9.7
really awful- Typical Repair Cost:
- $5,000
- Average Mileage:
- 129,600 miles
- Total Complaints:
- 13 complaints
Most common solutions:
- replace engine (5 reports)
- not sure (3 reports)
- replaced motor (3 reports)
- replace lifters (2 reports)
I bought this vehicle with 60K miles on it. The place I bought it provided me with an extended power train warranty (thank God). The place I bought it said I needed to change the oil every 3K miles to maintain the warranty and I would have changed the oil regularly anyway, that's just who I am. After buying I had a few problems/recalls that were done. The valve cover was recalled and replaced as part of the oil consumption problem that it had.
At 100K miles I got the same messages others on here got with the stabiltrak issue. The engine started idling rough and check engine light flashing. Discovered cyl. #4 failure of the valve spring. Took to where I bought it and they rebuilt the top of the motor for that side of the motor. Within about 200 miles I had the same thing happen again as mentioned above. This time it was Cylinder #1 failure of the valve spring, back it went for another week long tear down of the other side of the motor's head. Mind you, each repair only cost me $100 because of this warranty that was given with my purchase but this motor problem is very real and a large complaint from people with these vehicles.
GM should realize that there are marked problems with these two cylinders numbers (just in this forum alone, several) and should have remedied the situation with a recall or service bulletin and remedy the issue when people experienced these failures. I get that they are not going to rebuild everyone's motors on a recall but they should at least repair these problems with little or no cost when they occur.
- Patrick R., Rome, NY, US
It started with absurd oil consumption, 2 quarts every 3000 miles. Took to Ken Ware service in North Bend Or. They told me it was normal. Ya right, a brand new car burns a quart of oil every 1500 miles. So off I went running through the hoops. I talked to every GMC rep in america, never got an answer. They just kept telling me it was normal. It was so normal that it started literally eating spark plugs. So it gets better. The engine develops a tick. I take my wonderful avalanche to be bore scoped. It was awesome, was told I would have to have to have heads replaced. That was 2700.00 dollars. That was far from normal. So off we go with our repaired lemon. It gets even more fun. I made my last payment on the avalanche, was so proud of us, the car was ours. I kid you not 3 days later the engine blew up. Back to the shop we go. Was told a new engine would be 7000.00 dollars. I did not have enough money then. So I parked my hooptee in the driveway for 8 months until I got the money to have it repaired. This car was maintained regularly. I get well over 300000 miles on my gasoline engines. So where does one go to file a claim against GMC? We need to join forces and get compensated for our repair costs.
- Craig H., North Bend, OR, US
I started experiencing oil usage between oil changes at 56,000 miles. After going thru the GM oil consumption program, I had to get the rings and pistons replaced. This lasted about a year and then I had to get the head gaskets replaced. This lasted another 1-1.5 years and finally the dealership told me that the engine had to be replaced after the truck had severe hesitation, lights all over the dash, and rough shifting. Cost to replace the engine was about $7800, which included a catalytic converter, which had gone bad due to the engine. My truck set up for a year while waiting on GM to provide some assistance since I first reported the problem while it was under warranty. They didn't provide anything!!! They told me the truck was beyond the factory warranty! They never even took into consideration that the problem was reported WHILE IT WAS UNDER WARRANTY and that I even suggested an engine replacement WHILE IT WAS UNDER WARRANTY! GM's only suggested assistance was $2000 towards ANOTHER VEHICLE! Why would I want another one of their products when they're not even honoring to fix the one I already own!! There seriously need to be a class action lawsuit filed against GM for making a faulty engine!
- Ricky H., Mau, AR, US
On November 11, 2016, I was driving down the road and the truck lost power and I coasted to the side of the road. I called OnStar and the diagnosis was ignition problem and take it to the dealer ship immediately. On November 12, 2016, truck was towed to Premiere Chevrolet in Bessemer Al and diagnosis was that the engine was gone and had to be replaced at a cost of $7,249.00.
I purchase this truck in July 2011 and have not had any major problems at all. All oil changes were done on time, so it is just amazing to me that a truck that is only driven around town locally, can end up with a engine gone with only 123,000 miles on it. The truck had 58,000 miles when I got it. My question is with proper maintenance, no prior indication an engine can just lose power and must be replaced?
