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So, I've put 5600 miles on my Spark since January 2014. The A/C needed fixed right off the lot, though it didn't change my positive feelings for the car. Every car has its hiccups, right? Anyways, Chevy owned up to it and fixed it in the spring with the recall. Now, I'm reading that some engines are failing before 30k miles all because the PCV is sucking oil into cylinders. How did this pass the testing phase? Are we the testers? The Spark concept car was unveiled in 2007, so in 5-6 years they never ran a 1.25L engine past 25k miles or turned on the A/C and went for a drive? I'm now scheduled for the PCV replacement, but what about the condition of the spark plugs and valves? Will they check that when they replace the PCV? I almost think I should take a loss and trade it in before it's known as the next Ford Pinto.

Do any of you share my concerns? Has anyone had the PCV job and it fix the problem?

Edited by manualsparkls
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Manualsparkls,

I did take a hit and ditched my Spark, after about a gallon of oil consumed in 10,000 miles I had a suspicion that the engine internals had already been damaged. I got a decent deal on my current car, but estimate that I lost at least $2000 on the deal, not to mention shelling out more cash than I had planned to spend this summer. At the time I entered the contract to buy the new car, there was no PCV fix announced, I still probably would have ditched the car with engine concerns. Thankfully I didn't have either car financed or I would have been in a hugely lopsided loan situation. Moving on from that now and need to get going to pick up some used wheels for snow tires.

Edited by Greg_E
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I just had the pcv valve recall done, but I'm waiting until I have at least 1k miles before I check the oil again. Mine did use about half a qt during a 1k mile period, so I'm going to see if that recall fixed it. I also had a cyclinder 4 missfire before recall was done, and noticed lack of power at times. They replaced cylinder 4 spark plug, and it seems better. I had to take it back becouse they overfilled the oil. My impression is that the dealers don't know and/or want to work on these cars, after over 8 visits to 4 different dealers in the Austin and Puget Sound areas. Right now I'm worried I might have a cracked valve, and I'm back to having a/c issues again that one dealer doesn't want to address, claiming bs from the first a/c bullitin from last year saying GM is working on the issue. That 36k mile mark is near, and I'm considering taking the loss and looking at a base Fiesta S or SE on clearence. I feel it would be in GM's best interest to pull the plug on the gas Spark, and just sell the EV model here, but should also consider large buyback incentives to get those of us with problems into their own better vehicles. Unless that happens, I won't buy the brand again.

Edited by austex04
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I can only hope they fix the PCV problem and fix any problems that have been caused by its malfunction. Common sense dictates that its not the PCV that is messing up the engine, its the oil making it THROUGH the PCV that is messing them up. So hopefully they look at all the components that can be affected by this oil and check them for damage. That is my main concern, fix it right the first time. I am glad to see they replaced your spark plug, did they mention anything about the condition of the #4 cylinder or the valves?

Edited by manualsparkls
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I can only hope they fix the PCV problem and fix any problems that have been caused by its malfunction. Common sense dictates that its not the PCV that is messing up the engine, its the oil making it THROUGH the PCV that is messing them up. So hopefully they look at all the components that can be affected by this oil and check them for damage. That is my main concern, fix it right the first time. I am glad to see they replaced your spark plug, did they mention anything about the condition of the #4 cylinder or the valves?

Of course not, all they said was they replaced cylinder 4 spark plug as part of the recall, and cleaned the throttle plate before overfilling my oil by almost a qt. Their goal is to get me in and outa there, not explanations for problems I may or may not have, which seems to be the norm for most dealers who hate seeing these cars in for service.
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Of course not, all they said was they replaced cylinder 4 spark plug as part of the recall, and cleaned the throttle plate before overfilling my oil by almost a qt. Their goal is to get me in and outa there, not explanations for problems I may or may not have, which seems to be the norm for most dealers who hate seeing these cars in for service.

I think this is the biggest factor in owner satisfaction and something GM is going to need to fix in a rather harsh way if this car is going to survive. Before my car arrived there was nothing negative about this model worldwide, it looked like a sure thing, and I figured how bad could the dealers be? A small change for the USA model and here we are. Maybe the 2015 model will finally have the bugs worked out so the dealers won't be an issue.

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I agree with the what you are saying Greg. Service center personal should provide their customers with generous amounts of information when recalls or service is done.

When I had my A/C recall done, my Spark was taken into a service bay and after a while my car was given back to me. Nobody provided any information on what was wrong with the A/C or the details of what was done to fix it. Luckily, this form has kept me informed and I didn't have to ask any questions but it would have been nice to have someone explain it to me in person.

