2011 Chevrolet Cruze: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Jul 29, 2024 · Electrical, Engine · MO

While driving home on the interstate after work, I was travelling at around 65 miles per hour, with the cruise control set at that speed. In an instant I lost all engine power and began to slow down very rapidly. A quick look to the rearview mirror to ensure nothing was approaching the rear of my vehicle, I found that I could see nothing except grey and white smoke behind me from all three mirrors. I was forced to remove myself from the highway for fear of causing an accident by blinding drivers with the smoke coming from my exhaust, and I was able to use the service road to get to the next fueling station. Upon arrival, I opened the hood and found that oil had sprayed out of every available portal in the engine, it exited through the vacuum lines, pressure sensors onto my alternator, saturated my serpentine belt as well as everything else ion the engine compartment. I noticed most of the oil came from a round hole behind the oil filler cap through a busted vacuum diaphragm that had blown out instead of regulating vacuum, indicating extreme positive pressure in the crankcase. As this was my MOS in the Army, I am experienced with dangers and risks involved in these situations, and I will give warning that if this happens during the right traffic situations, lives will be lost as a result of the smoke screen developimg when the oil hits the catalytic convertors combined with the rapid decline in speed without warning of any kind, and when it does happen, and it will, since there are 8 million of these vehicles on the road and counting, this complaint should serve as proper and fair warning od the damgers and risks with allowing this engine to remain in use without a warning system to indicate the tiny plastic check valve has been released from its position. I was fortunate enough that I only suffered a few curse words and horns blowing and flipping me the bird, but i have to admit I was afraid for my life and someone with less driving experience will have a bad outcom

Filed Nov 29, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · DE

Every year there’s always a issue with oil leakage resulting into smoke coming out of my car, another thing is my car starts to hesitate literally once a year. This has been happening since I purchased my car in February of 2015

Filed Oct 27, 2021 · Engine · 148,000 miles · GA

The contact owns a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was smoke coming from under the hood and a burning odor was detected. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and diagnosed with oil leakage from the valve cover gasket. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact scheduled an upcoming appointment for diagnosis with the dealer. The vehicle had a Manufacturer Recall N202299080 (Special Coverage Camshaft Cover Replacement) performed in 2019. However, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 148,000.

Filed May 25, 2021 · Engine · SC · fire

The car overheated out of nowhere. Oil busted out of the compartment it’s supposed to be held in and got all over my mechanical parts inside the vehicle. My car caught on fire from the bottom where the engine and transmission are. The car started rattling and giving me warnings to get out of the vehicle because the vehicle was unsafe. It gave me the warning that the engine is idle, Engine locked up, and also an coolant issue. The car didn’t have issues before this. I literally had to jump out of the car with my family. The warning light for the engine and coolant came on. There hasn’t been In problems prior to this other than changing a sensor. The insurance was notified and don’t have a solution. We’re trying to figure out what to do because it’s not driveable. Going to contact Chevy dealer or GM as well.

Filed Dec 12, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 89,300 miles · IN

The car is hesitating after stopping whether its a light or sign also has while in motion which almost got me hit! !t1here is also a burning smell at times! I have had it looked at within the month and they said it was a sensor , no-one seems to know what to do ! Bou8ght this car from honda in anderson indiana!! Its had problems the whole time I've had it1 ill never buy another cruze

Filed Apr 2, 2020 · Brakes, Engine · 188,000 miles · IA · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 chevrolet cruze. The contact stated that while her son was driving approximately 45 MPH, attempting to slow down the brakes began to lock. There was smoke coming from the dashboard of the vehicle. The driver pulled over and was able to stop the vehicle by applying excessive pressure to the brake pedal. The driver and the passenger of the vehicle were able to get out of the vehicle by kicking the doors to force them to open. Once the passenger was able to get out of the vehicle the passenger side of the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The fire department was called and extinguished the fire. A fire department report was filed. The vehicle was towed and deemed totaled. There were no injuries and no medical attention was needed. The contact spoke with fort dodge ford toyota lincoln (2723 5th ave s, fort dodge, ia 50501 phone: (515) 576-7505) who informed the contact of a recall for the brakes and low oil leaking causing a fire. The vehicle's VIN was included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 13v36000 (service brakes, hydraulics) however, the vehicle was never repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage 188,000.

