2012 Chevrolet Equinox: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Feb 16, 2023 · Engine · 132,000 miles · OR

The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that the oil level was constantly low, and she was adding 5 quarts of oil in the vehicle every 4-6 weeks. The contact stated while driving 25-30 MPH, there was smoke coming out from underneath the hood of the vehicle. The contact veered to the side of the road. The contact’s son lifted the hood and noticed that there was oil residue on all the components under the hood. Additionally, there was a significant amount of smoke coming out of the engine compartment. The contact added oil to the engine. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the engine needed to be replaced; however, the part to do the repair was not available. The vehicle was not repaired. An unknown dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 132,000.

Filed May 25, 2022 · Engine · 79,000 miles · FL

The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH on the highway, there was an abnormal sound coming from the rear of the vehicle and smoke coming from the exhaust. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to pull over and had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the engine was blown and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 79,000.

Filed Feb 17, 2020 · Driver assistance, Engine · 166,000 miles · IN

My vehicles check engine light came on then the stability light came on the vehicle sounded like it was choking. When we got it to the repair shop it stalled out and when the shop did shove investigation there was no oil in the vehicle. Although there was no warning about oil being low or lights on. As we were bringing vehicle to shop it smelled of burning. Vehicle started malfunctioning when stationary and became worse when in motion.

Filed Feb 7, 2020 · 59,500 miles · ME · fire

On tuesday february 4, 2020 1:09pm my 2012 equinox vehicle caught fire 10 minutes after reaching my destination in a private driveway. The car was shut off, and locked with the key before entering the residence. Smoke was seen coming from under the hood followed immediately with flames. My concerns: 1) I had my pastor with me and this could have occurred while traveling; 2) my next destination was parking in my garage and I would have had a house fire. God was watching over us.

Filed Aug 10, 2019 · Lights, Transmission · 63,000 miles · NY

Today 08/9/2019 my wife showed me where she saw smoke coming from under the glove box it did melt the plastic cover,no one will help me with lift gate goes up 1/4 way down,up the all the way down have gotten it 3 times in the head I have told catalano motors about it when I bought it never got fixed.rear window on pass side never worked and light don't go on when you open rear door,manual transmission never worked,no offence but I would rather have my 75 delta 88 I'm just not pleased with the vehicles.miss having my 97 f150 thank you for your time,also the lift gate would go up and down by itself with keys in my hand I really wish I could afford to get new or diff kind of vehicle.

Filed Jul 12, 2019 · Engine · 101,000 miles · MI · fire

Gm notified us of a known oil consumption problem with the vehicle. Our vehicle was constantly losing oil. We completed the oil consumption tests over a period of two years before the service department would replace the piston and rings, which were replaced in june 2018. July 1st 2019, after 10,000 miles, the engine exploded and caught fire while driving the vehicle down the street. Fortunately, no one was serious harmed. The vehicle stopped in the middle of a 6 lane street in moderate traffic. The fire department was called and put the fire out. The vehicle could not be pushed out of traffic and was towed to the service department.

Filed Feb 21, 2019 · Engine · 88,567 miles · MI

While my 20 year old son was driving my 2012 chevy equinox with 88567 miles to work along back country roads at 6am on a dark cold michigan morning he noticed the smell of burning oil while pulling into his employers parking lot. As it got lighter out thru the morning he noticed that the whole rear of the vehicle was covered in oil, with further investigation he discovered the whole under carriage was also covered in oil. Had him get vehicle towed to dealership where they diagnosed the issue as a rear main seal blown due to a clogged pcv valve, which matches a service bulletin (14882) in which dealership would not honor because of limited VIN's included per bulletin.

Filed Jan 16, 2018 · Engine · 107,000 miles · OH · fire

Recently my car caught on fire while my husband and I were driving. We own a 2012 equinox 2.4l. We didn't know until now that this engine is known for having extreme issues with a pcv valve and because of this design flaw the valve gets clogged up. It makes your engine build up pressure and then a crankcase seal blows (in our case is was the rear). This is something known to gm. There is a service bulletin out for this but gm won't cover it. We meet all the qualifications and they still won't cover it. There are so many people out there all over the internet posting about the same problem and gm won't help them either.

