As one of the three key vehicles for Trumpchi's upward breakthrough, the reputation of the GS8 has been seriously tested - the product has been facing the problem of cylinder pads for the past two years. Especially from 2020 onwards, when some models are insured, this problem becomes more and more serious.
On the Sina Black Cat complaint, a car owner described the problem of the cylinder pad that occurred in his GS8. In February 2018, the consumer purchased a GAC Trumpchi GS8, but after 3 years and 11 months of use, the car unexpectedly encountered a big problem in January this year. "The cylinder pad corrodes and penetrates, and the antifreeze enters the cylinder, resulting in an overhaul of the cylinder." the owner said. The total mileage of its vehicles is 128,000 kilometers, which is actually not much from the perspective of family cars. The owner pointed out that the cylinder gasket problem is caused by engine quality problems caused by the corrosion of the cylinder gas, and from the GS8 point of view is not an isolated case.
"On the automotive quality complaint website, there are a lot of complaints about this issue. There are also many cars in the group of car friends who have the same problem, and the time of occurrence is generally more than 3 years when they have just passed the insurance. The owner pointed out. After the complaint, under the coordination of the relevant parties, the manufacturer promised to give it free engine maintenance cylinder pads, and promised to extend the warranty for 5 years or 150,000 kilometers. Although there is still some distance from its demand to "replace the engine and compensate for the damage of the repair", it is still satisfied. However, not every car owner can solve it so smoothly.
A car owner in Hebei province, also a certain Trumpchi GS8 purchased in 2018, but in April last year began to appear engine cylinder pads, eventually causing antifreeze to leak into the engine and cause the vehicle to lie down. "According to my observation, many GS8s have been in use for about 4 years, that is, when they are about to be insured for 40,000 or 50,000 kilometers, they start to have problems." The owner pointed out that he said that at present, many car owners have repaired at their own expense because of this problem, spending money is not the most critical problem, as long as the cylinder pad is repaired, it means dismantling the engine, "all feel painful, and affect the preservation of value." The owner pointed out.
Cylinder gas is also called punching cylinder, cylinder cushion ablation failure, after the cylinder will be anti-water bubbles up, water temperature becomes higher, exhaust white smoke. In addition, the engine oil will emulsify and turn white, or partially enter the cylinder, resulting in exhaust blue smoke. When you are at home, you will obviously feel that the engine working power is insufficient when the vehicle is driving, the acceleration performance is reduced, and there is a strange sound of knocking cylinders when it is serious. In simple terms, the cylinder pad will lead to engine power drop and leakage, air leakage and other phenomena, if not treated in time will lead to cylinder head melting and other parts damage, until the serious situation of scrap.
However, with the advancement of maintenance technology, the replacement of engine cylinder pads is not a major repair now, but a "medium repair". However, due to the need to remove the engine for maintenance, this actually affects the vehicle, forming a record of overhaul. There are also many reasons for the engine cylinder gasket, such as the engine overload operation, the high temperature and high pressure in the cylinder make the cylinder gasket impact ablation; secondly. The cylinder gas is leaking due to poor quality of the cylinder pad itself, as well as burned out mouth and uneven asbestos plate and retaining ring wrapping. Finally, if the driving habit often slams on the accelerator, it will also cause problems due to excessive pressure in the cylinder.
"Some car owners chatted with the 4S shop repairer when repairing the car, and Trumpchi's after-sales repairman admitted that it was a cylinder pad quality problem, and the newly replaced cylinder pad was the same as before, there was no improvement, and after the replacement, would the same problem appear again in three years after the replacement?" The owner questioned.
Some car owners listed in detail the cost of repairing the car, some took two weeks, and the cylinder pad was not repaired for free. A Fujian car owner said that he purchased the Trumpchi GS8 2017 two-wheel drive luxury connected version in 2017, but only used it for 3 and a half years (in the first half of 2020, the car was basically unused due to the epidemic), and the vehicle could not be started and black smoke appeared. After the 4S store investigated the problem with the sealing of the engine cylinder head gasket, causing the freezing liquid to flow into the engine. The owner of the car found that the dealer had communicated with the manufacturer twice to apply for a special warranty, but was refused to take responsibility on the grounds of over-warranty.
