Engine Belts And Pulleys problems of the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo - part 1

2004 Chevrolet Aveo. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle timing belt failure. The consumer stated the vehicle stopped with no warning.

Timing belt snapped at 73k miles while driving 70mph on the highway. Total loss of power: steering, brakes, and gas pedal all not responding. Manually managed to coast to a stop on the highway shoulder with my emergency lights on, and without hitting or being hit by anything else. I'm alive and so is my passenger, but I fear we could have died on that day. Related tsbs and NHTSA below to augment reporting this problem. ---- TSB #3936 / NHTSA id #10020573 states that this can happen prior to 60k miles to others as far back as 2006; total engine loss due to damage from the belt at high speed not reported or fixed. Suggested maintenance also is not acceptable for this part: # TSB #060601021 -- timing belt inspection, maintenance, worn, wear. (NHTSA id #10020843, October 01 2006).

I am on a fixed income. I bought this car used with 22,000 miles on it which I intended to take care of and drive for years to come, in fact into the ground. The manual I received with the car indicated that the timing belt should be replaced at 100,000. I live in a rural area where you really need a vehicle. I had driven to another town for a medical appointment. While traveling at 55 mph the car just died in heavy traffic in a 55 mph zone. I was lucky that a good samaritan helped me out of the dangerous condition I was in on the road. My vehicle had 65,321 miies on it. I had to have the car towed to a dealer. It was determined the timing belt broke causing valve damage. I was told it would cost $5,000 to repair it which is what I paid for the vehicle. I did not having $5,000 so I junked the car. This ordeal caused significant problems for me financially, emotionally and physically. I was 62 at the time. The website carcomplaints has 56 similar complaints related to 2004 chevy Aveos. All of the timing belts failed below 100,000 miles. There are similar complaints for the 2005 chevy Aveo. Why wasn't I notified about this problem so I would not lose my shorts on my vehicle. I could have been killed. The event was terribly frightening. I suffer from heart failure. My new car payment is very hard to deal with on a fixed income. I took excellent care of the car. I should have been contacted about such dangerous condition. I would like some answers.

In mid-February after one of our many blizzards, my wife was driving her sedan home. There was a pile of snow on our street that had hardened over. I guess she miscalculated its height (and hardness) and when she went over it, the car lurched up and she heard a loud grinding sound against the undercarriage. The engine started shaking immediately and within seconds died. She called me out and I took a look at the car. It was dead. I walked over to the ice and it was rock hard, so I tried to take a shovel to it and immediately emailed my neighbors to be careful of it. I am not mechanically-inclined, so when I googled what might’ve happened, I saw several comments that it could be as minor as a damaged oil pan that causes the engine to shut down. Figuring it might be something minor, I called aaa (had to wait a few days since their lines were down) and had the car towed down the street to a service station. I was not expecting the assessment from the mechanic: apparently during the collision, the timing belt slipped and caused the pistons to bend. This would cost several thousand to fix. Unfortunately, this car has an “interference” design which is prone to extensive damage when this happens. Many Aveo owners have complained about this online. The worst part about all of this is that even though it happened during a collision, our insurance chalked this up to "wear and tear" and we were forced to junk the car. Our car had less than 60k miles on it and we kept it in good condition. This should not have happened. This should have either been handled through a manufacturer recall or my insurance should have treated it as the collision it was and covered it.

Tl-the contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 mph, heard an abnormal noise and the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the timing belt had broken and the engine was ruined. The vehicle was unable to be repaired. The manufacturer was not aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 85,000. Ne.

I was driving approximately 25mph when suddenly I heard a strange, loud rubbing/ clattering noise coming from under the hood. I pulled the vehicle over and turned the engine off. My boyfriend, who is a mechanic, looked at the engine and said the timing belt was broken. The vehicle would not restart and had to be towed. Now I am finding out that this is a known problem in this particular 4 cylinder gm vehicle. This engine is an interference engine. This means that the only thing preventing the valves from striking the pistons during vehicle operation is the timing belt. If/ when it breaks, it causes catastrophic engine damage, often requiring engine replacement. One or more of the timing belt pulleys are made of plastic. When the timing belt pulley breaks, shards of plastic snap off and become lodged inside of the engine, rendering the engine useless. Also, at high rate of speed, the valves become bent when the belt/ pulley(s) malfunctions. This is both costly and dangerous to the consumer, and the manufacturer should have made all pulleys and moving parts on the engine out of metal instead of plastic.

Tl- the contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo. The contact stated that while traveling 55 mph, the timing belt failed. The contact stated that the failure caused damage to the valves. The contact spoke to a dealer and was told that the belt and valves would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage and current mileages were 140,000. Kmj.

I was driving my car on my lunch break, and had just made a left turn onto a major highway. About 5 seconds after I made the turn, I felt a jolt and heard an odd grinding sound. My car lost power and all the dashboard lights came on. I was fortunately able to safely steer the car from the left lane to the right shoulder before it finally stopped. I had the added fortune of breaking down in front of a repair shop. It was determined that my timing belt had broken and had bent all the valves in the engine. It took 5 days and $1875 to fix. I have seen dozens of other complaints from Aveo owners about timing belt failures long before the recommended 100k replacement mark, but Chevrolet refuses to acknowledge the problem and won't issue a recall.

