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Comments
My wife's 2011 Equinox had gone months with no 'start-up" noise. I actually had stopped being concerned... Then we drive 300+ miles to cape Cod over the weekend. Once we were at the Cape the FIRST two restarts after the 300 mile trip... the startup noise was back! Absolutely the same noise! WHY??? There has to be a reason the noise goes away for months... then comes back on consecutive startups???? BTW The trip also reminded me of how disappointed I am with the AC vents... narrow, slits that give minimal airflow, almost none of it in the up direction!
I am having this same problem. I get the noise when I start it with the key or the remote start (one the key & through on star). I've also been told there is "nothing wrong" it's making me nuts because I'm at 29k miles. I asked the dealer today if it would be considered a lemon & he said "probably so". I'm not sure who to contact about the problems outside of the dealership though. I also have problems with the sunroof (makes this awful noise like it needs oil) but i'm told it doesn't use lubricant & My GPS is HELL, it's been serviced multiple times and replaced once. Very annoying because I traded in a very reliable Honda CRV for this car.
Hope this helps ease your concerns.
Having looked over your posts, and rather than spamming the wall, I wanted to make sure to offer our assistance in your situations. We can set up a case in our department, contact your dealerships, and potentially get your case to a more appropriate department if you would please email the following information to socialmedia@gm.com: your name/Edmunds username, phone and address, the last 8 of your VIN and current mileage, and the name of your involved dealership.
Kind regards,
Sarah
GM Customer Service
Have emailed Sarah my information this morning.
We had all this work done at month 2 of ownership and knock on wood, one year later (our Equinox 4 Cylinder) is a year old today. I read this column every day to see what this car is doing to people. Never again with Chevy!
This was my first brand new Chevrolet since 1994. Very disappointed and not sure I'd buy GM again. Feel like I made a very expensive mistake.
Am I safe with the EQUINOX 6 cy. or has anyone had issues as well??? Is it just the 4 cyl???
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Mine sounds VERY much like the sound of a diesel engine and is from within the engine. Does not sound like a "grind" and although it is heard at start-up it is not from the starter.
My ultimate fear is down the road this leads to a serious and expensive engine repair... past warranty of course. The other fear is once the problem is commonly known, I'm stuck with a lemon no one wants in trade in. Remember the Chevrolet Vega !!!
BTW I'm sure Sarah from GM Customer Service is just a false identity... much like "Peggy" from the charge card commercial. Probably a roomful of Sarah's trolling the different GM forums promising customer service... cheaper than actually fixing the problem?? Or worse... "What problem?"
Do I sound a bit testy... probably because my startup noise is back and happening more frequently after 4 to 5 month absence! I even like my dealership but I still remember their look of puzzlement when I mentioned the noise to them nearly 9 months ago. Never even made it to the work order?
If, by some act of God, Chevy acknowledges an issue and repairs it, you'll be the first to know.
I heard a noise at 1000 miles and was told that it was normal for the engine. I disagreed, but had no recourse. Now, at 15,000 it is no longer a reliable vehicle in my eyes.
1. Immediately file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau auto branch. This can be found online. You will be asked to provide some information and sign a few papers.
2. Investigate the lemon laws in your state and contact an attorney for guidance.
3. We need to get the word out to the consumer public that this is a problem GM vehicle. Establish accounts and relay the problems that you have had with your vehicle on all the major blogs and auto consumer review websites that are available.
4. If you have a consumer watch advocate (local TV station or radio) in your local community contact them and explain some of your issues.
5. Make sure that you are documenting every repair made to your vehicle and ensure that you have given your dealership ample opportunity to fix the problem. Lemon laws vary from state to state as to what "ample opportunity" is.
Yes, to get any real resolution to your problem it is going to take some work and effort. I personally am a patriotic person and purchased my Chevy Equinox because of its good reviews and I wanted to see the company succeed after being in such financial difficulties. But, after spending my hard earned money on what I hoped would be a long term, reliable vehicle and getting such a nightmare in return, I can honestly say that I will never purchase another Chevy vehicle. You, the consumer, can make your own choice.
That is the first part of my story.
