I know you love your GM trucks but I like to bring my other problems here 2016 Chevy trax smoking

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Tonyv__

Tonyv__

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Think of it this way, that little engine by itself puts out X amount of power. With a turbo it put outs X plus 50 or more. My old Buicks, the engines made 110 horsepower or so and with a turbo they made 245. So with a bad turbo, all I had was a 110 horse motor and you had to really goose it to get all those ponies to the ground.

I don't know the subject car at all, but that's what it seems like to me in the video.
Subject car is a POS that I regretfully told him I’d help him with lol. Thanks for explaining your thoughts to me. I’m gonna continue to explore and share my findings. I haven’t spent much time on it really



depends on what gear it is in or sitting in, I mean you should be able to feel it slipping if it is or if it is simply staying in say 2nd gear and just revving sky high, have you tried shifting it manually while slowly accelerating, you should be able to get it up to say 3rd or 4th gear then give it some gas and see it if just revs up or not in the same gear.

I feel like it’s downshifting when I step on it.. I did throw it in M but I couldn’t bump it up or down. I also spent very little time on the test drive. I think I’ll try to launch it from a dead stop and see what happens. Assuming I should start in 1st gear. Both times down the strip was a rolling launch so I was probably in 2nd or 3rd gear
 

89Suburban

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When I get a fouled plug my transmission shifts like shit too. Off the cuff I would say the failed turbo is causing the other issues in a chain reaction. Just my gut response I have no experience with the subject vehicle. Usually when a turbo fails it is a result of failed bearings and seals then it starts pumping oil. I would not drive it much at all if the turbo is fried. Major mechanical damage could result. Either he takes it to a qualified shop to be diagnosed or pull the turbo off and check it out and go from there.
 
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Tonyv__

Tonyv__

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When I get a fouled plug my transmission shifts like shit too. Off the cuff I would say the failed turbo is causing the other issues in a chain reaction. Just my gut response I have no experience with the subject vehicle. Usually when a turbo fails it is a result of failed bearings and seals then it starts pumping oil. I would not drive it much at all if the turbo is fried. Major mechanical damage could result. Either he takes it to a qualified shop to be diagnosed or pull the turbo off and check it out and go from there.
Good point. My express van was hard shifting from 1-2 when my CEL would blink for the misfire. It doesn’t do it anymore since the initial problem has been fixed. I’m probably gonna just pull the turbo and check it out at this point. Give that a try
 

89Suburban

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Good point. My express van was hard shifting from 1-2 when my CEL would blink for the misfire. It doesn’t do it anymore since the initial problem has been fixed. I’m probably gonna just pull the turbo and check it out at this point. Give that a try
I wish you luck my friend.
 

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Think of it this way, that little engine by itself puts out X amount of power. With a turbo it put outs X plus 50 or more. My old Buicks, the engines made 110 horsepower or so and with a turbo they made 245. So with a bad turbo, all I had was a 110 horse motor and you had to really goose it to get all those ponies to the ground.

I don't know the subject car at all, but that's what it seems like to me in the video.
Thats partially correct, it would actually make less than 110.. The tuning of the PCM would either make it run rich or lean, depending on how its reading things, which would lower the HP, plus, a blocked intake from a turbo not spinning.

I think its not the tranny, but I cant for sure say that with a 100% certainty, until its running right.
 
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Tonyv__

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Thats partially correct, it would actually make less than 110.. The tuning of the PCM would either make it run rich or lean, depending on how its reading things, which would lower the HP, plus, a blocked intake from a turbo not spinning.

I think its not the tranny, but I cant for sure say that with a 100% certainty, until its running right.
I’ll keep the post updated. I haven’t made time to mess around with it lately.
 

pwtr02ss

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I’ll keep the post updated. I haven’t made time to mess around with it lately.
My buddy had a Cruz with the same combo I think. IIRC, it had turbo failure around 60-70k miles. It would also build excessive crank case pressure and caused it to leak oil, twice. All was fixed under warranty and he traded the car at 100k after the certified preowned warranty went out.

I'd throw a turbo on it and see what happens. It's oiling from somewhere and that seems the next thing.

As far as the trans goes, who knows what's going on. If it was fine before the oiling, it's probably fine now
 
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Tonyv__

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I Have regretfully let this vehicle defeat me…

Went ahead and ordered a new turbo. Installed it. Which was an absolute pain in the ass. Now it’s smoking more than ever through the exhaust… I disconnect the exhaust pipe from the turbo and started the car. No smoke from the turbo exhaust. Reinstalled the exhaust pipe and massive clouds of smoke. Thought I’d let it idle for a while to burn off. Nothing. Drove it around the neighborhood, same thing. No improvement from the last video. Acceleration is awful, smoke is awful. Even went into limp mode briefly then came out of limp mode.

Had to call my buddy up and tell him to haul it out of here. As much as I wanted to help. I can’t keep wasting my time on it.

coincidentally Chevy just sent him a turbo failure TSB in the mail this week. I told him to take it there with his old turbo in the passenger seat. See what they say and bring me the other turbo back to try and get a refund if he wants to go that route.
 

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