Equinox Nightmare and need more LAF to LEA information. Thanks
January 7th, 2017, 8:10 PM
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Equinox Nightmare and need more LAF to LEA information. Thanks
Let me start off by saying that I am not a whiner (but I need to vent), and I am a GM fan as I own 15 GM vehicles total. Aside from my 2010 Equinox, I have a 2015 Silverado Diesel LTZ (I bought new), a 2011 SLP Camaro (I bought new in 2012; bought my first new one in 2010).
I bought my 2010 Equinox LT AWD 2.4L certified GM in 2013 w/56,000 miles after an email promotion from GM promoting certified vehicles. At the time the Equinox was hard to find and I wanted the grey so I found one at Bredemann Chevrolet in Park Ridge Illinois (I live in Knox, IN and have been very happy with my local dealer Cambe due to a great sales person Marla who I have dealt with exclusively other than the mistake at Bredemann). We had it a short time when it started to smell so strongly of gasoline in the cabin that it was making us sick, and the oil was over filled (with gas). Bredemann would not return any calls, but Cambe gladly fixed it (twice) with new fuel pumps. Then it was grinding bad so they also gladly changed the timing set (twice). Then it was using about a quart of oil every week (about 500 miles), and GM told me 3 quarts or less between oil changes was ok. Well I complained and we did an oil consumption and GM agreed that there was a problem, so even though I felt I deserved a new engine they said I had to accept getting the piston rings changed. Well Cambe got the oil consumption back down to 1 quart every 3000, but the front of the motor was noisy again and the car died randomly at a stop. We took it to Team Chevrolet in Valparaiso, Indiana for an oil change, and they agreed it was noisy but they said if it was something other than what was fixed under warranty that it was coming from my pocket. We got scared and I just took the oil change. Fast forward to last summer (3 years of ownership; weeks total out of service; hours on the phone with GM), it was dying upon stopping regularly, but actually the engine was about as noisy as it ever was. The oil life was at 26% so I said let's take it to Cambe and get it changed and investigate why the engine is dying so frequently. The service writer called me to come in and the Tech showed me that the oil filter had metal in it most likely from timing parts coming apart. He said that by his training the engine was junk and needed replaced and Cambe would not honor any warranty on any work done to the engine. He said the oil had nearly 6,000 miles on it and we should have been changing it every 3,000 miles using synthetic oil. Really? The manual DOES NOT SAY THAT on page 10-2. When I bought it I was told "Oils are better", "engine management is better", etc...follow the oil life index. Note: it was at 96,000 miles. GM contends that it is ok to get 40,000 miles of use out of a car that I paid $21,000 for and drove for 3 years. Back to the story.
So at this point my head is ready to explode. I emailed GM and complained. Nobody responded. I called twice and finally I got a call back. I explained my situation and the lady on the phone said she would investigate and get back to me. About 3 weeks later I got a return call and the lady (very rude now) on the phone said the engine failure was completely my fault because I used the oil life monitoring system and I should sell the car for scrap and use the money to buy a new vehicle. Of course after I lived through a near stroke, I started to do some research and learned A LOT about the 2.4 LAF engine. Aside from thousands of claims a guy named Allan Adler who is a spokesperson for GM did a press release about hundreds of thousands of GM vehicles with the ECOTEC 2.4 being recalled to lessen the oil life in the oil monitoring system. Really? GM never contacted me.
Several calls happened after that because after I said "have your supervisor call me" a very rude GM rep called and after we would hang up she would say that she would email me but never would. The very last one called me on my cell phone at night after hours, maybe the rudest of all. Her contention was back to the whole thing that this was my fault for going past 3,000 miles, and in fact she "interpreted" the Owner's Manual to say that the oil change interval was 3,000 miles. But!!!!!! She said that I probably NEVER changed the oil once in its life and if I could dig up copies of the oil change receipts that GM might help. Really? I am a 47 year old man who has owned countless GM vehicles, but I wouldn't change the oil? Also I only put on 40,000 miles, would I not have that many oil changes? Most were done at GM dealerships!!!!! Well guess what? You are right after 2 hours on the phone she NEVER emailed me as promised. Thanks GM!!!!! $150,000 plus spent on your product in less than 5 years and not one iota of professional courtesy. I didn't expect GM to foot the whole bill, but maybe split it or cover the labor?
