2013 Chevrolet Equinox: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Jun 20, 2022 · Electrical · IN · fire

My car caught fire 1 minute after it started smoking while I was driving it due to an electrical issue. I nearly died. The fire totaled my car. I had to pull over as fast as possible and nearly caught a nearby restaurant on fire. It was inspected by the fire department. There was no warning messages or symptoms.

Filed Mar 16, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · 116,000 miles · IA · fire

Car had an oil change and three days later, it burst into flames. It was a 2013 chevy equinox with a ecotec engine. The care was sitting in a parking lot.

Filed Mar 22, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 114,000 miles · TX

The vehicle was at a stop sign. Turning right, it started to stall and then finally took off. This was the first instance of something potentially wrong. When we made it to work, it appeared to be ok. When we started it, exhaust appeared to come from under the hood and exhaust fumes were entering the cabin of the vehicle. To make it home safely, we lowered the windows. When we started it, there is noticeably a change in engine noise, the smell of burning oil, and oil covers the underside of the vehicle. We searched online to see what may be the cause, and we found a class-action lawsuit in florida which describes our vehicle's issues almost perfectly. Oil consumption is high, it's not safe to drive, exhaust entering the cabin is deadly, and the change of the engine sound.

Filed Mar 5, 2020 · Engine · 172,000 miles · MI

I received contact about faulty parts that affect the rear main seal eventually damaging and blowing it out. The only thing is I was contacted 6 months ago, over 6 years of ownership saying they would recall and replace/repair this. The only thing is my car was disqualified for having over 120k in mileage and I was told I should consider myself lucky it still works. I was driving to my job and had parked my car. When I started my car and started driving it was chugging and I smelled something burning. I pulled over and called my boyfriend to bring oil as the car always has burned oil. It had never done this before. I get it home and plan to take it in the next day. When I wake up and check my car, all of the oil was on my driveway. The sensors never showed anything and I still had 30% oil life and was monitoring. If it weren't for it smelling like something burning, I would have had a seized engine. This is now a $1500 repair that was supposed to have been recalled 3 years ago according to the mechanic.

Filed Feb 21, 2019 · Engine · 155,500 miles · MO

Driving down interstate 55, noticed oil on back window thought it was frost. Arrived at destination and saw smoke coming from hood, looked underneath vehicle and noticed oil pouring out the underneath. No oil light or engine light ever came on even though I lost over 3 quarts of oil. Had towed to dealership and they told me the pvc froze up and caused the rear main to blow out. Cost me $2400, had15500 miles and followed all gm maintenance schedule.

Filed Feb 6, 2019 · Engine, Transmission · 111,500 miles · OH

Smelled burning oil in garage. Checked under vehicle and noticed large puddle of oil and underside of rear engine soaked with it. Towed to dealership of purchase. Was notified that it was pcv value having moisture/condensation in it and freezing. This occurrence put pressure on the engine and seals. The rear seal connecting to the transmission is what failed. It was a cold day. The car was in a parking lot until end of shift. My wife said it did not start as fast as it normally does. There was not shuttering of the engine, no loud clacking sound and not one light icon lit up. I noticed a trail of oil into the garage in our driveway but no trail in the street. I assume it had just occurred when she was arriving home. She was braking to turn into our driveway. Her route from work is primarily state roads with speeds of 35-55 MPH and very often has deer crossing the roads as there are no road noise barriers or tall fencing. She arriving home at the normal time but I was able to pick up our sons. So she was able to just go home. The weather was cold (approx. 6-8 degrees). I have no reports, invoices or photos as the car is currently still in the shop since friday february 1st. Today is wednesday february 6th 2019. I have found a lot of information online regarding this issue, tsb #14882. Seems to be very common.

Filed Aug 21, 2018 · Engine · 68,500 miles · OH

In 2013, I actually called the dealership to inquire about some smoke coming from front of car during rain/snow, and some shaking while stopped in traffic. I was informed these were normal functions due to the climatic weather and braking system. I took them at their word. In the summer of 2017 whilst driving to work, the car cut off, and the check engine light came on. I took it to my mechanic, and was told the oil had burned very low. Should a 2013 burn completely out of oil in three months? I had to get an oil change, replacement of intake and exhaust camshaft position solenoids. It wasn't until I had the almost exact issue happen in jan, 2018 that I was informed that the engine was burning oil at a high speed. There is a recall on my make model and year vehicle (see below for report) that mirror the exact issues that I have been experiencing since 2017. However, upon contacting gmc, I was told that my VIN is not part of the recall, therefore gmc will not replace the engine, though I am experiencing the exact same issues that are on the recall report. I am constantly in fear that my car will shutoff whilst I am driving. I have had two oil changes within a month, because the oil burns that quick. I am now on my second oil consumption test, but I know once the testing is complete, I will have the same problems, due to the engine burning oil at an astronomical rate. Shaking/shutdown, I rent cars for long distance travel due to fear. Initially, dealer rep said I didn't have to change oil for 5,000 miles. Ithin a months time (jun-jul 2018), I had two oil changes. A dye test was done in july, because though no oil was evident, service depart assumed must be a leak for oil to be so low. Test showed "no" leak. Car ticks, mechanic says due to engine needing replaced. Gmc/chevy refuse. The repair report says "car runs fine" my car was towed to dealership, wasn't running.

