I bought this vehicle six months ago from a reputable dealer, and they had just replaced the timing chain as is recommended at 100,000 miles. I was coming home last night and a sudden loud noise and the car stalled, so I restarted it and was having trouble keeping it running, coasted into a parking spot and then there was a VERY loud noise and now the vehicle is as dead as Elvis. Engine is toast, no warning what so ever, it's been running great. I am thankful that I bought the extended warranty but this is a huge inconvenience, I had to have someone drive for four hours today to borrow a vehicle, the Equinox has to be towed over an hour away, I have no clue how long it will be in the shop, and then it's another four hours to return the vehicle that I borrowed, etc. From what I have been reading, this is a common problem with the Equinox.

This car has cost me so much money, time and almost my life. The car shuts off when driving it. I know I have a lot of miles, but I bought the car with 106000 miles on it and always have oil changed. This car is a death trap. I was pulling out my driveway and car shut off. Trash truck was coming and did not see me. Thank God my neighbor was outside. He got the trash truck driver to see me. I have replaced converter manifold and a bunch more stuff. I feel they should recall this car. I'm taking my case to court. Toyota sold me the car knowing it had issues and Chevy will do nothing about it. I have spent thousands on repair. I'm a widow of a vet and just heartbroken to know that people will rip you off like this.

The timing chain snapped poking a hole in the engine. Total engine replacement needed. Got to walk home 7 miles in the dark. Quoted $5000 for repair. Just outside of my warranty. Contacted chevy they said contact the dealership. I did, even though that dealership was hours away now. They were basically were like 'sucks to be you', no recalls ,no warranty coverage.

Contacted Chevy who said they would need to assess it (even though it was at my local mechanic) at the closest dealership and I would need to pay to tow it there ($250 as I had moved to a rural area and the closest dealership wasn't close). Then pay for the diagnostic and then they would let me know if they would cover any repair cost, but they most likely would not, given there was no recall or anything that required them to cover the repair.

So I was left with no vehicle in my rural town. Walking my 5 year old a mile each morning to the corner where the school bus picks her up (I had been driving her) and she rides for 1 hour for a 3 mile trip, since we are at the end of town and there is only one bus for the whole school and then again at the end of the school day for weeks, while we worked on getting another vehicle.

We ended up buying a new car NOT A CHEVY and will NEVER as long as I live own another Chevy and my family ALL OWNED CHEVYS forever. Very similar thing just happened to my sisters 2010 Traverse. Chevy should be held accountable, they were/are aware. They didn't care.

On a cold am, driving on interstate , the PCV valve froze up thus adding pressure to the crank case. The rear main seal blew out causing the engine to lose oil. NO oil light came on and the engine locked up.

We have talked to several GM dealerships and find this is a very common problem! The tow truck driver that am said he had picked up 3 cars with this same motor & same problem in the last week. This car had only 87,000 miles on it!

Seems GM is well aware of this problem & should stand behind this! At this time General Motors has not offered any help with this issue! We would consider buying a different manufacture in the future!

I purchased my Chevy Equinox 5/31/2016. I contacted the dealer who sold me the truck in July (6 weeks after purchase) because the car's oil level read 11%, dealer assured me an oil change had been completed and said they must have forgotten to reset and will see if I can reset myself or if I need to bring it into a dealer for the reset. Never received a call back. On 7/20/2016 I contacted dealer by email and informed them I took truck to a local Autozone only to be told there was NO oil in the vehicle and subsequently purchased 4 quarts. Now I am concerned about damage since I have been unknowingly driving the vehicle with no oil. Dealer contacted me and I brought vehicle in 7/27/2016 for an oil change at no cost but no mention of possible excessive oil consumption issue. Fast forward to December 20th I get an oil change at my local Valvoline and the truck dies 1/29/17. I have it towed to my local dealer (different then the Chevy dealer I purchased truck from) only to be told it has NO oil in it and the engine has seized and needs to be replaced which will cost $4,000 to $5,000!!