Filed Aug 29, 2019 · Engine · 137,000 miles · KS

Been in and out of shops trying to fix a coolant leaks. I'm no mechanic or anything so I don't think much of weird noises or smells but I have become highly accustomed to the smell of burning coolant. A warning will frequently come on noting the AC was turned off due to high engine heat but only a couple times it completely overheated and forced me to stop driving. Any fix seems to just slow down the leak for a little bit to where you don't need any major repairs for a while.

Filed May 13, 2019 · Fuel system · 95,232 miles · OH

My car needs 4 fuel injectors and gage was stuck open a driving hazard. Oil has neen leaking around valve covers amd replaced but do smell burning time to time got coolamt leak fixed last year.

Filed May 13, 2019 · CA

Have a 2011 chevy cruze that I bought a few years ago, from carmax. Since I bought the car a few years ago, my car has always been very warm on the drivers side foot area, and where my leg rests there is a panel on the right of the gas peddle that is where the heat comes from. I have brought my car a few times to the dealership after I noticed how hot it got in that area. Over 130f! (I gave up at this time,) last week, my wife had a small rear end crash on my car. Nothing major but we took it to the body shop to get work on. When I brought the car in to them, I asked them if they can put some new insulation pipe on my car heat pipes, because the old ones were probably needing to be replaced. When the replaced it and my car was ready for pick up, they told me that they put the new insulation on it, but they showed me the old one. The old one was burnt and they said could have almost caught fire those pipes. Along with the side panel was warping due to the amount of heat coming out of there. I told them at the time, that its a safety issue, but they said because my warranty is expired from years ago, they have to charge me for inspecting it, from there if they find a issue then we can discuss with gm what is the best way to handle to repairs and costs. (I told them I would get back to them about that.)

Filed Dec 5, 2018 · 62,758 miles · WI

Burning smell from engine. Back in may 2016 I started smelling this burning smell after you drove the car for 20 mins. I bring it up to the dealer every time I have to take the car in. They can never find the source. They thought a oil pan leak was it. That was fixed and the smell still is there. They claimed to find an oil leak another time and fixed. Then it was a transmission leak, which was fixed and still the smell. There is never fluid under the car. I have the smell noted every time.

Filed Nov 17, 2018 · Airbags, Engine · 80,000 miles · AZ · crash · fire · 1 injury

Direct impact with 1200 pound cow while driving on a state highway, the airbag did not deploy. Entire car engulfed in flames as the engine immediately started fire. Totalled. Why didn't the airbag deploy? Serious injury. Serious safety issue. I have purchased 2 cruze's because of the safety features. This is so not safe and so unacceptable

Filed May 2, 2018 · Engine, Fuel system · 31,000 miles · IA · fire

It's been going off and on every since I first got the car I smell a burning smell and it loses power is stalls and the dealership keep telling me it's just air getting into it but I know it's my turbo because my neighbor has one her turbo went out and I have two other friends that has one and both their turbo went out and now it's making a knocking noise and everyone that I have look at it say it's the turbo it's the wastegate I don't drive my car much and only has 26,000 miles on it because I'm afraid to drive it I've had it fixed more than 10 times it had a oil leak where would catch on fire but the dealership put turbo fans in instead of giving me a new motor so it's still flames up from the oil pan but they say the turbo fans is going to blow the fire out so it's not going to hurt me but I don't drive it far because I'm scared when it gets hot that's going to catch on fire and nobody would give me anything for it that's why I still have the car but I'm willing to just take a big loss and just let them have it back the doors open without touching the car with the electrical system the lights are just go out in the dash just random so I can't drive it at night I hope you can see the oil on the pictures it just shoots all over the place and when I take it to the dealership they say the recall is not on my car they have a recall on the turbo and the vacuum system but they run my VIN number and say it's not on my car when I first got this car it was quiet it caught on fire from an oil leak they fixed it now it sounds like a truck you can hear it three blocks away is stalls all the time and they tell me it's the gas I'm using I switch to premium gas and it still does it this car is junk I hope nobody ever buys it chevy should be shut down