2013 Equinox - intermittently unable to start issue - dealer cannot replicate
October 12th, 2017, 8:37 AM
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2013 Equinox - intermittently unable to start issue - dealer cannot replicate
Hi fellow Equinox owners,
I have a FWD 2013 Equinox with the 2.4L engine. It has an intermittently not starting problem that I had taken to the dealership repeated but they were not able to replicate problem each time. The first two visits were under bumper to bumper warranty. The last visit was out of the warranty so I had to pay for the diagnosis. The customer service was absolutely terrible from the service representative this last time as well. So now they tell me there's nothing they can do because they cannot replicate the problem. I should bring it back to them when the problem happens again. The car has already left me stranded in various locations at least 6 or 7 times. But most of the time the car would start again given enough time. So the idea of bringing it to them each time and waiting for the problem to reappear seems insane to me.
little bit of a back ground:
The car had this problem ever since I bought it new in 2013. It first happened in 2013 after only a couple of thousand miles. The engine will crank but will not fire. There was a Uxxxxx (can't remember the exact one at the moment) check engine code that was logged, which says there's some communication problems on one or more of the CAN buses. The problem is after a few minutes, the car started again. The dealership could not get it to not start again. They replaced the fuel pump control module because that is one possible cause of this. Then about 1.5 years later, I have the same problem. Dealer took it again and could not replicate the problem. That time they disconnected and reconnected all connectors having to do with all the modules that could have contributed to this issue, thinking it could be a loose connection issue. Again makes sense but not a definitive diagnosis. I didn't have a problem for probably another 1.x years. But right after the bumper to bumper warranty is gone, this problem started showing up again. Most recently it was actually getting somewhat repeatable. U18A2 was logged. I had it taken to the dealership again. But they sat on the car for a week without looking at it. By the time they looked at it, it was again starting just fine. After some unpleasantness with the service rep (service manager was much more pleasant to deal with), I took the car back. And wouldn't you know it, it didn't start after parking at work parking lot for a morning. Then it started again after a few minutes. So I'm at my wits end here. I don't see why taking it back to the dealership right now is a good option, especially when I have to pay them like $70 a visit.
Does anyone have any similar experience with this problem? Also is there some suggestion on how I can get GM to better deal with this situation? At this point, I do not feel comfortable driving this car at all since there's no telling when it may just not drive again. Even their customer service line tells me that there's nothing they can do unless someone can replicate the problem. It almost seems that the burden is on me to figure out how to replicate the problem rather than them trying to figure out how to help me.
Any advise is helpful.
Thanks,
Yiran
I have a FWD 2013 Equinox with the 2.4L engine. It has an intermittently not starting problem that I had taken to the dealership repeated but they were not able to replicate problem each time. The first two visits were under bumper to bumper warranty. The last visit was out of the warranty so I had to pay for the diagnosis. The customer service was absolutely terrible from the service representative this last time as well. So now they tell me there's nothing they can do because they cannot replicate the problem. I should bring it back to them when the problem happens again. The car has already left me stranded in various locations at least 6 or 7 times. But most of the time the car would start again given enough time. So the idea of bringing it to them each time and waiting for the problem to reappear seems insane to me.
little bit of a back ground:
The car had this problem ever since I bought it new in 2013. It first happened in 2013 after only a couple of thousand miles. The engine will crank but will not fire. There was a Uxxxxx (can't remember the exact one at the moment) check engine code that was logged, which says there's some communication problems on one or more of the CAN buses. The problem is after a few minutes, the car started again. The dealership could not get it to not start again. They replaced the fuel pump control module because that is one possible cause of this. Then about 1.5 years later, I have the same problem. Dealer took it again and could not replicate the problem. That time they disconnected and reconnected all connectors having to do with all the modules that could have contributed to this issue, thinking it could be a loose connection issue. Again makes sense but not a definitive diagnosis. I didn't have a problem for probably another 1.x years. But right after the bumper to bumper warranty is gone, this problem started showing up again. Most recently it was actually getting somewhat repeatable. U18A2 was logged. I had it taken to the dealership again. But they sat on the car for a week without looking at it. By the time they looked at it, it was again starting just fine. After some unpleasantness with the service rep (service manager was much more pleasant to deal with), I took the car back. And wouldn't you know it, it didn't start after parking at work parking lot for a morning. Then it started again after a few minutes. So I'm at my wits end here. I don't see why taking it back to the dealership right now is a good option, especially when I have to pay them like $70 a visit.
Does anyone have any similar experience with this problem? Also is there some suggestion on how I can get GM to better deal with this situation? At this point, I do not feel comfortable driving this car at all since there's no telling when it may just not drive again. Even their customer service line tells me that there's nothing they can do unless someone can replicate the problem. It almost seems that the burden is on me to figure out how to replicate the problem rather than them trying to figure out how to help me.
Any advise is helpful.
Thanks,
Yiran