"The vehicle maintenance during the 33657km period of my car was completed on time in the 4S shop. The engine is the most core component of the vehicle, and this problem is not a man-made problem! The Internet found that the GS8 such engine problems are frequent, which is by no means an isolated case! Manufacturers definitely have an unshirkable responsibility for engine design and quality control. The owner pointed out. The owner of the car at his own expense of about 3,000 yuan for the repair.
Since around 2020, there have indeed been many complaints about the trumpchi GS8's cylinder pad problem. On major complaint websites and car forums, many car owners are reflecting this problem. But exactly what causes this problem is still inconclusive. Some car owners suspect that the original refrigeration liquid is corrosive. On the complaint platform, some products even have some products with a service life of less than one year that have also appeared in the phenomenon of cylinder gaskets. A Trumpchi GS8 certified owner said in the forum that the antifreeze that came with the original car was corrosive, because it found that there were iron filings in the antifreeze pot half a year after buying the car, and then it replaced the antifreeze, and the problem was solved.
It should be noted that in 2017, Trumpchi had explained the appearance of impurities in the freezing liquid. The company said in a statement that a small number of GS8 customers reported oily impurities in the red coolant in its auxiliary tanks. After the company's investigation, these impurities are a mixture of flocculents and iron, which is a precipitate formed by the chemical reaction between the coolant and the inner wall of the galvanized water pipe mouth, but there is currently no vehicle abnormality due to this problem.
Gac Trumpchi then recalled all GS8s filled with coolant. By inspecting and then replacing the galvanized water pipe free of charge, the cooling system is cleaned and the coolant with better compatibility with the galvanized water pipe is added. If it was a coolant problem, was it already dealt with at that time? "After online inquiries and local riders' association consultation, I learned that there have been many similar cases in Liaoning and the local area, and many cars have invariably had such failures under the condition of just passing the insurance, mainly due to the thin engine cylinder pads and poor quality." The above-mentioned owner of the Shandong region said so.
A car owner in Liaoning has also experienced the problem of starting the estimated cylinder pad, and believes that the GS8 is still a quality problem of the engine cylinder pad, because the cylinder pad is broken and eventually leads to the antifreeze entering the engine. "It is generally a two-cylinder fire, and many people on the platform and the car friend group reflect this problem, and the manufacturer has not yet given an answer." Its representation.
From its official launch at the end of 2016, the Trumpchi GS8 quickly became a hot product, reaching a peak of 10,498 units in December 2017, one year after its listing, but with the passage of time, the sales of this once explosive product have declined all the way. On December 12, 2021, GAC Trumpchi GS8 replacement model was officially launched, and a total of 12 configuration versions of the new car were launched, including two models, 2.0T fuel version and 2.0T hybrid version, and the official guidance price of the new car was 18.68-24.68 million yuan. But at this time, the monthly sales of the Trumpchi GS8 were only two or three thousand vehicles left.
The problem goes far beyond the GS8. In fact, some of the GS8, GS7, GM8, GA8, and other models produced between February 2016 and March 2018 with 2.0T and 1.8T engines have similar problems. At present, Trumpchi's new GS8 has solved the problem by upgrading the engine, but for the old owners, the loss of the engine overhaul to the car has been very large, and it seems that there is no complete solution to the problem.
Quality is the fundamental competitiveness of a product, and it is also the reason why consumers vote with their feet. When a once-blockbuster product goes to the edge, does that have something to do with growing consumer skepticism? Trumpchi's sales in 2021 are 310,000 vehicles, which is still a big gap from its peak, and it has been stagnant in recent years. Trumpchi's former ace products, including GS4, are all out of the ordinary, and sales have been in decline. Among them, the sales volume of GS4 is also related to quality problems. However, it should be pointed out that starting from the GS4, Trumpchi has indeed found the right direction in the design positioning of the product.
This young independent brand has launched popular models such as GS8, GM8, and Shadow Leopard. For example, the Shadow Leopard listed last year, the order volume once exceeded 50,000 vehicles, which shows the strength of this product in the overall product competitiveness, and it can also be said that it is accurate to market positioning. However, how to maintain the vitality of a product for a long time is the key, can not be this can not be done to engage in a new product out. Then, Trumpchi can only stay in the second camp of autonomy forever, cannot enter the first camp, and cannot become first-class. At the critical moment when independent brands are gradually moving forward, it is also hoped that Trumpchi will face up to the voice of consumers, check the problem as soon as possible, and effectively give solutions.