9.1

really awful
Typical Repair Cost:
$3,780
Average Mileage:
110,000 miles
Total Complaints:
9 complaints

Most common solutions:

  1. replace engine (6 reports)
  2. not repairable. vehicle is junk (1 reports)
  3. not sure (1 reports)
  4. replace timing sensors (1 reports)
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problem #9

May 242020

Enclave CXL 6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 130,000 miles

Immediately after purchasing in 2018 I noticed issues with the vehicle and it had to be serviced twice within a couple weeks of having it. At the time the service dept. could not diagnose the issue and blamed it on my accidentally touching the manual shift on the shaft. I knew I was not doing this. I have video of the car doing this weird acceleration and all during the last couple of years but Vander Hey kept saying the vehicle was fine.

Well, I was stranded because it just stopped a few days ago. My wife stranded in nowhere land. 50.00 uber home. I have had to uber 3 times now and purchased a code reader. the code comes back as a timing chain stretched. It seems what I was feeling from the very beginning was in fact this issue. I am not happy about this. I have had to rent vehicles for the last 3 days and will have to have the vehicle towed back to my home tomorrow. Since this issue was brought to your attention from day one I expect it to be repaired at no cost to me and some of the charges I have accumulated be reimbursed. This is not just!

I will be looking into the lemon law and if it applies to me. I am hoping your company takes responsibility. Had they paid attention to what I was saying and all then this would never have happened. The stress and issues this has caused goes so much deeper than this. They knew about this from day one!

- Brad B., Wrightstown, US

problem #8

Dec 062020

Enclave CXL 3.6L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 116,164 miles

2010 Buick Enclave with 116,164 miles, just over 10,00 per year, engine experienced a spun rod bearing and quit while driving. Steering lost power and engine stopped. Car would not start. I had to push it backwards to get out of an intersection. I had just started a right turn. 22 months earlier the timing chain stretched which resulted in the P0008 code on the vehicle. This cost $2000 in repairs. Oil was changed every 5000 or less miles and I used Mobile 1 Synthetic oil the entire time. Engine seized up and dealership said it would be $6,000 to $7,500 to repair. The vehicle was driving well before the engine failed. No knocking sounds. No indication of a problem. This and owners of earlier model years have reported this same problem from this vehicle. A well maintained vehicle should not have these two serious problems which points to some failure in design or manufacture. The vehicle is now junk. Junk yard would give me $600 and dealer offered $1000 as trade in.

- Terry W., Plymouth, MI, US

problem #7

Dec 062018

Enclave CXL 3.6L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 135,000 miles

Horrible car from day one. Rides nice but constant issues.... never buy again.

Money pit. But wife loves it.... cry

- Christian B., Fayetteville, AR, US

problem #6

Sep 032017

Enclave Limited

  • Automatic transmission
  • 100,000 miles

I was driving on the highway and my engine not only blew but caught on fire! I had to jump out of the SUV and run towards cars to get away from the fire. ALL PRAISES be to GOD! I got to the shoulder of the highway safely. The cops and fire fighters came to put the fire out. I have been paying a car payment for 6 months with no car to provide transportation for my family. I am a single mother of 3 and can't afford to buy an entire new vehicle. Buick informed me in order to have my car working again it would cost at least $10,000.00!!! I can't believe that on top of a car payment they expect me to be able to afford and engine. I bought this car with my family in mind and for planned long time relationship. I will never buy another Buick again. Oh, and the dealer also told me I'm responsible because I went over the 100,000 miles limit so I have no warranty. GM should address these problems along with accommodate their customers.

- Atiya B., Chester, PA, US

problem #5

Jan 252018

Enclave CXL 3.6L V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 140,000 miles

