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If I'd send you all the issues and repairs I had to do on my 05 Equinox (bought new) you would have to read my post for a entire day.
One year after the warranty was over, I traded it in for a 2010 HHR 2LT
Funny...some folks calls them "Junkonox" I called mine "The Equijunk".
Take our word for it, unless you like the smell of GM dealers cause you'll be there most of the time rather than on the road.
By the way...my HHR is the best vehicule I owned in 36 yrs. Always have been a loyal GM car owner.
My three favorites vehicule that I owned...1994 Blazer S-10, my 1999 Venture (Van) and the winner...my 2010 HHR 2LT
Ex-GM mechanic quote: I can't believe the treatment to you, they use to care. This is an obvious flaw in the design and should be a recall issue.
I feel good about being able to talk others out of supporting a company that does not back up their product and is only interested in the amount they can make on repairs of their vehicles. I guess in an economy like this they had no choice but to intentionally build vehicles that they can make enough money on repairs and parts to make up the difference they are losing in the sell of new vehicles.
My '93' Ford Explorer with almost 200,000 miles I bought for using in the desert and for four wheel drive terrain is my most reliable transportation.
If you dislike someone suggest a CHEVY. You will have a good laugh out of it.
Look for my pictures of us on the back of a tow truck going to California for Spring Break. That is the only way you will get to your destination in a CHEVY.
Make sure you have AAA if you own a CHEVY because you will definitely need it. AAA was the only right decision I made for that Driveway statue of a car.
I apologize for your frustration. Can you please send me your case number? I would like to look at your case.
Christina
GM Customer Service
I apologize for your frustrations. Can you please email me your VIN, contact information including address and good number to reach you, involved dealer and current mileage? I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
2 weeks after owning the vehicle, I used the limited warranty and had the front shocks replaced as there was a grinding sound in the front.
Several weeks later I needed to add coolant to the vehicle because the engine was over heating...ecspecially when idle. This appeared to take care of this issue, so I did not think much of it.
May 14th 2011 21 ish days out of Limited Warranty time...We are 45 minutes away from home and the speedometer goes crazy. The radio gets loud and then fades. The power of the vehicle suddenly ceases and we are forced to pull over (in an area with no cell reception or stores) We shut the vehicle off, unplug the cell phone from charging and turn down the radio.
We turn the car back on and drive 1 mile down the road, thinking this might have fixed the issue until it starts again and again we lose power and have to pull over. AAA towed our car to the closest auto mechanic that was recommended by him. The mechanic diagnosed it as the "Transmision Modulator" and encouraged a new part to avoid this problem in the near future.
It took me a few weeks to save for the part (I just purchased this vehicle a couple months before, so had no extra) Got the part to the mechanic in June maybe early July. He repaired it a week or so later however the vehicle still did the same thing. He said that he is pretty good at Dx cars but does not understand what is wrong with this :lemon: I called Chevy and the dealership I bought it from...I have a case number #71-969320012 they said to bring it to Chevy. I opted to have the mechanic finish his business with the car and see if he could solve the issue before towing it to Chevy. Yesterday on 8.2 I got the call saying the car runs!!! I said "really it really works!?" The guy agreed. He said he test drove it several times and beleives it works...I beleive him. I drove it home and it worked for teh first 60 or so miles. Now it is acting all whacky again. The speedometer started to freak out and it has acted like it was going to stall several times. I now have 74,109 miles on it, last I read. I still owe close to 11k on the vehciel and I think I am going to cry.
I called Chevy yesterday and willing that the death trap does not kill me on my way to the dealership, they are going to look at it on Friday. I now wonder since it was raining yesterday if the problem is the electrical being damaged by the car design.
Does any of the problems mentioned above seem familar to you owners of this :lemon: ?
I wonder how we can all merge together and get compensated for this vehcile. I am so tired of spending my hard earned money on something that will not safely take me anywheres.