Well now to my point. Cambe offered me a decent price on a new engine of $2400 and about the same to put it in. It would have a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty, but at the time the part number for the LAF motor was different than the LEA. I wasn't about to spend nearly $5000 on a vehicle to get a taste of this all over again. It was only until recently that I saw the parts on line indicate that the part number now is actually a LEA motor with the LAF intake camshaft and actuator. Unfortunately I had already purchased a LEA motor with 6,000 miles on it out of a 2014 Terrain. At this point, no mechanic wants to touch it so I have to limp along without a vehicle until I can do the work myself. I found the parts list on a Buick forum (yes the 2010 Verano engine was junk too) to convert this engine, but my question is, does any more specific information exist on this from GM as far as converting the engine? Why can't the computer just get a reflash to accept the engine as is. And, thanks again GM. I threatened to go to Toyota...who knows what the future holds? It was nice of your phone representative to offer to help me to change brands.
I bought my 2010 Equinox LT AWD 2.4L certified GM in 2013 w/56,000 miles after an email promotion from GM promoting certified vehicles. At the time the Equinox was hard to find and I wanted the grey so I found one at Bredemann Chevrolet in Park Ridge Illinois (I live in Knox, IN and have been very happy with my local dealer Cambe due to a great sales person Marla who I have dealt with exclusively other than the mistake at Bredemann). We had it a short time when it started to smell so strongly of gasoline in the cabin that it was making us sick, and the oil was over filled (with gas). Bredemann would not return any calls, but Cambe gladly fixed it (twice) with new fuel pumps. Then it was grinding bad so they also gladly changed the timing set (twice). Then it was using about a quart of oil every week (about 500 miles), and GM told me 3 quarts or less between oil changes was ok. Well I complained and we did an oil consumption and GM agreed that there was a problem, so even though I felt I deserved a new engine they said I had to accept getting the piston rings changed. Well Cambe got the oil consumption back down to 1 quart every 3000, but the front of the motor was noisy again and the car died randomly at a stop. We took it to Team Chevrolet in Valparaiso, Indiana for an oil change, and they agreed it was noisy but they said if it was something other than what was fixed under warranty that it was coming from my pocket. We got scared and I just took the oil change. Fast forward to last summer (3 years of ownership; weeks total out of service; hours on the phone with GM), it was dying upon stopping regularly, but actually the engine was about as noisy as it ever was. The oil life was at 26% so I said let's take it to Cambe and get it changed and investigate why the engine is dying so frequently. The service writer called me to come in and the Tech showed me that the oil filter had metal in it most likely from timing parts coming apart. He said that by his training the engine was junk and needed replaced and Cambe would not honor any warranty on any work done to the engine. He said the oil had nearly 6,000 miles on it and we should have been changing it every 3,000 miles using synthetic oil. Really? The manual DOES NOT SAY THAT on page 10-2. When I bought it I was told "Oils are better", "engine management is better", etc...follow the oil life index. Note: it was at 96,000 miles. GM contends that it is ok to get 40,000 miles of use out of a car that I paid $21,000 for and drove for 3 years. Back to the story.
So at this point my head is ready to explode. I emailed GM and complained. Nobody responded. I called twice and finally I got a call back. I explained my situation and the lady on the phone said she would investigate and get back to me. About 3 weeks later I got a return call and the lady (very rude now) on the phone said the engine failure was completely my fault because I used the oil life monitoring system and I should sell the car for scrap and use the money to buy a new vehicle. Of course after I lived through a near stroke, I started to do some research and learned A LOT about the 2.4 LAF engine. Aside from thousands of claims a guy named Allan Adler who is a spokesperson for GM did a press release about hundreds of thousands of GM vehicles with the ECOTEC 2.4 being recalled to lessen the oil life in the oil monitoring system. Really? GM never contacted me.
Several calls happened after that because after I said "have your supervisor call me" a very rude GM rep called and after we would hang up she would say that she would email me but never would. The very last one called me on my cell phone at night after hours, maybe the rudest of all. Her contention was back to the whole thing that this was my fault for going past 3,000 miles, and in fact she "interpreted" the Owner's Manual to say that the oil change interval was 3,000 miles. But!!!!!! She said that I probably NEVER changed the oil once in its life and if I could dig up copies of the oil change receipts that GM might help. Really? I am a 47 year old man who has owned countless GM vehicles, but I wouldn't change the oil? Also I only put on 40,000 miles, would I not have that many oil changes? Most were done at GM dealerships!!!!! Well guess what? You are right after 2 hours on the phone she NEVER emailed me as promised. Thanks GM!!!!! $150,000 plus spent on your product in less than 5 years and not one iota of professional courtesy. I didn't expect GM to foot the whole bill, but maybe split it or cover the labor?
