mikef95

I was thinking of trying to sell it privately, but not sure if anyone would pay more than $5k if it needs a new motor. I could try listing it and see what kind of offers we get though. Unfortunately we no longer have the used oil, so would have to wait until the next oil change to do a UOA. Our other vehicle is a 2018 Equinox with the updated powertrain and the 2.0 engine, (we ended up with 2 Equinoxes by accident), and the plan is to try to find something with a 3rd row to accomodate a kid and a dog. The upside is that we don't have to rush.

I'm not sure if she'll make it to 200k, might want to start that poll... I had posted on this thread a while back about our 2014 Equinox. Well, she was running like crap and was due for an oil change. Turns out she was almost completely out of oil, roughly 5-6k since last oil change. Odometer is just about to hit 100k. So she's definitely consuming oil now! We have our first kid on the way in June, so I don't really have time to dig into this. I've asked a couple mechanics and none seem to be super familiar with this issue. Carmax is offering us $7k for the vehicle, and we can get by with only 1 car for a while. Thinking the best course of action might be to take that offer and run.

Wanted to provide a quick update. We changed our oil earlier this week after 3k miles and the level was only down slightly if at all. We will continue to monitor the situation. On another note, what is your opinion of using something like fluid film to help avoid rust on these vehicles? We live in the northeast so they use quite a bit of salt on the roads in the winters. I have a guy who can apply the fluid film for $200 and then do annual touch ups for $50. Would this be worth it or is the factory rust protection on these vehicles good enough?

Thanks for the great write-up. I had read through this thread but got a little lost haha. I honestly have no idea what the engineers were thinking when they designed this motor. I would say this design is a complete failure. I'm not even sure if the oil consumption test applies to years after 2012 or 2013. As far as I know our 2014 and your 2015 wouldn't be eligible for any coverage from GM, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Yeah I'll definitely run a sample first. The indicator would be fuel in the oil correct?Yeah I'll definitely run a sample first. The indicator would be fuel in the oil correct?

Yeah I'll definitely run a sample first. The indicator would be fuel in the oil correct?

So to clarify, are you saying that a bad high pressure fuel pump was the primary cause of your oil consumption? Mine doesn't actually appear to be consuming oil over the last 3k miles, but we're doing an oil change next week and will confirm at that time. We had a shop do the last one and I'm thinking they didn't actually change the oil... If the HPFP is the issue, and mine is consuming oil, I'll go ahead and get that changed asap.

I've also started noticing a rattling sound on startup. It only happens when the engine is cold (I.E. after sitting over night), and it only lasts about 2-5 seconds. A lot of posts online say this could be the timing chain or VVT solinoids. I asked the shop about this and they said they don't think it's the timing chain since the noise isn't constant and goes away pretty quickly. What are your thoughts?

Awesome, thanks! We just got an oil change, so I'll try to get the UOA done on the next one and let you know the findings.

Awesome, thanks for all that info! I'll look into getting the UAO done. So if I'm understanding correctly... The UAO will help show how bad my issue is currently. If it shows an issue I need to do a kreen cleaning to hopefully unstick the rings. Is the kreen cleaner something my mechanic should be able to get? I know you said it was tough to source. If not is there anything comparable that will work? Thanks, Mike

Hi Grumpy bear, First off I just want to say thanks for taking the time to write all of this up. It has been very imformative! We also have a 2014 Equinox with the 2.4 engine that just hit 90k miles. We just brought it in for an oil change. They said it was down 1.5qt, and that the oil was extremely dirty. This was the first time we've noticed oil loss. We did unfortunately get the last oil change done at Monroe due to convenience, so there is a pretty high chance that they didn't actually change the oil and/or the filter. Needless to say we won't be going there again! They want us to bring it back in 3k miles to check the condition and level of the oil. There was so much info in this thread I got a little lost. Is there anything I should be doing now to help this problem, or at least prevent it from getting worse? My mechanic said he did some research, looked at the TSB's etc. but this problem seems to be pretty complex. I would sell it but used car prices are crazy right now. We also already had to replace the tranny at 60k miles, so we're already $5k in the hole. Not sure what makes the most sense here. Mechanic said just replacing the pistons/rings doesn't make a lot of sense since this motor also has other issues (I.E. timing chain), and that we would probably be better off doing an engine swap. He said there's no need to rush into that and that we can just keep an eye on the oil level and condition until something catastrophic happens. Thanks! Mike