How many miles? What exactly is wrong with the engine?

 

Well, we have owned our 2011 GMC Acadia now for almost two years. So far, in two years, I have had to replace a steering rack (out of pocket), catalytic converter, and now I am stuck on vacation with the Acadia back in the shop. My family and I limped into our vacation spot with multiple codes and the wonderful check engine light on. After thinking it may be just a dirty throttle body or bad spark plugs, I come to find out that the Acadia is possibly facing an engine replacement and I am stranded on vacation with the possibility of missing more work. I absolutely love the design of the Acadia, however I am not sure if I could ever buy one again. I am hoping for a brand new engine out of this, however, when that one goes I am not sure I can buy another. I just don't see how a great design could have so many defective parts. At this point, I'm just hoping to not lose my job for missed time.

I am experiencing the same issues with you. Now I am facing a full re-build or engine replacement. My Acadia was misfiring and when I went to replace the spark plugs, I found an oil leak in both the the #1 and #5 spark plug wells. I took it into the shop the very next day and after some testing was done on it they have found that 3 out of the 6 cylinders have no compression in them and there is a serious malfunction inside the engine itself. Luckily, I am covered under the power train warrant. However, it has just over 80,000 miles on it and this is only one of many other issues. I am hoping for a full engine replacement though. That would be nice.

Huh??

 

I just had a rod blow thru oil pan.

 

DIvotbug - just over 80k. It's at the dealership now and they are still tearing the engine apart to figure out what's failed. We had the stabilitrack off warning, p0221 code and the multiple misfires. I thought it was bad plugs and a dirty throttle body. Cleaned the throttle body and went to replace the plugs to find out there was an oil leak in the #1 and 5 cylinders and oil had fully contaminated those spark plugs. The dealership also found that 3 of the cylinders had 0 compression in them.

The dealership is saying that if they can't find the fault that it will be a full engine replacement.

Speleos: not sure what huh translates into for a question.

 

I'm sure you don't.

 

DIvotbug - just over 80k. It's at the dealership now and they are still tearing the engine apart to figure out what's failed. We had the stabilitrack off warning, p0221 code and the multiple misfires. I thought it was bad plugs and a dirty throttle body. Cleaned the throttle body and went to replace the plugs to find out there was an oil leak in the #1 and 5 cylinders and oil had fully contaminated those spark plugs. The dealership also found that 3 of the cylinders had 0 compression in them.

The dealership is saying that if they can't find the fault that it will be a full engine replacement.

Speleos: not sure what huh translates into for a question.

I don't mean to answer for Speleos but he's probably just questioning the legitimacy of your post. Lately there have been numerous bogus posts to give GM and/or the Acadia a bad name, then there's those just out to stir the boat and cause trouble or trolls as Speleos puts it.... and then there's post like yours were...well there just isn't enough info to formulate a response. There's signature lines that no one cares to fill in these days so those who stand by the GM name and specifically the Acadia kinda go hmmmmmm!!?!?!?! He's sorta a "guardian" of the forum if you will. Anyways....

On to answer your concern if it is a defect in the engine and does require a full engine replacement then technically the Powertrain warranty should in essence cover this being that the engine and vehicle were/are properly maintained. Get in contact with GM customer service on the forum and they should be able to assist. I own a 2011 with only 36K and am curious if this is the fate of my vehicle in a few yrs or miles (but I highly doubt it) so posting a follow up is always helpful. It appears that your probably not the 1st owner so gathering service records will help you out if GM requests them from you.

It sucks having this happen during vacation but working out the details with GM directly might be beneficial at this point versus the dealer if you feel stuck...no pun intended. They might be able to reimburse any travel expense or get you a rental to get back home. Someone here had repairs done out of state and had the Acadia shipped/hauled back to the home state and I think all at the expense of GM.

Does the dealer have any clue as to what may have caused this? Could it have been an issue with the catalytic converter as these issues cause a cascade effect like misfires, fouled plugs, coil pack malfunctions and worse case as I've had it happen to me is dreaded piston failure. I see you mentioned the CAT was replaced.

Keep us posted.

 

Actually, there are 2 posts submitted by the same person entered minutes apart that give significantly different information about an engine problem. That's why I posted the 2 quotes together.

 

Actually, there are 2 posts submitted by the same person entered minutes apart that give significantly different information about an engine problem. That's why I posted the 2 quotes together.

Yeah I wanna give the OP the benefit of the doubt but there are some discrepancies in the posts. For example the OP was or is on a cross country vacation since August if I recall correctly and did the OP have these issues prior to leaving on vacation replaced everything and then left on vacation knowing there was a problem or did the OP arrive at their vacation destination and then encounter the issue at which time the plugs were changed...well not here to judge but maybe the stress of having an inoperable vehicle is getting to them...who knows?!?!?!?

 

on the traverse forum- today (and this week) there was a bunch on new posters.... who claim to have multitude of problems with their cars...

A little suspicious

 

I can seethe suspicion. Let me clear things up, sorry for the confusion. We left on Saturday for a cross country trip. This past summer, prior to this trip, I had the to replace the steering rack and catalytic converter. On this trip, I had been getting the stabilitrack off, p0221, and multiple cylinder misfires. Trust me, I wish I was making this up, that would make it easier. My Acadia is currently in the shop having its engine broken down.

