[2010 Terrain]

Hello everyone! I wanted to post this to see if anyone else has had (or is having) the same problem I am with their Terrain or Equinox.

I took delivery of my Terrain in December, after waiting about 8 weeks from the order order date (in case anyone was wondering). I love the vehicle, except I haven't been pleased with the fuel economy I was getting.

At about 1200 miles the engine started making a knocking noise under light throttle, but would go away after being warmed up. I took it in, and they replaced some Acutator Sensor and said the oil was about a quart or two low. They said that it may not have been prepped completely before delivery, which seemed a little odd, but I went with it.

Well, at about 2500 miles, the noise started happening again. I checked the oil myself, and the dipstick was bone dry. I took it to the dealership, and they put 3 quarts in last Monday. One week later (and less than 400 miles), I am once again about 2 quarts low...........

I do not see or smell anything from the exhaust except for some black "carbon-like" splattering on my garage floor where the exhaust pipe is.

Needless to say, I'm getting worried. They will be looking at it tomorrow, but I was hoping to see if anyone out there has any insight or experience with this.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

[gearhead]

Haven't heard anything like that yet, 2010 Terrain.

Please do keep us posted.

 

[Islander]

That is some serious oil consumption. Absolutely no reason for that to occur in a new car. And it's NOT good for a new engine to break in and get all the parts worn in without adequate oil. The dealer needs to fix that NOW.

 

[2010 Terrain]

Will do - I've heard that there is some "normal" oil burning through the break-in period, but not to this extreme.

The service manager wanted to initially "top it off" again last night....... I told him no - there is something much more serious going on that they need to figure out.

I'll get back to everyone with the results soon (I hope)!

 

[Islander]

Good deal 2010Terrain. Let us know what they find out. I'm sure all of us with an I4 will be spending a little extra time checking the dipstick. I've had vehicles with 100K+ miles that didn't use 5 quarts of oil in 2500 miles...that is alarming.

 

[RIT333]

I would start researching your state's lemon law if I were you.

This is uncalled for.

 

[NY_Joe]

Get GMC Customer Service involved.

They will set up appt at local dealer and document issue for you.

1-800-462-8782

Have the last 8 of your VIN#

 

[carguy332000]

maybe a missing oil ring off a piston or the rings lined up. I know that I had a new 3.8L engine to install in a customers car a few years ago and when it started up it had a dead cylinder. removed it aver ruling every other possibility out and stripped it down. Found no rings on #3 cylinder at all!!! Must have been a employees last day or something!! LOL these things are rare but they do happen!!!

 

[Narg]

As long as it's human made you have to allow room for error. No matter how many times you sue them...

 

[noncon]

I bet it is the intake manifold seal is leaking letting oil get into the cylinders, that is what is causing your knock and oil loss. I had this problem on way back when after I purchased a new Dodge Dakota. The first thing they should try is to re-torque the manifold bolts.

KJ

 

[2010 Terrain]

Hey guys - here's the latest on my oil issue. The dealership called me and said they couldn't find anything wrong (go figure), and want to do an "oil consumption" test. I guess they have to document my mileage and oil usage every 3-400 miles (3x) and submit that to GM. What happens from there, I'm not sure. I took NY_Joe's excellent advice and called GMC Customer Service to get that ball rolling. She documented my issue and also said that she would get back to me.

So, this new plan will take me about 3-4 weeks to complete and we'll see what happens. I live just outside of Chicago, and will be going to the Auto Show this weekend. Hopefully there will be someone at the GMC exhibit that I can pick their brain. Once again, I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[carguy332000]

That is exactly the correct procedure for the dealer to do. Every time we had complaints of execssive oil consumption that's what we had to do .

 

[carguy332000]

I was a technician at a GM dealer for 16 years doing mostly driveability and electrical. I left 2 years ago to take a job with the Gov. Dept of Transportation.

 

[gearhead]

I was a technician at a GM dealer for 16 years doing mostly driveability and electrical. I left 2 years ago to take a job with the Gov. Dept of Transportation.

Great to have "hands on" people like yourself onboard, carguy332000!

 

[carguy332000]

I'll definately help where I can!!!

 

[DeMAN]

• Chevrolet Malibu
• Saturn Aura
• Pontiac G6
• GMC Terrain

&

• Chevrolet Equinox

All have or had the 2.4 engine. A variant of this engine has been around over ten years here in the US. I had a 98 Chevrolet Malibu with almost 180k miles without any oil issues. Yours is definately an isolated case for the most part.

 

[2010 Terrain]

Here's the first update:

377 Miles driven, one quart of oil gone!

I had two service technicians scratching their head last night - neither could believe the motor was going through that much oil with only 3500 miles on it.

The good news is that GM Customer Service seems to be all over the issue, I have received three phone calls since my initial call to them.

So, I have to go through the oil consumption cycle two more times before the dealership submits the info to GM. I'm sure the results will be the same........

Thanks again to everyone for their input!

Mike

 

[GARYD]

Hopefully they won't follow in Toyota's path and fix the problem right away.

New guy here. In the next couple days I will be ordering a SLT-2 (none available in my configuration ???)
Are deliveries any better now then 6 to 8 weeks? Glad I found this forum.

I use to be on the Pontiac Aztek forum. Still love my Tek.

 

[2010 Terrain]

After completing the oil consumption test with about 1500 miles and over 3 quarts of oil, the verdict is in. Out of the 4 cylinders I have, two are bad. Cylinder #2 is showing a compression leak and cylinder #4 has an oil "leak down". GM has decided to completely replace my motor, which is being ordered this morning. From what the dealership is telling me, my current (bad) engine is going to be sent to the engineering department at GM to try to figure out what actually went wrong.

I really hope that this is an isolated case, and the new engine will be up to spec. I do have one question for anyone out there who might know more about this than I do - should I be worried at all about the exhaust system (especially the Catalytic Converter) having approx. 6-8 quarts of oil go through it withing 4500 miles? I am pushing my dealership / GM to replace everything, but am experiencing some resistance. They tell me that the spark plugs would have burned most of the oil off, and it wouldn't have made it all the way through the exhaust system.

Any thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[scottyyyc]

Sounds like a pretty isolated incident. GM's 2.4 Ecotec has been around for quite a while, so besides tweaks, nothing radical would have changed for the Terrain/Nox.

Also appreciate the 'internet effect' with these kinds of incidents. Nowadays, as anyone can post their experiences online easily, you tend to hear of these sorts of incidents a lot more, when in reality they're likely might be very, very limited. Take the current Toyota acceleration/pedal debacle for example; Toyota sells millions of vehicles over the past couple years, there's a few hundred complaints of actual problems, and a small handful of major incidents/crashes. The rough math says about 0.0005% of vehicles have had the issue, and 0.00000117% resulting in a major crash or incident. Look at the bad press and panic is causes...

To hear of the odd engine or tranny lemon isn't that uncommon, and again represents an extremely small percentage of the vehicles.