cpscoachtech
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- Joined
- Feb 17, 2025
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Man, I hate to type this much. Hang in here. I am going to shotgun this.
Since we bought this used Equinox it has had a lean code and some exhaust in the cabin. Did not seem terrible and I was afraid to look for it. And sadly, because I did not drive it I didn't find it a problem since the daughter never said a word about it. You could also hear it in the cabin. I assumed a bad cat or some exhaust pipe issues.
Over time I would spend the weekend going through forums and posts and google to see if I could pinpoint the lean code issues I had. I only had a cheaper handheld OBD2 reader. So, I threw the usuals at it. HP fuel pump, a new vapor canister purge solenoid, and a catch can. Nothing ever changed. Eventually I even replaced the Amazon HP fuel pump with an OEM. Nothing helped. But I was looking at gas and shouldn't have been.
The rattling had become loud enough that forced a timing chain and guide repairs. I did it. Ain't that bad. Especially after your old man put the main seal in backwards and you have to take it all apart again to turn it back around. Now I have more tools that I will probably never use too. Bearing seal tools and such. The chain tensioner can be a real pain until you turn it inside to align it where you can get the threads to screw in. after that job was completed I have a whining noise and its sounded like it was around the main seal. I seen the post about the fix for that little whine on here. I haven't replaced that seal yet though. Lets ride with it. You can't hear it going down the road anyway. haha. Don't be too scared of doing the timing chain job if youre halfway able to turn a wrench without rounding a nut off. Also changed plugs during thsi time. Mid Feb timeline.
I do have a cousin who is or was a GM cert mechanic for 20 years or so. He said just turn it over two times by hand and you'll know if you are out of time. Since they are zero interfernce engines you won't be able to turn it over if you are out. At least that is what he told me. I am going with that as the truth. All was good. While I was replacing the chain I decided to take off the intake manifold and clean the pcv orifice. Decided a bigger hole would be better. Wrongo. Went back in, jb welded a small square metal piece to the manifold and drilled out the proper sized hole. Started it and it was missing. Ran like crap. Checked codes and it said something about an injector short and miss on 2. So off came the manifold to check the injector wiring. In my head I just figured I pulled a wire out. Took off the rail and found that one injector had a bare wire going into an injector. Like it had been stripped back almost a half inch. It was under everything from top view and there was no way I did it. I don't think anyway. So I liquid taped it and made sure it was not shorting any longer and voila. It fixed it. Yet the lean code remained. But it sounded great and seemed to run just fine.
Two months later the daughter was getting gas. It died. Embarrasing to share, the boyfriend called and said I think its out of oil. So I told him to grab a few quarts of 5w30 and fill it up. Started it back up and she took it to college. It about an hour and half drive away from home. No issues. I think it did die one other time at idle. She gets home and last Saturday I decided to look at it. I started it up and it ran fine for a minute or two. I turned it off. Since I went cheap and bought an Amazon timing kit and the vvt solenoids I decided to replace those. I bought two oem vvt solenoids and swapped them out. It started and ran well about 30 seconds and then started dropping 800 rpms and then back up and down before finally dying. I had bought a mucar 632 reader. Its pretty awesome actually. Had an intake camshaft position code P0011. My cousin said its not timing. It really can't be. He said its your VVT Sensors. So I swapped them back out with the cheapos just for kicks. Same results with different parts. He suggested a compression check to verify I should even continue throwing parts at it and spending the time I was on it. So I did. All cylinders showed over 175 psi. He said to continue on then. lol
I decided I would go to google AI. I gave them all the information and listed all the parts l replaced and it told me to look at my fuel trims. I gave the results and it said to look at my exhaust manifold. There was my issue. Staring me in the face after I removed the heat shield. Replaced it and boom. Fuel trims were perfect. Then it died. Here we go. I had doubts that crack that was in the exhaust was killing the engine. I knew it wasn't helping things but something told me it wouldn't fix my issues. So I went back and told Google it was still dying. They said "you need to clean your pcv orifice. Obvious PCV issues going on here." I asked if I just cleaned that a few months back and it is actually clean, is there anything else. They aked if there was suction or blowing pressure when removing oil cap. I have pressure and not suction. Google AI says I "obviously have a ruptured valve cover and it needs replaced. With the exhaust manifold fixed and no vacuum leaks anywhere else it has to be coming in through the manifold, or rings." Ugh.
At this point I am still willing to replace the intake to try but I am becoming more and more concerned about it being something beyond my skills. I am worried the rings are shot even though I have good compression. Could it be valves? What can be causing this car to shut off and be unable to even run? Is google running a scam with me to purchase parts? Are they in it with the man? lol The thing that throws me off is the overnight unwillingness to run. It has always ran. You could just tell it wasn't right. Now, something is keeping it from running at all. Even though I smoke checked it and found not one place that smoke came out and even though I cleaned the pcv a few months ago. But that was months ago. Could things have changed since then? Do I need to look at the intake again? Do I need to do another smoke test?
