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 $2000 out of my pocket, they dragged out oil consumption tests and stated they don’t remember rebuild offer. GMC Corp no help, I was willing to pay and they backed dealer stating they don’t have a record of offer.
Yup pretty sad. Just scrapped my chev. Last one I’ll ever buy. Absolute garbage these days. Lasted a couple years after timing chain and piston replacement.
To all Canadians on this thread. There was a class action brought against GM in May 2021 regarding the 2.4l google Makenzie Lake law to see if your vehicle is covered. I spoke with a clerk last week and they are still waiting on a judges decision for it to be worthy of moving forward. Call the firm, email them with your stories… the more people the better. Not sure what I’m going to do if my terrain breaks down before a settlement is reached…
Cheers
M
Many years ago gm was in court regarding the side saddle fuel tanks on pickups and some other units…a current owner was offered a measly 1000$ coupon redeemable toward the purchase of a brand new truck….it was good for something like a year or 18 months..nevertheless this current crop of engines and design is industry wide, they have all adopted the high reving , minimal piston ring, extraordinary thin oils, and high compressions that are combining to prove useless in the end…I had an 85 Pontiac sunbird with a 1.8 ohc, fuel injected (throttle body), the little pisser got over 40 mpg all over…no problems, why did they do it then an now it’s a colossal problem???, yes try to find a sunbird or cavalier now???!, best to all those thru this ..gm has phenomenal clout and can and will ride this pony till is dead.
Agreed. But…hopefully we have a judge that drives an equinox or at least looks into the class action that GM USA lost a number of years ago for the same vehicles and problems…
Fingers crossed.
these cars are built by GM but they are designed by the pols in washington dc. thru their rules and regulation they pass
I hope to God that you are not the smartest person in your family!
We have a 2021 Equinox, bought new. Oil changes by the dealer at required intervals. Just checked the car today. Down a quart with oily heavy film all over the engine compartment . Told my woman, “Let the damn finance company have this POS. I detest working with dealerships around here. They have ONE chance to fix this. I have several older(2012 , 2006 and 1999) vehicles, and none of them use oil between changes.
Is this still in progress? Recently became the owner of a 2012 Equinox and I’m positive it has some underlying issues that are starting to appear. Engine light comes on. Had oil replaced a few weeks ago, was over a quart low.. Thin stalled recently when going into reverse.
Hi Jon. Unfortunately as of the last court date on November 22 it has ended. The case was ‘discontinued’ by the original plaintiff. Anyone can take on another suit if they choose to but the only people benefiting this time around are the original plaintif whom was awarded $8300, and the other 63 people that contacted Mackenzie Lake Lawyers about their vehicles. We all are receiving letters from GM extending the original service bulletins so if we qualify our vehicles will be repaired.
Sorry you’re having the issues also.
Good luck and merry Christmas.
Well, that is some disappointing news. Not surprising tho, just how my luck has been lately. Purchased it back at the start of September, was running well until recently.. So, only a total of 64 owners are benefiting from repairs? That seems extremely minuscule… Considering there was roughly 20k of them sold in 2012 and close to 20k in 2013. There’s bound to be a lot more people having these issues. Curious if I should contact these lawyers and try to get another suit going.
I wish I’d have seen this before. I just bought a used 2015 Equinox. Big mistake. Been getting it fixed almost every month. 200 km and I need to add 1 litre. Rediculous. How do I get in this class action lawsuit. These cars should all be recycled and never sold again.
Yea.. this information about a CAL should’ve been the first thing that came up when looking up information about this vehicle. I just purchased back in Sept 22’.. Was running a okay for two months. As Mark stated, the case has been ‘discontinued’, however we can take on another suit. I have emailed and called the lawyers. Tho haven’t heard back yet. Sure they are doing catching up from the holidays.. Think I might start a Sub Reddit in regards to this. I strongly believe there is more than 64 people who should’ve benefited from a law suit.. Chevy needs to open their wallets wider and pay up.
GM adjusted the warranty on these vehicles twice. I had a GMC terrain with the same problem. You have to report the issue to the dealer and they have to do an oil consumption test. If I remember correctly it is covered to 120k miles. The remedy was to install a new engine. I drive a lot at work so each time they raised the mileage limitation, I had just surpassed it. We did the oil consumption test and it failed. I always carried a 5 quart of Mobil 1 in my back seat floorboard. Good thing my dad always taught me to check my oil when I fuel up!!! I pressed it all the way to the top of what I could. They opened up a “special” compaint invoice for me. I got nothing. I am the GM poster child with many trucks, I think 7 Corvettes now, and several other GM vehicles. When the oil consumption got so back at about 200k miles that I smell like oil and had a headache after driving the GMC Terrain all day I traded it online with photos only. Now I drive a Jeep!
I was told by GM and the dealership that it was only covered up until 10 years after the car was put into service. If it was covered til 125k miles, they owe me since I had to have my engine replaced.
It was up to 120K miles, and I believe 10 years. Mine was a 2011 Terrain. I do have a friend with a Terrain with lower mileage than mine that did get his motor replaced by the dealer under the warranty. FYI…according to GM normal oil usage on the consumption test is 1 quart in 2000 miles. Mine burned just shy of 2 quarts in 2000 miles. I added oil every 2nd or 3rd time I got fuel. But since I drive a lot of miles, I got stuck with it.
That’s what happened in to mine after oil change three days later
That’s what happened to my 2016 terrain after I get a oil change three days later and it was lik -40 out