Hi Scotty,

I have this weird problem. I bought a second-hand Chevrolet Aveo 2010 three months ago (100,000 miles), and it's been a real pain finding parts for that car. It's the European version T250, with a 1.4 liter gasoline engine (74KW, 101CV). I live in the Canary Islands, and the local stores have already given up on me. For crying out loud, two of the biggest auto parts conglomerates weren't able to find a stupid rubber intake hose for that car in all of Spain, so I somehow managed to find and order it from Russia - and it cost over $120. 

As you know, Chevrolet moved out of Europe a while ago, and no longer offer any assistance for spare parts or anything. A very smart move, indeed.

Anyway, once you type in the exact car model and everything, many parts pop up on the Internet, but none of them fits. The engine that this car is supposed to have in it is definitely not the same as the engine that you see in Internet pictures. And it's definitely not been changed since the original purchase date.

So, I went ahead and rolled back some Internet archives to peek into the 2010 website of the freakin' company who actually sold this car to the original owner (Orvecame). Nothing there - just a seemingly standard 1.4 liter Ecotec engine. For God's sake, I paid a subscription to AcDelco for access to factory GM service manuals, and even there I couldn't find this exact car!

Right now, I am having a devastating oil leak, which either comes from the valve cover gasket, or the camshaft seals. Sure, I might just go ahead and change both, but after three weird months with that car, things under the hood are starting to look even stranger. The engine that I have and the engine that the Internet thinks I have are definitely not the same thing.

Am I going crazy, or does this car actually have a timing chain, instead of a timing belt? It was manufactured in December 2010, and the Ecotec timing chain was first released in 2011. But who knows? I have to know this for sure if I'm going to order and change camshaft seals. The previous owner gave me a proof invoice that a local mechanic has recently changed the "distribution kit" and the valve cover gasket, but that can mean a lot of things. As far as I can hear, he didn't do that timing very well. The engine rattles like crazy, burns oil, spills oil, etc. I have the good intention to fix it, but no one can help me find the right parts. And that's supposed to be a simple, low-cost maintenance car.

So, my big question here is where I can find a platform that will give me some real correct part numbers, by maybe entering a VIN or something. I have the engine serial number as well. Once again, I'm talking about the European so-called Chevrolet, which is in fact a Daewoo with an Opel engine. It was the best I could afford given my budget, and in fact, it's not a terrible car.

But poor maintenance by the almighty local mechanics for the last 10 years has turned this thing into a rattling, oil-burning monster. I mean, who in their right mind would put 10W-40 oil in a 1.4 liter engine for 10 years, BECAUSE he believed the weather on the Canary Islands is hot??? Hot compared to what??? And that's just one example of how genius these people are. And when they changed the valve cover gasket, did they ever ask themselves why it leaked in the first place? Well, maybe it was because of the $5 breather PCV valve, which has to be changed every 80,000 miles, as per the owner's manual. It's crazy how such people call themselves mechanics and charge over $40 an hour.

Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction to where I can find correct parts for this vehicle.

Best regards,

Stanley