Other engine problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo
4 fires 4 of the 11 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo report other engine problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 121,255 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
33% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,145 miles | 13,400 miles | 64,675 miles | 95,000 miles | 125,400 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 4 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 75,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 33; the 2004 has 11. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Purchased a 2004 chevy aveo from mccluskey chevrolet in reading ohio-on december 12/01/04. Vin # klitd526x4b196935. On december 24, 2004 our car of almost 4 weeks old broke down on us at approx: 2:45 pm. We notice smoke coming from the engine and a gurgling noise. My husband lifted up the hood and there was a milky substance on the upper left hand in front of driver's side under the hood. We called and had the car towed on x-mas eve day. It had taken the towing service over five hours to tow our vehicle. We had to be inconvenienced and find a ride home. Then we did not have a vehicle until december 27, 2004 at around 5:55pm. My husband called the dealership and talked to the sales person who sold us the car "he basically told us that they are not responsible for the vehicle now and it is the hands of the manufacturer. My husband has made several phone calls to the service dealer who has the vehicle for the repair they stated several times to him on the phone that they did know what the problem was with the car. Still no answer. Nothing to date has been done to the vehicle to date. *jb
When starting my 2004 chevrolet aveo after it warmed up and sat for roughly 5 minutes it will not always start on first turn of key. Occasionally, rough idling on cold start, coolant smell coming from heating vents only when heat was on, a light blue/green residue/powder has been found on all four vents. At 5600 miles coolant level at 1/2 factory level, and traces of coolant were found on 2 of 4 spark plugs by independent mechanic. Coolant fumes are noxious, and it seemed I had a cold I couldn't get rid of all winter. As of 4/13/2005 the vehicle has been to 2 different chevrolet dealerships 4 times,. 3 times at dealership of purchase, and 1 time at another dealership. Nothing could be duplicated, and car was checked out. Everything was okay this time. Dealerships checked spark plugs, did pressure tests, and scanned for codes. At this point the second dealership was looking into the residue/powder. *ak
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet aveo. While driving various speeds, the vehicle shut off without warning. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The current and failure mileages were 13,400.
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other electrical problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other lighting problem
Thermostat failure
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed