23rd Apr 2009, 15:00
2008 Aveo with blower fan troubles.
Dealer will replace the resistor with the same part. It will fail quickly. The dealer will then want to replace fan and resistor citing hi-amp draw in factory installed fan unit.
This will fail quickly also.
Remove resistor from fan housing. You will see a brass strip with solder at top pulled away from circuit housing tang. Remove solder, push brass strip to rear of the tang it pulled loose from and resolder. Will not fail again.
12th May 2009, 22:57
Hello everyone, I've read all the comments intently. Sadly I will say I am sorry for all the problems this car has. I am an owner of a 2005 LS. I purchased it with 19000 miles for $8100. It currently has 59,300 miles. Last week the 60k service was done by an independent garage for 1/2 of what the dealer wanted. I paid less than $600. I also had the rear shocks replaced, which were useless at this mileage, and caused my right rear tire to feather. I did have the highest quality serpentine and timing belts installed; they are not GM.
The problems this car has/or has had is the erratic clock, which has been replaced, the exploding thermostat housing, which has been replaced, the A/C terminals repair has been made, and the "updated" ECU programming has been done.
The clunking sound has never been addressed by me. I do have the extended 75000 mile GMPP major guard and that is what has paid for the repairs. Tomorrow I take the car in to determine the reason for it running poorly. It does not run smooth, it feels like it's sputtering while driving on the freeway, and especially when the A/C is on.
Aside from the inconvenience of having to take the car into the dealer for repairs, this car has been an excellent, dependable daily driver. It gets 35 MPG when driven at the posted speed. I hope it lasts, as I am giving it to my son for his 16th birthday. BTW, with regards to the timing belt, when I looked at it after the new one was installed, I noticed it looked as if it was new. No wear, as if to indicate that it had been replaced. I also noticed it did not have any name or markings indicating it was a GM belt.
Would I consider purchasing another Aveo? Have you seen the upcoming 2011 Aveo?
Go here:
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2011-chevrolet-aveo.htm
29th May 2009, 20:29
I am stumped? I have a 2004 Chevy Aveo. My wife was sitting still in the driveway with the car in drive. It then just quit running. I tried starting it back and all I got was the sound of the starter. I had her crank it and I looked under the hood. The serpentine belt turns when you engage the starter. So the first thing I thought was the timing belt. I partially took the cover loose so I could see the timing belt. It looks fine and is tight. Does anyone know what this could be? I guess I will have to take it apart to find out. Thanks for any help.
29th May 2009, 21:25
You certainly can't be serious.
Do you really believe that this cheap disposable tin
-can of a "car" can even be mentioned in the same sentence as a Volvo?
7th Aug 2009, 22:22
After some research and reading of many of these comments, I am certainly one of those "lucky" Chevy owners (knock on wood). I have about 67,000 miles on my 2005 Chevrolet Aveo LS model (which I purchased at 45,000 miles in 2007) and I plan on getting the doomed timing belt replaced ASAP. My sister had been driving the car recently, so now I'm decommissioning the Aveo's services for the time being while I shop for suitors to get this belt fixed at the best price.
Other than hearing about this seemingly rampant belt problem from online, our personal experience has been that we've noticed that the car has started vibrating quite noticeably around the steering wheel. Coincidentally, today I replaced the front two tires, which had some serious balding issues up to now. However, changing the tires did not quell the vibration issue, so that phenomenon still remains to be solved. I'm hoping that replacing the belt will save me at least some money in preventive maintenance and overall maintenance costs.
If the dealer seems to be too excessive with their pricing, hopefully I can find someone else to replace the timing belt and additional components as well, which include: "Other items that should also be replaced when the timing belt is changed include the tensioner (P/N 96350550), the idler pulley (P/N 96350526) and the water pump (P/N 96352650)."
10th Nov 2009, 13:32
Glad to hear I am not alone.
2004 Aveo, paid off this year.
So far, we have had to replace the head gasket + spark plugs, the blower-fan + resistor, the coolant pump housing (cracked and leaked), Radio died, clock has never worked consistently, dome light has died.
We're ditching it and looking to get a used Mazda 3.
1st Jan 2010, 01:50
I have two 04 Aveos, and they run great. One has 100k and the other has 80k. I've spent about $600 on the two in 2 years. They are fast and reliable cars.
People always complain about some thing breaking, and always say how BMW, Toyota and Nissan are better.
All cars come out with some defects, and every now and then you'll pay some money, but at least you don't have to pay the outrageous prices like you would for a Toyota or Nissan.
I would buy 2 more if I had the money; these are the best cars ever.
7th Jan 2010, 02:20
We have a 2005 Chevy Aveo, LS that we bought four years ago. I must admit, I drive it very hard. We bought it with 800 miles on it, and we now have around 97K.
The clock has been a problem since day one. Flickers on and off when it feels like it and never stays on. Doesn't keep time. It was never really an issue for me, so I never got it fixed.
I feel like I go through tires a lot though. Recently, my alignment was off and I went through a front R tire within 10K miles, but then again, I live in PA and we have crappy roads with tons of potholes.
It's a little small for me and my growing brood, and I will probably never buy another one again, but we will own it in a year, and I've never had to put any major repairs into it.
It sounds like the 2004 model has a lot of bugs from reading these posts.
26th Mar 2009, 19:41
One month ago, I purchased the first car I've ever bought myself (the previous was given to me by my parents and was a trooper, but eventually died). Unfortunately, this car I bought was a used 2005 Chevrolet Aveo with 20,000 miles on it. Within a month, two of my motor mounts have broken, the drivers side door lock tumbler has fallen into the door frame, meaning I can't lock and unlock the door from the outside now, and just tonight I got my first check engine light. I can't wait to see what it means.
Never before have I seen a car have so many build quality issues in the first 20,000 miles of ownership. This is the first GM car I've driven, and the last.
Thank god for extended warranties, I just never expected to be making such productive use out of mine so soon. AVOID this car at all costs. For the price you can find some well maintained used cars with a little bit of mileage on them, and they'll probably last longer and be cheaper to operate than a brand new Aveo.