This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
PVC pipe froze, causing engine to cease up, blew out rear plug of the engine, drained the entire engine of oil and entail blew the engine. I was driving at 65 mph when this happened. No warning lights came on that the engine was overheated, and car just ceased up and blew while I was driving. GM did absolutely nothing to help with this issue, I was left to fix this problem alone. My father replaced the whole engine by himself so that we could trade it in eventually.
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made abnormally loud sounds and was jerking. The check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the engine was leaking oil onto the ground. The contact also stated that the vehicle hesitated to stop immediately while the brake pedal was depressed. Upon inspection, the contact noticed that the catalytic converter had detached. The dealer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that she had to pay for the repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that prior to the failure, the dealer sold her the vehicle with a missing O2 sensor and a faulty catalytic converter, which the dealer later replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 148,000. The VIN was unavailable.
- Davison, MI, USA
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2017 Chevrolet Equinox 80,000 miles always serviced, I have proof Purchased 10/26/2016 New 12/16/2022 I had the vehicle serviced @ Walser Polar Chevrolet White Bear Lake, MN just like I have since I purchased it new. Oil & Transmission fluid changed, new tires, wheel alignment, rear brake pads and rotors, $2,045. No mention of a class action lawsuit for Frozen PCV valve, causing the rear main seal to blowout. GM has known about this problem for years and has done nothing to rectify it. I brought my vehicle into Walser Polar Chevrolet for service as always trusting I would leave having a safe ride in the deadly winter weather conditions, that was not the case. They knew there was an Issue with this Make & Model, I should have been notified regarding the freezing of the PCV valve and rear engine seal blowing out. Someone is going to DIE because of this, they will break down in subzero temperatures and freeze to death. 12/24/2022 at 6:45 am on Christmas eve. I had no warning whatsoever there was a problem until the Equinox started to sputter, the engine light came on and a few minutes later the engine shut down. The PCV valve froze causing the rear main seal to blowout, the engine was completely destroyed. $9,700 estimated repair bill. Thank God, I made it to White Bear Ave and a police officer showed up, it was 11 degrees below zero out. AAA had a 299-minute estimated wait. I know of 3 other people this has happened to last Month and there were 3 others vehicles that weekend on their lot with the same issue, I was told this by management. I sold it to Walser Polar Chevrolet White Bear Lake, MN 12/30/2022 for $4,000 that-??s all they were willing to offer. After paying $2,045 on 12/16/2022 I ended up with $1,965. This car was in great running condition when I brought it in for service, no leaks or indication of a problem other than the maintenance suggested. KBB Trade in for this vehicle is $9,000 to $10,000, fai
My engine failed. It's available for inspection upon request. The engine stalled in the middle of high traffic. I called GM customer care and explained to them what happened. They told me to take it to a GM dealership for diagnosis, (it was already diagnosed by a major company). The dealership confirmed a broken timing chain and bent valves. They also said that it was $12,000 to repair and that GM would only cover $1,200 since its out of drive train warranty. They request that I put down $8,657 before they could order a new engine. The codes the car gave were P0016, P0017, P228D, P0089, and P0341.
The engine cracked during the negative degree weather during Christmas Eve and the spark plugs were broken in half also as a result to this. Not sure if it is from the oil change that was done or if it was from the weather. But as a result the vehicle has been sitting due to this terrible mishap. I did get regular oil changes so I feel that this is not something that should have happen. But when the vehicle was towed to Firestone they stated it was a common situation with the Chevy Equinox. I am totally disappointed because I have a great vehicle but it is not of use to me with a crack seal on the engine due to this malfunction.
Oil consumption issues, faulty valves caused decreased engine pressure light, engine light. Unable to go over 25 m/h and now will not even start. Told this is a known issues with vehicle and I need a new engine.
My 2017 equinox which I purchased at this dealership starting burning excessive oil and has bad piston rings, they quoted me a $9500 for engine... I had those issues at 97500 miles and the dealership failed to properly inspect and fix the rings even though this motor was known for these issues. The failed piston rings should have been fixed when my vehicle was covered under warranty at approx 97,500 miles! My equinox has approx 100,600 miles on it currently and has sat for 1.5 months. So 600 miles past the warranty and now it needs a new engine? It needs a new engine because the service department knowingly failed to thoroughly fix my car when I had it in at 97,500 miles.