Filed Mar 23, 2017 · Engine · 99,000 miles · IL

Around the time frame of may, 2016 I began to notice that my 2012 chevrolet equinox with a 2.4l ecotec started having a knocking noise from the engine while idling. The mileage at this point in time was around 99k miles. At the same time that the knocking began, I noticed the check engine light came on. I went to an auto zone to check my oil levels, and realized that the dip stick showed the oil was much lower than it should have been. I went inside and purchased dexos 5w30 oil per the owner's manual and added 1 qt to it. Additionally, I noticed after I took the oil cap off that there was smoke coming from inside. Per the owner's manual, the gm oil life monitor system uses an algorithm that analyzes your driving activity, temperature outside, and several other factors to determine when the oil needs changed. According to this system I was at roughly 70% oil life. The system states that the oil only needs to be changed within 600 miles of the low oil life alert coming on, this doesn't happen until you get around 15%. At this point I began monitoring my oil consumption much more closely and carried oil on me at all times. As time has gone by, I've noticed the car is burning oil quicker, and as of my most recent oil change in february of this year, we began doing oil consumption tests per gm tsb # 13-06-01-003h that explains this issue. The tsb notes that it covers my make and model, but my VIN does not come up as being covered up to 120k miles for this repair. I have had a dealer tell me that the fix listed in the tsb is what needs to be done, but that it will cost $3.4k. Many other models with the same engine are covered but mine isn't. My car has since started stalling when it is idling at low RPM's, specifically on 3/22/17 it stalled twice while in a drive-through.current mileage today is 118.6k and the 2 oil consumption tests show burning up to 1 qt per 1k miles.

Filed Mar 23, 2017 · Engine · 99,000 miles · IL

Around the time frame of may, 2016 I began to notice that my 2012 chevrolet equinox with a 2.4l ecotec started having a knocking noise from the engine while idling. The mileage at this point in time was around 99k miles. At the same time that the knocking began, I noticed the check engine light came on. I went to an auto zone to check my oil levels, and realized that the dip stick showed the oil was much lower than it should have been. I went inside and purchased dexos 5w30 oil per the owner's manual and added 1 qt to it. Additionally, I noticed after I took the oil cap off that there was smoke coming from inside. Per the owner's manual, the gm oil life monitor system uses an algorithm that analyzes your driving activity, temperature outside, and several other factors to determine when the oil needs changed. According to this system I was at roughly 70% oil life. The system states that the oil only needs to be changed within 600 miles of the low oil life alert coming on, this doesn't happen until you get around 15%. At this point I began monitoring my oil consumption much more closely and carried oil on me at all times. As time has gone by, I've noticed the car is burning oil quicker, and as of my most recent oil change in february of this year, we began doing oil consumption tests per gm tsb # 13-06-01-003h that explains this issue. The tsb notes that it covers my make and model, but my VIN does not come up as being covered up to 120k miles for this repair. I have had a dealer tell me that the fix listed in the tsb is what needs to be done, but that it will cost $3.4k. Many other models with the same engine are covered but mine isn't. My car has since started stalling when it is idling at low RPM's, specifically on 3/22/17 it stalled twice while in a drive-through.current mileage today is 118.6k and the 2 oil consumption tests show burning up to 1 qt per 1k miles.

Filed Apr 29, 2015 · Engine, Transmission · 60,000 miles · MI · fire

While driving down I-96 in michigan at mile 62, I felt an explosion under my feet. There was a large cloud of black smoke followed by flames underneath and out the back of the vehicle. I pulled to the side of the road, ran to safety while watching the vehicle burn underneath. The air draft from passing traffic extinguished the fire. Qualified technicians at our local chevrolet dealer have told us there is a golf-ball size hole and a softball size hole in the engine in addition to numerous issues resulting from the fire (melted fuel and brake lines, charred and bubbled paint and melted plastic parts, etc.) although this is covered by gm warranty and their investigation "totaled" the car , customer service has not offered assistance that will cover replacement of this vehicle.

Filed Nov 30, 2012 · Electrical, Steering · 6,000 miles · MI · fire

The night sandy hit on the east coast, it was windy in michigan. Our city was doing leaf pickup around that time so leaves were accumulated at the edges of the roads. The car was being driven through a subdivision on a paved road and it just caught on fire. Gm will take no responsibility for the fire. They say leaves blew up under the car and they are what caught on fire. How can vulnerable areas not be shielded from this? The car was about a month old!!! The fire burnt for about 7 minutes. The dealership says that there is nothing they can do. A team from gm inspected the car and they will not even let us see their report. We haven't had a car for over a month and I for one am furious! They tell us if we have the car repaired we lose any right to pursue legal proceedings.... We have to pay $500 (our insurance deductible) to start repairs even though they wont tell us what is damaged even though we purchased additional insurance at the time of purchase through the dealer to cover our deductible in the event of damage... All they say is that it was our fault for not reading the manual regarding driving or parking over leaves... We found reference to it in the off road portion of the manual. The car had never been driven off road.