- sarachurch2009sw, Fairfield, US
GMC ARE DOGS. I WILL NEVER PURCHASE A GMC PRODUCT AGAIN. THIS IS THE 3RD TIME IVE HAD LIFTER PROBLEMS ON THIS VEHICLE. I DID ALL THE SCHEDULED SERVICE AND THE LAST REPAIR WAS A BAD LIFTER RELACEMENT THAT THEY REFUSE TO COVER.
I WILL BE ALL OVER SOCIAL MEDIA WITH MY COMPLAINTS. CLASS ACTION IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE.
BACK TO IMPORTS FOR ME.
- Pat G., Temecula, CA, US
Another victim of the design flaw in this engine and the fact that the sensors, codes and messages are erroneous. On 4/18/15, dash message that there was no oil pressure. Immediately turned off, my mechanic came out, upon restarting, pressure was fine. He drove with me, gauge and message showed pressure dropped, but engine sounded great, so I had it towed to him (just to be safe) and he replaced the sending unit. Was down about a 1/2 quart of oil. All sounded fine. Took it on a trip out of state on 4/22/15, engine light came on but gauges were fine. Weird Stabilitrak messages came up and for some reason, transmission shifted from Auto to 4-Hi (and stayed there). I switched to manual 2 wheel drive. Engine light intermittent. Drove a little around town, and when I started it after resting overnight on 4/24/14, heard tapping.
Got a referral to a mechanic there, and he confirmed that the lifter on Cylinder 4 wasn't operating, since it was major work, another referral. Managed to score a ride home (I was 500 miles away) and found from next mechanic that the solution (at the least) was taking the engine apart and doing the lifters, etc. Contacted Chevy HQ...that was a joke.
Found this website first and WHOA! GM produced a defective engine, defective sensors, defective dash messages (Stabilitrak is standard...WHY?) and the dealership's response was...wow..we normally get these back MUCH sooner with this problem. Also...that they repair them and see them back again. WHY ISN'T THERE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT?! I paid A LOT OF MONEY for a vehicle designed for major engine failure before 100K miles and since I'm out of warranty I'M SCREWED?! This is my 8th Chevy and I never saw this coming (I did start with a Vega....so maybe I should have?) Minimum repair is $3,500 and no guarantees it won't just fail again.
- knightfan1, Claysburg, PA, US
I was driving to work and was sitting at a light when my truck starting to run rough. All of a sudden the engine light flashed, the service stability track lit up and the message board said service stability track, service traction control. I decided to turn around and go home. By the time I got home everything leveled out and went back to normal.
I drove around lightly to see if anything else would happen and it did not. A few days later it does it to me again except I'm on the highway doing 60 mph!! I made it to work, barely, and notice that there is a knock in my engine. I get it scanned and it is saying misfiring everywhere but the mechanic said the knocking would do that. The mechanic told me it was a bad lifter for sure. 2 weekends, 2000 dollars later, it is still running rough.
I though this truck would last forever!! This truck was babied.... I have had nothing but Chevy, but after all this.... I might go else where....
- Jose J., San Antonio, TX, US
I bought a 2007 Avalanche used from a dealer approx a year ago. Have had excessive oil use basically since purchase. Tapping noise at start-up. Approx 2 months ago engine light flashes says shut engine down oil pressure low. Running rough very soon after, error code readings are all over the place. Tore apart, replaced lifters, spark plugs, oil sensor, filters, etc ran great for about a month.
Driving home from work today I get the engine light, rough running, blinking between service stabilitrak and traction control off. Again I have a flat. Lifter! Googled these problems and there are massive consumer complaints about these issues and GM's lack of assistance to help by a recall or anything else. I am very distressed over this whole situation.
- Charles R., Taylorsville, KY, US
I purchase my 2007 Chevy Avalanche in 2006 brand new. I was driving along one day when suddenly the engine begin to sputter. After having several mechanics take a look at it, I decided to bring it to a Chevy dealer where I was told it was possibly an internal problem with the engine. The number four cylinder had very little to no compression. The results, I needed a new engine or the lifters could be replaced possibly resolving the problem.
