Stability control issue
 

I have a 2012 Camaro 1LT. Because I got the car to do mostly cosmetic mods I have only done a few performance. Cold air induction, TB, and MRT 2.0. The CAI and TB where done last week. A few days ago the tempature was forecast to feel like 2 and snow. So I put the car in my garage and didn't drive it for three days. Today I turn it on and get the check engine light with stability control message in window. The car is shaking and idling wrong. I pull the car out and let it warm up.

Quickly I hit the C5 and start doing searches. This leads me to check my MAF connection, battery connection, and TB connection since these are areas I have recently touched. Everything looks fine.

Now the car is warm I turn it off left it sit a minute and turn it back on. No service stability or check engine light. I sit in the car for a few minutes then I feel the car shake again like a rough idle. 5-6 seconds later it stops no error codes flashing or anything. I take off down the road runs fine???

I called the dealership anyway and will have it checked out Friday morning.


:(

Loose plug wire.

Yep........:drinking:

Yeah, but what plug? How do narrow it down?

We apologize for the frustrations you are currently experiencing with your Camaro. Please let us know how the service appointment goes this Friday.

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

Dealership said I had a miss fire on 5. There is a bulletin for my issue at start up. It could be coolent getting in the the chamber. If it happens again, I have to come back and they will keep the car and put dye in the radiator wait a few days and check to see if that is where it's going... If that's the case I have to get a new engine! :confused0068:

I do not want that to happen... If it doesn't happen again it could have just been some bad gas?


So I basically got a "take two of these and call me in the morning".


On the flip side. This has been the best dealership and place I have ever purchased a car. They have take great care of me before and after the sale.

Everett Chevrolet in Springdale, Arkansas!

I had the exact same issue with my 2012 2LT RS. We got about five inches of snow here in Casper, Wyoming and I couldn't move the car for three days. Finally enough melted I decided to take it for a drive and she started idling funny and all the stabilitrak lights and service warning came in.

I turned it off, let it sit for a few hours and fired it back up, no issues. Drove it for 50 miles, took it to 100 on the interstate, nothing, no issues. Even coming home the stabilitrak kicked in on the snowy road like normal.

I took it in for routine service today and had them check everything out. They said a P0300 code had been logged and to bring it back on Friday to get checked out again. Luckily, I was assured anything wrong would be under warranty, but I'm getting ready to move to Delaware, a 2,000 mile drive, in two weeks. Kinda freaking out over here.

Well I know I'm not the only one. Welcome to the forum! :chevy:

I just had the same issue today.. I have not drove my car for about 3 days because of snow. I started it today and sounded louder than normal and shaky feeling and service stability Waring popped up. I pulled out of garage reved engine and light went off..I am still going to have it checked out..

Dang Chris... I hope it doesnt happen again.

I hope not either! It's been three days since I've driven my car. I have been tempted to go and start it up, but then that would require me to go out to the cold garage.
:laugh:

Thanks for the welcome but I've got bad news Chris, I have coolant leaking into cylinder #3 :confused0068:. I just got the word from our local dealership.

It's warranty work, but they'll be keeping it until at least Wednesday while they get parts to fix it. There's no recall on this issue of yet, but apparently this is a common enough occurrence that they had a bulletin in their system about it.

Something is wrong with gasket that allows carbon build up to let coolant into the cylinders...

I immediately questioned whether this was something I'm going to see a recurring problem with and was told that once they make this repair it shouldn't be a problem in the future.

Sounds an awful lot like a gasket needs to be recalled to me.

The worst part, I'm driving this 2,000 miles on Thursday. I have to pray this is fixed and fixed right.

Holy crap. :confused0068:
Don't drive your Camaro for 3 days and bad stuff will happen. :( I have a 2012 2LT and I also have to worry about the torque converter going bad.

I'm willing to bet everyone with the symptoms Chris and I have, have coolant in a cylinder. All they had to do, supposedly, was type the symptoms into their bulletin system and this came up.

Which agains leads me to wonder why a recall hasn't been issued.

