Random GM issues due to design flaws...

[Slo Yelo C5]

Originally Posted by ricks327

Wife has a 2019 Equinox with 14k miles, so I will keep an eye out as it gets a bit older. I was unaware of the engine issues.

You will likely be okay. For this issue, at least.

The "older Equinox" (2011-2017?) had choice of two engines. A 3.6 liter V-6 (305 HP?) and 2.4 liter (?) 4-cylinder. Anecdotal evidence, but my understanding is 90% ish of those Equinox have the 4 cylinder.

The V-6 units are relatively decent. My sister has a 2014 (?) Equinox V-6. 150k. Other than some minor oil consumption, it's been nearly flawless. Shocking.

The 2012-2015 (?) Equinox with 4 cylinder Ecotec are the disasterous built units. But there are (were?) A lot of them. A LOT.

And the vast majority have this SERIOUS engine oil consumption issue that eventually results in catastrophic engine damage (or so I heard).

[Patsgarage]

Originally Posted by Rodnok1

Countless people have been the victim of AFM, many of my friends have been burned by the failures. I wouldn't own one with it period. Any newer vehicle out of warranty is a potential money pit.

Is there an updated ring package you could have put in?

No AFM on a 4 banger, but it does suck on every engine it is on.

[Patsgarage]

Originally Posted by Slo Yelo C5

You will likely be okay. For this issue, at least.

The "older Equinox" (2011-2017?) had choice of two engines. A 3.6 liter V-6 (305 HP?) and 2.4 liter (?) 4-cylinder. Anecdotal evidence, but my understanding is 90% ish of those Equinox have the 4 cylinder.

The V-6 units are relatively decent. My sister has a 2014 (?) Equinox V-6. 150k. Other than some minor oil consumption, it's been nearly flawless. Shocking.

The 2012-2015 (?) Equinox with 4 cylinder Ecotec are the disasterous built units. But there are (were?) A lot of them. A LOT.

And the vast majority have this SERIOUS engine oil consumption issue that eventually results in catastrophic engine damage (or so I heard).

Never buy the base engine when a larger one is available.

[Yadkin]

My sister owned an Equinox and I encouraged her to get rid of it. Early post COVID, she traded in, don't remember the figure, but it a great deal for her.

All FWD, sideways engine cars are shit.

[Slo Yelo C5]

Originally Posted by Patsgarage

Never buy the base engine when a larger one is available.

Agreed.

For some reason, when a model has issues, I feel like 90% of the time they are the base model. The C6 Z06 (dropped valves) being the exception haha.

But my girlfriend bought this in like 2016. It wasn't known at that time how bad these POS Equinox are.

I'm praying we can trade it in to a car dealership for $10k.

[Old Ben]

No major problems with the three GM vehicles that I have.

90 Chevy 3500, with 216k miles, has only had the brakes, A/C unit and radiator replaced. It has developed an axel leak in the right rear wheel. Going in the shop this week for replacement at $152.00.

97 Buick Riveria, with 198k miles, has had it's brakes and water pump replaced.

Wife's 15 Buick Verano, with 67k miles, has had nothing repaired or replaced except for minor scrapes where she rubs the pasture fence leaving the garage.

[stingraymyway]

I a world where the mantra is “go green”, industries are making their products to be throw away units. Why? As a former plant manager told us, so we can sell more replacements.
It’s almost like the leaders of industry, all of them, have this unilateral agreement to make their products have a certain lifespan and the consumer gets the short end of the stick.
This “save the planet” Bull Shit is nothing but a gimmick.

[04 commemorative]

2020 GMC Terrain Denali here with 2.0 Turbo......50K and so far no problems,anyone know if there are ? Very powerful engine for a 4 banger I think.

[Slo Yelo C5]

Originally Posted by 04 commemorative

2020 GMC Terrain Denali here with 2.0 Turbo......50K and so far no problems,anyone know if there are ? Very powerful engine for a 4 banger I think.

Being completely honest (but I will double check), I'm 99% sure thats what my FIL had (except his was a 2018 or 2019?). It was a lemon. Developed endless problems by 60k miles and he dumped it.

And bought another GM SUV. Unbelievable.

[Vandelay Industries]

1. Holy shit. I was in your hood the last 2 days (Villanova) and wondered if you were still alive.

2. Pics of gf.

[bsmith]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

@aerovette had to have his engine rebuilt due to the cylinder deactivation crap, and I have a friend with a Dodge truck that had to have his Hemi rebuilt for the exact same reason. If I was to buy another truck, at this point, I'd seriously consider a diesel just to avoid a blown engine in the future. The problem is, you're spending quite a bit more money up front, and at every fuel up.

You'd think at some point the manufacturers would simply admit defeat and stop building ticking time bombs and go back to what works. Same thing with direct injection. Great for squeezing out a bit more mileage, not so great for longevity. And our own government is practically forcing the manufacturers to seek out and put this engine killing tech in their products with unrealistic CAFE requirements.

At least give customers the choice.....have the engine plant build some of the engines without AFM. I'm betting if there was a choice, no one would be buying the AFM trucks, and they would stop selling them, as it was a very unpopular option.

Originally Posted by Patsgarage

Never buy the base engine when a larger one is available.

Fun fact, Even if you have a truck without AFM/DFM, you still get the shitty lifter design that can fail.
anecdotal evidence says that failures are less common, but do happen.

I specifically bought one without it, not knowing that is can still happen.

