General Motors Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over 2.4L Engine Oil Consumption
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General Motors is facing a new class-action lawsuit in Canada that alleges vehicles equipped with its naturally aspirated 2.4L Ecotec four-cylinder engine have a propensity to burn oil.
According to Car Complaints, the plaintiff in the lawsuit owns a 2012 model year Chevy Equinox crossover equipped with the 2.4L Ecotec four-cylinder engine. In September of 2017, the vehicle’s engine stalled and was later diagnosed with a complete engine failure. The problem was allegedly traced back to excessive oil consumption, with the plaintiff claiming affected engines consume as much as 0.946 litres of engine oil per 1,600 kilometres of driving.
Like other GM engine oil consumption lawsuits we’ve covered, this suit says the piston rings fail to maintain sufficient tension to keep oil in the crankcase, allowing the oil to sneak past the rings and fall into the combustion chamber. This can allegedly foul the spark plugs and also create carbon buildup on the pistons and cylinder walls. If the oil levels reach a certain point, engine components may become damaged and the engine may overheat, eventually leading to total engine failure.
Car Complaints’ reports this lawsuit also lists a number of other problems with affected 2.4L Ecotec engines, including defective spray kets, defective active fuel management system, defective PCV systems and defective oil life monitoring systems. These other issues compound with the defective piston rings to exacerbate the problem, the suit indicates.
Other oil burning-related lawsuits filed against GM in the United States have been thrown out, as GM’s warranty does not cover design defects, only manufacturing defects. The problems with these engines can be traced back to design defects, the automaker has argued previously, so its factory warranty is not applicable to these problems.
We’ll provide an update on the Canadian oil burn lawsuit against GM as it progresses through the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in the coming months.
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My 2017 Terrain “blew a seal” according to the insurance inspector and should be covered by extended warranty. Adjuster said seal not covered so engine destruction not covered either. Has less than 40,000 miles. Can’t be any angrier that this is known issue by GM.
GM is NOT covering any problems with this engine and known issues. Even when one of their licensed dealer and service technician gives you the case number to get it covered they say that case number expired a year BEFORE IT WAS EVEN ISSUED. I will NEVER buy anything else from GM
The original class action suit has expired but they suit did not correct the problems either it just fixed what the problem had broken..I have been thru 2 manifolds in 50k. The root of the problem is the AFM systems, this is now becoming known and more lawsuits have started.. there’s still hope
We bought a equinox in August used had 2 oil changes and was about 200 miles over for the next oil change as we had an appointment and the car died we had to replace the engine. Will never buy this car again and will tell everyone. The amount of people who we have found out had to replace their engine for the same issue is ridiculous. Really sas you know this is an issue and just do not care.
2011 GMC Terrain. Same issue. Had to carry a 5 quart jug of oil and put oil in at least every other fuel stop. GM says that’s normal oil consumption. Really? My work as an appraiser takes me to many homes and there was never a drop of oil on the ground with that vehicle, but it burned so much oil that it smelled like oil inside the car and I would smell like oil after driving all day. Unbelievable that a company like General Motors cares so little about their customers and the quality of their products but I guess that’s the world we live in today.
my entire experience with dealer and “GMC Family” was terrible, 4 qts per thousand miles, stated they would rebuild for $2000 out of my pocket, they dragged out oil consumption tests and stated they don’t remember rebuild offer. GMC Corp no help, I was willing to pay and they backed dealer stating they don’t have a record of offer.
Yup pretty sad. Just scrapped my chev. Last one I’ll ever buy. Absolute garbage these days. Lasted a couple years after timing chain and piston replacement.