Business partners wife is looking at cars right now and was looking at a 2016 Equinox LT AWD 4 cylinder w/60K . Are there any known issues with these that anyone knows of?
Get the maintenance and service records for it. If it hasn't had pistons or an engine replacement, make sure it has had oil changes done at 5k or less. If it hasn't had either one of those done and has been getting it's 7500 mile oil changes, it will need either pistons or an engine replacement guaranteed. I've got 3 in the shop currently for oil consumption issues, and that is the S.O.P. every single week.
We received a letter from a legal firm regarding a class action law suit that's filed against GM for the problems Lucas stated in his post. We no longer own the Equinox and have to say we never had any oil consumption problems with ours, but friends of ours did have issues with smoking and burning oil in their 2013 Equinox. I would stay away from the 4-banger and try to find one with the V6 engine. My wife really loved her Equinox, but hated the 4cyl engine in it and we would probably still have that car if it weren't for that engine. YMMV
I have one 2016 with v6 it runs great haven't had 1 problem never been back to dealer great running motor Fast!
So I guess the vehicle was an off lease that had been fully serviced by the dealer from new with full service records of everything and its coming with a full 5 year warranty. Hopefully it works out for them.
Life for those motors is all about regular oil changes preferably with full synthetic......i have a '13 Turbo Sonic with over 110k miles and it is running strong. Peace WildBill
I've heard that the stop/start technology common to all late model cars is very hard on pistons and rings?
Have not heard that, Larry. It's really no different then just shutting off any car and restarting it. The issues with the 2.4 go back way before they had start/stop technology. On the 3.6 V6, same oil change recommendations apply if you're looking at one of them, but their issues are with timing chains and tensioners. Make sure whatever you're looking at has had the chains/tensioners replaced already or the vehicle got it's oil changes done at 5k or less. Just Google GM 3.6 timing chains for more info then you'll ever want to read.
Lucas, the reason I mentioned it was I recently brought my brother's 2018 Honda Accord Hybrid up to John Csordas's shop for it's first oil change at about 8000 miles, and John told me it shouldn't go that long. He mentioned the stop/start as being hard on the piston rings, so I thought I'd inquire.
They might have a different starting system on the Hondas, it's entirely possible they do. There's some talk about a new technology that we'll be seeing on our cars that won't require the starter to engage the flywheel to get it fired back up. Maybe Honda has something along those lines already. Some two stroke Ski Doo snowmobiles use the magneto as a form of electric starter by way of capacitor: https://www.ski-doo.com/technologies/shot.html EDIT: I will most certainly agree with John that no engine should go 8000 miles before an oil change, especially it's first one. I know the manufacturers recommend that, but man, I couldn't do it especially with what I see every single day at work.
So what do you attribute the engine's piston problems to? Bad design? I've always heard about the LS engine cold piston slap. Can't GM design a good engine anymore? My 98 Riv 3800 is coming up on 198k, and it always amazes me how great it runs for that many miles.
People adhere to the 7500 mile oil changes and services that are recommended. That's just too long and rings go away (plus you know average people like to push it and probably go 1-2k more). You also end up with burned oil turned to coke coating everything. We had 2.0 turbos that had piston breaking issues, but I think that was caused by piston materials that weren't forgiving enough (I don't know what kind of pistons were in there, but I'd assume hypereutectics that had too much silica), too much initial timing, and people that just fire up and go without warm ups. Most issues we had with those were rental companies.
The high-feature 3.6L engines with timing chain issues I think was found to be a two-fold problem. First was the the high pressure fuel pump was really hard on the oil. It was shearing it, and the result of the compromised oil was increased wear on the timing chain caused by the normal contact of the chain on the gears. The fix was to decrease the oil change interval and to change the design of the chain from 9.5mm to 7.7mm pitch. The broken pistons in the 4-cyl turbos was another mess that GM was “guessing” at a fix. They had 2 or 3 changes to how they wanted the job completed, from just changing the broken piston, to changing all the pistons and then a software change. I’m not sure what the real cause or fix is on that one. I haven’t heard or seen any piston/ring longevity issues on the stop/start engines. We have certainly seen auxiliary battery issues on those, but no engine problems. There have been rumors of starters going away in favor of software for a long time now. There have also been rumors of camshafts going away, but they are still with us too.
The goal with all this tech is higher mpg, but taxing them so hard (high compression, turbos, direct injection) or complicating them so much (hybrids, variable timing, stop-start) often makes them so finicky and fragile that they’re doomed by repair costs not too far out of warranty. That doesn’t help poor people or the environment nearly as much as simpler stuff that, while less ‘efficient’, will run many more miles with routine maintenance and repairs the owner or their (dad, neighbor, uncle, roommate, local ‘shadetree’, etc.) can do. People who need or want cheap transportation need the $1500-3000 used car that, with 150k and service records, are good for another 100k. Right now that seems to be a used GM truck or SUV with a 5.3. Sorry-end of rant. Patrick
As an insider...be careful with the 2013-2017 Equinox, especially those with around 75-80k. They have a habit of ports in the head clogging over time and plugging the PCV system. That in turn causes the rear main seal to blow out and you are stuck with a $3800 repair. Captiva was also a big offender of this. Recommend you buying an aftermarket warranty and make sure GASKETS AND SEALS are covered. Other than that...they are pretty well behaved vehicles.