I have several other issues with the vehicle as well, cracked dashboard, passenger side door handle peeling, rear seal around back window coming loose and last but not lease, I had to replace the transmission at approximately 120000 miles. I feel as though GMC should have a recall for the crack dashboards and handle peeling problems
- Crayton W., Greenwell Springs, LA, US
I received the message "stabilitrak off, traction control off[" on my 2007 chevy avalanche without any warning. The engine started running really rough and would shift hard. I took it to a local gm dealership who told me it was a "lifter problem"… after spending $160 in diagnostic fees. Called GM to see if they would help cover any part of the [B]$4200 price tag[/B] to replace 4 lifters. Waited 3 days and spent more than an hour on hold over those days to hear a resounding [B]NO[/B]. Kinda funny that GM would not fix a major engine issue with a truck that has under 100,000 miles. Funny thing is that I bought a brand new 2008 Chevy Avalanche, had it for 28,000 miles and sold it. My dad who I sold it to had the engine explode on him at 32,000 miles... Quality? I have also seen numerous posts about this same problem with the stabilitrak/traction control that was never corrected. My take on it is GM is a greedy company that doesn't care about people who buy their trucks. This is the 4th GM product I have owned and I will never own another one in my life with this kind of customer assistance. My take on it is that the newer GM products are not meant to last. Funny that I have a 1997 Toyota Corolla that I use as a gas efficient work car that has not had any problems....
- houstonr, Mansfield, OH, US
This was really bad on a Vortec engine that had only 135,000 miles. They said to fix would be $3500 without a warranty.
- Sharon D., Holiday, FL, US
LOST COMPRESSION IN ONE CYLINDER ON 2007 AVALANCHE 93 000KM WITH 5.3L VORTEC- On Saturday May 18, turned on the engine of my 2007 Avalanche and got this strange whizzing noise with engine vibrating and not running smooth. Service Stabilitrack message, Traction Control Off message, Check Engine light popped on. I switched over to, no change. Put truck in park, engine smoothed out some, shut off and restarted, put in gear and same sceWD from automatic but no changes.
Decided to check the plug and one was fouled with gas. Took it into the Valleyfield dealer for a diagnosis, as I had called Onstar and they just mentioned that there'd been a misfiring in the engine and to take it to the dealer, but apart from that I've never received any messages during my monthly Onstar diagnostics that anything is going wrong.
My 5 year- 160 000KM warranty expired in April 2012, but with a Vortec engine I was told I wouldn't be having any problems for many, many years and many, many kilometres!!! The dealer confirmed that one cylinder, #4 to be exact is finished and it might cost me a camshaft on top of it all, so far just parts I'm looking at $1200CAD (camshaft not included)...called GM in Canada, but hit a WALL...so this is what they call giving Customer satisfaction...my warranty is over, even though I only have 93000KM. We are trying again with GM, but at a higher level even though I doubt that anything good will come out of this...
Update from Jun 7, 2013: Well as I'd presumed, GM WOULD not take care of the problem...they royally offered me a 10% discount on parts! So I decided to get the engined changed. I found a used engine block with my regular maintenance mechanic at 41000KM and got it put in. The reason for this decision is that no one could tell me the extent of the damage in my engine, so I was looking at roughly a $3000-$4000 repair job without a garanty that something else could blow later on. So for $2500 I got a used engine installed with a 1-year warranty from my mechanic....good luck to anyone with similar problems and GOOD LUCK with GM customer service!!!!
- Yvan G., Valleyfield, QC, Canada
We purchased a 2007 Avalanche in May 2018 and in December the oil pressure bottomed out and we took it to the mechanic and were told the only solution to fix the problem is to replace the engine. We had this vehicle less than a year and now we have no vehicle to drive. I am still paying on the truck and now we have to come up with between $6,000 and $8,000 dollars to replace an engine that doesn't even have 150,000 thousand miles on it. Had I known how many people have had the same engine issues we did, I would have never purchased this vehicle. I also emailed the dealership we bought the car from and I am awaiting a response.We had another Avalanche that was a dream vehicle and this new one is a DISASTER!!!!!!! There should be a Class Action Lawsuit filed... I am going to look into it.
- Paula S., Akron, OH, US