Well now to my point. Cambe offered me a decent price on a new engine of $2400 and about the same to put it in. It would have a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty, but at the time the part number for the LAF motor was different than the LEA. I wasn't about to spend nearly $5000 on a vehicle to get a taste of this all over again. It was only until recently that I saw the parts on line indicate that the part number now is actually a LEA motor with the LAF intake camshaft and actuator. Unfortunately I had already purchased a LEA motor with 6,000 miles on it out of a 2014 Terrain. At this point, no mechanic wants to touch it so I have to limp along without a vehicle until I can do the work myself. I found the parts list on a Buick forum (yes the 2010 Verano engine was junk too) to convert this engine, but my question is, does any more specific information exist on this from GM as far as converting the engine? Why can't the computer just get a reflash to accept the engine as is. And, thanks again GM. I threatened to go to Toyota...who knows what the future holds? It was nice of your phone representative to offer to help me to change brands.
January 8th, 2017, 12:20 PM
#2
I think you already have the answer. As far as I know, the LEA is just an LAF that had a few parts changed (specifically the intake camshaft and intake VVT solenoid/actuator) to allow it to run on E85 fuel. All you need to do is transfer the LAF camshaft and intake VVT solenoid/actuator from your old engine to the 2014 LEA engine and it should run fine - no programming necessary. Also, about that, the 2010 ECM might not be capable of accepting a calibration intended for an LEA-equipped vehicle OR the dealership's programmer won't let you flash the latter to the former.
The Oil Life Monitor reprogram campaign was never an actual "recall". Unfortunately, most internet folks loosely use the term "recall" to also refer to Special Coverage/Customer Satisfaction campaigns. The difference is that the manufacturer is required to address a recall regardless of a vehicle's age. Whereas a Special Coverage/Customer Satisfaction campaign is a voluntary action by GM to address a common issue that usually comes with a time/mileage limitation. In the case of this issue (Customer Satisfaction campaign 12312 - link points to revised campaign 12312A that replaced it), GM would reprogram the OLM on affected vehicles for free until August 31, 2015. It is still possible to have any affected vehicles reprogrammed, but it would be on the customer's dime now.
Regardless, you should have received a letter about this if you are in fact the registered owner of the vehicle. I'm really surprised that you didn't because GM is usually really good about sending them out. I even received a letter about my old 2007 Saturn Ion a couple years ago for a fuel tank filler neck issue even though I am the second owner of the vehicle.
The Oil Life Monitor reprogram campaign was never an actual "recall". Unfortunately, most internet folks loosely use the term "recall" to also refer to Special Coverage/Customer Satisfaction campaigns. The difference is that the manufacturer is required to address a recall regardless of a vehicle's age. Whereas a Special Coverage/Customer Satisfaction campaign is a voluntary action by GM to address a common issue that usually comes with a time/mileage limitation. In the case of this issue (Customer Satisfaction campaign 12312 - link points to revised campaign 12312A that replaced it), GM would reprogram the OLM on affected vehicles for free until August 31, 2015. It is still possible to have any affected vehicles reprogrammed, but it would be on the customer's dime now.
Regardless, you should have received a letter about this if you are in fact the registered owner of the vehicle. I'm really surprised that you didn't because GM is usually really good about sending them out. I even received a letter about my old 2007 Saturn Ion a couple years ago for a fuel tank filler neck issue even though I am the second owner of the vehicle.
Last edited by ruley73; January 8th, 2017 at 12:22 PM.
January 8th, 2017, 2:31 PM
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Thank you Riley 73
The vehicle had most of its oil changes at a GM dealer so maybe the OLM got reprogrammed and I didn't know it. Hopefully it won't be too bad changing the engine. I ordered a new cam but was planning to use the old actuator which was replaced at my last oil change where the tech found metal shavings. Ironically GM tells the dealership personel not to follow the OLM, but why don't they just tell the consumer? For the record also I visited other brands of autos and they recommend following the OLM. Too bad GM can't design a small engine on par with the LS V8.
