06 equinox no heat part two

[GMCustomerService]

Originally Posted by blkmonday

Dropping truck off at dealer tonight. They are going to re-diagnose for free and hopefully the warranty covers it. Sad that I hope it's a head gasket since I know warranty actually covers that. I just want it fixed

Hi blkmonday,

I'm sorry to hear that you've been experiencing troubles with your Equinox. I'm glad that your dealership is going to diagnose your vehicle at no charge this time and hopefully they're able to find the cause of your concerns. If there is anything we can do to try and help with this situation please let us know. We'd be more than happy to document this issue within our system and reach out to your dealership.

Amber N.
GM Customer Care

[blkmonday]

yea GM customer service you will be receiving an inbox message in a few as the saga continues.
took it to dealer last wednesday morning. had to get a ride to work and back from work as i work throughout the state during the days and cannot afford another day off to deal with this albatross i call my car..anyways
they had it all day and said they vacuum filled the coolant because there was air in it (no shit). they narrowed down the misfire in cylinder # 2 to a defective spark plug. replaced it and drove it and it didnt over heat and didnt cause check engine light to come back on. they did this for free which was cool with me.
Friday night I had a gig (im a musician part time and use this vehicle to haul my P.A. gear) after i loaded out (3am) i was idling the truck and had no heat again. excessive smoke coming out from tailpipe. i know what a cold car smaoke looks like and this seemed awfully excessive to me. The heat didnt come on at all until i was on the highway. the car itself was at normal operating temp sitting in the parking lot. i should have had heat.
today went to grocery store and check engine light back on and its misfiring again
I HATE THIS CAR!
never in my life have I owned a vehicle that i have hated. lucky me!
so its back to the dealer (30 minute ride one way) for round ???? i lost count at this point. im starting to give up and i want another vehicle. anything but an equinox/torrent

[Tech II]

Sure looks like a head gasket.....

[blkmonday]

well its at the dealer again. ran awful today but made it to work and then to dealer. dealer let me use a rental car for the time being free of charge, so thats cool so far. we will see. ill keep this thread updated

[blkmonday]

just realized I never followed up on this thread...it was the head gasket as I and you guys on here predicted the first time I took it to dealer. after 4 trips to the dealer they finally fixed it under warranty. ive had heat and no overheating for a few months now. although I still dislike this vehicle. I really feel like they built these things like garbage.

[Tech II]

Thanks for reporting the fix......sorry you had such a problem with the dealership....vacuum filled the coolant? So they knew it had an air pocket, yet they didn't find the source of the leak? Someone dropped the ball....defective spark plug? Riiiiiiiiight! Just like any shop, the shop is only as good as the techs that work for it....

[johnholl]

The problem with mine was also the head gasket. After owning 3 vehicles with GM V engines, apparently GM still doesn't know how to correctly design, or assemble their V6 engines correctly. [Or give a shit about those who purchase their products.] This is what i did with my Equinox. If your head gasket is not too far gone....

Step 1. Go purchase a bottle of Bars Stopleak for head gaskets.

Step 2 Drain out all the Dexcool and DO NOT refill with Dexcool. Use a similar universal blend

Step 3 Add Bars per label directions.

Step 4 save $ 1,500.00 by not replacing the head and intake gaskets

Step 5 Do not own another GM V6

[joerom]

blkmonday, what ended up finally fixing this? Was it the head gasket? I am having the exact same problem with my 06 Equinox.

[joerom]

Ok I see it now. Nevermind. Sorry, I'm new to this forum.

[johnholl]

Originally Posted by blkmonday

just realized I never followed up on this thread...it was the head gasket as I and you guys on here predicted the first time I took it to dealer. after 4 trips to the dealer they finally fixed it under warranty. ive had heat and no overheating for a few months now. although I still dislike this vehicle. I really feel like they built these things like garbage.

The engines are fine. The gaskets are el-cheapo. Get rid of the Dexcool. Install Global coolent in its place. Most likely the dealership should have been able to diagnose this with a coolent pressure test followed by a compression test. Not rocket science. The biggest pain is not having a cap on the radiator.....makes diagnosing harder putting the presure cap on the overflow tank