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Problems with my spark. Help?


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Okay. This will be a rather long story.

And honestly, I'm kinda hoping Chevy customer care relays this to their coworkers, because the phone calls have obviously been no help.

At the end of Feb. I did the transmission recall on my Spark. About a week or two later, it had a major misfire event, with over 700 misfires in one cylinder. I immediately brought the car in for repairs. Only to get the dreaded, "We can't duplicate the problem, so we can't fix it." I was a bit disturbed by this, after seeing others on this board have similar issues, however theirs were fixed. Over the next month, I spent every weekend, and sometimes midweek in the dealer. The car was now randomly jumping to 3k-4k RPMs. I would lose a bit of power, then it would catch itself, and drop back down to it's standard 2k. Previously, 3 and 4k were reserved for climbing mountains. Every time I went in, I got the response, "WE can't duplicated it, so we can't fix it." And finally was told, "WE don't want to see it, unless you have video proof of it happening." Well, that's illegal in my state. You can't touch an electronic device while driving, so I don't know how they expect me to get video proof. It's also getting really sluggish getting up to speed with other cars on the road. Having to push it to 3-4-5k to get up to speed with traffic from a stop so I don't get run off the road.

This whole time, I've been on the phone with Chevy. Talking with the first advisor, then eventually being shuffled up the ladder, only to be informed that my car is working normally, and they can't do anything for me. It's at this point that I would like to mention, that this issue has caused me to lose sleep, vomit from stress after talking with the Chevy reps over the phone, countless tears of frustration and anger, and the cancellation of one fully paid for vacation, as I can no longer trust it climbing mountains.

Previous to these issues, I was informed on multiple different occasions, that the car's quirks. (Having no power to get up and go with the A/C on, (So I have to turn it off to take off from a stop.), The A/C not cooling the car down, The A/C causing the car to shake violently at 65. ect.) was all normal for the car. Because the car is "weak".

Well, after all of this, I just got back from a second dealer, who looked over the car. Their response: "We can't duplicated the problem. Your car is behaving normally. Did anyone ever explain how the CVT works to you?"

That's right folks. My car, with all of it's problems, is considered normal. It's doing exactly what it's suppose to. So because Chevy "Fixed" it, it runs worse than it ever did previously.

I'm at my wits end with this car, aaaaaannnnnnd crying in frustration, again.

I've even been a 'good girl' and kept all of this off of social media. Trying to let them fix the problem before letting everyone else know how shitty the whole thing has been. Hoping that would help in some way, get them to help me.

What can I do?

Edited by VegasSpark
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no all that is BS none of that should be happening with your car. I have a 2014 cvt with none of those issues so bull. Time to go to social media, gm and chevy pages only though not the dealerships cause theyre assholes and will probably mess up other things when they finally have to fix it. make a service adviser ride in the car with you so you can call them on it when it happens and they cant make up stuff.

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The only problem is, its random when it does it. So they've done 30 mile test drives and cant find the issue. Though i KNOW they drive the car harder than i do. (I just reset my mpg calculator and it was significantly lower when i got the car back. And i willingly admit, i baby yhe hell out of my car. No hard accelerations, not slamming on the gas ect.) so they might not be noticing the jumps because they are pushing it that high regularly.

Ive also tried explaining that ive been in many other cvt cars, and never noticed a behavior like this. Others while riding in my car will pause after it happens and ask if it just did the thing. Including some people who never listen to engines. (Non-stick people)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well. All i can say is get a different dealer, make an appointment, walk in and talk to the service manager, explain what is happening without getting loud and let them test drive the car.

Get a hold of the cx service person here on the forum and send a message.

Mpg being lower could also mean they turned the car on and let it sit for 30minutes running at the shop, then took it around the block to get lunch.

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I'm on my second dealer right now. Who also couldn't find anything.

They must be driving it somewhere, because I'm always minus gas, and there is additional mileage.

I've mostly kept my cool in the dealerships, because I know getting angry doesn't solve problems. The only incident I can think of, is I started crying from frustration, to which they instantly ushered me in to the back, but solved nothing.

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Your never buying American again comment is quite funny, Hondas and Toyotas are more American than gm and Ford right now.

It's not about buying this brand or the other brand, it's about knowing what you are getting into when you buy the second cheapest car in the country.

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Gm and chevy are seen as American made. (I got a lot of flack for looking outside of "american made" before i bought the chevy)

I dont even know why im trying to defend my comment. My first car was a cheap car too, and that one lasted 20 years. So I guess in the end it going to be my fault for assuming that a company would actually care enough to fix the car they sell.

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I'm pretty sure the problem isn't the company, the problem is the dealerships service department.

Try to reach out to the gm customer service person here in the forum and send them some detailed information, some people were actually successfull at getting their stuff fixed after they got in contact with the cus toner service person.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm assuming you have the CVT auto tranny? A replacement with a properly configured (recalls done) and properly installed may fix your issues..if not the misfires are engine related..you have my respect for having done all the correct things..takes more patience than average ..If it was me, I'd..well...you get my drift..

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I'm assuming you have the CVT auto tranny? A replacement with a properly configured (recalls done) and properly installed may fix your issues..if not the misfires are engine related..you have my respect for having done all the correct things..takes more patience than average ..If it was me, I'd..well...you get my drift..