Upon this discovery a co-worker points out TSB15285C. Only problem is I was never informed of this potential problem and the dealer now feels like they have no responsibility. Basically told me I should have bought a warranty. My argument is I did not own said vehicle when TSB was issued I had no knowledge and was told I could drive the vehicle 5,000 miles before another oil change was required. Shouldn't they have a responsibility to bring this issue to my attention if not at sale for sure when I brought the truck in 6 weeks later because it had no oil. Spoke to GM/Owner of Shakopee Chevrolet who told me when I brought vehicle in July it had oil.... well of course it did! I just put 4 quarts in!! Interestingly now, I have spoken to General Motors and there is no documented record of my oil change even occurring on 7/27/16 despite the fact the dealer is supposed to enter this into the GM system and I have a receipt for supposed oil change.

Now I have a vehicle with a loan that needs an engine over something that could have been easily prevented had I been informed either by dealer or General Motors I need to keep an eye on oil level! General Motors will not pay for an engine because dealer did not follow protocol and dealer is saying I didn't bring the issue to their attention. Isn't an email 6 weeks after purchase indicating there is no oil bringing it to their attention (even though I had no clue an issue even existed)?? Why do they feel no responsibility??

​​Our 2011 Chevy Equinox GRISWOLD trip on 8/04/2015 to our son Tyler's last jump and Airborne Graduation.