As I began to accelerate onto the highway, I felt that my car was not picking up, I could only get to around 40-45mph on a highway that is 65mph. I nearly got rear-ended by cars flying up on me and I quickly pulled off to the shoulder just in time as the power steering also went out and the car appeared to have stopped running. I could not get the car to start again. The diagnostics came back that the timing belt had gone and it could be fixed for anywhere between $800 to needing a brand new motor. This floored me as I always had the oil and fluids replaced and the car only had 84k miles on it. I began to research the Aveo and bam, there it was, over and over again on-line. Owners all complaining of the same problem with their Aveo. The timing belt on the Aveo, especially the 04-07 models go and will require anywhere from a major fix to a brand new engine. This is a big problem on a little car. I went on craigslist to look for a new engine, but instead found 10 Aveos in one hour. . . That were being sold for parts because their timing belt went! please take a look at this problem, I believe there is a major problem with the Aveo deserving of a recall, and owners should be made aware of this serious problem and the persistent need to have their timing belt replaced or face a total engine replacement. I could have easily been rear-ended or worse because of the loss of power and power steering. Thank you.

Driving at 55 mph the car felt like came out of 5th gear. I checked to make sure the car was in gear. Pushed the clutch in (very tight). The car was loosing power but tach was still at 3000. I coasted to the side of the road and the car had no spark. Lights still worked. I had the car towed and found that the timing belt failed which took out the water pump and damaged my head. There was no warning at all. At this time I have been told by mechanic and 2 Chevrolet dealerships that this is a common occurrence. Thank god it was 5:15 am and not a lot of traffic on the road.

Timing belt failure at highway speed. Almost got into accident. Chevy Aveo only had 65,000 miles.

Engine stopped running. At first I was told it was the timing belt but that was not supposed to be changed till around 60,000 miles. The car has only 48,000 miles on it. I went and bought a timing belt and a water pump because I was told that if I changed the belt I may as well change the water pump also. After a good deal of money I was told it was an engine failure because of a "valve ring" had worn away. I need to put a "new" engine in it at considerable cost. I have been laid off for over a year and this has created a hardship for me. I can not afford another car payment and the cost to fix this car, although cheaper than buying another, is still a lot of money for me. Not only is it hard enough to find work it is nearly impossible without a car. I believe this failure should not have happened at 48,000 miles! I am 55 years old and have owned chevy's all my life. Not happy.

Chevy 2004 avero timing belt broke which also damage engine had to replace valves which cost over $1100. 00. This incident happen when my wife was coming from therapy on a higway (bqe), in brooklyn when out of no-where with no warning signs, the car just stop, which could have cause a unthinkable events of accidents. Thank to my higher power , that no one was hurt or even worse, fatally injured. I had the engine re-built, hopefully this would never happen again, because I will always have the timing belt inspected ever time I change the oil to avoid any failure or unwanted injuries or death due to gm lack of not recalling this vechicle because my 2004 avero only had 58,000 moles only, when the car manual indicates that it should be replace every 60,000 miles.

Was sitting at a stop light when the engine all of the sudden quit. Listening to it while trying to restart the engine, my first though was timing belt. After getting the vehicle home and inspected, the timing belt was tight but not turning anything, upon further examination it was discovered that 14 of 16 valves are bent although the crank shaft turn the timing belt is not. This is a problem that gm knows about with the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo and will not stand behind their product when they know they have a problme. #1 no clearance between piston and valves. #2 faulty timing belt.

My daughter's first car purchase. . . What a disappointment. Bought the 2004 chevy Aveo used with 80,000 miles on it on a Saturday. It broke down Sunday. Timing belt broke and caused severe damage to the engine. . . Now it needs to be replaced. Always do your research. . . A quick search while watching the car get towed showed that this is a huge, wide-spread problem that gm has decided to do nothing about. Dealership working with us to resolve the problem with a swap in vehicles.

I was driving home on the highway in my 2004 chevy Aveo. Suddenly I noticed that I was unable to accelerate and that I had lost pressure in my brakes. I had to pull over to the side of the road and put on my hazard lights. It was very busy traffic and I narrowly avoided an accident. My engine would no longer start. After having my car towed to my mechanic I discovered my timing belt/chain had broken and damaged my engine and that it will have to be replaced. Car only has 55,000 miles.

The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo. While the contact was driving 55 mph in rainy weather conditions, the vehicle began to jerk and the engine stalled without warning. The engine would not restart. The vehicle coasted to the side of the road and then towed to a nearby independent mechanic. The failure was attributed to the timing belt. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 59,000. Updated 01/24/11 the consumer was quoted a price of $2500, but informed it may break again. Updated 03/22/11.

I was driving at 65 mph and the car stalled and had to cross two lanes of traffic to get to the side of the road. The timing belt has been the source of my problem, it stripped out the teeth on the belt. Why would chevy use a timing belt when all of its other cars use chains, why not modify the engine they bought from daewoo and put a chain on it.

