engine stuttering/shaking at stop while in drive

[timr847]

Hey guys this car 2013 2.4 100k+ has been a complete nightmare for me! First was timing issue so i changed out timing chains, guides, cam phasers(buy oem because the aftermarket phasers are 2 different phasers i learned that the hard way took me 2 moinths to figure out when i looked at GM parts gguide ). took off head, took apart, cleaned it and replaced the springs, valves n lifters. This POS is still stuttering/shaking while stopped. I'm beside myself i put well over $1500 into this pos and its still doing this, does anyone know why or what it could be. I replced entire timing set, redid entire top end and still doing this stuttering crap. PLEASE HELP!

 

[corvairbob]

by any chance did you clean the TB? also is is givieng any codes yet? do this test if youhave not yet done it. when at a stop and it starts the issue try putting it into neutral. when the engien speeds up does that go away? if so the TB or the gas pedal. most likely the TB needs to be cleaned. if it continues then the plugs coild or injectores or even the high pressure fuel pump.

but you have to give us some codes. the dirty TB will not give codes for the most part. let us know n this issue below is more for upcoming issues on this topic

for all future 2nd gen tieming chain repair issues go to cloyes and get the parts. they are oem and 1/2 the price. the phasers can be 2 different one or the same. on the LEA engien they are the same, for allt he rest of the engien they are different. if after you do this work and yous till get the p0017 code more than likey the exhaust cam relutor slipped on the cam and has to be reset and staked so it will not turn again. that is quite a thread on this between me and another fella. i may be able to find that for anyone that needs to read that one. it is a long one. good luck been there done that.

 

[timr847]

When it does do it yes it stops after putting into neutral?
TB, Throttle body?
I replaced both fuel pumps in tank and high pressure pump. Entire top end was completely redone with new parts. Thats why I'm freaking out over this. I have an employee with same type of car but 2011 n 3.6 and she said their mech. told her to put injector cleaner in there , she did and appearently it went away for hers. I had my daughter do same but really no change but maye she needs to do couple times ?

THANK YOU for response!!

 

[corvairbob]

yes TB = throttle body. git that a try. my girls did that and when she either put it into neutral or turned on the a/c or gave it a bit of gas, that stutter went away. and like i said it could be coils plugs or injectors. the plugs and coils toss out codes a faulty injector will give a code but if it is not preforming good it may not toss a code. one way si to pull the injectors power plug one at a time to find the bad or affected cylinder and then at least you know what injector might be the issue. but before you go thru all that do like daughter did and put in some injector cleaner. i hear seafoam does good at this. and give it some time to work. than if it fal you know what youahve to do. more wrench turning. but bad injectors bad coils and plugs should be setting codes, only dirty injector may not set codes.

if the a/c or a bit more throttle or neutral at stops helps that leads to a dirty TB. good luck

 

[RGonzalez]

I started having the same problem with my 2013 Equinox (2.4 L engine) at about 115K miles. One-owner car, never driven hard--just started failing. Turns out the engine was dry, no oil. Now I have to add a quart of oil every 1000 miles or so, to keep the car running. Defective piston rings led to excessive oil consumption, a huge problem that apparently thousands of owners were never informed about:

New Class Action Claims More Chevy Equinox, GMC Terrain Vehicles Plagued by Oil Consumption Issue

A proposed class action lawsuit filed late last week claims certain Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain vehicles are plagued by a defect that causes the SUVs to burn or consume excessive amounts of oil, leading to a risk of catastrophic engine damage.

www.classaction.org

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/01/gm-hit-with-2-4l-ecotec-engine-class-action-lawsuit-in-missouri/

Turns out that I wasn't infomed either (even though GM has sent me notices about other unrelated recalls). GM Customer Care keeps giving me the runaround, even though it has already cost me $230 for diagnostic tests and now, the excessive oil consumption has now ruined the front catalytic converter. Estimated cost to replace piston rings and catalytic converter: $8200

2013 Equinox owners beware--you may have never been informed about these extended warranties ('Special Coverage Adjustments'), and it's now too late to seek help--unless a class action suit is initiated someday:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10171426-9999.pdf

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10183216-9999.pdf

 

[corvairbob]

did you get your engine taken care of? most of the time what happens is that issue eats away at the timeing chain and guides and most wind up with having those repaired and then rings done. because my girl complained of oil use when i did the timing i yanked out the engine thru the top, it can be done rather easy and took it down to a rebuild.

 

[swisscheese]

I started having the same problem with my 2013 Equinox (2.4 L engine) at about 115K miles. One-owner car, never driven hard--just started failing. Turns out the engine was dry, no oil. Now I have to add a quart of oil every 1000 miles or so, to keep the car running. Defective piston rings led to excessive oil consumption, a huge problem that apparently thousands of owners were never informed about:

New Class Action Claims More Chevy Equinox, GMC Terrain Vehicles Plagued by Oil Consumption Issue

A proposed class action lawsuit filed late last week claims certain Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain vehicles are plagued by a defect that causes the SUVs to burn or consume excessive amounts of oil, leading to a risk of catastrophic engine damage.

www.classaction.org

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/01/gm-hit-with-2-4l-ecotec-engine-class-action-lawsuit-in-missouri/