This is so UN-believable but every bit is SO-true

1. Leave house our house Aug. 4th 2015 Tuesday night at 8:00pm for Fort Benning Georgia and Alabama for Jump.
2. Aug. 5 Wednesday at 2:47am on 1-75 no warning lights nothing what so ever car shuts down (stops running)
3. Frank was able to pull the car off of I 75 due to the wheels still turning
4. Car comes to stop smoke starts pouring into the car.
5. Get grandkids out of the car (ages 7 & 9)
6. Frank grabs a flashlight to check under the car for fire before he raises the hood
7. Before he raises the hood see's oil pouring out on the ground
8. Raises hood a lot more smoke pouring out but no fire
9. By now there is LOTS of oil on the ground and it is still pouring out
10. Grandkids are scared for the semi's and car's are flying by us and not getting over
11. Ask Cortana our location, Cortana: you are just outside Loudon Tenn
12. Frank walks along I 75 to find a mile marker, finds out we are somewhere between mile marker 70 and 71
13. Ask Cortana for towing company's in Loudon, 3 given
14. Call all 3 no answer, call all 3 back still no answer
15. Ask Cortana for Loudon Tenn. police department number
16. Call Loudon police department - no answer, wait a few minutes, call back - still no answer, once again wait a few minutes, still no answer
17. Ask Cortana for Loudon sheriffs department number
18. Call Loudon sheriffs department- No Answer there either. Guess this town is so small there is no reason to answer phones for there is no crime
19. Ask Cortana for the major city closest to our location, Cortana: Closest major city is Knoxville Tenn
20. Ask Cortana for towing company's in Knoxville Tenn closest to our location, Cortana gives us the same towing company's as before
21. Call one of those towing company's back - get answer this time - told it would be about 2 hours before they could get to us but they also did not have a tow truck that would be able to take all 4 of us. Ask that person about the other company's, told you could ask them but I doubt it.
22. Ask Cortana for Tenn. State Highway Patrol number
23. Call Tenn. State Highway Patrol explain what is going on. Told them that we had call the Loudon Police and Sheriff department for help and did not get any answer. We were told that it is a small town and that there was probably no one in the office to answer phones or on another call.
24. Tenn. State Highway Patrol gave us some towing company's numbers to call
25. Call the first number - told it would be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours before they could get to us, but they also did not have a tow truck that could take all 4 of us.
26. Call the next number on the list. They didn't have any that to get to us right then that would be able to haul all of us due to a major accident on I 640. But he would call one that was already out on another call to see how long he would be and have him to gives us a call.
27. About 5 minutes later got a call from that tow driver - ask where we were at, said ok I can be there in about 35 minutes.
28. Tow truck driver gets there, get the kids in the tow truck, now that was exciting for them to ride in a big tow truck and see the car being pull upon the flat bed.
29. Tow truck drives us back to Knoxville to a Chevy dealer to drop off the car
30. Now it is about 6am Wednesday Aug. 5th and the jumps start at 9am and we are still 5 hours away from Fryaz drop zone in Alabama
31. Security at the Chevy dealer tell us that they don't open until 7am, ask if we could stay with the car, get the ok, kids get back to sleep
32. 7:15am car up on rack
33. 7:30am told car threw #3 & 4 rod completely through the engine block (which was usually unheard of) and that we need a new motor.
34. Chevy's service director comes out to talk to us and ask some questions, we give him all our service records on maintenance, he said to give him some time to see what he can do
35. About 10 to 15 minutes later the Service Director comes back to us and tells us that we are still under the Power Train Warranty by 575 miles, so we would not have to pay for the engine but that if any other parts were damage we would be responsible for. If we had went 575 miles our car would have not been covered for we would have reach the 100000 miles power train warranty limit.
36. Service Director also informs us that since our car is still under warranty that they will give us a loaner car, but they didn't know if it would be big enough to hold all every thing, but we could try it.
