Rear Main Seal Blown

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mnocero

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I have a 2017 Chevy Equinox, it has less than 65,000 miles on it. 2 days ago while on the highway the rear main seal blew. I took it to our mechanic and he said it was the second one this week they have had to fix with the same problem. Looking on other forums this seems to be a big issue that hasn't been fixed by GM. This was a $1000.00 fix. Won't be buying Chevy again.
 

fixitdad

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My daughters 2017 Equinox has experienced a blown rear seal twice. Both times during extreme cold weather. The issue is due to frozen water in the air cleaner housing where the PCV hose connects. The water freezes and causes excess pressure to build up thus blowing the rear seal. The Chevy dealership in Portsmouth NH is giving her a very hard time about it. This is clearly a design defect that GM should cover. She also has an extended warranty plan, so it should be covered. GM seems to go out of their way to avoid covering their warranty issues. This defect occurs in most cars in cold climates. Easy fix is to drill a weep hole in the bottom of the air cleaner housing just under where the PCV hose enters, but so far GM hasn't admitted to their obvious design defect. The 2017 Equinx has some other glaring design "defects". A most obvious one is the lack of an access panel to change the headlights. Just plain dumb.
 

Srmack

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My daughter's 2017 Equinox sat in our driveway for a couple of days before she started driving home. She had a catastrophic engine failure as the rear main seal failed, and before she could make it to the shoulder of the highway, all the oil drained and the engine seized. Rebuilding the engine is about $8,000 - a new engine is going to cost $9,500. She is devastated and does not have this kind of money for a car we thought was solid. She does not have an extended warranty, the car has about 110k miles, we knew the previous owner and the car has been meticulously maintained it's entire life. It is clear to me that this failure is through no fault of my daughter and is likely due to a design flaw that manifests in cold weather areas having to do with water build up that freezes near the for PVC hose connection that causes pressure build up to blow out the seal. The dealer told me this is a common event with Equinox's this time of year - that he has seen several in the past week - but not quite as catastrophic as my daughter's situation.

What are the chances that GM will make this right for my daughter?
 

HRichardson

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I have a 2017 equinox .smelt fumes for 2 days. Yesterday noticed something had leaked under vehicle.my mechanic was floored to see rear main seal hone with only 65k on vehicle.he called n they said warranty ran out in Oct. Approx 3000 fix. Warned not to drive. I had it towed to dealer where purchased. They also said warranty expired. Called GM they said they would cut 25% of cost which they est. 2600 plus TX. Not happy as it flared my asthma and gave me a migraine.obviously this is still an issue with their vehicles. It was freezing for a few nights here n I wonder also if that is a factor.
 

Cman68

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Having same issue @114,000 KM’s dealer replaced rear seal said cause was pcv valve frozen causing crankcase pressure blowing out rear seal. They repaired replace valve cover with new under warranty. Took unit ran it about 350 KM’s unit puked out oil again from rear seal area took back to dealer advised me that it was a defective seal . Has been at dealer for two weeks now they are saying seal is back ordered .how could they know it was a bad seal if it was not taken apart? Am i wrong in thinking that it froze again? It appears as if i am getting the run around. I called and asked how they knew seal was defective service writer told me mechanic had take some of it apart to verify.i drove to dealer and looked under hood and there was nothing apart. What are my options don’t want to cause a big stink until it get it repaired
 

Moreside85

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I have a 2017 equinox .smelt fumes for 2 days. Yesterday noticed something had leaked under vehicle.my mechanic was floored to see rear main seal hone with only 65k on vehicle.he called n they said warranty ran out in Oct. Approx 3000 fix. Warned not to drive. I had it towed to dealer where purchased. They also said warranty expired. Called GM they said they would cut 25% of cost which they est. 2600 plus TX. Not happy as it flared my asthma and gave me a migraine.obviously this is still an issue with their vehicles. It was freezing for a few nights here n I wonder also if that is a factor.
I had the same thing happen a month ago driving home from work at -35°C. I have the fc219 oil cap that was recommended from a friend on another forum to help vent, unfortunately it too froze up and failed to vent.. mine didn't seize up though. I smelled fumes and immediately pulled over and shut it down. No oil lights or warnings appeared either.. checked dip in morning after towed home and nothing. Put 2 quarts in and still nothing. Must have been close to empty at that point. Mechanic friend quoted me $2280 taxes in to fix mine. It had a chatter to it when I shut it off so guessing damage to the main bearing was done
 