 

I'm trying to post the images of the cylinders with oil in them as well as my Acadia on the flat bed being towed, but it is taking forever to upload.

 

Yeah, I've been seething about suspicion for quite a while on this forum.

 

Janaya,

I think we are going to wait this one out since it went into the shop as soon as we got here. The dealership here fully believes that the CAT going bad was a direct result of the engine misfires and issues. It's just a mess.. The dealership should know more by tomorrow. I will update as I get more info.

 

I'm beginning to hear a Paul McCartney album!!

 

Hey, I never called you anything. Good luck with your problem. Hope someone can get it figured out.

BTW, don't try to attach pics here. It won't work. The attachment function is broken on this forum

 

Your first clue that something was wrong should have been when your cat con died before 100k. Fuel and oil accelerate its death. Your dealer is right for believing this. Emission warranty should have covered the cat con repair.

I'm curious to see if it is a head gasket issue or something more serious. You said 3 had no compression? All on the same bank? 1, 3, 5?

 

Your first clue that something was wrong should have been when your cat con died before 100k. Fuel and oil accelerate its death. Your dealer is right for believing this. Emission warranty should have covered the cat con repair.

I'm curious to see if it is a head gasket issue or something more serious. You said 3 had no compression? All on the same bank? 1, 3, 5?

Yes, that's the question I brought up to the original dealership when they changed it but they assured me all was fine. But, I finally got my Acadia from the dealership yesterday. Final diagnostic (I'm not a mechanic and just repeating what I was told by the dealership) of the Acadia was that a piece of metal somehow got into the #1 cylinder and did some pretty bad damage in it. Another piece of metal was stuck in the exhaust valve as well and that was causing zero compression. There were two other cylinders that were low on compression. They went ahead and replaced the motor. As soon as I took the Acadia from the dealership and got on the highway, I got a blinking CEL with a rough running engine. Took it back to the dealership and found out the the wiring clip for the #2 spark plug came off some how (I'm guessing it wasn't fully seated). But that was clipped back on, and the engine runs smoothly.

Sorry for the abrupt posts a few days ago, it was a stressful time.

However, my air mixer seems to be stuck in the defrost position and the air cycles back and forth from warm to cold, anyone have any suggestions? I am hoping it just needs to be reset due to the maintenance that was just done on the Acadia, the air mixer worked perfectly before going into the shop. So, I'm going to reset and go from there. :facepalm:

 

talon2king, review info on how to insert pics in your posts while you're at it. Attachments don't work!

 

talon2king, review info on how to insert pics in your posts while you're at it. Attachments don't work!

Got it, sorry! I'll eventually get it right!

 

However, my air mixer seems to be stuck in the defrost position and the air cycles back and forth from warm to cold, anyone have any suggestions? I am hoping it just needs to be reset due to the maintenance that was just done on the Acadia, the air mixer worked perfectly before going into the shop. So, I'm going to reset and go from there. :facepalm:

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This happened in our 12' Terrain we had on a 95F day. When we got home from our 1-1/2 hour trip, I disconnected the battery over night. The next morning I hooked it back up to reset everything, 1/2 hour later, I started it up, and never had any problem for the 1-1/2 years, when trade for the new 14' Acadia. Happy the dealer was able to take care of you and back on the road! :cheers:

 

_____________________
This happened in our 12' Terrain we had on a 95F day. When we got home from our 1-1/2 hour trip, I disconnected the battery over night. The next morning I hooked it back up to reset everything, 1/2 hour later, I started it up, and never had any problem for the 1-1/2 years, when trade for the new 14' Acadia. Happy the dealer was able to take care of you and back on the road! :cheers:

I pulled the fuse on it and that seemed to fix it. Thank goodness. I did a 7 hour road trip with it just blowing through the defrost vents on Friday. That was not fun!

 

... Final diagnostic (I'm not a mechanic and just repeating what I was told by the dealership) of the Acadia was that a piece of metal somehow got into the #1 cylinder and did some pretty bad damage in it. Another piece of metal was stuck in the exhaust valve as well and that was causing zero compression. There were two other cylinders that were low on compression. ...

Did they show you these pieces of metal? If they did, could you describe them? Did they give you any idea at all about what they were, or where they might have broke free from the engine? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't give them to you if you had asked. Things like that would most likely be turned-in as part of the warranty return requirement.

 

Did they show you these pieces of metal? If they did, could you describe them? Did they give you any idea at all about what they were, or where they might have broke free from the engine? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't give them to you if you had asked. Things like that would most likely be turned-in as part of the warranty return requirement.

No they didn't. I honestly didn't think to ask, the only thing that was on my mind was grabbing the Acadia and getting home. I did ask where they think it came from and they weren't too sure. They think that whatever it was could have caused the cat con to go bad as well. I wish I would have thought to ask to see the metal. When I arrived there, they had the old engine already packaged to be sent back. The nice thing about having the new motor is that the cylinder head cover is now aluminum and not plastic - at least that is what the tech said. It runs great now though and didn't have a single issue on the way home (except the blowers not changing from defrost, which I fixed by pulling the fuse). I'm just glad she's fixed. It's a great vehicle and I don't want to get rid of her.