37. It is after 9am now by the time all paper work is signed and the Chevy Malibu is brought around.
38. Unload everything out of our car to the Malibu. Got everything in it, the kids just barely had enough room to sit.
39. Friday Aug, 7th at 4:21pm get a call from Beatly Chevrolet, stating that catalytic converters and exhaust are filled with oil and that the left wheel hub and bearings are also going to need to be replaced do to the oil damage.
40. Beatly Chevrolet said that the catalytic converters, exhaust and left wheel hub would not be covered due to GM saying NO for they are not covered under the power train warranty even though it was due to the engine blowing.
41. Beatly Chevrolet calls us back and lets us know that they found a way to have the catalytic converters covered and that they would just clean out the exhaust the best they could, but they could not get the wheel hub covered. Even though we had not had any problem or any warnings for the wheel hub it could not be proven that it was from the hot oil.
42. Saturday Aug, 8th checks phone, sees message - car will be ready for you by 2:00pm -close at 5:00pm if you are not here by then you can still pick up you car before 8:00pm, Pick up/Leave keys with security. To replace a wheel hub and bearings (left side) which is not covered under the power train warranty cost is. (SHOCKER) $398.76
43. Pack up, Load up car, Check out, Pull out of hotel around 11:00am
44. Arrive at Beatly Chevrolet a few minutes after 4pm, check in with them, get papers on work done and warranty, ask if we need to take it easy on the engine until it was broke in. Told "no you can drive it as far and as fast as you want"
45. Unload Malibu, Load up Equinox even though it still had oil all over it.
46. Leave dealership 5:14pm they are closed now
47. Get on entrance ramp to I 75 around 5:30pm get car speed up to 51mph the front end of car starts shaking slightly. More speed car starts shaking more. By 60 to 70 mph car is shaking even more, you just don't see the steering wheel shaking you see your arms shaking and can feel it on the floor and in your seat. It was like that until you reached 75mph and then it was a very slight vibration.
48. Could not turn around and go back to the dealership for they were already closed and they were not open on Sunday
49. Not only is there a shaking in the front end there is also something like a whining noise coming from the front end also the car seems like it is not shifting right. You can be at 20 -35 the RPMs are over the 4 the RPMs will drop down after you let off the gas. Frank said that noise is probably coming from the new engine and that it will be that way until it is broke in.
50. Finally pull into our drive way around 11:00pm
51. Monday Aug, 10th call Beatly Chevrolet in Knoxville tell them what was going on with the car after we pick it up. They said we don't know why that should be happening so they gave some things to try before taking it to a dealer here. 1. Have tires checked could be a belt problem. 2. Could be a alignment problem since we did not do one. After you check that you can take it to a dealer there and have them to give us a call but it will cost you a diagnostic fee. Whining noise have no idea unless it is the right side wheel hub bearings now that need replaced. I don't know why the RPMs are going way up before it wants to shift, possible that engine and Transmission is not sync correctly.
52. Beatly Chevrolet said that they would pay for the diagnostic if it was something that they did not diagnose due to what had happen or was not done correctly.
53. Had tires checked and was going to have them rotated, could not do the rotation due to finding out that the axle boot on the left side need to be replaced due to having a hole in it, Yes the same side where the left wheel hub had been replaced.
54. Beatly decided not to hold up their statement of paying for it, due to they were sure that their mechanic would have seen that or if he had accidentally did it he would have told them and it would have been replaced with out cost to us.
55. Cost for us to have axle boot replaced at Voss Chevrolet $529.59
56. Since Aug 5,2015 we have had check engine light come on for replacement of purge valve solenoid and purge valve canister. Cost to replace them $296.15