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

My sister owned an Equinox and I encouraged her to get rid of it. Early post COVID, she traded in, don't remember the figure, but it a great deal for her.

All FWD, sideways engine cars are shit.

As a retired automotive guy who began working on these when they came out 44 years ago, I agree 100%. The only people who liked them were the bean counters. Nobody else.

[Shrike6]

I have a 2021 Honda Odyssey ( wife with wheelchair). The forums have been recommending AFM eliminating modules, which are easily installed. A vast number of owners have installed them with good results. As far as the stop/start system. I just turn it off every time I start the car. This eliminates the causes of many such problems.

[BRUIZER]

My kids 2010 RAV4 has went through a battery, alternator, starter and radiator hose...so far. Factory paint is peeling in a couple places as well.

Therefore; all Toyota's suck!

[bsmith]

Originally Posted by Shrike6

I have a 2021 Honda Odyssey ( wife with wheelchair). The forums have been recommending AFM eliminating modules, which are easily installed. A vast number of owners have installed them with good results. As far as the stop/start system. I just turn it off every time I start the car. This eliminates the causes of many such problems.

I don't know about Honda, specifically.

But a lot of people seem to think that the little OBDII modules (Like Range Technology) that disable the function on AFM/DFM on GM products will prevent the lifter failures.

Dig a little deeper and that seems to be false.

[Slo Yelo C5]

Originally Posted by Vandelay Industries

1. Holy shit. I was in your hood the last 2 days (Villanova) and wondered if you were still alive.

2. Pics of gf.

You should have told me. I would have met you for beers.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

As a retired automotive guy who began working on these when they came out 44 years ago, I agree 100%. The only people who liked them were the bean counters. Nobody else.

My one and only FWD car, the Cruze....my mechanic warned me that the oil needs to be changed frequently, and he recommended running Seafoam, BG, something, in the oil prior to every oil change. Says the oil journals are small, so sludge can build up and starve areas of oil. Says he's seen engine failures from people who followed GM's oil change intervals at about 100K miles.

And it has that abominable engine shut off crap, no way to simply turn it off. I expect to buy a new starter prematurely, negating whatever fuel savings it may or may not have netted me. On the plus side, car's almost 7 years old, on the original factory battery. Longest I have ever kept a battery, ever.

I can only speculate that putting the battery in the truck protects it from the heat of the engine, and that's why it has done so well. Knock on wood.

[snide]

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

after being a lifetime GM dude; I now have an order in for a 2024 Honda Ridgeline.

I'm guessing you'd be OK if I started calling on Yvonne...

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

As a retired automotive guy who began working on these when they came out 44 years ago, I agree 100%. The only people who liked them were the bean counters. Nobody else.

Baby Doll had a Ford Five Hundred with a V6 and AWD. After 50k miles the AC compressor started leaking oil, and I tried to figure out how to remove/ replace it. There was literally 2mm clearance to the chassis.

I've replaced belt-driven accessories on sideways motors prior. Usually requires removal of one motor mount and jacking up that side. A pain in the ass but doable. But that 500 biatch had a transfer case in the mix, making the job about ten times more involved.

We traded in that car three days later, for a BMW 3-series. An I-6: the perfect motor platform.

[Wathen1955]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

My one and only FWD car, the Cruze....my mechanic warned me that the oil needs to be changed frequently, and he recommended running Seafoam, BG, something, in the oil prior to every oil change. Says the oil journals are small, so sludge can build up and starve areas of oil. Says he's seen engine failures from people who followed GM's oil change intervals at about 100K miles.

And it has that abominable engine shut off crap, no way to simply turn it off. I expect to buy a new starter prematurely, negating whatever fuel savings it may or may not have netted me. On the plus side, car's almost 7 years old, on the original factory battery. Longest I have ever kept a battery, ever.

I can only speculate that putting the battery in the truck protects it from the heat of the engine, and that's why it has done so well. Knock on wood.

I'm not a gear nut like most of you, but I did receive some tips when I was in my 20's from a hot rod racer I meet when I was racing go-karts. At that time in 1980, I had a 1971 El Camino with a small block 350. I also had a 1967 VW Bug. He told me to substitute on of the cans of oil with ATF which I did in both cars. At 250,000 miles on the El Camino, it started to burn anti freeze water from the thin head gasket on cylinder #1 if I remember correctly.

Anyway, I took it in to have it worked on, but the mechanic told me that with that many miles on the car, it will need a valve job and other potential fixes. Two days later, he calls me on the phone and wanted to know what I did to the engine. I then asked why - what else is broken? He said they pulled the heads off and there was no carbon build up, valves were very clean. So all they had to do was to replace the head gasket. Prior to the repair, it never burned any oil.

On my VW Bug, I did the same for several years, until I finally took the motor apart to increase the CC's from 1500 stock to 1650 with kits that you can buy that were ready to bolt on. When I took it apart, again the inside was very clean with no carbon build up.

Talking with another mechanic that worked on my cars in the 80's and 90's, he did not recommend that method on newer cars. He said its probably okay about 50 miles before you decide to change the oil is to add some ATF then change the oil.

Anyone else ever run ATF with regular oil? Today's oil's are a lot different than years ago. My 2016 Subaru Outback runs 0-20 weight which when changed, I use only Mobil 1 synthetic oil.

As for buying newer American cars today, I'm not sold on any of them. I'm retired so I need a car that is reliable. My wife's 2013 Honda CRV has been perfect. Only tires and brakes were replaced at 60k, and plugs at 100k with a radiator flush.