I do have the cvt. It seems to have fixed the problem. Though I've only had it back for a day.

Im keeping an eye on the missfire, as that was never actually addressed.

And as for patience, i had some new cars picked out and a plan to go to carmax ghis upcoming weekend. But we'll see how the new transmission works out. (Though now ive been driving a larger car for a while, and the spark is starting to feel a little cramped.)

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As of right now, they have replaced the transmission. I just got my car back, and im hoping its finally happy and will stop acting uo now.

Hi VegasSpark,

I'm so glad to hear that your dealership has resolved this for you! Should you have questions or concerns in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Have a great day,

Chelsea D.

Chevrolet Customer Care

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  • 2 months later...

I am having the same issue! Yesterday though, no matter what my car would not go from a stop. I was at the beginning of an intersection and it would not go. I had to turn the car off and back on, luckily it went. Of course, with out the AC on. I have to floor it from a stop if the AC is on. Not happy. Hopefully, I will have better luck at the dealerships...

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1 hour ago, silverapricot said:

I am having the same issue! Yesterday though, no matter what my car would not go from a stop. I was at the beginning of an intersection and it would not go. I had to turn the car off and back on, luckily it went. Of course, with out the AC on. I have to floor it from a stop if the AC is on. Not happy. Hopefully, I will have better luck at the dealerships...

What year is your a spark ? I along with some others have had that happen on our 13 Sparks .  A restart fixes it but I have had it happen 3 times during ownership , twice after the dealer did GMs fix from the TSB . 

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3 hours ago, silverapricot said:

I am having the same issue! Yesterday though, no matter what my car would not go from a stop. I was at the beginning of an intersection and it would not go. I had to turn the car off and back on, luckily it went. Of course, with out the AC on. I have to floor it from a stop if the AC is on. Not happy. Hopefully, I will have better luck at the dealerships...

 

After i found a better dealership, i have had no issues getting anything fixed. Ive stopped in with other concerns and they have explained why, or have given a possible solution.

It sounds like it may be getting easier as more people arr coming out to get replacements. 

 

I wish you the best of luck!

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  • 2 months later...

Finally took back to the dealer on the bunny hop tranny problem. They had it for a week. Service manager admitted he experienced the hop and said it was normal for this car. I have sixteen thousand miles on it now and I now experienced a new

Intermittent reving of the engine when going 40 or 45 mph. Needles to say, that is why I finally took it in, for the bunny hop and now the new problem which it has only done a few times now. Any way it looks like it is NORMAL.....NOT HAPPY AT ALL.

I am not sure what I will do next. 

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The bunny hop issue is normal. The latest updates have helped a lot but mine still does it. Does it just rev on its own or are you giving it gas and it just revs but doesn't seem to accelerate. Mine does this every so often but its something I have got used too. It all goes back to GM not being able to get the programming quite right.

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  • 1 month later...

I've had a 2013 Spark, a 2014 Spark, and I am presently driving a 2016 Spark.  All 3 have been lovely, flawless machines.  I just keep upgrading as they keep evolving.  Perhaps I am just lucky.  As long as they sell them, I shall buy them.  Value, style, economy, utility.  Fun to drive.  In what other City Car can you bring home a dozen 8ft 2X4's?  Drop the passenger seat back, slide the boards in and close the hatch.  What other City Car is also a pickup truck?  A Fiat 500?  A Mini Cooper?  A Smart Car?  I think not.

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Same thing happened on my spark, and got told normal as well. And GM shot the general managers down for any repairs and now I have antifreeze leaking into the passenger compartment on top of the transmission, AC issues so Ethenol glycol poisoning is happening to my passengers and GM told me to suck it up and to keep driving 

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  • 2 years later...
On 10/13/2016 at 9:35 PM, geogary said:

Finally took back to the dealer on the bunny hop tranny problem. They had it for a week. Service manager admitted he experienced the hop and said it was normal for this car. I have sixteen thousand miles on it now and I now experienced a new

Intermittent reving of the engine when going 40 or 45 mph. Needles to say, that is why I finally took it in, for the bunny hop and now the new problem which it has only done a few times now. Any way it looks like it is NORMAL.....NOT HAPPY AT ALL.

I am not sure what I will do next. 

 

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  • 3 months later...
On 11/20/2016 at 8:06 PM, Skyway said:

I've had a 2013 Spark, a 2014 Spark, and I am presently driving a 2016 Spark.  All 3 have been lovely, flawless machines.  I just keep upgrading as they keep evolving.  Perhaps I am just lucky.  As long as they sell them, I shall buy them.  Value, style, economy, utility.  Fun to drive.  In what other City Car can you bring home a dozen 8ft 2X4's?  Drop the passenger seat back, slide the boards in and close the hatch.  What other City Car is also a pickup truck?  A Fiat 500?  A Mini Cooper?  A Smart Car?  I think not.

My 2017 Spark LS with CVT is running like a clock, almost the same as when it was brand new.

My last oil change was full synthetic, and I noticed a bit more power and a bit smoother engine.

And Spark is a 100% Korean car, even the GM name plate is made in Korea :lol:

Edited by Bobby MSME
typo
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