The second part is I called my Dealership (Which is a Chevrolet Dealership) and spoke with the service department to set up a drop off date. I dropped it off 07/11/2012. When dropping it off I included a letter with this blurb to the Service Advisor:
......."The Equinox stalled on me in traffic last week. It was running rough so I turned the A/C down thinking maybe it was just too hot to have it blasting with the weather we were having. At the next stop light, I stopped and it immediately stalled on me. It started right back up, but still ran rough. Since this has happened, on start-up many times it runs rough, especially when being engaged in reverse. It has on numerous occasions seemed like it wanted to stall when I slow down and stop at stop signs and stop lights. Also, upon acceleration, I have occasionally been getting a Chugging (thwap thwap thwap in fast succession) sound (like it’s misfiring within the engine) – with this seems to come reduced power. I have read numerous Technical Service Bulletins that pertain to this issue within the 2.4L DI Engine in my vehicle and even a couple recall campaigns. I trust that you can do the research and find exactly which ones may pertain to my vehicle.
One important thing: During my research people having this problem report that gasoline mixes with the oil and can cause excessive oil consumption and the viscosity of the oil becomes unsuitable for the engine. Please verify that my engine oil is suitable and not in need of replacement."........
This morning (07/12/2012) I received a call from my Service Technician that he has just experienced many if not all the problems I spoke about and my vehicle is receiving an ENTIRE new engine. No questions asked, no run around, no trying to fix this or that - an entirely new engine.
I have a loaner vehicle now, while it's in the repair shop for the next week. So far, even though I do not feel that I should be going through this with a 2 year old vehicle, I must say that my specific service department is being amazing about it. I will definitely update on this thread any and all information I receive through out this process.
Hopefully I can help some of you get your cars working in correct order again. There is nothing worse than having no confidence in a new or almost new vehicle that you are making massive monthly payments on. But as I said, for now, my experience STARTING OUT in this endeavor is going smoothly.
I will update soon.
This is encouraging news. Where is your dealer? Are they willing to provide you with a written explanation on why the stalling occurs and why they are authorized to replace the engine? It takes one snowflake to make a snowball and your information will help us all.
Thanks you for the news!
When the service adviser told me the entire engine would be replaced I was a little taken aback - only because I haven't seen this outcome many times in the blogs and forums. I'm happy about it - Just didn't expect it.
When I asked, over the phone, what the reasoning was - the service adviser told me that it was an internal problem with the engine. (Which for many or most people is probably a sufficient answer, but I want details) He said no more about it and we went straight to scheduling my pick up of the loaner vehicle.
My dealership is in Merrillville, Indiana - 35 miles southeast of Chicago. I have bought four cars from them the past seven years, and the service department never fails me. I've never had a problem this severe in the past, but hopefully it all ends well too.
The other three cars I bought from them were brand new, this one is the first used car. I have no records or knowledge of what engine problems the previous owner had, if any - but I do know it was a local one-owner vehicle and not a Rental/Fleet vehicle or anything of that sort.
after I bought it NEW in late 2010. I started to hear a clattering noise when I accelerated especially in first and second gears. During the first year of ownership, several brake lights went out so I took I to the local dealership and asking about the clattering noise. I was essentially patted on the head and told to use a higher octane fuel to address the knocking. Naturally that didn't work. Once he noise became so loud you could hear it with the windows rolled up and the air conditioning on, I took it back to the dealership. Thankfully they had been bought out in the interim and the idiot I dealt with before was gone. Immediately, the staff recognized the problem and after several days in a rental car told me gas had leaked into my oil but the engine would not require replacing and the issue had been resolved. Needless to say, it has not. A few months later my car was back in the shop again and now the engine is being replaced just like so many others in his forum. Gradually the engine noise returned to the point that my 4 cylinder sounded like a diesel truck. I hope to have the car back by next week. I was told there is a bulletin out about the engine failure but they have "fixed" the problems and the new engine will work fine. I have no faith in Chevy or this car. The equinox was supposed to be my son's first car. I feel I am between a rock and a hard place because I really don't want my son to drive his car and neither do I want to pass this problem on to someone else. I will never buy another GM product. I wish Saturn were still around. GM really screwed up a good thing there. Did I also mention it left me stranded on the road when the battery failed for no apparent reason? Not even 40,000 miles on the car!
Again, PIP5025 - This is a newly released service bulletin from GM.