Turns out that I wasn't infomed either (even though GM has sent me notices about other unrelated recalls). GM Customer Care keeps giving me the runaround, even though it has already cost me $230 for diagnostic tests and now, the excessive oil consumption has now ruined the front catalytic converter. Estimated cost to replace piston rings and catalytic converter: $8200

2013 Equinox owners beware--you may have never been informed about these extended warranties ('Special Coverage Adjustments'), and it's now too late to seek help--unless a class action suit is initiated someday:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10171426-9999.pdf

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10183216-9999.pdf

If you are using synthetic oil stop. Start using high mileage (syn blend)10-40. That should cut your oil consumption in at least half

 

[corvairbob]

no i tried that and that did not help high mileage oil is for the seals to help maintian them due to them getting hard over thime and heat cycles in fact if you do a rebuild and new seal you do not need high mileage oil again until the engine miles get up into the 150k range. thanks

 

[dtrannyman]

For the fellow with this initial post -
I just went through the frustration of occasional stuttering and stalling. I couldn’t understand it. My situation seemed to be remedied once I pulled the intake and cleaned the Pcv circuit. The entire circuit- not just the hole! New gaskets and install.
Perhaps this will help you.
That 2.4 is something special.
That’s for sure

 

[corvairbob]

one thing you can do is a retro pvc system there are a few YT on how to do it, the new equinox has put the pvc system back

 

[dtrannyman]

I’d hope so!! Only if things stayed perfect would that ever stay working. And that’s impossible.
Glad they fixed it

 

[Rizzo81]

Was this solved? What was the fix?

 

[timr847]

Not yet put my obd on it, now have 4 codes so now trying to figure which one to start with, hoping it would be throwing the other codes? On top of wife town n country trans solenoid and now my 7.3 blowing white smoke. The fun never ends

Hoping its the fuel pressure regulator but its also saying it's advanced( jump timing? ) not sure how because the whole reason of me ripping entire top end was the timing chain guide broke and I spent many times setting the engine at top dead center because not having same can phasers( kits give you different ones and timing never would line up, took couple weeks to figure out. I looked up Chevy parts guide and cam phases are same part # and then everything lined up, so I don't know how it would jump off so I'm hoping it's the fuel pressure regulator which is underneath the fuel pressure rail, that's one part I didn't change because I must have messed with the timing 6 times probably can pull timing cover off blind folded LMAO
When I get a chance I'm going to probably change fuel pressure sensor and how that ford it otherwise ripping open timing cases again

 

[Clark111t]

Hey guys this car 2013 2.4 100k+ has been a complete nightmare for me! First was timing issue so i changed out timing chains, guides, cam phasers(buy oem because the aftermarket phasers are 2 different phasers i learned that the hard way took me 2 moinths to figure out when i looked at GM parts gguide ). took off head, took apart, cleaned it and replaced the springs, valves n lifters. This POS is still stuttering/shaking while stopped. I'm beside myself i put well over $1500 into this pos and its still doing this, does anyone know why or what it could be. I replced entire timing set, redid entire top end and still doing this stuttering crap. PLEASE HELP!

I'm having the same problem. I rebuilt my engine do to a burnt valve and the known oil consumption problem. It didn't have the surging and bucking before. Mine starts doing it after the engine is warmed up. I have replaced all the sensors, cat, both fuel pumps and have no codes showing. It's a nightmare.

 

[gr8shot]

Hey guys, first post here, but not new to forums. Trying to fix my mom's 2012 equinox that's having this same issue. This summer I replaced the high pressure fuel pump and the issue went away completely. It recently came back about mid January. I just replaced the HPFP again, also with the same AC Delco unit I used the first time, and it did nothing to remedy it this time.

All my internet searching leads to posts with lots of discussions with no solutions. Lots of theories, but no definitive solutions. This thread seems to have the most knowlegable folks out of all of them I've found so far. But again no solution. If anyone has fixed it, I'd love to hear what did it.

 

[gr8shot]

Well for anyone that might search this in the future, I replaced both of the VVT cam actuators and the issue is gone. Super easy to replace, one bolt each, and one connector on the top of them. Done in less than 10 mins. While I had the engine cover and intake off, I also cleaned the throttle body with some brake clean on a rag, and did an oil change. Throttle body was pretty clean, so I don't suspect that had any effect. GM tech I talked to earlier this week told me he's replaced those cam actuators before and fixed the issue, and they fixed it for me. There were no DTC's for the cam actuators, no indication they were causing issues. Fingers crossed this is the end of the issues.

 

[Egugino]

Got a 17 equinox over 100+ thousand miles that’s running rough after timing chain change. Code that are coming up are p0016, p0017, and p0f41. Along with camshaft position sensor, throttle body sensor and throttle body cleaned

 

[Egugino]

Cam actuators are brand new

 

[Dazx]

Hi, 2013 equinox 2.4l
I was having this same issue which started about 2,000 miles after a rebuild, I have pretty much done everything that has been posted here. What I learned was after an oil change things seemed better, so it lead me to believe that the vvt solenoids were causing the issue, after removing them I could see debris on the screens, I cleaned them and replaced them, the car runs fine now. My assumption is no matter how clean your mechanic is debris will get into the engine and then the oil during a rebuild, and since most people posting here have recently done extensive engine work I think this might help? Since the issue, I have changed my oil a couple times at 3,000 miles and every time I clean the vvt solenoids which seem to be clean now when I remove them, the oil is also free of debris from what I can see. I have not had a problem since. Hope this helps?