My wife bought her 2005 Equinox brand new. For the most part it has been trouble free. She no longer is the primary driver, we bought a minivan to haul around our 4 kids. So for the last year and half I have driven this Equinox back and forth to work, 26 miles one way! When she drove it, maybe 10 to 15 miles a day, hence the low mileage. I am very mechanically inclined, have worked on cars for years and build manufacturing equipment for production line for a living. I take very good care of all the vehicles in the household, not just because my babies are in them, but because there is a sense of security and pride attached.

With that said, on my way to work at 430 in the morning, noticed a noise coming from the motor. Before I could figure where it was coming from, it stalled on me. Coasted into a parking lot of a convenience store, started it back up and it honestly sounded like the motor was falling apart. Quickly shut it down, checked the oil. Dipstick was dry? Really don't understand that one, no puddles anywhere. Not at home, not at work? Dumped 3 quarts in, started it again, didn't sound as bad, but still sounded awful, decided to drive home very gingerly, longest 10 miles ever. Took it to a shop that I trust and know the owner. Says there is coolant leaking into one of the cylinders, and no compression in another? Oh, and, the motor is trash! Not repairable!!! Says I need a new motor, or re-manned, and gonna cast about $4,500!!!!

What really confuses me, there was not one single indication that was a problem!! No idiot lights, no hesitation in the pedal. NONE!!! Holy wow!!! If you didn't catch it earlier, 4 kids! One is in college!! I've been reading a lot about head gaskets being a problem with this motor, kinda wishing that was my problem. I have also been wondering about the warranty for this motor? 36,000 or 100,000 miles? The way it sounds to me, GM isn't gonna admit any fault of theirs and not pay, or help to pay for repairs. Not only is this a giant pain in the ass to deal with, and try to figure out what to do, and how to do it. But with a 2 income house and only 1 car, that pain in the ass hurts even more!!

It would be great for GM to fess up to this one and help us out. Sorry for the long story, didn't want to leave anything out.

MY CAR STARED OVERHEATING. I CHECKED THE FLUIDS AND IT APPEARS THAT I DIDN'T HAVE ANY ANTI-FREEZE. SO I PUT SOME IN THE CAR AND IT STARTING OVERHEATING AGAIN. I CHECKED AND THE ANTI-FREEZE WAS GONE AGAIN SO I SAID, WAIT A MIN LET ME CHECK THE OIL AND SURE ENOUGH THE ANTI-FREE WAS MIXING WITH THE OIL. THAT'S ONE SIGN TO KNOW THAT YOUR HEADS ARE BLOWN.

THE TECH TOOK APART THE HEADS AND I FOUND OUT THAT ONE OF THE CYLINDER HEADS IS CRACK. I WILL GET BACK TO YOU TO SEE IF THE WARRANTY PEOPLE FIX THE PROBLEM.

UPDATE!!! Blew my head gasket AGAIN! Scariest experience ever. The car was overheating and stalling if we slowed the car down, coolant spewing all over the road...Managed to get the car to Chevy dealership, found out a few hours later the head gasket had blown for a second time. This was a breaking point for me. From July until Nov 11, I spent $5,000 trying to fix this sinking ship. I had a tune up, a leak in my exhaust system that needed to be replaced, sticky brakes (which took Chevy a few months to diagnose) which explained the shaking of the steering wheel and the car not wanting to accelerate. Apparently my car thought I was applying the breaks while I was trying to accelerate which would cause the car to shake violently and struggle to accelerate (very dangerous getting on highways!). It took multiple visits to Chevy before they experienced what I was telling them, the computer they had hooked up to my car finally figured out the problem...then 6 weeks later the head gasket blew. So I had no choice but to fix it and then went right to Hyundai and bought a Certified Pre-Owned 2011 Hyundai Sonata. I love my new car. I will NEVER BUY A CHEVY AGAIN! I'm hoping my Sonata will be a better car than the Equinox was. Time will tell! I still see Equinoxes on the road, and all I want to do is tell the owners to get rid of them before they become a nightmare. I still think it's a nice looking SUV, but I remind myself of how the last 2 years of owning that car was a disaster and a money pit. So please get rid of your Chevy Equinox...that's the best advice I can give you. I wish I had gotten rid of mine 2 years earlier than I did.

Brought my car in a few days before Thanksgiving, got a loaner car (thank God!) and I understood that because of the holiday that they would have it for a few extra days. Well, I got it back a few days before Christmas. My head gasket had blown and they were having trouble getting the part. Plus they mentioned that another Equinox was ahead of mine to be fixed for the same problem. I should have picked up on that, but it didn't set off any alarm bells. So needless to say I was not happy that it took so long to fix my car since they kept saying it would be ready tomorrow, and tomorrow took 23 days. It ended up costing me around $2000. Now my car is acting up again, and the dealership said maybe its the gasket again! I brought it in the other day and they found nothing wrong with it other than a valve update..but after driving it around, I'm still having acceleration problems where the car doesn't want to pick up speed and kind of makes a vibrating/grinding noise. But it doesn't always do it, which is why they cant fix it. I'm taking it in again tomorrow and hoping they figure it out. I love this car and i haven't had too many problems with it, but now i am rethinking my decision to keep it and get a different car. Probably wont buy a chevy again.