Sounds like a happy ending except I already have gas mixing with my oil again and can smell it in a bad way. I'm going back to the dealership tomorrow morning (Monday 7/23/2012) for them to see what the heck is going on now.
All I can say to people about this is keep a detailed record of EVERY repair and even conversation you have with your dealership, report to safercar.gov, and keep your fingers crossed that a GM "fix" actually sticks and we can all move on with our lives over this. It's quite irritating, to say the least.
Will update when I can.
P.S. If this new gas smell from the oil turns into another long in shop repair, I'm also going to file a report with General Motors - From what I understand it may not do much, but at least I'll have record of doing so.
Although I've gotten GM to admit that there are WIDESPREAD problems with the 2011 Equinox (one GM Customer Service rep actually said "everyone is having this problem"), at this point they are essentially telling me to shut up and stop bothering them, since they have nothing to offer. They expect me to just patiently wait for my dealer to call me when they've released a software update -- which, per their statement, will be available "in the third quarter of 2012 at the earliest." And, against my objections (since the vehicle wasn't fixed), they actually closed my case.
So, the vehicle that I bought brand new off the dealer's lot for my long commute is probably not going last very far past the warranty period, if it even makes it that far. Let's face facts here: the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox has design flaws that GM still has not fixed.
I've lost all faith in GM and my dealer (Quirk Chevy in Manchester, NH), and they think it is OK to inconvenience me when they are at fault. I've told them repeatedly that I will leave my vehicle with them as long as they want IF they provide a vehicle for me to use, but they insist that I sit in their service department for hours waiting for them to have a revelation before they will authorize a loaner, claiming it's GM's policy.
1. Even if GM fixes it right the first time, should engines be torn apart to replace actuators, camshafts, timing chains, etc. on almost brand new vehicles? What kind of engineering goes into these vehicles?
2. Should stalling in intersections or on the freeway be occurring?
These are major problems. Customers who spend $25k to $30k of their hard earned money on a new vehicle should not be going back to the dealership to fix so many major problems. My last new vehicle was a 2006 Dodge Caravan that I paid under $16. I had no warranty claims. This should be the norm.
Recently I have noticed (15k miles) that my idle can be rough at times but thankfully no stalling yet. I subscribed to this board so I would get updates! Keep them coming!
Nor is it fair that GM didn't better engineer their engine before putting into vehicles. Look at my past posts, I wasn't happy about this AT ALL. It's ridiculous. BUT - GM offers a 5 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty and IS FIXING these problems UNDER warranty - when it's taken to a dealership that is actually aware of the problem and not making YOU jump through hoops. Don't blame GM for your dealership making you jump through hoops to get a loaner car. I received a loaner the day I dropped my Equinox off.
I offered up what I experienced to everyone on this board by giving all the information that I received throughout my process. I hated going through it, but you have warranties for a reason. If every carmaker made perfect cars there would be absolutely no need for them.
And I still stand by the fact that most of the people on here who complained about their Equinox then never came back to update us on their experience is because it was fixed and they went on their merry way. Otherwise, as is human nature, they would have been back here complaining again. Complain away if you have problems - just don't assume they are always GM's fault when they (GM) is releasing the fix information to dealerships and standing behind the fixes 100%.
It's hard to imagine, given the shear numbers involved, that this problem would not have come out with proper pre production road/load tests. Yes it is expensive and time consuming to do these tests, but look at what happens when you DON'T do it. Statistically, it's likely that somewhere between 25 and 30 percent of those who own the "bad" engines will avoid GM like the plague for many years. Unfortunate, because overall, these are good vehicles.
So, as much as it hurts to say this, if GM comes through with a real fix, and takes care of us when the time comes to look into another new vehicle, I will consider moving forward WITH GM. It's not like they are alone in making these mistakes. Ford had a major issue recently software, requiring a patch that is not a real "fix" at all. Range Rover is always having problems, and that is a much more expensive vehicle. I could go on, but why.
Let's just hope it's fixed... and if not, let's bury GM in a mountain of bad press and social media alerts. There is no better way to make manufacturers deliver a quality product, and hurt them if they don't, then to inform potetial buyers BEFORE they spend. GOOD LUCK ALL!