2005 Equinox

[buckshot1]

Hi,
I have a 2005 Equinox. When it's first started and put in reverse it sputters and hesitates. Once you get going down the road it smoothes out.
Sometimes when starting up a hill it will sputter and buck like it wants to stall. It has never stalled completely but a couple times the check engine light came on flashing but went out after the engine smoothed out.
It seems that if you shift transmission to L4 it will smooth out and run fine. Could the shifting transmission be a factor.
I had the injectors cleaned and it was fine for a while but still does it intermittently.

Any thoughts? Has anyone seen this type of behavior before?

[Airjer_]

Sounds like you might be experiencing a missfire. The check engine light flashing is your clue. Found out what code(s) you are getting and focus in that area. My guess is that there is a P030X (with the x= the affected cylinder, 1,2,3,4,5,6).

[buckshot1]

Thanks Airjer.

That's the code that came up the first time this happened.
Multi cylinder failure. GM's code book said to clean injectors Every time it's done it since there were no codes. It acts like a car did in the old days when it had a clogged fuel filter.
It's been a hard one, since it's intermittent and it's never shut off completely.

[Ruley73]

Originally Posted by buckshot1

Thanks Airjer.

That's the code that came up the first time this happened.
Multi cylinder failure. GM's code book said to clean injectors Every time it's done it since there were no codes. It acts like a car did in the old days when it had a clogged fuel filter.
It's been a hard one, since it's intermittent and it's never shut off completely.

Worn spark plugs and/or spark plug wires often cause the misfire codes, as well as a clogged fuel filter. Regularly cleaning the fuel injectors on modern vehicles is hardly ever necessary. If that Equinox has anywhere around 80,000 miles or more than that, I would replace the plugs with O.E. AC Delcos, and replace the fuel filter.

[buckshot1]

It turned out to be the plugs. I changed the wires too. There were three plugs bad, two of which had almost no electrode left on the plug. The vehicle only had 50000 miles on it. Thought the plugs should last a lot longer than that. Anyway, it's fixed and I used Bosch plugs. No more GM junk for me.

[Airjer_]

Originally Posted by buckshot1

It turned out to be the plugs. I changed the wires too. There were three plugs bad, two of which had almost no electrode left on the plug. The vehicle only had 50000 miles on it. Thought the plugs should last a lot longer than that. Anyway, it's fixed and I used Bosch plugs. No more GM junk for me.

Hopefully you didn't get the platinum +4's? GM's in general don't like to run one those especially in the cold weather. The problem is there is no way to adjust gap! Yours may run fine but the O.E. plugs are the better choice most of the time. The first cold snap we have in MN we will usually replace hundreds of those plugs. Parts guys like to push them for some reason but they really only belong in European cars that require them.

[Ruley73]

All Bosch platinum plugs are definitely junk. A lot of the parts guys that recommend Bosch platimum plugs have limited parts experience and are just doing what the management/corporation is telling them to do. Unfortunately, I was one of those parts guys a few years ago. Just 7,000 miles and 6 burnt out Bosch platinum (single electrode) plugs was all the convincing I needed to deem them as junk. The center electrodes looked like lunar craters after being in my wife's old car (1999 Olds Intrigue, DOHC 3.5L V6) for only 7000 miles.

Unless the manufacturer suggests otherwise (i.e. Ford - Motorcraft, Dodge - Champion), I only install AC Delco or NGK plugs in my cars.

If the three plugs that were bad were all in the same cylinder head, you may have other issues that need to be addressed.