Got more clarification today from a buddy who used to work at the GM dealership here in town and has worked on the problem in the past. He said it's common on the V6 models in cylinder 1 and 3, and on the V8 models to also show up in cylinder 8. It's a known issue with the gaskets that usually allow oil to get into the cylinder and burn from one side causing carbon build up in the cylinder and around the gasket. That in time allows coolant to seep in from the opposite side and cause the misfire.

Normally the Camaro is balanced for a 13:1 mixture of oxygen to fuel in each cylinder. If coolant gets in, which has a high percentage of water, that throws off the ratio and causes the misfire since water obviously doesn't burn. It also takes a lot of high temperature, long runs, to get that water out of the cylinder. If enough gets in repeatedly then serious issues develop in the cylinder that can lead to total engine replacement. If caught early, though, it's as simple as cleaning out the build up and replacing the head gasket.

He said normally it's just the one bad gasket that causes the issue, but each time he worked on the repair they went ahead and replaced them all.

So guys, I'd recommend getting your rides in to the dealer ASAP, especially if they're under warranty, and getting this taken care of before you're looking at a full engine replacement.

Wow! I'm going to do that!

Good luck Chris, let us know how it comes out. Hoping for the best.

Please let us know if your dealership was able to address all of your concerns promptly.

We certainly apologize for any inconveniences.

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

I have been having this problem lately when it's cold out. I start my 2010 1ss in the morning and it misfires the car shakes, and the CEL blinks for about 20 seconds and the service stabilitrac lights come on... after about 30 seconds the idle comes down and it runs fine and all the lights go off... I don't like this at all im going to the dealer as soon as i can.

Welcome to the forum! Please keep us up to date on what your dealer says. :thumbsup:

We apologize for any inconvenience or frustration you are currently experiencing. I would suggest going to the dealership as well for a proper diagnosis. Please let us know the outcome.

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

Well guys I have more horrible news.

They put the engine back together, test drove it, and more warnings came up that I now have a slack timing belt. How on Earth have I put 26,000 miles on this car and it's only when the engine is completely disassembled and reassembled that this issue comes about, you might ask? I asked the same thing and was assured I'm pretty much an idiot and to not worry about it again.

I'm so sick of the customer service at our dealership.

I finally got to the point I got the general manager on the phone and what he told me takes the cake.

I said, "This is ridiculous, you've had this for a week, you've known I was planning to move today, now you tell me there's something else wrong and my plans are completely thrown off. What's going to break when you fix this?"

He replied, "Well this should take care of it, but this is why cars have warranties. GM doesn't guarantee every car comes off the assembly line perfect."

Talk about brand confidence right there.

But wait, it gets better.

Yesterday we had a high of 45, clear blue skies to start our 2,000 mile drive. Today, high of 17, 3-6 inches of snow expected with 25mph+ winds. We all know how well Camaros do in snow. Not to mention our entire apartment was loaded onto a truck yesterday and we had to find somewhere to stay in Casper for the night. More if it turns out we're snowed in now.

I would ask for a brand new engine, no more no less. Don't pick up the car and call GM!

Hi guys, I just took my car in the other day, I had several isues., tire, air conditioner, and the stability. The dealership said they found an update for PCM..and this is what caused the stability trac issue and engine to run rough..it seems to run better but we had 60 degree weather here also ..so I will see what happens when the temp drops..Good luck guys..

Anyone have the service bulletin number?

My '12 2LS has been in the shop twice for misfires in cylinders 2 and 4.

If I had time for a new engine, I'd have taken the hard stance, but I couldn't wait for it. Not with a new job to start.

We made the trip safely to the east coast, all 2,100 miles of it through snow and absolutely pouring rain. It's amazing what a day late resulted in for travel.

I am, though, hearing a "whoomp, whoomp, whoomp," sounds that gets fast and slower as I accelerate and decelerate now that wasn't there before all the repairs. It doesn't sound like its coming from under the hood though, like maybe it's the tires? They're all balanced, I checked that. I can't imagine it would be the hubs when I noticed it at under 27,000 miles.

It is time to get new tires, but I can't imagine tread wear would do it.

Any thoughts guys? I've heard the timing belt could make a similar sound but the car runs fine and I don't feel any vibrations or anything or get a light. They did completely take the engine apart so it does have me worried. But again, we did drive 2,100 miles with no issues.

