06 equinox no heat part two

this is a new thread and basically i have the same problem. in a nutshell..i have a 06 torrent/equinox. thats still overheating. replaced thermostat. same problem. took it to dealer and they said water pump and warranty did not cover. i replaced it last week. worked fine for a week. ive burped the living hell out of the system and cant find any leaks anywhere. i still hear water rushing through the system on acceleration like water through a tube. today no heat and it overheated yet again. the dealer obviously mis diagnosed the water pump and im out 100 bucks from their diagnosis plus 60 bucks for the part and 20 for the dex cool. i tried burping it again this morning to see if maybe there was still some air in it from when i did the water pump. a little came out but not a lot. i ran it for awhile on a hill with the cap off, topped it off and drove it. no heat and it over heated. check engine light is now on. :banghead:
there is another chevy dealer thats actually closer to me that i may have to take it too. however thanks to this truck im broke and really cant afford to throw away another 100 bucks on a diagnosis to be told my drivetrain warranty doesnt cover it. i really dont know what to do at this point.
maybe theres a blockage in the coolant lines? should i try flushing it? maybe have firestone flush it and see if that works?...kind of sad that i was hoping it was a head gasket so at least the warranty covered the problem.
Im starting to hate this car and i feel like ive been ripped off. only had it for about 6 months

ok just had a chance to burp it again. more air came out and the heat seems to be working again and it seems to be running cool and not overheating. check engine light is on and the truck was hesitating going up a hill. check engine light was flashing and now is on steady. my code reader is older and wont read the codes from an 06 so im not sure whats going on. i tuned the truck up last week after it was hesitating (plugs and wires) and it was fine until now.
is it possible this is the early signs of a head gasket leak? coolant is very slowly going into combustion chamber and causing the hesitation? i have no signs of water in the oil. on the dipstick at least. im due for an oil change so maybe that will show me something? 80k on the most popular chevy engine...im not impressed at all. im missing my triton v8 ford expedition more and more every day :frown:

i should also mention i did replace the pressure cap as well

Gotta get them codes read. Are you having to add coolant?

ive added very little coolant since the water pump change. pretty much a little after its been burped. up till now i can understand the amount of air that came out from the water pump change, however anymore and somethings got to be sucking some air in. ill see how long it has heat for now. ill get the codes read at autozone tomorrow and will post my results.

i just emailed the dealer (service is closed on sunday)since i bought this money pit only 5 months ago in hopes they may re-diagnose it for free at least. we will see

Make sure you get the code numbers and not just their description of them and post them here. Harbor Freight has decent,basic code readers starting around 60 bucks. Less with store coupons. Why wasn't the water pump covered under the warranty?

they told me my powertrain warranty didnt cover it. the warranty is through NAC and not GM. its the one they sold me with the used car. however this is all through my local Chevy dealer

Such a basic part not to be covered by a warranty. They promise ya the world when they're sellin' them. But ya gotta press them just to show it to ya.

Autozone also has a coolant sniffer for combustion gases in the overflow tank if you suspect head gasket.

took the car to pep boys today. check engine light off but still not running right although today i had heat and it didnt overheat on me.
P0302 cylinder # 2 misfire
i just did a tuneup on it so i thought maybe i gapped the plug wrong or maybe it was loose or the wire isnt on all the way. i pulled the wire on both ends and it seems fine. pulled the #2 plug and it has white droplets on it. not wet but chalky droplets (looked like burned anti-freeze..to me anyways). i cleaned the plug and put it back in. truck runs a little better but still hesitates a little. no check engine light now or should i say for now.

i wrote an email to the dealer yesterday and they are willing to re diagnose it for free. so i guess thats good. a major pain in my ass since the dealer is about 45 minutes away from my home and i use my truck all day at work.

im going to try to post a picture of the spark plug and see what you guys think
http://s270.photobucket.com/user/blkmonday/media/exhibita.jpeg.html?filters[user]=59091144&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0

couldnt upload it grrrr...anyways heres a link to the pic of the plug
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj102/blkmonday/exhibita.jpeg

Focus,focus!

Just did a tuneup and the plug looks like that?

Head gasket?

Yes, it's possible, there are various ways of checking for a head gasket, and should be done before assuming it is one...

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 :(

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

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 :banghead::banghead::banghead:
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

Sure looks like a head gasket.....

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

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.

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....

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

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

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

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