So a family friend who would be a sterotypical "car is an appliance-transportation-pod and what do you mean I have to change oil" type bought a Cruze and swears that the car doesn't have spark plugs. Am I missing something? It's just an Ecotec, isn't it? I'm trying to figure out what the dealer told her that got us to this point?
Maybe not traditional spark plug wires?
Or maybe the dealer told her the plugs would never need to be replaced?
She may have one of the diesels
http://www.dailytech.com/CONFIRMED+Chevrolet+Cruze+Diesel+to+Hit+Dealer+Lots+in+2013/article22130.htm
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/10/will-chevys-cruze-diesel-be-a-game-changer-lutz-thinks-not/
Is it a Diesel?
edit: blast! pipped to the post.
Sounds like a girl I knew in high school. She had a used EJ-chassis Civic coupe that was progressively running worse and worse until one day the engine seized up. A classmate who tuned Hondas (and actually had an idea of what he was doing, shocking, I know) bought the car so he could do a swap and for E36 M3s and giggles he did a postmortem. The engine oil level was bone. dry. Her excuse?
"I thought modern cars didn't need oil anymore!"
I worked with a woman who "put in a quart every time that light comes on." 
A friend of a friend (how's that for an Internet story lead-in?) bought a Kia and drove it until the oil that was in it from the factory did enough leaving and breaking down to kill the engine.
Yep, that car met its demise never having known an oil change, or even a top-up.
An old roommate of mine went to change the oil in his brand new Geo Metro. After putting the appropriate 1.3l of oil in, there still wasn't any on the dipstick. Well, it WAS a 1.3l engine, I can't fault him for that. He was smart enough to check the dipstick and gracious enough to laugh at himself.
I once pulled the drain plug on a Nissan Micra and got NOTHING. I stuck a screwdriver in the hole, nothing in the way.
She drove it to the shop, and drove it away, and seemed quite upset with me when I suggested she would likely be buying an engine soon...
Streetwiseguy wrote: I once pulled the drain plug on a Nissan Micra and got NOTHING. I stuck a screwdriver in the hole, nothing in the way. She drove it to the shop, and drove it away, and seemed quite upset with me when I suggested she would likely be buying an engine soon...
We rebuilt a BMW ZF tranny with 180k on it and never had a fluid change. The whole shop reeked of burnt ATF for two days. When she picked it up I told her that she needs to change that fluid about every 60-80k. She laughed and though I was just trying to get more money out of her. "Nice try" she said. "Thats a 'sealed-for-life' transmission."
:facepalm:
We had another lady who brought in a big benz and her trans was FUBAR. We rebuilt it and she sued us because it never was right again. She said she could feel the shifts now and she couldn't before. Yeah, no s#!t, lady... your car was stuck in 2nd gear limp mode. Her lawyer drove it and told her to drop the case. Instead she dropped the lawyer and kept going. She didn't win.
I bet it does have plugs, it has coil packs. The diesel isn't available yet IIRC.
It has plugs, they're under the coils which are under the engine cover.
Hell my '97 Cavalier Z24 had coil on plug and didn't have traditional plug wires.
ransom wrote: A friend of a friend (how's that for an Internet story lead-in?) bought a Kia and drove it until the oil that was in it from the factory did enough leaving and breaking down to kill the engine. Yep, that car met its demise never having known an oil change, or even a top-up.
I knew a lady that did that to a Camaro. Almost 40K with no service at all. Just gas and go. 
I priced out $6500 of repairs on an 06 vue ecotec 2wd today.
They came in for an oil change and the complaint that the driver rear door was stuck closed. As an afterthought the customer said "oh theres a weird noise when I start the car"
I started it to drive it in and laughed aloud, noisiest rod knock I've ever heard.
get the car in and its leaking from the oil pan gasket and the a/c compressor has die all over it, and the tires are all 0 tread. When I pulled the plug it looked like oil from a cummins after 15k. They didn't want the tires but wanted me to find out what the "weird noise" was. Priced out a reman engine from GM for $4000 +9hrs labor, they def don't want it. They don't want to buy the new door latch assy and 2.5 hours labor for that either. We have an open bet on which goes out first: the tires or the engine.
lol
I don't think they changed the oil even once a year. A 2.2 ecotec with 65k miles on it should not be suffering like that for sure.
I don't understand people.
i sold a couple guys a water pump for their grand prix that had a 3800 in it.
they came back and said "this belt routing diagram is wrong!"
i asked them to see it, since i didn't realize our water pumps came with a belt routing diagram.
the guy whips out the warranty brochure that was in the box, which just so happened to have a generic picture of an LS1 on it.
imirk wrote: Is it a Diesel?
That was the only thing I could come up with. Told the wife (who is car-competent) and next time she asked friend. Nope, it's gas, she says, and it's this new design that doesn't have spark plugs.
Racking my brain for what the salesdrone told her that got distilled to this....
Toyman01 wrote:ransom wrote: A friend of a friend (how's that for an Internet story lead-in?) bought a Kia and drove it until the oil that was in it from the factory did enough leaving and breaking down to kill the engine. Yep, that car met its demise never having known an oil change, or even a top-up.I knew a lady that did that to a Camaro. Almost 40K with no service at all. Just gas and go.
That happened two or three times when I worked for the Kia dealer in Charleston.
glueguy wrote:imirk wrote: Is it a Diesel?That was the only thing I could come up with. Told the wife (who is car-competent) and next time she asked friend. Nope, it's gas, she says, and it's this new design that doesn't have spark plugs. Racking my brain for what the salesdrone told her that got distilled to this....
probably "you don't need to change the plugs for 100,000 miles on this, so you will have traded it in on something else long before that"..
that being said, the plugs on an ecotec are extremely easy to replace.. rip off the plastic engine cover and remove 4 10mm bolts that hold the coil pack down.. lift the coil pack off the engine and lay it aside.. use a 6" extension with a 5/8" plug socket to remove the plugs.. it's like a 10 minute job on my '04 Cavalier.
My mom (hows THAT for an internet story lead in 
) was once quoted saying:
"I thought fuel injected motors didn't have pistons!"
What can I say? She's family 
I'll be the first one to acknowledge how little I really know about cars ... but some of these are way beyond ridiculous .. I'm sure the the friend doesn't understand the concept of internal combustion ... either compression (diesel ) or flame.... spark of some type
Had a women with a 2.8 GM v-6. blew the two center rods out of the block. She stopped when she heard a loud noise and a red light on the dash came on. Weird part, it still ran. Drove it into the shop.
I would guess either:
1) she was told she'll never have to change the plugs...
Or
2) it was explained that there's no spark plug wires because it's a coil on plug motor.
Either one would lead to a non car person interpretation of "no spark plugs or something..."
When I hear something like that any more I just say "ok" and walk off. We live in a connected age and if they can afford the payment on a car they can find a computer with internet access or a book about their purchase (like the one that came in the glove box).
My daughter asked me why the tires on her minivan were wearing on the edges. Asked her, when was the last time she checked the pressure. Shrug. My daughter in law was driving her Escort on slicks on the front, the rears looked new. Quote. " I never look at the tires".
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