I think the sound is just the tires. Looking at them, they're getting into the replacement zone on wear, and not being able to rotate them has probably taken them down a bit faster.

So, outside of the headache of the wait, looks like they knocked that repair out pretty satisfactory.

I am having sort of the same problem. I have had my car a little over a month. about a week in, my check engine light came on, saying service stablility tract,m except my car does not act weird at all, the light seems to randomly come on and off. I took it in and they told me they couldnt find anything wrong, except when they shook the key around in the ignition a bit, the light would come on and off. They suggested taking everything off the key ring and only have the key to the car. it seemed to fix the problem...for a week and a half, it is coming on again. Also for 3 mornings in a row when I started it up to go to work, the speedometor was at zero, and would kick in about 2 miles down the road. Related problems? Any possibility this could be related to the cold? Or just something with the wiring?


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This is turning into an epidemic!

The LLT/LFX engines have a timing chain, not a timing belt.

John B.

I would suggest taking it back to the dealership where you went first to see if they can diagnose this for you. Please let me know any updates.

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

That's correct, it is a chain. Force of habit I referenced the belt.

And for the user that asked for the bulletin code, I'll see if it's in the paperwork they gave me. Just showing how inept that dealership is, they handed me the warranty paperwork they have to submit to GM when I walked out the door. It wasn't until I was getting in my car and pulling away that a woman came running out to get it. I did take a look at it and saw that this would have cost me $4,800 between the chain and gaskets and labor to clean the engine out.

The bulletin number is "#PIP3146D for excessive carbon on top of valves."

When they reassembled the engine they then received codes P0017 and P0016 which read, P0017 - "Crankshaft position sensor - exhaust camshaft position not plausible bank 1" and P0016 - "Crankshaft position - intake camshaft position not plausible bank 1"

That in turn led them to the bulletin, which I don't have, that says the timing chain is slack.

It's been six months and my Camaro has run just fine... that is until I let it sit for a week while we left for vacation and returned to fire it up today. Everything went fine until I got out of the driveway...

The Stabilitrak service warning returned, engine light began flashing and for my 7-mile drive to work the car slammed in and out of gear, especially on the down-shift. The dealership out here (which has been miles better than the one I dealt with in Wyoming) can't get it in for me to even drop off until tomorrow, in hopes they can look at it by the end of the week.

She's now at 41,295 miles. So the 13,000 or so miles since the initial head gasket and timing chain replacement were worry free... until now.

Kylegrantham,

I hope you had a great vacation! My apologies are extended to you regarding your stabilitrak woes upon returning. Please keep me updated on your diagnosis at the dealer. We're here to help if possible.

Kind regards,

William R.
Chevrolet Customer Care

William,

After a series of tests at the dealership the eventual diagnosis was the engine needed to be replaced.

It took three weeks but I have my Camaro back and 400 miles on the new engine later she seems to be running better.

Thank god this was under warranty. The cost to have this done without it would have run near $10,000.

Oh my!

Thanks so much for your update and I'm happy that everything was taken care of for you. Let me know if you encounter any further issues.

Happy driving,

William R.
Chevrolet Customer Care

William,

Actually, it looks like everything was not taken care of. Yesterday I fired up my Camaro, the one I just had the engine replaced in six months ago, and every symptom prior to the engine replacement reappeared. She started with a rough idol, service stabilitrak warning, and slammed between gears as it shifted.

The new engine has just under 9,000 miles on it, There are just over 50,000 on the car itself., and it's back at the dealer again. This will make three extended stays for repairs of what appears to be the same issue. All total from January of 2013 to now, I'm looking at five weeks this car has been in a garage getting worked on.

I'm ready to dump the car the first chance I get, but lord knows no one would come near buying the thing if they see what it's history has.

Kyle

Sounds like it's time to investigate the lemon law in the state where you reside.

Just had this error message today
I had the car stored and disconnected th battery for about 6 weeks
Car warmed up and I did not experiance shaking but the stability service error flashed
I shut it off and turned it back on after warm up and th error was still there

Still got snow in the ground so I won't be able to take it in for a few more weeks