57. Plus there is still something not right with the front end but Voss can not determine what it is for they say they just don't hear it when you turn the wheel.

    Update from Oct 19, 2018: For some reason car complaint date on when this happen is Aug 2014 can not change their date on when it happen to the right date of Aug/04/2015

    Our 2011 Chevy Equinox GRISWOLD trip on 8/04/15 to our son Tyler's last jump and Airborne Graduation.

    This is so UN-believable but every bit is SO-true

58. Leave house our house Aug. 4th 2015 Tuesday night at 8:00pm for Fort Benning Georgia and Alabama for Jump.

59. Aug. 5 Wednesday at 2:47am on 1-75 no warning lights nothing what so ever car shuts down (stops running)
60. Frank was able to pull the car off of I 75 due to the wheels still turning
61. Car comes to stop smoke starts pouring into the car.
62. Get grandkids out of the car (ages 7 & 9)
63. Frank grabs a flashlight to check under the car for fire before he raises the hood
64. Before he raises the hood see's oil pouring out on the ground
65. Raises hood a lot more smoke pouring out but no fire
66. By now there is LOTS of oil on the ground and it is still pouring out
67. Grandkids are scared for the semi's and car's are flying by us and not getting over
68. Ask Cortana our location, Cortana: you are just outside Loudon Tenn
69. Frank walks along I 75 to find a mile marker, finds out we are somewhere between mile marker 70 and 71
70. Ask Cortana for towing company's in Loudon, 3 given
71. Call all 3 no answer, call all 3 back still no answer
72. Ask Cortana for Loudon Tenn. police department number
73. Call Loudon police department - no answer, wait a few minutes, call back - still no answer, once again wait a few minutes, still no answer
74. Ask Cortana for Loudon sheriffs department number
75. Call Loudon sheriffs department- No Answer there either. Guess this town is so small there is no reason to answer phones for there is no crime
76. Ask Cortana for the major city closest to our location, Cortana: Closest major city is Knoxville Tenn
77. Ask Cortana for towing company's in Knoxville Tenn closest to our location, Cortana gives us the same towing company's as before
78. Call one of those towing company's back - get answer this time - told it would be about 2 hours before they could get to us but they also didn't have a tow truck that would be able to take all 4 of us. Ask that person about the other company's, told "you could ask them but I doubt it".
79. Ask Cortana for Tenn. State Highway Patrol number
80. Call Tenn. State Highway Patrol explain what is going on. Told them that we had call the Loudon Police and Sheriff department for help and did not get any answer. We were told that it is a small town and that there was probably no one in the office to answer phones or on another call.
81. Tenn. State Highway Patrol gave us some towing company's numbers to call
82. Call the first number - told it would be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours before they could get to us, but they also did not have a tow truck that could take all 4 of us.
83. Call the next number on the list. They didn't have any that to get to us right then that would be able to haul all of us due to a major accident on I 640. But he would call one that was already out on another call to see how long he would be and have him to gives us a call.
84. About 5 minutes later got a call from that tow driver - ask where we were at, said ok I can be there in about 35 minutes.
85. Tow truck driver gets there, get the kids in the tow truck, now that was exciting for them to ride in a big tow truck and see the car being pull upon the flat bed.
86. Tow truck drives us back to Knoxville to a Chevy dealer to drop off the car
87. Now it is about 6am Wednesday Aug. 5th and the jumps start at 9am and we are still 5 hours away from Fryaz drop zone in Alabama
88. Security at the Chevy dealer tell us that they don't open until 7am, ask if we could stay with the car, get the ok, kids get back to sleep
89. 7:15am car up on rack
90. 7:30am told car threw #3 & 4 rod completely through the engine block (which was usually unheard of) and that we need a new motor.
91. Chevy's service director comes out to talk to us and ask some questions, we give him all our service records on maintenance, he said to give him some time to see what he can do
92. About 10 to 15 minutes later the Service Director comes back to us and tells us that we are still under the Power Train Warranty by 575 miles, so we would not have to pay for the engine but that if any other parts were damage we would be responsible for. If we had went 575 miles our car would have not been covered for we would have reach the 100000 miles power train warranty limit.
93. Service Director also informs us that since our car is still under warranty that they will give us a loaner car, but they didn't know if it would be big enough to hold everything, but we could try it.
94. It is after 9am now by the time all paper work is signed and the Chevy Malibu is brought around.
95. Unload everything out of our car to the Malibu. Got everything in it, the kids just barely had enough room to sit.
96. It is now 10:05am and we are leaving the Chevy dealer, we are so hoping that the jumps did not start on time, if they did we were hoping that we would at least get there to see some of the jumps and hoping that Tyler would be in the last group to jump which would be about 3pm or 5pm.
97. 10:21am we are back on I 75
98. Get near Birmingham GA. GPS starts re-routeing us. We know that we have not taken this route before. So we restart the GPS it reroutes us again. This time we re-input our destination, it reroutes us again. Now we UN-plug it to reset it, but it just keeps re-routeing us, so we follow the GPS. More and more time keeps adding up.
99. Back up in traffic and now the 2014 Malibu starts wanting to stall out. The car starts stuttering and the air conditioning shuts off every time we have to come to a stop. Take your foot off the brake the engine and air conditioning will return to normal.
100. Finally at 4:47pm we reach our destination at Fryaz Drop Zone in Alabama. Last jump was at 3:15pm and they left around 4pm
