rattle

[Guest]

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.   (Registering will remove in-text ads)
Did you miss your activation email?

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Don B]

This is one I haven't seen before. I have had my Equinox since 12/28/10 and had experienced the rattle only twice recently. Going on what others have said, it will only get worse, I contacted my service department. They said mine didn't come under the recall which I believe was 11195A even though was in the spread for build dates. He had me bring mine in under PI0562B which consisted of replacing the actuators and checking my software, which was current. They did the work on 3/9/12 and on the following Tuesday and Thursday I got the rattle again. I recently had surgery and haven't been going like I usually do and the Nox did set from the Saturday after taking it in until the Tuesday it Rattled and then again until the Thursday it rattled. I called my service guy and he put in a call to GM. I got a call from him the next day with GM's game plan, which is one I haven't seen before on this forum.

What they want to do is change the oil using 15-W40 and have me drive it for awhile. If I don't get the rattle back they want to replace the oil pump. If I do get it back, he said they had a bad run of actuators so they would change them again. There has never been any mention of changing the solenoids. He mentioned driving it for a week after the oil change but I'm not sure that would be an accurate test because even though if I'm not planning on going anywhere I have been starting it every morning since the last time it rattled and haven't had it happen again. I would like to drive it longer after they change the oil, maybe even two or three weeks, but I am kind of afraid the thicker oil might starve some part of the engine for oil until it's ran for a few seconds.

From what I have learned the actuators fill up with oil when the engine is shut off getting it ready for the next start. What if for one reason or another the actuators fill up as designed but when the vehicle sets for a day or two without being driven, such seems to happen in my case, the oil drains out? Would that give you the rattle?

[jackiek]

Just purchased a new Equinox 1LT 2012 on January 25th. We test drove the 1LT first and then test drove a Equinox LS, when I started the LS it rattled, the dealer said that happened because the car had been sitting for a while. We decided on the 1LT because of the options that came with it, but the rattled scared us away from the LS. I know that they both have the same engine, but I just wasn't buying the car with the rattle when starting. So far no rattles with the 1LT.

[wrusprod]

Good Luck...Im sure you have seen what others have gone through...


I had the actuators and the oil pump replaced...didnt solve my problem..only thing that solved it was getting rid of it and getting a V6 Terrain!

[SCBEARSFAN]

Is this the 4 or the V-6? I'm new to this site, having purchased an 2LT V-6 3/7/2012.

[blued]

The problem is with I4.
In may car change the solenoides, the actuators few times and always with oil change and did not solve the problem.
I have star up rattle noise every day, sometimes  loud.

[Don B]

Good Luck...Im sure you have seen what others have gone through...


I had the actuators and the oil pump replaced...didnt solve my problem..only thing that solved it was getting rid of it and getting a V6 Terrain!

If I'm not mistaken I thought I seen a post on this forum about someones V6 rattling.

[wrusprod]

There is one post of someone having a rattling noise on a V6.. But they said it wasn't as bad as what they heard on videos of the I4...I don't think it was the same issue.

[GM Customer Svc]

 I would be happy to look into this for anyone as well. Please feel free to contact me privately with more information. Thank you.

Tricia, GM Customer Service.

[tsduke]

I can't say I'd be too thrilled about running 15w-40 in a car calling for 5w-30.  Seems an odd plan to be coming from GM.  That an awful thick oil to pump up to the top side when starting the car.

[wrusprod]

I know they tried the oil trick with others..To me its just covering up the real problem...Solve the isssue!

[eeks and knocks]

Just a little input from personal experience with our 2010 Equinox 4 cyl. 2.4 liter... We had excessive oil consumption with ours since the day we bought it.  Only got worse with time.  We go through roughly a quart every 1,000 miles which they say is "acceptable".  Funny, have a 20 year old vehicle that has a slow oil leak from the pan that uses about 1/2 quart every 3,000 miles....

Anyway, long story short after we had some rattle issues of our own they told us that our timing chain had play in it which then destroyed 8 valves in the first 2 cylinders @ just 22,000 miles this is quite alarming... I would make sure you take it up with your dealer. 

PS:  If you don't ever find your dealers opinion to be acceptable, take it to another dealer.  Before this issue was found we were told 2 days earlier that our vehicle was just fine.  Funny how something so severe could be deemed as A-OKAY from one place to the other.

[Sumr616]

whatever you do - if you decide to try the change in oil - make 100% sure that you get it IN WRITING on your work order that GM authorized the change in oil viscosity.

It seems VERY weird to me that they would recommend a difference viscosity oil, but I've seen one other person here say that they tried that as well, don't remember the outcome for sure, but I don't think it worked.

Your car does not technically qualify under the recall - but if I were you, I would tell them you'd rather hold off on the oil right now, and would rather have them replace the actuators again (since they already admitted that they had a bad batch, then why the hell are they wanting you to keep the bad actuators???) and see if you can talk them into replacing the solenoids as well, since this noise involves the solenoids as well as the actuators. And do an oil change (with the original intended oil, not the new one they are suggesting).

It's worth discussing, and asking them to do that. I would rather get the correct parts in place, and if that doesn't work, THEN try the change in oil.

[Don B]

I went ahead and let them do the different weight oil which I only had in the car for a couple of days before it rattled again so I called the service manager and he had me bring it back in and they changed the actuators again. So far sitting overnight it hasn't rattled, but it has sat since Wednesday night so we'll see what happens today. I believe Dave the service manager is doing what he can to help me, but like he says he has to do what his guy from GM tells him to try. Dave has also been documenting everything and giving me copies. He also made the statement that he had the feeling that GM isn't telling him everything about the problem.

I also called GM customer service and chewed on them for awhile and they transferred me to a service specialist. I told the guy that my job for over thirty years was trouble shooting things and then repairing them, and could he explain to me how GM engineers can design an engine, build an engine, but can't trouble shoot it? Of course he had no answer. So he is assigned to my case and gave me a number and extension I can reach him at. He has also been calling me every other day to see if there is any new developments.

I am convinced that GM takes the shotgun approach to fixing things. My last Impala had a clunk in the steering when I turned left and they put two rack and pinions, two engine cradles, and replaced the intermediate steering shaft between the steering column and the steering gear. Nothing cured the problem until the last time I took it in. They were going to check the struts so I asked to speak to the mechanic that was going to work on it and told him that the only thing they hadn't looked at was the steering column. So he ended up pulling another shaft out of the column, washing it out and re-lubing it. That cured the clunk.

[GM Customer Svc]

Just a little input from personal experience with our 2010 Equinox 4 cyl. 2.4 liter... We had excessive oil consumption with ours since the day we bought it.  Only got worse with time.  We go through roughly a quart every 1,000 miles which they say is "acceptable".  Funny, have a 20 year old vehicle that has a slow oil leak from the pan that uses about 1/2 quart every 3,000 miles....

Anyway, long story short after we had some rattle issues of our own they told us that our timing chain had play in it which then destroyed 8 valves in the first 2 cylinders @ just 22,000 miles this is quite alarming... I would make sure you take it up with your dealer. 

PS:  If you don't ever find your dealers opinion to be acceptable, take it to another dealer.  Before this issue was found we were told 2 days earlier that our vehicle was just fine.  Funny how something so severe could be deemed as A-OKAY from one place to the other.

I am sorry to hear about your experience, but I am glad to hear that it seems to have been resolved. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to provide additional feedback regarding the dealer. Thank you in advance.

Tricia, GM Customer Service.