As you can see there are a number of 05 Equinox's that seem to have head or head gasket problems. I am also a member of this group. I had mine done two years ago. Now I have the same symptoms again. What is Chevrolet going to do about the significant number of compliants on this issue? There are several websites dedicated to car complaints, I have been to two of them. They have a significant number of head gasket issues. One site had 14 regarding head gaskets, and 7 more regarding the replacement issue.
I realize that you can only do so much and you have a supervisor to report to. One website I was on had 25 complaints and subsequent comments that stated they will never buy another Chevrolet, can you afford to have that many unhappy customers over the same issue?
My brother currently has almost 200,000 miles on his 3.4L, 94' Camaro. It is a good engine design, that's easy to work on, and has a timing chain which lasts the life of the engine.
The best part is I save $500+ every 60,000 miles, since I don't have replace a timingbelt/waterpump.
I also think that GM did a nice job with mating nice smooth [non-permissible content removed] transmission with
the 3.4L.
Also, there are a lot of Equinox's running around the Chicagoland suburbs here by us.
After I saw this blog stating "common" head gasket problems, I started to ask around.
I do my own car repairs and I've talked to a lot of mechanics at independent shops and GM dealerships in my area. According to them, this is not a large scale problem. None of the Dealerships or Auto Shops in my area have seen an Equinox with this "common head-gasket problem".
Therefore just because you own an Equinox, doesn't mean you own a "head-ache"
(A little Nox humor!)
So far, the Equinox is a keeper for us.
jd
This car is a piece of **it! We are looking to trade it in as we speak. About a week ago, it started to overheat and then the air went out on it. It went back into the shop and it was recommended to us for the 4th time to change the thermostat. Yup, we've already changed the thermostat 3 times. On top of replacing the thermostat it was recommended that we change the head gasket. Our local mechanic ran a test on the head gasket and said that it was losing anything so he's not sure why they've recommended replacing it!
GM is a joke these days and I will be so happy to get rid of this headache because that's exactly what it is! Never again, will I purchase another GM vehicle after being treated like this. They just put a band aid on the problem while it was under warranty and now that it's out and still having the same problem, they won't touch it!
I just love how this "Social Media World" attacks people who have something good to say about American products.
Here is a car factoid for you that the social media doesn't talk about:
There were 3.3 million 1997 through 2002 Toyota and Lexus vehicles with 3.0-liter, V-6, or 2.2-liter four-cylinder engines, that owners where notified about the sludge issue.
http://yotarepair.com/Sludge_Zone.html
I had no problems with getting 200,000 miles on my GM cars with a push-rod engine.
Having a "Toyota Sludge" engine is a different story.
jd
But this discussion is about Equinox problems - please note the title.
Check out the main Chevrolet Equinox discussion for general talk about the Nox, good and not so good.
How are you doing, it has been awhile!
Boy, You jump on this pretty quick!
Just letting the American public know I'm having good luck with my Equinox as well as other people too.
And to keep to the menu, I do want to let the Equinox people know that they should replace the spark plug wires at around 50K miles. The symptoms of spark plug wires going bad is poor acceleration, hesitation, and misdiagnosed transmission problems.
Have a nice day!
Jim Dandy
They initially said it was the transmission, however they were asking for more time to look at it. I approved. It was the transmission. I brought up my concerns with rain affecting the drivability and they replied they were not sure because the car would not work long enough for them to check into this. I called the dealership where I bought the vehicle from asking for them to give me a different vehicle and take the lemon back. They dragged their feet (I do not blame them..I do not want it either)
I just paid 145 dollars to chevy to release it from their garage to have it transfered to a place to replace the transmission.
The dealership paid for the tow and has agreed to pay 1/2 the cost of fixing the vehicle.
I continue to pay the payments and the full coverage insurance on this vehicle that I have not had since May. At this point in time, I am unhappy with the dealership and with GM.
If my car does not run safely and I have to continue to pay for it I am going to invest in a lot of yellow baloons and go on a campaign.
I had been going rounds with the same dealer for almost 3 years to get it fixed since the same problem has been happening since it was under the regular 3/36 warranty. I spoke to multiple GM people and eventually got no where. After talking with a mechanic friend, he suggested we try and take it to a different dealer, which we did.