Kellyk

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My daughter's 2017 Equinox sat in our driveway for a couple of days before she started driving home. She had a catastrophic engine failure as the rear main seal failed, and before she could make it to the shoulder of the highway, all the oil drained and the engine seized. Rebuilding the engine is about $8,000 - a new engine is going to cost $9,500. She is devastated and does not have this kind of money for a car we thought was solid. She does not have an extended warranty, the car has about 110k miles, we knew the previous owner and the car has been meticulously maintained it's entire life. It is clear to me that this failure is through no fault of my daughter and is likely due to a design flaw that manifests in cold weather areas having to do with water build up that freezes near the for PVC hose connection that causes pressure build up to blow out the seal. The dealer told me this is a common event with Equinox's this time of year - that he has seen several in the past week - but not quite as catastrophic as my daughter's situation.

What are the chances that GM will make this right for my daughter?
The same exact thing just happened to our vehicle. It's a 2017 with 118,000 miles. The engine seized while we were on the highway with our toddler in the vehicle due to the Rear main seal blowing. Luckily we coasted to the side but it was very scary and extremely dangerous. Not one light came on, even after the engine seized. No check engine light, no low oil light, nothing. We were just quoted $8000 to fix it, and we still have a $10000 loan on the vehicle. Chevy is not paying for any of it. So now we have to buy a new car and roll over our loan. I'm beyond disgusted right now with the situation. Will never buy a Chevy again and I'm making sure to let the world know this vehicle is extremely dangerous and Chevy is hiding the truth from consumers. How do they sleep at night? They could have killed us. And now we are in massive debt. Chevy needs to take ownership for this extremely dangerous design flaw. There should be a class action lawsuit for this at this point.
 

Kellyk

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We have a 2017 Chevy Equinox. Engine Seized on the Highway on Christmas Eve due to rear main seal blowing. The car just shut off and smoke started coming from the engine. We were lucky enough to coast to the side of the highway. We had our 4 year old daughter in the car and this highway is well known for fatalities on a monthly basis. It was the scariest moment of my entire life. Had it towed to the dealer and was quoted $8000 for a new engine. Now we have to try to buy a new car and still owing $10000 on this piece of crap. This vehicle is EXTREMELY unsafe. No lights came on to warn us. No low oil light, no check engine light. Even after the engine seized, no lights came on the dash. I am amazed Chevy is hiding the truth about their defective engines and they are refusing to pay for the repair. Completely disgusted! Someone is going to get killed if this situation does not get addressed. This has caused serious hardship to my family now. Will never buy a Chevy again.
 

nellzz15

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The same exact thing just happened to our vehicle. It's a 2017 with 118,000 miles. The engine seized while we were on the highway with our toddler in the vehicle due to the Rear main seal blowing. Luckily we coasted to the side but it was very scary and extremely dangerous. Not one light came on, even after the engine seized. No check engine light, no low oil light, nothing. We were just quoted $8000 to fix it, and we still have a $10000 loan on the vehicle. Chevy is not paying for any of it. So now we have to buy a new car and roll over our loan. I'm beyond disgusted right now with the situation. Will never buy a Chevy again and I'm making sure to let the world know this vehicle is extremely dangerous and Chevy is hiding the truth from consumers. How do they sleep at night? They could have killed us. And now we are in massive debt. Chevy needs to take ownership for this extremely dangerous design flaw. There should be a class action lawsuit for this at this point.
The same thing happened to me with my 2017 Chevy Equinox on Christmas Eve! My daughter and I stalled out in a busy road. I’m very worried about the costs of getting this fixed. My suv appears to be running when engine has oil. I’m praying that the engine is not damaged. Who can we call at Chevy to complain?
 

rhouse9044

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My wife was driving her 2017 Equinox with 130,000 miles on it and had the same thing happen. The engine didn't seize but all the oil blew out of the rear main seal. She was stuck in -12 deg. weather for an hour until I could get there. The engine has severe damage and will need to be replaced, and when I checked the local boneyard website the three engines they had in stock were sold before I could buy one, indicating we weren't the only ones to have this happen. Now, a different problem has arisen. When I got the car home (towed) I filled the empty crankcase with oil and tried to start the car. It acted like it had a low battery, but the engine light was flashing rapidly. Charging the battery made no difference and now there is no response at all to turning the key- no accessories work, no lights come on, nothing. Is there something in the engine computer that tries to protect the engine (too late) by shutting everything off if starting attempts are made? If so, how do I reset this when I get the new engine put in?
 

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