101. No way for us to get hold of Tyler so we just go to the hotel and check in, wait for him to call us.
102. Tyler finally gets to call at 8:30pm wanting to know why we were not there for the jumps and that we could come and get him.
103. Tell Tyler we are on our way to pick you up, look for a white Malibu, we will explain after we pick you up. Be there in 15 minutes.
104. What should have been a 15 minute drive turn into 3 hours 20 minutes. 1/2 mile from the main post gates is a very very bad accident. 5 lanes of cars going into the base were stuck. No way to turn around.
105. In the mean time Tyler is calling wanting to know what is taking so long.
106. Get to the gate and the guards check the ID's then proceeds to tell me that I have to have a pass and that I would have to go back around to the first building that we pass before the gate. Which meant that I would have to go back into the accident traffic.
107. Get to Tyler's barracks at 12:16am Thursday 6th
108. Back at hotel at 12:30
109. Tyler has to be back on base by 4:00am and in formation by 4:30am, Leave hotel at 3:30am
110. Back to hotel - Finally able to grab a few hours sleep before we have to be up at 7:00am
111. Leave hotel at 8am for Airborne graduation - graduation is at 9am
112. Made it for Airborne graduation and Frank gets to pin on Tyler's silver wings.
113. Tyler gets to stay over night with us but has to be back on base at 8am on Friday Aug. 7th for he is shipping out to Fort Bragg at 10:00am
114. Friday Aug, 7th at 4:21pm get a call from Beatly Chevrolet, stating that catalytic converters and exhaust are filled with oil and that the left wheel hub and bearings are also going to need to be replaced do to the hot oil damage.
115. Beatly Chevrolet said that the catalytic converters, exhaust and left wheel hub would not be covered due to GM saying NO for they are not covered under the power train warranty even though it was due to the engine blowing.
116. Beatly Chevrolet calls us back and lets us know that they found a way to have the catalytic converters covered and that they would just clean out the exhaust the best they could, but they could not get the wheel hub covered. Even though we had not had any problem or any warnings for the wheel hub it could not be proven that it was from the hot oil.
117. Saturday Aug, 8th checks phone, sees message - car will be ready for you by 2:00pm -close at 5:00pm if you are not here by then you can still pick up you car before 8:00pm, Pick up/Leave keys with security. To replace a wheel hub and bearings (left side) which is not covered under the power train warranty cost is. (SHOCKER) $398.76
118. Pack up, Load up car, Check out, Pull out of hotel around 11:00am
119. Arrive at Beatly Chevrolet a few minutes after 4pm, check in with them, get papers on work done and warranty, ask if we need to take it easy on the engine until it was broke in. Told "no you can drive it as far and as fast as you want"
120. Unload Malibu, Load up Equinox even though it still had oil all over it.
121. Leave dealership 5:14pm they are closed now
122. Get on entrance ramp to I 75 around 5:30pm get car speed up to 51mph the front end of car starts shaking slightly. More speed car starts shaking more. By 60 to 70 mph car is shaking even more, you just don't see the steering wheel shaking you see your arms shaking and can feel it on the floor and in your seat. It was like that until you reached 75mph and then it was a very slight vibration.
123. Could not turn around and go back to the dealership for they were already closed and they were not open on Sunday
124. Not only is there a shaking in the front end there is also something like a whining noise coming from the front end also the car seems like it is not shifting right. You can be at 20 -35 the RPMs are over the 4 the RPMs will drop down after you let off the gas. Frank said that noise is probably coming from the new engine and that it will be that way until it is broke in.
125. Finally pull into our drive way around 11:00pm
126. Monday Aug, 10th call Beatly Chevrolet in Knoxville tell them what was going on with the car after we pick it up. They said we don't know why that should be happening so they gave some things to try before taking it to a dealer here. 1. Have tires checked could be a belt problem. 2. Could be a alignment problem since we did not do one. After you check that you can take it to a dealer there and have them to give us a call but it will cost you a diagnostic fee. Whining noise have no idea unless it is the right side wheel hub bearings now that need replaced. I don't know why the RPMs are going way up before it wants to shift, possible that engine and Transmission is not sync correctly.
127. Beatly Chevrolet said that they would pay for the diagnostic if it was something that they did not diagnose due to what had happen or was not done correctly.
128. Had tires checked and was going to have them rotated, could not do the rotation due to finding out that the axle boot on the left side need to be replaced due to having a hole in it which looked like it had been melted in, Yes the same side where the left wheel hub had been replaced. Asked the mechanic if very hot oil pouring on the boot could burn a hole in the rubber boot, was told "well yes especially if the oil had reach a certain degree.
129. Beatly Chevy decided not to hold up their statement of paying for it, due to they were sure that their mechanic would have seen that or if he had accidentally did it he would have told them and it would have been replaced with out cost to us.
130. Cost for us to have axle boot replaced at Voss Chevrolet $529.59 plus had to pay for a car rental while they replaced the axle boot.
131. Since Aug 5,2015 we have had check engine light come on for replacement of purge valve solenoid and purge valve canister which happen 10 months after supposedly we were to have had a new engine. Cost to replace them $296.15
132. Since all this has happen we have had different issues with the front end of the car which have never been figured out. All found out that we DID NOT GET A NEW ENGINE IN THE CAR THEY JUST REPLACE PARTS WITH NEW ONES AND WITH WHAT COULD BE USED FROM OUT ENGINE.