We took ever single maintenance record that we had, including any notes from the first 2 dealers to look at it (I say 2 dealers because the first dealer was bought out) Actually, We only had on record in our personal files. We had to hound the dealer to hand over all of the records from work that had been done on the car. They didn't want to turn them over and tried talking their way out of it a couple of times.
In the meantime, the new dealer, which we have never done business with before looked at the car and diagnosed that the head and the gasket were bad. Not only did he say that is was due to the first 2 chevy dealerships flushing the system and replacing the thermostat multiple times, but that they were just putting a bandaid on the actual problem and it in turn made it worse. So within 24 hours of having the vehicle, this new service manager received GM's approval to basically rebuild the entire engine for FREE. No JOKE, I'm at a loss for words!
He had to price it out for GM and we were told it would have cost us $3400 to have it fixed if we would have had to pay out of pocket. This guy had the vehicle for 24 hours and totally took care of us, the other dealer was trying to screw us. We don't have the Equinox back yet as they said it would take a week, but the moral of my story is to keep trying.
My husband and I were at our breaking point, we decided that we were going to pay a $85 diagnostic fee one last time in hopes of this dealer actually agreeing with us or trade it in. We almost bit the bullet on a 2011 Mazda CX9 three weeks ago, but I'm so glad we didn't because I really don't want the car payment!
BE persistent, try another dealer....We knew we had the "Evidence" if you will to make a case, but clearly the other dealership was not in the business of helping people!
He did in fact receive the gaskets in to replace under warranty, but then realize upon further investigation that the problem was stemming from the engine block. He realized that if he changed the gaskets, they may blow again in 3 months due to the problem.
He got the approval from GM to order a BRAND NEW motor, which was replaced 2 weeks ago. After driving the car home that day, we still had NO Heat so the heating/cooling issue we've had for 4 years didn't get fixed by the replacement of the new engine.
He went again and got GM to approve coverage on a part that he thought would help the heater core since that is what he believed to be the problem. The part was replaced today and guess what, STILL NO HEAT or AIR. Now, he wants to replace the heater core, but GM will only cover 25% of the core.
I don't believe we should pay for the core. Clearly, they agree that there is an issue that should have been fixed correctly teh first time or they wouldn't have replaced the engine nor would have ordered a part to try and fix the core first.
I'm not sure where to go from here! SO FRUSTRATING! Albeit, we have a new engine.
Best,
Sarah
GM Customer Service
Christina is a GM Customer Service Representative, and she can be reached at socialmedia@gm.com
Best,
Sarah
GM Customer Service
We ended up paying $550ish to have the heater core replaced and that was with GM discount and the dealer taking some additional money off.
After getting a follow up email from "Christina" the GM rep from this site, I was put in contact with another GM customer service rep that looked futher into our case. Her "research" results were as follows:
- The engine was replaced because it was a prodcution flaw and only for that reason.
- Any work that a GM dealer did on the vehicle up until now was "good willed," which I find funny because it was all done while under warranty, thus nothing was GOOD WILLED. GM owed that to us.
- She was extremely sorry that the first dearler that we took the vehicle to didn't "dig deep enough" to uncover the problem while it was under warranty, but that's not GM's fault, thus they won't cover any additional costs for replacing the heater core.
I do want to point out that the last dealer and service manager that we dealt with was fabulous and if we were going to purchase another GM vehicle, it would definitely be from him.
That being said, when driving this weekend it was warmer out and I was hot so I turned on the air and guess what........IT DOESN'T WORK.
GM can kiss my backside and can kiss the $30-35K that we're planning to spend on purchasing a new vehicle in the next six months good bye.
As I've said in previous posts, we've always been GM people and have owned multiple GM vehicles, but after being treated the way we have with this vehicle, I'm done and if I'm done, then my husband is done as well and I can guarantee that!
Sarah
GM Customer Service
Honestly, we were having identical problems (over a 3-4 year span). I'm not sure what the actual diagnosis was or how they figured it out, but I do know it was a faulty engine block from the get go.