I purchased this vehicle in Oct 2015 (used) and chose this vehicle based on size and luxury as we have 4 children. Within the first two months as I was driving with small children in the car my steering went out and I was almost in an accident. That was the first expense. Shortly after the tie rods went out. Then last year the transmission went out (which was not cheap) and that was completed. Most recently the catalytic converter is the problem and now the tire monitor system is out. I have always maintained my vehicle and anytime I feel there is any problem or change, I have it checked out immediately. Now, 2 days ago as I am driving with my children yet again, my engine seized up and I do not have the money again for a major expense. I was almost hit twice and I had to find strangers to assist me pushing my car out of harms way. Myself and my children had to walk home in the cold and my daughter missed her science presentation that evening at school which was also a huge inconvenience. My issue is this; there is an obvious problem with the steering, transmission, timing chain, catalytic converter, and engine as I see by all of the complaints. I am wondering why this year has not been added to the recall. I do not have thousands of dollars to keep fixing this vehicle and pay on a loan so now I am stuck with 4 children and no way to get to schools, work, and doctor appointments for my chronically ill toddler without paying now additional money for transportation. Most importantly, I do not feel safe in the vehicle and it's causing major anxiety while driving as the car continues to have major problems while driving it which puts myself, my children, and others at risk. If I wanted a cheap car, I would have purchased one. These problems have been known by GM for a long time as I read many blogs and entries and all problems are similar. I understand it is about making money and keeping costs down but I would rather not wait until someone dies from known negligence as this could all be prevented. I am having my car towed home yet again later today from the mechanic as they did verify it was the engine. I understand things happen to high mileage vehicles but not constantly and not all major and similar issues experienced by many of us. This is and has caused me financial problems, inconvenienced more times than not, and undue anxiety about being in this car. Now I have a vehicle that does not run, no more money to dish out, and a huge loan I am still paying on which prevents me from financing another vehicle. I would like to know how GM plans to assist their customers who have been dedicated and devoted customers but have not received reciprocated actions. I have spent so much time calling, going to mechanics, checking on recalls, finding transportation, towing, missing or being late to work and children's school, going to part stores etc that this in itself could be my full time job. I am frustrated because I do not believe these issues nor people's safety is being considered as it should be, especially when GM is well aware of the problems. So as of right now my vehicle needs an engine and catalytic converter. I was supposed to go in in 10 days to have new tires and monitor system fixed but that will be on hold yet again. Please advise.

- Tammy P., Lakewood, CO, US

problem #4

Dec 312017

Enclave CXL 3.6L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 150,000 miles

I have had this issue with a timing chain on my 2010 Enclave and have found a fix that may be of interest and absolutely a check do this repair before pulling your motor.

I little history here before I give the fix. I bought this 2010 enclave with well over 120K miles on it and it did not run at purchase time. I towed it home and began to look into the problems. There was writing from a dealer that diagnosed the vehicle as having no compression written on the windows and do not try to start etc. When I got it the batt was shot and the starter that I didn’t know at the time was also shot. I assume that was because someone kept trying to start the vehicle and just burnt out the starter. So I looked it over got onto forums like this one and did some homework investigating.

A compression check showed it to have no compression so after reading all the timing chain stretching and chain jumping a tooth or two I thought I had better pull the motor. So that was done. Once out of the vehicle I pulled the timing chain cover off and found nothing that was obvious on the chains. Since there was no compression I figured I would also pull the heads and see if the valves had been bent from a misaligned cam to crank if the timing chains had indeed jumped a tooth or two of even more. That would have definitely wiped out every valve in the motor and maybe even damaged a piston top or worse if the chains had jumped while the motor was running. I was surprised to find that was not the case everything looked to be correct and in place. However on these motors you cannot check the timing by rotating the crank till the timing marks line up on one bank with the cam secondary sprockets. One you set one side of these motors into time you then have to rotate the crank a bit to another mark on the oil pump housing and the set the second banks cams into time. Somewhat complex timing setup.

So I went ahead and purchased a timing chain kit online and went for it. While I was doing this I changed all the crank, cam sensors and the cam actuator solenoids. This is the best time to do all this. The kit came with new chains guides and spring loaded tensioners and new gears. Put it all back together and hit the key and it fired right up and ran like a brand new motor. I was pleased as hell and drove it for exactly one year almost to the day. I know this because I put a plate on it right after getting back up and running and now the plate is due again.

I was driving it one day and all of a sudden the check engine light came on and it lost a lot of power. It still ran but not like it should be. I pulled the code and sure enough it was the dreaded P0008 which means it’s a timing issue. I thought sh*/t here we go again. Well I parked the car for a few days and drove another. I came back to the Enclave to see what might I need to do with it. I drove it and it ran just fine, so I’m thinking what the hell it’s running great. I went to the store with it but it didn’t hold, when I got back in it to go home the check engine light was on and it had a big loss of power. So what the hell again is going on here? A timing chain that is either stretched or has jumped one or more teeth cannot fix itself, there is no way that can happen.

