the RPM's at 0 and it won't go.

I am really hoping to avoid a dealer visit, due to the cost :(

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The way these cars are controlled today, it could be anything, fuel, electrical, a small vacuum leak. The best bet would be to put a code scanner on the car, and see if it is storing any codes, if it is, at least you have a direction to follow. I would bet it is related to your last oil change, a lot of these "techs" are sloppy, they get their hands under the hood, and knock wires, or vacuum lines loose. the jerking, stuttering and stalling, sounds a little like an egr problem, but I am just shooting in the dark. Try taking it to an independent, or your local gas station, for a code scan/diagnosis, and see what they tell you, it may just be something simple. I would save the dealer as the last resort, because they will skin you alive.

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Since it's actually stalling most of the time, chances are likely it will do it during a test drive. Just take it in to the dealer, and post back what they find.

At 42,000 mi. the warranty is over, she is trying to save some money, which isn't going to happen at the dealership.....

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  • 4 months later...

HI Johnbureezu,

I'm sorry to hear that you are also experiencing this concern with your vehicle. I cannot guarantee anything, but I will be happy to look further into this. Feel free to send us a private message referencing this thread of any further assistance is needed. I look forward to hearing from you!

Kristen A.

Chevrolet Customer Care

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  • 3 months later...

My Chevy Spark was purchased only 4 months ago and it has 5,000 miles on it. Over the last month, it's begun randomly stalling, and yesterday it stalled four times in the span of just a few minutes; basically every time I stopped the car at a light or in traffic. The car starts right up again, but obviously this is disconcerting, which is why I did a google search on the problem and it led me here, to this forum. I see that Kristen A. from Chevrolet Customer Care is offering customers a chance to send her a private message regarding this issue, but I do not see any means by which to send that private message. Any suggestions? Thank you...

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  • 2 weeks later...

My 2013 Spark with about 42000 miles on it has also been doing this. The dealership has it now and is speculating that it is related to the recalled PCV valve. Crossing my fingers that's the case and that it's fixed now. Has a new valve fixed anyone else's problem?

Edited by pinkunicorn
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This has been happening to my wife’s 2014 Spark with a manual transmission. The dealer is pretty much treating this as a driver that doesn’t know how to drive a stick-shift. We are experiencing the same behavior as others have posted, when the car is stopped, the thing just quietly stops running, no warning or indication and it starts right back up with the key. I really need to stress that if it was starving for fuel, like the idle was too low or the clutch wasn’t pressed all the way, the engine would shake the car. That doesn’t happen, it just stops like the key switch was turned to off.

It’s back at the dealer today and as an attempt to fix it they are replacing the battery cables. I will post updates as they are available.

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I got my car back from the dealership a week ago. They took care of the recalls and said they couldn't get it to act up. I was peeved that they charged me $150 to look at it when it seemed apparent that it was stalling as a result of the recalled PCV valve. All seemed well until this morning. I was stuck in traffic on a stretch of my commute with nowhere to pull off if necessary, and it stalled! I restarted it, and it didn't happen again, but the rest of my commute was nerve-wracking. I'm extremely disappointed and worry that I made a huge mistake buying a Spark. I didn't buy it new but it was close enough to new, and I spent enough on it, that I should have gotten more than a few thousand miles of worry-free driving!

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Hi Everyone - I am not sure if everyone else has found solutions to their engine stalling in their 2013 chevy sparks but I am currently experiencing this issue. I have a bit more miles on my vehicle and just started to experience the engine issue around 73kmi.

This car has been nothing but problems.....I just took my car to the chevy dealership to deal with the recent recalls (engine oil consumption, hood latch issues), I have already had to deal with a year without A/C because one month after I got the vehicle from the dealership brand new, my A/C went out due to manufacturing issues and the recall wasnt released for a year after I experienced my A/C go out. (Get this- I got the car in May 2013, by June 2013 No A/C... took it back to the dealership I bought my car from - they told me it was my problem and tried to charge me $800 to replace it. I couldn't afford to sink any more money into the vehichle and also thought why the heck would I do that on a BRAND NEW CAR so I just stuck it through one of the hottest summers in Colorado to just be told next year that yes, it was GM's fault and the they would finally replace the A/C).

Now the dealership wants to charge me money to get this engine stalling issue checked out... After reading some posts on this site, looks like it could be connected with the engine oil consumption issue many of you have been dealing with - hopefully?

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If you bought the car new in May 2013, no matter what went wrong with the car in June of 2013 it should have been covered under the warranty (unless of course you did 36,000 miles in a month).

The engine is under warranty for at least 5 years (I don't remember if it is 5 or 6 years), so the stalling issue should be covered also.

I would go to another dealership since this one seems to have their collective heads up their asses, but that's nothing new for GM or their dealerships!

Edited by Gossamer
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

I have a 2014 Chevrolet Spark with the stalling issue. The dealer claims it is not under warranty due to the title being "reconditioned". Regardless of the title concerns it still has a stall issue. Immediately after startup it idles and accelerates just fine. One to two minutes after start up the engine will stall out under acceleration as if running way to lean. Sometimes it back fires and some times not. If I rapidly press and release the acclerator it jerks a little but will not stall. If I throw it in neutral and put full accelerator the engine stops at 4000 rpms and will decline to about 2000 and the rev back up to 4000. It will do this cycle for 3 times then will run normal until I turn the engine off and restart. After restarting the same cycle will continue. It runs and idles great after I go through this cycle.

There are no DTC's illuminated. I have forced DTC's to illuminate by disconnecting the throttle valve then starting just to be sure the ECM is working and can detect malfunctions.

Does any one else have or have had this problem? If so, what was done to fix it? I have had all recalls done.

I have replaced the Crank Sensor, Temperature Switch Sensor, and MAP Sensor. Replacing a Temp Sensor fixed the same type problem I was having on a 95 GMC Yukon. These are the cheap and easy ones to get to. It seems it may root from the purge control system sense it idles and runs perfect for the first couple minutes then appears to go lean like the purge valve does not open.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

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