Filed Feb 2, 2018 · Engine · 114,465 miles · IN

I changed my oil when there was 5% left on the oil life gauge on 12/17/17. The used oil was black and thick and only 2.5 qts came out. I put in 5 qts high mileage full synthetic oil and changed the filter. There had been no prior signs that anything had been going wrong and my usual mechanic hadn't told me that he saw anything wrong last oil change. The car started making rough noises, grinding and lurching the week of 1/15/18. I took it into the auto shop 1/22/18 since it started to sound like really rough grinding and started lurching hard while stopped. They told me that I had no oil in any part of the engine. They flushed the engine and did an oil change and said that they didn't see any leakage from anywhere. On 2/2/18, I was at a stop light, my car did a short jerk and made a short grinding sound, but then proceeded to drive fine. While stopped, I would start to smell an oily scent, but it would go away when I started driving again. Roughly 13 miles later, I was driving at approx. 70 MPH when my RPM went from hovering above 2 to just above 3 and started deaccelerating. I didn't hear any gear shifting. I put on my hazards and took off cruise control and started for the shoulder of the high way (all without using my brake). The car jerked a few more times before the engine stalled completely. I parked it and turned off the car and went to check my oil level. After taking out the dip stick, I noticed smoke coming out of the opening. I wiped and replaced the dip stick and it came out clean, no oil. I moved to the rear of my vehicle and noticed fresh drips. I dropped down and looked under my car with a flashlight and saw oil everywhere. I got it towed to an auto shop and they informed me that the rear seal was busted and that I would need a whole new engine. My car has 114,465 miles on it.

Filed Jan 17, 2018 · Engine · 85,000 miles · OK

While driving down the freeway, I noticed smoke coming from behind my 2013 chevy equinox. I pulled over to a gas station, looked underneath as smoke was also coming from the front passenger side it appeared. I saw what appeared to be oil between the motor and transmission. I contacted a mechanic and was going to drive to his shop as it was not too far away. I was starting to lose power and pulled over permanently. It was flowing still until it drained all of the oil out. I had it towed to a mechanic shop. I researched and it was confirmed by the mechanic shop, there is a service bulletin 14882 that states that with extreme weather, of which was occurring at the time, pressure builds up due to a clogged pcv which increases the pressure to the crankshaft rear seal and blows it out. This also was verified by the mechanic by doing a pressure check as discussed in the bulleting and it did in fact fail. This is a known issue and after speaking with two gm dealers and gm customer service, they are stating due to the VIN number not being listed as having the issue it is not covered. The service bulletin covers 2010-2014 chevy equinox with the 2.4l ecotec engine of which mine is a 2013 has. One of the gm dealers states that it should be included as well. I have to have it fixed at the shop it is at, but am requesting reimbursement per the service bulletin 14882 on page 8 which states under the reimbursement section, that if the repairs have been done, I can take it to a dealer with receipt and documentation or submit with the form to gm for reimbursement.

Filed Jun 6, 2017 · Body, Driver assistance · 58,900 miles · WI · crash

"tamara recall" I'm writing reguarding an accident that totaled out my vehicle but none of my air bags deployed ? I hit a deer at 75-80 MPH on a hwy it hit my drivers side headlight and continued up over my hood and actually dented part of my passenger side fender I couldn't even open the door all the way! None of my air bags went off. Luckily I had my seat belt on which something in the seat belt blew when it locked me in place due to the impact of the deer hitting jumping out at me a warning popped up on my dash believe said "locked" but all happened so fast , it pushed & cracked just about everything under my hood. I had smoke coming from my vehicle, fluids on the ground no fire thankfully ! My SUV was totaled and many have questioned me about the air bags. I'm now wondering the same thing. Why in the world did none of these go off ? If I wouldn't have had my seat belt on who knows what would have happened with the air bags not going off ! I've done research I haven't seen any recalls, but I am a little confused by this!

Filed May 19, 2014 · Body, Engine · 18,026 miles · VT · fire

I pulled into my driveway and put the car in park. I noticed a small puff of white smoke from the hood in one specific place. Prior to this, there was not a check engine light, there was not a messgae warning of reduced engine power. The car was inspected at a certified gm dealership on 4/16/2014. Nothing was noted on the diagnostic form to fix or replace. It was completed at the dearlership that we purchased the car at. I quickly got out of my car and begin to get my three year old out of his carseat. I looked at the hood and there was so much black smoke pouring out of the hood I could not see our shed or anything in front of me. I yelled to the other two children (both 6), to get out of their carseats and run into the woods. I unbuckled one child and the other child slipped out of her buckle. They ran to a safe spot. I ran into the house called 911 and got our fire extinguisher. Came outsude and there was black smoke filling the sky and pouring out of the hood in numerous places. I used the fire extinguisher which did not help. I got the garden hose and tried to use that, but was getting too dangerous. So I waited for the fire department to arrive. At this time there was flames coming from the bottom and top of the car and the car was making loud cracking and exploding noises. There was so much smoke I could not see the house which was close by. The windows exploded and the passanger airbag went off. The three children countinued to be 500 feet into the woods and I frantically was running around (37 week pregnant).the shed caught on fire. The fire department arrived and extinguished the fire. The two front tires were completly melted and ruined our driveway.