THE FIX So it was time to dig into this further. It’s got to be electrical, either a bad connection a bad ECM or a bad sensor. So the first thing I did was change the cam actuator solenoids, this did nothing for the issue. I came back again after a few days to dig a little more. Didn’t take long correct my issue. The next thing I changed was the cam position sensors on bank one. There are two per bank because there are two cams on each bank of this motor. Now P0008 is a code for bank one which is the bank closest to the firewall. IE: the back of the motor if your looking at the motor from the front of the vehicle. Its not to hard to change these sensors out and they only cost around $25 each. The rear bank can be accessed when you remove the fuse box on the right side apron, then the fuse box tray under that and pull the large connectors from the bottom side of the fuse box so you can swing the box over to the other side of the motor and let it rest there. You have to separate the top of the fuse box from the bottom section which connects the box assembly to the tray. This fuse box is under the hood. Then remove the upper torque strut. After this you can see the sensors on the front of the motor (which by the way is facing the right apron because these motors are in the vehicle sideways). (In my opinion this is a very stupid design that was adopted from foreign car engine placements). These motors could have been put in the vehicles facing forward and using a transaxle configuration which could still be front wheel and or four wheel drive vehicles and still get the same gas mileage as they do with a side slung engine. They would be a lot easier to work on in many ways; this one is a big issue because you cannot easily work on the front of this side slung motor.

Anyway I suggest you spend a few dollars on this to see if your issue may be just a bad sensor or connection before you pull your motor or pay a shop to go that route spending all that money.

Good Luck

- Joseph C., Denver, US

problem #3

Feb 162017

Enclave CXL V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 20,000 miles

I purchased the 2010 enclave was not in it 5 m0nthe when the Cadillac convertor burned up ,then the motor went out..then the claps that hold the motor up. 400.00 the alternator 500.00 ,tire senors 110.00, and thermostat cost more money out my pocket 461.00 now the thermostate lines are all bend up after I took it to get thermstate fixed.1,396.oo.being in the shop for now two weeks. now that I purchased a buick there has being noting but negative comments about a car that nearly cost as much as a small house would cost.gmc does not know how to fixed them , now iam upside down and trying to purchase a car so I wont be strainded on the hyw like the last three times.

- wandarainey, Brownwood Texas, US

problem #2

Jun 192017

Enclave CXL V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 101,468 miles

My 2010 Buick Enclave, with just over 101,000 miles, quit working on the road. Problem? Cracked engine block. this is a car that was religiously serviced, from oil changes to replaced hoses, repaired electrical problems, faulty sensors etc. I had it towed to the dealership (Mike Shaw Buick in Colorado Springs), where they informed me that my extended warranty expired less than 500 miles ago. Never got a notice for renewal, by the way. They quoted me a total of nearly 10k to fix and replace everything damaged. Other than that, their attitude was "Sucks to be you". They weren't helpful, other than to tell me that there was nothing they could do (other than an outrageous bill). I asked them why the engine blew after only 101,000 miles, seeing that it wasn't due to neglect of lack of care. I babied that car, always in the garage, always serviced. The sticker price was over 47k... you simply don't pay nearly 50k for a car that is going to last only 100k miles. I wanted to know why the engine blew, and their response was that it would take 15 hours of labor, at the tune of $2000 to find out, because they would have to disassemble the engine to find out. They offered no help, seemed put out that I dared be discontent that my car is a loss. With 10K still left to pay off, I'm not going to invest in a car that has such problems. I will NEVER recommend a Buick to anyone. I loved my car for the look, comfort etc., but in the end it was a colossal waste of money. I'm just glad I was near home! GMC/Buick needs to make good on their products, they don't seem to give a damn about their customers. This is a problem that I'm finding out others have encountered. When I told them at the dealership, they shook their heads and said "We've never seen it", to which I replied that even if I was the first and only one, it's one too many. Obviously they're selling a defective product, and for the money this car costs, I hope there will be a class-action suit again Buick, for their unwillingness to assist the customer and replace the engine. I'm never buying another Buick, and will strongly recommend against it to anyone who is looking to buy a car. I'm very disgusted.

- Nicoletta W., Colorado Springs, CO, US

problem #1

Jul 032016

Enclave EX

  • Automatic transmission
  • 97,000 miles

We take care of our cars. I bought this Buick from 2010, thinking it would last a long time. In July 2016, 97000 miles, the engine gave up for not reason. NO REASON. No choice but to change the all engine for a little 7500$. Buick would not take responsibility because it is past the 5 year warranty. This is awesome.

- Laetitia W., Mequon, WI, US