Cold evening, short drive required. Started car with remote, cleared remaining ice and snow (uneventful) First portion of trip uneventful - engine failed on return trip. Fortunate to be alive as car -??suddenly-?? began making clatter from engine. No indications of trouble by any display or warning features of vehicle. Car began lurching - icy roads - 4 degrees outside temperature Dealership and repair work performed by Mills Chevrolet - 6600 Elmore Ave., Davenport, Iowa (563) 345-5000 Paperwork (handwritten technician-??s notes on documents) provide that dealership profited more than $4,000 for -??core-?? replacement engine. GM manufactured and provided vehicles with 2.4 liter Ecotec engines which suffered one class action law suit, essentially, ignoring future generation production and sales to end users, by continuing to manufacture and provide such vehicles to their dealership representatives. (Mills Chevrolet, Davenport, Iowa) dealership sold this vehicle (as well as others) with this KNOWN DEFECTIVE ENGINE. Sold again as a used car and profited from that sale - and profited from the repairs which became necessary as a result of failure of their KNOWN DEFECTIVE ENGINE. GM should be put on notice that their product is defective and dangerous (and costly) to operate. And, as a direct result of their negligence, as it relates to their known engine dilemma and their reluctance to honor a positive sales position with potential sales customers - in my opinion, it is a matter of time before someone is hurt dramatically or killed, and, as a direct result of GM and their representatives continuing negligence have caused harm to thousands of reported customers, who have suffered IDENTICAL situations of engine failure. GM should be held accountable for their continued negligence and hidden or under reported operating costs and concerns with the vehicles which have the suspect 2.4 liter Ecotec engine installed in them.
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle made abnormal rattling sounds that progressively became louder. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving. The contact pulled into a parking lot and turned off the vehicle. The contact stated that she lifted the hood to inspect the vehicle but could not determine the cause of the failure. The contact stated upon restarting the vehicle, the message "Oil Pressure Low. Turn Engine Off" was displayed. A towing agent informed the contact that oil had leaked significantly underneath the vehicle while she was driving. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the rear main seal was blown out, causing the engine oil leak. The dealer informed the contact that the cold weather had frozen the PCV, which became cluttered and blew out, causing the rear main seal to be blown. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was opened; however, no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 65,550.
Rear Main engine seal failure due to blocked PCV system on 2.4 Liter DOHC. There is no GM maintenance schedule that informs the vehicle owner that this need regular maintenance in cold climate exposure. A 2015 GM Technical Service Bulletin, TSP 14882 refers to excess water/oil in PCV and a 2019 GM Diagnostic Bulletin, TIP 19-NA-021 refer to oil leak from rear of engine in exposure to cols weather. This is an obvious GM known issue with the PCV system that they have done nothing about and cost the vehicle owner a large repair bill. Mine was around $3900. No guarantee after the repair that this will remedy the situation from occurring again.
I am a recent 2017 Equinox owner with a 2.4L Ecotec engine. I purchased the vehicle 9 months ago and have put less than 30k miles on it since owning the vehicle. On Tuesday, 1.31.23, while driving to a work appointment on a busy interstate my equinox seemed to have a power failure and started making a noise. I proceeded to move toward the shoulder of the highway and before I could get to the shoulder, a warning light came on that there was low oil pressure, to stop the vehicle. Before I could safely get all the way to the shoulder, the car shut off and the engine ceased. From the time my vehicle started making noises, to it ceasing on that 4-degree weather day, was bout 6 seconds. The mechanic states the engine is ceased and that it would be about 10k for a remanufactured engine installed. No guarantees that this would not happen in the future as this is a manufacturer's defect in the size of the PCV system that is on vehicles with this motor, the 2.4L ecotec. The mechanic states that the rear engine seal has failed. This was caused by the defective PCV valve being too small which causes excessive pressure to build up and the rear main engine seal to fail. This is a known issue for vernal motors. There are literal thousands of people in this same situation, and I could have been killed by oncoming traffic had I not been able to get to the shoulder all the way. I have documents relating to this system failure and copies of the bulletins that gm has issued their dealerships, however the file is too large to attach here. Please email me for documentation.
My son was driving my 2017 Equinox with only 68,861 miles and the vehicle just stopped on him in the roadway. The dealership technician found the rear main seal blew out. The technician thinks it was likely caused by the pcv port getting clogged. The engine oil was changed less than 2 months before this occurred. The dealership is saying that due to the engine oil running very low there is internal engine damage and is recommending a complete engine replacement. My son said the vehicle just stopped without warning and went dead as he was exiting the highway, this incident could have had dire (or fatal) consequences if the vehicle would have just stopped on the highway.
