2009 Aveo Giving Me the Fits.

[mritchie77]

Hello,

I joined this forum just now to get some help for my wife's 2009 Aveo.


Sitting at 133k right now and boy, this thing is really making me pull my hair out. In the last 1k miles the brakes started dragging which warped the rotors, ate the pads and caused enough heat to trash the bearings. I don't drive it so I wasn't able to catch them in time before all of that happened. During disassembly I had to cut off the ball joints (rusted from salt). New front brakes and bearings later I was on the road.

Couple of days later the lower radiator hose started leaking (hose clamp cut it) and ended up draining the coolant while driving and overheated the motor. I caught it while it was heating up so I don't believe any head gasket problems occurred. I replaced the rad hoses but the next week the return heater hose blew. Apparently the overheat fried the thermostat and caused it to over pressure the system. New heater hoses, reservoir hoses, and thermostat (man they are pricey compared to all the others I have worked with) and we are back on the road.

Several days after that I got a P0171 (bank 1 lean). I let it be and figured I would get to it in a couple of days. The next day I got new tires as they were needed but on the way home the car started cutting out when stopped and started "bucking" when accelerating. Got home (had to feather the gas when stopped to keep it from cutting out) and found new codes. P0171 still, P0014 (over advanced), and P2270 (downstream sensor stuck in lean position).

My trouble is where to start looking for problems. Tomorrow I am going to check for any broken vacuum lines (I doubt it) or exhaust leaks for the downstream sensor but I am sort of lost at what to do after that. This car has been maintained religiously without abuse. Plugs, and coil replaced about 30k miles ago so I don't think those are the issue.

If anyone could give some advice or tips on something to check out I'd greatly appreciate this as I have spent over 1k in the last month between tires and parts (I used to be a mechanic so labor is done by me) and I am tired of throwing money at this thing.

Thanks,
Michael Ritchie