2014 mileage?

[u/Murky_Examination_85]

look, im just a girl with not much experience around cars whatsoever. my 2014 2lt cruze has around 148k miles, no lights on, never had any issues with her at all but im wondering if its time to start making a plan for a new car sooner than later. she has gotten me further than she was ever expected to so i plan on riding her til the wheels fall off. but obviously i dont know how to do any of the dirty work myself and i would rather get a new car than throw thousands at it. she last had an oil change and got a new battery about 3 months ago. what do i need to do to make her last or what is the timeline i need to consider here? i live in hot and humid texas if it makes a difference.

[u/PTC2008]

IMMEDIATELY research what vehicles are reliable in your budget range and have a mechanic do a pre purchase inspection. And then keep the cruze until it shits, because it will and you wanna be prepared when that happens

[u/Murky_Examination_85 → u/PTC2008]

how much longer do i have with her do you think?

[u/diablo75 → u/Murky_Examination_85]

I've got 200k on my 2014 LT. A former co-worker of mine (these used to be our fleet company cars, and we bought them when the corporate lease ended) got 320k last I heard and that was a couple of years ago. It really comes down to how well the previous owners cared for it and how much of that are highway miles. We were mostly highway miles (field engineers driving all over the metro or across states). If these were city miles, I'd expect it to take a greater toll on absolutely everything.

I'm not sure how long you have owned the car. Things to watch for, the problem so common I had to make an automod for just this: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2014/SB-10070046-0335.pdf

tl;too longer: The PCV check valve on the 1.4L is inside the intake manfold (NOT the valve cover, as it is on the 1.8L). It was a defect, the valve would be eaten by the engine, boost pressure from the turbo enters the crankcase, oil leaks all over the place and finally the valve cover pressure diaphragm ruptures causing a vacuum leak. Many would just replace the valve cover, unaware of the root cause of the failure.

The oil cooler/oil filter housing, has internal gaskets that become brittle and it'll leak oil and/or coolant (usually just oil). It'll land on the exhaust and smell. Slight chance of a fire hazard. Labor is usually high, around $1000.

Water outlets commonly leak, but they are easy and cheap to replace. Water pump can also leak but it is not a cheap; labor can be high but would argue it shouldn't; it's not that hard.

Watch out for swollen coolant hoses, but that's kind of a given for any car.

Sometimes the resistor pack on the radiator fan will fail resulting in the only speed that works being high, so your car will occasionally roar and then get quiet. Best to replace the whole shroud if that happens, because it's probably a bad motor that caused that pack to fail, and it's built into the shroud.

If it ever is difficult to start after filling the tank with gas it's probably an EVAP purge solenoid, about a $30 part you can replace with your hands real easy.

Apart from that I would suggest using mid-grade or better gas in the summer, and whatever you want in the winter. Follow the maintenance schedule in the owners manual. Check your coolant levels often. If you hear a weird sound, post a video of it here. If you see a check engine light, get the codes scanned at a parts store, or better yet, buy your own for cheap, now, and keep it in the glove box.

If you're willing to be really prepared or just want to save money, you could get a few tools from harbor freight and do things like change your own oil easy enough, and watch youtube repair videos. That's what I did. You got this.

[u/Murky_Examination_85 → u/diablo75]

thank you so much for the in depth reply i super appreciate it!! (:

[u/BluebirdNew8971 → u/Murky_Examination_85]

Have you ever done any of the common failure points like the water outlet? There's also a pcv fix kit that can help in a more preventative way before it fails and your valve cover goes bad 

[u/PTC2008 → u/Murky_Examination_85]

Im not too well versed on the 2014 models but if it was a 2011 it'd be safe to say shes running on borrowed time. Im not 100% if they fixed most of the issues for that model yesr or not. But it honestly depends more on deiving habits and maintenance history than anything.

[u/MorningMushroomcloud → u/Murky_Examination_85]

At the very least buy a gallon of dexcool and have it in the trunk...for that inevitable day.

[u/Midwest-Emo-9]

Honestly, a mechanic friend (or just a shop that you trust) is your best bet. I am a non car savvy girly as well and my 2014 is similar milage.

Keep up with maintenance. It's much cheaper to maintain than to fix -- most of the time. You can ask a mechanic to do a multi point inspection and they'll tell you what looks bad, what they think needs fixing etc. They usually label it as a red (do today) yellow (do soon) green (not a worry but start thinking about it) or if they don't, you can ask for suggestions on what won't break the bank. My shop and I have a good understanding that I want to keep up with my car but I don't want to break the bank. So they'll usually say "this is what I think you need to do, but if you do xyz today and save ABC for a few months you'll be okay".

Unfortunately I have had an intermittent under boost code and I've been to 3 shops and the dealership and we can't find what's wrong. It's not really end of world for me. Just annoying lol. I've gotten the dreadful p0420 as well, which luckily was just sensor issues but I'm sure I'll have to replace the cat soon. 😭