I get my oil changed every 2-3 months. This morning it decided to jolt and all the lights flicker while my daughter was getting out of the car. She had one foot out. I had it towed and was told it is a blown rear main seal and they are unsure of the extent of the damage at the auto shop I took it too, and was told it might have affected my engine. That I had to have it towed to a Chevy dealership for further evaluation and it was to extensive for them to do where I had it towed. I was told it was the 3rd car this morning that they received with this issue. All Equinox's. I was never given any notification on my dashboard that this there was an issue, till it was happening. I DO NOT have any leaks where I park my car on a daily basis. The extent of damage so far is at least $2500. I am out of pocket just for towing $260. If it is an engine problem, I will be out up to $8000. I still owe on this car thanks to inflation. Thankfully no one was parked in front of my car today or a kid walking in front of it.
I own a 2017 Chevy Equinox. My husband and I are the only owners of it. It has just over 100,000 miles. Yesterday, February 1, 2023, I started my vehicle 15 minutes before I packed my 1 year old and 3 year old into the vehicle so I could take them to daycare and I could go to work. We drove down US HWY 8 (55 mph speed limit), onto County Road S to the kids' daycare. When I pulled into the parking stall, I smelled an oder of what I thought was gas. Looked at my gages and nothing was "wrong" - jumped out, & inspected around under the gas tank to see if it was leaking. It wasn't, so I thought maybe I drove over someone else's leak that I couldn't see. I took my kids out, brought them into daycare and left my vehicle running. When I came out, the smell was even stronger. I started to back up and noticed what looked like an oil pile. I then questioned if it was there prior and I didn't notice. I pulled over in the parking lot and saw it was leaking under the front end. I then parked it and shut the vehicle off. It was -15 out that morning. Not a single light came on my vehicle indicating that something was wrong. I checked my oil to see how much I had lost and it wasn't even registering on the dipstick. Empty. My husband towed it later that evening. Rear main seal blowout from frozen PVC. This is very concerning to me as it must have started to leak when I was driving and there was never a low oil indicator, overheating, engine light no oil was in my yard or driveway. And there wasn't enough oil in the daycare parking lot to have it be empty. This vehicle could has easily caused an accident to myself, my 1 year old and my 3 year old if it would have stalled going down the highway. It could have also caused an accident to another vehicle. I'm very lucky to have noticed where I did, but something should really be addressed with this. Not to mention we could have easily have been stranded out of town in extreme temperatures - especially for children.
I had noticing a faint smell of diesel type chemical gas off/on at times when driving the prior week but thought it was other cars as it was noticed when stopped. Few days ago had saw a very small drip in the driveway. Could not see anything specifically and looked more like gas color. Had just had oil changed the month before at the Chevy dealership and everything looked good. Drove to work and noticed a very hot smell once parked. Smelled like chemicals and something burning. Could see something dripping but not excessive. Was able to make it home. No lights showing issues or overheating. Immediately saw large amounts of oil leaking from the car and very hot smell. Checked and little to no oil in the car. Immediately went to dealership and the knew what was wrong without even seeing it. PVC system frozen causing excessive crankcase pressure and failure of rear seal. 70,760 miles. They said they have seen numerous cases of this and GM knows it-??s a problem. Gm refused to cover any of the cost. Had to pay $2,656 to have this fixed. Rear seal replaced along with cleaning intake ports, needed to replace cooling system thermostat also. Dealership even feels that this should be a recall and to hold onto any paperwork in hopes that this company will realize this is a big issue in cold weather. Dealership said by the time I had smelled anything the damage was already going on. Hopefully no other issues with the engine. Still smelling chemicals/hot but they said it the extra oil that was spilled out still burning off and should improve in a few days. They said it should be ok now but to let them know right away if anything is off.
on december 23 2022 i was driving home, there was a loud sound coming from engine, causing an engine oil leak, vehicle was towed to local dealer, diagnost PCV valve was frozen and clogged, causing pressure inside engine, i was informed that the engine was destroyed, and needed to be replaced, there was no warning light before this happen, temperature in chicagoland was 30 below zero, i had to wait 2 hours for tow truck, i have an extended warranty and they dont want to cover for this repair, dealer shop is asking $7500 dollars for new engine, is not fair i only had this vehicle for 5 months,
My PVC pipe in my engine unbeknownst to be me froze which caused pressure build up in the my crank case, which caused my real seal to blow and completely drain all my oil from my engine and seized my engine while I was driving at 70mph. This is a known issue with these vehicles as I have come across 3 other people who have had this issue. GM would not do anything for me and would not look further into the issue for me.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Toney, AL, USA