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My AC worked fine but I brought it in as part of the service campaign. My dealer sent me the document that GM sent them regarding the possible issue before I made the appt.Mine didn't need anything but they did a BCM update . A few weeks later Onstar notified my dealership of the service campaign and another service advisor emailed me to bring the car in. Of course it was already taken care of but I was pleased with the attention to service.

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I'm at the point now that I am going to assume the internals of my engine are slowly turning to nothing more than a gooey mess. Back in a rental for almost a week again and this is the eleventh time for the same issue I have been struggling with since...I can't remember (seems like it's ongoing since I bought the car). I'll know tomorrow when I pick it up what they are reporting.


Edited by Riverspark
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I'm at the point now that I am going to assume the internals of my engine are slowly turning to nothing more than a gooey mess. Back in a rental for almost a week again and this is the eleventh time for the same issue I have been struggling with since...I can't remember (seems like it's ongoing since I bought the car). I'll know tomorrow when I pick it up what they are reporting.

Whats your mileage?

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Spark has two fairly well documented issues. One is the crankcase venting system, and I believe it goes beyond just the PCV valve. The other is the pistons and rings are just a hair to small in diameter. Without proper crankcase venting, an a higher than normal amount of combustion gasses getting past the rings, it builds up sludge fairly quickly. Add 7000 mile recommended oil changes, and it is going to sludge up quickly. Apparently the first place the sludge plugs up is a tiny orifice in the VVT mechanism, leading to engine failure. For some reason it is the #4 cylinder most of the time. It looks like GM is about to discontinue the Spark, so they probably have no intention of fixing it.

As for the Pinto, I put 120,000 miles on a '72 Pinto hatchback with the 2.0L engine and 4 speed. Never had any problems at all. The Pinto was a very well built car, much better than many newer cars. It was simple and easy to work on, but rarely ever needed anything. The Chevy Vega, however, was another thing altogether. I doubt very many made it past 50,000 miles. It had an aluminum engine with no cylinder liners. It did however have style.

The Spark is by no means the only engine with crankcase venting problems. Toyota built a bunch of them. Many of them were used in GM cars, including the Pontiac Vibe. My neighbor had a Toyota Matrix. It failed at around 100,000 miles. There was enough sludge in that engine to fill a 5 gallon bucket. The Corolla on the other hand would go more than 300,000 miles. That is not likely to happen anymore, as it now has a CVT instead of a real transmission.

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^^ This is why I passed on the Spark. The longevity concerns are just too bleak. I wonder if all the oil useage many Spark owners are experiencing is due to sludge build up. If an engine isn't burning oil, then it has to be going somewhere. Sludge could account for that as it's still in the engine, just not In a beneficial way.

I still think the Spark looks cool, but I'm happy I passed on it and bought a Mitsubishi Mirage.

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Very interesting to hear about the number of technical problems with the US-spec Spark. As far as I know of, not any cars in Denmark has been affected by the PCV-valve or had any recalls. Neither has the a/c been a problem or high oil consumption. And we have had the car since late 2009/early 2010.

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I had the PCV valve recall done a couple weeks ago and have put over 1000 miles on it since, 360 yesterday with a lot of mountian driving and hard pulls along with some 150 miles of interstate driving at speed of up to 80mph. For the trip we averaged 42MPG with three people in the car. I checked the oil when I got home and its still on the full line. The oil life monitor is down to 53% after 4,100 miles on the oil change and I have a total of 8,800 miles on the Spark since May 18th when I purchased it with 8 miles on the odo.

Very pleased with my Spark.

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The 2015s are at dealers now. I wonder if they changed anything, or if they are the same as the 2014? My local dealer has about 20 new Sparks on the lot, so there must be a lot of them out there. I am also seeing a lot of them on the roads.

Same as the '14s, no changes this year. I thought there might be a rear camera option, as they're all going that way, but not yet.

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The Spark has two fairly well documented issues. One is the crankcase venting system, and I believe it goes beyond just the PCV valve. The other is the pistons and rings are just a hair to small in diameter. Without proper crankcase venting, an a higher than normal amount of combustion gasses getting past the rings, it builds up sludge fairly quickly. Add 7000 mile recommended oil changes, and it is going to sludge up quickly. Apparently the first place the sludge plugs up is a tiny orifice in the VVT mechanism, leading to engine failure. For some reason it is the #4 cylinder most of the time. It looks like GM is about to discontinue the Spark, so they probably have no intention of fixing it. ........

I have not seen any documented or symptomatic evidence of pistons or rings being too small. In a 10.5/1 compression small engine that would result in immediate problems such as overheating, poor gas mileage & excess oil consumption from day one.

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Rear cam is an easy after market mod - just did it in a 2013 for a friend.

I'm aware everyone is selling them, but I would like to get one that would work through the mylink system, I know they are an option in Canada, also in Europe, don't know what the problem is here in the US.

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