We were experiencing extreme low temperatures (high for the day was -5 without windchill). Vehicle began leaking oil about 5 blocks from home. The low oil pressure light never came on (or any other warning lights). Had to have it towed to my mechanic. He diagnosed it as a blown rear mail seal. He found that GM had a service bulletin (14882), and it's described "condition" accurately described the condition of my vehicle. I called GM, who needs to work on customer service (it was horrible). I was told that my vehicle was no longer under warranty (I have 106k, warranty up to 100k), and that the service bulletin (SB) did not apply to my vehicle. The SB covered my year and model, but my VIN was not included.

Even after going up the chain at GM, they just kept saying that I had to take it to a certified GM mechanic (which means another tow charge) and have them diagnose the problem (I would have to pay for their "certified" diagnosis). When the GM mechanic diagnosed that the problem was just as my very qualified, trusted mechanic (The Shop, Inc. - Lincoln, NE - Chad Fegley) - and the problem matched the condition of GM's service bulletin - they still would not cover the costs. They said I would have to work with the local GM service department. Let me say that the local GM folks (DuTeau Chevrolet - Lincoln, NE) were very good to work with. They could teach GM a little something about customer service. They agreed to cost share the repairs. I believe the total cost was around $1,400 of which I paid $881. It is my hope that GM will either expand the VIN allowed under service bulletin 14882, or issue a new recall or service bulletin. Let me close with this question. If the problem was no fault of GM, why did they agree to cost share?

On Saturday January 15th 2022, I was driving home. I pulled into my driveway and smelled oil burning. As I was backing into the garage, my car stalled out and turned off. No low oil light, no check engine light or any other warning light at all. I got out of my car to see the problem and there was oil everywhere. Spilling out of my wheel wells, all over the side of my car and under it, but none under the hood at all. After getting it towed to the mechanics shop that did an oil change on it the prior week, they called and told me that it was due to PCV failure and pressure built up blew the rear main seal out. I looked further into this and this is a known problem with 2013 Chevy Equinox’s.

Many people complained and many people said that they called Chevy with no help. This is leaving thousands of people at risk with a known design failure. There has been no notice sent out to customers to be aware of this problem and no help in preventing it. Many people are put in a very dangerous spot when their car shut off going 70 mph. This also left many people in an extremely bad financial situation with upwards of thousands to fix this problem. Chevy just brushes it off with no help saying that the problem is location based on where the engine was manufactured. If that was true, then out of the thousands of people with this problem, why have none of them been covered under this service bulletin?

This problem is design based and leaves many people in an extremely dangerous situation. Just some sort of heads up to these customers to not drive in the freezing cold temps could prevent some people from having this happen. When on the phone with my local GM service worker he said he was surprised that this didn’t happen sooner. I am still talking to Chevy customer service but if nothing comes out of this, I will be contacting a Lawyer for a class action lawsuit. If anyone else has or had this problem and would like to go in with me message me and we will get something going because a Recall of some sort should be in place for this problem.

Got a call from wife on 1/18/20 (Saturday) that the car started making noises (engine) during her 12 mile drive to work. She was about a mile from work and continued the drive. When she completed her shift and came out to head home, the car gave a low-oil light and then turned off automatically (it wouldn't start). I told her to walk down to the store near her work and grab 3 quarts of oil and fill it up. I then had her check to ensure the dipstick showed enough oil (which it did) and to check for any oil leaking below the car (which she did not find any). For the record - it was a cold winter day (about 15 degrees) and windy. We also had fresh snowfall that day as well.

She then proceeded to drive the 12 or so miles home and made it without the low oil light coming back on. The next morning (Sunday) I can out and moved the car so I could see if any oil had leaked onto the snow beneath the car. I did not find any fresh oil on the ground but did notice that the entire under carriage of the car was coated in oil. I checked the oil level and noticed that it was damn near dry again.

We took the car in to the mechanic about 2 miles away from our house on Sunday evening and the next morning they called us to say that the rear seal had been blown due to frozen/plugged PCV system. This exact issue is covered in Chevy's service bulletin 14882. I contacted Chevy and was told our VIN was not part of this bulletin and that Chevy would not cover the repairs. Our make, model and year are the same exact ones as covered by this bulletin and yet Chevy doesn't have our VIN as part of this issue.

Please tell me how Chevy can have a service bulletin about this EXACT issue and for the EXACT same make, model and production year and yet only cover some of the vehicles that experience this EXACT issue? Our bill to repair this issue stands at $2,000 right now and we won't know if there are other issues and costs until we get the car back to working condition and clear the original error codes and see if anything further pops up at that point. BTW - the cost to replace the seal is $10. The labor to replace the seal is almost $1,100 as it takes roughly 11.5 hours to disassemble and reassemble. Add in the work to replace the PCV and a few other minor thing and we are at $1900 before tax.