I just found out after having the water pump replaced, new thermostat installed, new spark plugs, normal oil changes, and air conditioner recharged, that the head gaskets blew! Even my mechanic said it was ridiculous on a car of only 58000 miles, 7 years old, and bought brand new off the lot in 2005. I am tired of being so worried every time I try to start up the stupid thing but I am getting the work done on it because I am not ready to make car payments again. I wish when all the problems started I would have consulted this website because everyone's complaints are exactly what I have went thru! I would love to have Chevy compensate the 2005 Equinox owners- I will definitely not buy another Chevy.

I purchased a 2005 Chevy Equinox in May 2006 with just under 26k miles on it. It was the only used Equinox on the lot that did not come "certified" I should have know right then something was wrong. I also should have wondered why the vehicle was almost five grand less than all other comparable vehicles. I assumed I was just in the right place at the right time and signed on the dotted line. That was my first mistake. The problems began immediately, with the suspension, the sounds, the cooling system, the list goes on and on. The real problem has been the engine. In 2008 with less than 50k miles on it the head gasket blew. GM refused to do anything, because of course my warranty was over and it was not a certified used car with the extended warranty they were not liable. So I paid over two grand and had it repaired. A year later with 80ish thousand miles head gasket blew again, I called GM again, of course to be told there is nothing they can or will do, paid another two grand and had the vehicle repaired again. Yesterday 1/4/2012 while driving down the highway with my three daughters in the car, my car started smoking out the tailpipe so bad I couldn't see anything behind me, my car eventually died in the middle of the highway. I have since learned my head gasket has again blown. I of course called GM, to speak to a foreign person in another country and be told, GM has no recourse and there is no recall involving my VIN. I have read and read and read about the consumer complaints on this vehicle, it is clear I purchased a lemon, quite honestly after everything I have read I'm not sure if the problem is the motor, the coolant, the gaskets or what, but I am sure that this vehicle was manufactured by General Motors Corporation and they refuse to stand behind their product. I have spent over ten thousand dollars on repairing this vehicle and read about hundreds of other people in the same situation with the same vehicle. It is not fair that GM takes no responsibility for the faulty equipment/motor/gaskets what ever it is in this model of vehicle. I have been a loyal GM customer, as family has as well, and I will never purchase another GM product again

I was one that also stayed on top of my Oil Changes so when this happen to me I was like how. I did everything right to avoid this. At the same time I had to replace the value that is the brain of the Equinox, that I think should have been a recall by Chevy. I am now at 125,000 miles sometimes I don't feel safe in my car. My car also gave me a lot of problems early into my purchase and I just thought I had a LEMON. Of course every time I took it to the Dealership they could not find anything wrong with it. I really think that Chevy should recall the Equinox for this problem and repay all of us our hard earn money. Never have I heard of anyone replace Head Gaskets on a car that is well cared for and you are still paying a Monthly Note on. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE for all of the pain and money that owners of CHEVY EQUINOX has gone through. I had no idea until I was looking around for RECALLS on the Chevy Equinox that I just decided to open this website and saw that so many people went through the same problem that I did.

I haven't had a problem with my car until Friday when I noticed my car making a strange noise when I turned on my car I started to drive to a local Target where my care started to over heat. All of a sudden the light went on. I thought things were ok when it started overheating again on Monday and again yesterday. I was putting fluids in my car everyday!!! My mechanic checked my car out and the head gaskets blew. I had no indication that my car was having problems. My mechanic said it would be about $1,000!!!! If my car had indication that there was a severe problem I would have fixed it before it would of gotten to this extreme!!! I've been reading similar complaints on the same problem, Chevy should have a recall!!!

I want to get this out there that I also had a problem with head gaskets because maybe if there is enough complaints they will either reimburse the money paid or start doing some recalls... From what i've read it is a very serious problem with the head gaskets in 2005 Equinox's.....I bought this vehicle because I had a child and my other car was not dependable, well this one isn't either because it has stranded me several times, with my son in the car with me....My fiance happened to be the one driving the car when the head gaskets went, good thing because I freaked out and was gonna jump out of the car with my son because I thought it was on fire. We had absolutely no warning that anything was wrong, the manual states the car should have given several warnings before something like this happens and we got no warning. We went to superwalmart, which is 15 miles from home, and when we got in the car to leave that is when we started having problems, like I said no warning at all.

I'm basically a single parent and I have put so much money into this lemon I wished I would have kept my car and just put the money into that because every year that i've owned this equinox i've put over 1000.00 into it....MY CAR WAS PAID FOR THIS IS NOT! I guess there is a sucker born every day but I'm tired of being the sucker....

I'd like chevy to give me some compensation for the grief that this vehicle has caused me. I went almost a month without my car while the head gaskets were being fixed and I had to drive this 70's model truck with my son in it because I had not other option. I think alot more people need to file complaints. I've made copies of all my service records, printed complaints off the computer and i'm gonna send to chevy and pray that they will have some kind of heart and reimburse me something....This is not the only problem that i've had and for a vehicle that doesn't have 70,000 miles on it I should be having no problems.

Bought this car used in 2008 with 25,000 miles on it. It now has 80,000 miles on it. I did all the things your supposed to do with a car - oil changes, radiator flushes etc... noticed white smoke coming out of the tail pipe... yup blown head gasket, you got to be kidding me

We were dumb struck. A blown head gasket on a 2005? So we started researching found this site and now we have become (blown)AWAY at how many other people are going through the same thing. Shame on this company for skirting this issue and we look around and wonder whats wrong with this country. It's this type of attitude from companies that don't car. They suck you in and spit you out. Shame on gm and others like them. Oh by the way, we called gm & got the run around. Sound familiar?