Since we bought this used Equinox it has had a lean code and some exhaust in the cabin. Did not seem terrible and I was afraid to look for it. And sadly, because I did not drive it I didn't find it a problem since the daughter never said a word about it. You could also hear it in the cabin. I assumed a bad cat or some exhaust pipe issues.
Over time I would spend the weekend going through forums and posts and google to see if I could pinpoint the lean code issues I had. I only had a cheaper handheld OBD2 reader. So, I threw the usuals at it. HP fuel pump, a new vapor canister purge solenoid, and a catch can. Nothing ever changed. Eventually I even replaced the Amazon HP fuel pump with an OEM. Nothing helped. But I was looking at gas and shouldn't have been.
The rattling had become loud enough that forced a timing chain and guide repairs. I did it. Ain't that bad. Especially after your old man put the main seal in backwards and you have to take it all apart again to turn it back around. Now I have more tools that I will probably never use too. Bearing seal tools and such. The chain tensioner can be a real pain until you turn it inside to align it where you can get the threads to screw in. after that job was completed I have a whining noise and its sounded like it was around the main seal. I seen the post about the fix for that little whine on here. I haven't replaced that seal yet though. Lets ride with it. You can't hear it going down the road anyway. haha. Don't be too scared of doing the timing chain job if youre halfway able to turn a wrench without rounding a nut off. Also changed plugs during thsi time. Mid Feb timeline.
I do have a cousin who is or was a GM cert mechanic for 20 years or so. He said just turn it over two times by hand and you'll know if you are out of time. Since they are zero interfernce engines you won't be able to turn it over if you are out. At least that is what he told me. I am going with that as the truth. All was good. While I was replacing the chain I decided to take off the intake manifold and clean the pcv orifice. Decided a bigger hole would be better. Wrongo. Went back in, jb welded a small square metal piece to the manifold and drilled out the proper sized hole. Started it and it was missing. Ran like crap. Checked codes and it said something about an injector short and miss on 2. So off came the manifold to check the injector wiring. In my head I just figured I pulled a wire out. Took off the rail and found that one injector had a bare wire going into an injector. Like it had been stripped back almost a half inch. It was under everything from top view and there was no way I did it. I don't think anyway. So I liquid taped it and made sure it was not shorting any longer and voila. It fixed it. Yet the lean code remained. But it sounded great and seemed to run just fine.
Two months later the daughter was getting gas. It died. Embarrasing to share, the boyfriend called and said I think its out of oil. So I told him to grab a few quarts of 5w30 and fill it up. Started it back up and she took it to college. It about an hour and half drive away from home. No issues. I think it did die one other time at idle. She gets home and last Saturday I decided to look at it. I started it up and it ran fine for a minute or two. I turned it off. Since I went cheap and bought an Amazon timing kit and the vvt solenoids I decided to replace those. I bought two oem vvt solenoids and swapped them out. It started and ran well about 30 seconds and then started dropping 800 rpms and then back up and down before finally dying. I had bought a mucar 632 reader. Its pretty awesome actually. Had an intake camshaft position code P0011. My cousin said its not timing. It really can't be. He said its your VVT Sensors. So I swapped them back out with the cheapos just for kicks. Same results with different parts. He suggested a compression check to verify I should even continue throwing parts at it and spending the time I was on it. So I did. All cylinders showed over 175 psi. He said to continue on then. lol
I decided I would go to google AI. I gave them all the information and listed all the parts l replaced and it told me to look at my fuel trims. I gave the results and it said to look at my exhaust manifold. There was my issue. Staring me in the face after I removed the heat shield. Replaced it and boom. Fuel trims were perfect. Then it died. Here we go. I had doubts that crack that was in the exhaust was killing the engine. I knew it wasn't helping things but something told me it wouldn't fix my issues. So I went back and told Google it was still dying. They said "you need to clean your pcv orifice. Obvious PCV issues going on here." I asked if I just cleaned that a few months back and it is actually clean, is there anything else. They aked if there was suction or blowing pressure when removing oil cap. I have pressure and not suction. Google AI says I "obviously have a ruptured valve cover and it needs replaced. With the exhaust manifold fixed and no vacuum leaks anywhere else it has to be coming in through the manifold, or rings." Ugh.
At this point I am still willing to replace the intake to try but I am becoming more and more concerned about it being something beyond my skills. I am worried the rings are shot even though I have good compression. Could it be valves? What can be causing this car to shut off and be unable to even run? Is google running a scam with me to purchase parts? Are they in it with the man? lol The thing that throws me off is the overnight unwillingness to run. It has always ran. You could just tell it wasn't right. Now, something is keeping it from running at all. Even though I smoke checked it and found not one place that smoke came out and even though I cleaned the pcv a few months ago. But that was months ago. Could things have changed since then? Do I need to look at the intake again? Do I need to do another smoke test?
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