This is a disgrace and speaks to Chevy's desire to put profit before morality, customer service and taking ownership of their poor workmanship and design.

I stopped to pick something up at my ex-husbands house, just one house down from mine. I literally was there for a minute, didn't even shut my vehicle off. I drove home and parked it in the garage. Later that evening my ex-husband texted me and asked if I had an oil leak because he saw a trail of oil and puddle in his driveway. I said I didn't think so, because I had just got my oil changed on Feb. 5, 2019. Later he called and said it looked like the trail was leading towards my house and I might want to check it. I then turned my outside light on and looked at the driveway and sure enough, there was a trail of oil heading into my garage. I looked under my vehicle and it looked as if my vehicle had bled out all over my garage floor.

So, I'm thinking maybe they messed up my oil change so I start researching it. That's when I found different sites that had the exact same thing happen with their Equinox's. Then, I checked out YouTube to see if there was any video on the subject. I found one that demonstrated the oil spraying out due to the main rear seal blown from a blocked PCV orifice intake manifold. The mechanic in the video states, “If your vehicle is doing this absolutely do not drive it in!!" Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uGTEWWrlSs).

After watching this video and how fast it happens. No warning lights had come on, I am lucky that my x-husband noticed it, otherwise, I probably would have left for work and had the engine seize up on the interstate. Even worse the day this happened I had been driving with my 9-year-old son and the engine could have seized up while driving on the interstate or highway, I drive every day. This could have become a dangerous situation. Especially, with the low temperatures and snow and ice on the roadways this year. I suggest that anyone else that has had this problem, they should file a complaint at: NHSTA https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/ .

I had it trailered it to a Chevrolet dealership to have it looked at. When I talked to the lady in the service department, I asked her about the service bulletin. She proceeded to tell me that it's very VIN-specific and mine wasn't one of them. When the service guy called, he told me what I already suspected, I then told him I had a premium warranty from the dealership I bought it from. So they called them and said that they would have to wait for an inspector to come and look at it. This was on Feb. 14, 2019, I finally get a call on Feb. 20, 2019, telling me it was denied due to it being caused by weather. The warranty denial stated, “ESC Prior approval will not be participating in the claim as the failure is the PCV getting clogged from the accumulated moisture getting frozen.” Which is BS because it froze up because the PCV wasn’t working properly. I intend to appeal this with my warranty company.

So, I had the service person send me an email on what the warranty inspector had sent them and what the service department said was the problem. I printed it up along with a copy of the service bulletin and took it to a close family friend that owns a transmission shop. He said that he had just had a conversation about this topic. So, he was going to do some research and call me back. Most likely I'll have it towed to him to have the work done.

Obviously, GM won't fess up that this is an issue. I paid for a premium warranty that is worthless in this situation. So why give them the money. I am a single mom and having to come up with that kind of money ($2250.00) makes my life more difficult. I am so disappointed, I have always defended Chevy products, even though most of my family are Ford lovers. Sadly, I may have to admit that they may be right about Chevy products.

Unfortunately, I find myself in the same situation that others appear to have been in (or are in currently). I purchased a 2013 Chevy Equinox just over 2 years ago and up until now it has been an extremely dependable vehicle. Like many of the people in the midwest, we also experienced a very cold snap this winter (-24F -45F windchill). I was on my way home from work and less than 1/2 mile from home is when apparently my PCV valve froze (or the ventilation hole became plugged and caused a complete lower crankcase failure.

It appears through reading articles, this is a known issue by Chevrolet and refuse to address it as a defect in engineering. According to my GM certified service technician, there were no statements or warnings issued to technicians to check any vehicles coming in for extended service to make sure that the condensation relief hole is clear of carbon or obstruction. Basically my engine blew stranding me about 1/2 mile from my house in the frigid cold weather.

Now I am saddled with a car that according to my insurance, is not covered under claim (as originally told by the person I spoke to), The car is valued (with a working motor) at $4800. The bill to put a new engine in is $6260 and (unfortunately) my remaining car loan is greater than either of those 2 aforementioned items.

I (like many others it would appear) have been put into a financial bind over an engineering defect in the design of the motor.

I absolutely REFUSE to purchase another GM product from now on and will tell as many people as possible how I got "duped" into thinking that GM had a good product.

Thanks for the "rant" space. Much appreciated.

Update from Mar 17, 2019: Not sure whether the PCV valve froze or the small (1/8") hole used to equalize pressure in the lower crankcase - whatever the issue, I experienced a lower crankcase failure and blew out the rear seal and ultimately the engine.