2004 chevy Aveo with 41,000 miles. Timing belt broke, bending all of the valves in the engine. No prior problems with this car. Replaced the timing belt, will now have to replace the head on the engine.

On my daughters 2004 chevy Aveo I had the timing belt, water pump, and t'belt tensioner replaced at 59826 miles, per manufactures recommendation. About 20000 miles later the idler pulley broke, destroyed engine. Gm has not recommended replacing this part per their maintenance schedule , why not?.

5 months ago, we replaced our 2004 chevy Aveo's engine due to timing belt failure and had a new one put in. Today (2 weeks after) our car broke down again due to timing belt failure we are finding out we are needing to replace the engine again!.

The timing belt broke in our vehicle while we were driving. The car made a horrible racket, then completely lost power before it died completely, when it broke, it bent the rods and pistons in the heads. Now just two weeks ago, it has done the same thing. Chevy needs to make a recall on this because its going to end up killing someone and this isn't the only Aveo to have done this.

The timing belt on my 2004 chevy Aveo broke at 55,000 miles. Gm recommends that the timing belt on Aveos be replaced at 60,000 miles. There have been numerous reports of Aveo timing belts breaking between 50,000 to 56,000 miles; however, gm has not posted a warning on their website, nor have dealerships been informed. A closer inspection of my car revealed that the idler pulley, which is made of plastic, melted and molded itself to the engine block, which is what caused the belt to break.

Vehicle towed to dealership oct. 2009 no compression repair clean carbon from engine. Had timing belt replaced at this time as preventative maint. Engine failure on highway March 2010. Idler pulley broke bent all valves and broke 1 need to replace engine. Have read many complaints on line same issue with 04 & 05 chevy Aveo.

Timing belt failed, causing engine to fail while in traffic. Engine was destroyed by the timing belt failure.

I am driving my 2004 chevy Aveo at 35 miles an hour, all of a sudden it died. I have 54,000 miles on it. I had it towed to a mechanic and they said that the timing belt broke and now I need to replace the engine. In my manual it says that timing belts need to be checked at 60,000 miles. I was told by gm that even the that is the case I am out of my warranty so tough luck. I have found about 300 complaints about the same thing happening while searching online. I don't know if there is anything you can do about this but I am trying anything I can to get my car fixed.

I was driving and the car just stopped . . If I was driving any faster or if there was a car behind me I would have been killed!!!!result was the timing belt. The car only had 52000 miles. I contacted chevy and all they could offer me was a loyalty discount on a new car. . . Which I probably would be entitled to anyway . . I just found a letter from gm indicated that the required replacement of the timing belt was at 60k miles. . . Well my car didn't make it to 60k . . . . . So they know that there is a problem and continue to deny it!!.

The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo. While driving between 40-45 on an incline she heard a loud knocking noise in the engine compartment. Next the engine stalled. The vehicle has not been inspected for the malfunction at this time. The failure and current mileages were 46,500. Updated 1/11/09 the timing belt failed and locked up the engine. Updated 01/13/10.

2004 chevy Aveo timing belt broke causing valves to break and many other related parts at 60000 miles. My mechanic said this is common in these cars and he doesn't understand why there has not been a recall. Had I been aware of the problems with the timing belts going at 40-60000 miles it might only have cost me $50 to repair instead of $950. 00. It is my understanding in my research since this occurred by speaking with mechanics ect. All are in agreement they don't understand why there is not something being done on these belts. We were stranded, cost of towing and lengthy and costly repair for what I am finding out to be a common problem with this car and the 2004 year.

The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo. The vehicle was purchased in November 2007 with 61,000 miles. While driving approximately 45 mph, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed a dealer and an independent mechanic who stated that the timing belt failed and also caused the engine rods to break. The repairs were at the owner's expense. Transmission computer also failed on four separate occasions. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 99,999 and the current was 103,000.

First of all I learned on the internet that the chevy Aveo is not a good deal when you are looking for a car. The first time the timing belt broke and spend a lot of money and now the thermostat housing broke because is made of plastic. Like other Aveo owners say, this car have to be recall, because all the problems it have.

The timing belt broke on my 2004 chevy Aveo. I understand that this is a problem for alot of people. I contacted my local chevy dealership and they said I would have to replace the engine.

My 2004 chevy Aveo has had more problems than you can imagine. I had to replace the timing belt twice, severe engine damage both times. Ocean Chevrolet and gm were absolutely no help. Rotors had to be replaced at 48,000 miles, an evap leak for another $600. 00. Both timing belt repairs were over $2000. 00 each. I have put more into repairing this car than I paid for it. Got runarounds from the dealer and gm and wouldn't recommend a chevy product to anyone.

2004 Chevrolet Aveo broke timing belt at 53,470 miles. Always serviced on time. No warning lights. Also, have had electrical problems with car since buying. Dashboard clock resets constantly. Odometer reading fails. This is a dangerous car.

Timing belt broke while on a major highway doing 65 mph. Causing the car to shut off and leave me stranded when it broke it crushed all 4 cylinder heads.