2005 Chevrolet Equinox from North America - Comments

I have a 2005 AWD Equinox with steering wheel controls and the steering wheel makes a continual "squeaky" noise when turning the wheel in cold weather. This problem was fixed under warranty but it has since come back at 40,000 miles. I read all the other complaints but didn't find this specific one listed.

I have had my Equinox for 3 1/2 years with 45,000 miles now. This is my list of problems.

* Paint has rubbed off the knobs in the car

* CD player stopped working 5 months ago

* Driver window vibrates and rolls down crooked since I had it, but never acts up at the dealership

* Key gets stuck in ignition (major problem). I have been stranded before

* Every once in a while, it takes a while to start (many diagnostics test have been done, but for 3 years no one could fine the cause at the dealership

* Check oil light comes on sometimes

I'm finding a new problem now that others have had with rotors, don't want to talk about it.

My last vehicle was Nissan. I didn't have these problems. I hate to trade it in since I'm so close to paying it off!

I bought my 2005 Equinox new in Nov 05 and I have some of the same issues.

* First thing and most annoying thing is the starting problem. It takes a few tries to get it started. I have found that if you press the gas pedal slightly while starting the car, it does start. I will have the fuel pumps checked out. Thanks to the person who posted that solution.

* Second is the brakes. I have 45k miles on it and already have to replace the pads twice now. I thought it was because I'm a heavy foot, But it seems I'm not the only one. I plan on upgrading the all the brake components this time.

* Before my warranty ran out I had to have the front struts and the water pump replaced. All the talk about the head gasket problem has me worried now, so I'm going to have that checked soon.

* I have had the the same problem with the panel buttons fading, mainly on the radio. But to be honest it really didn't bother me since I replaced the radio with an aftermarket one ind it sounds better then the stock one.

* Overall I love the Equinox and I'm still a loyal GM fan. This is my 4th GM vehicle and I plan on buying more in the future. Thanks for everyone for their help.

We purchased a late 05 Equinox Lt. The car has been great (knock on wood) with the exception of extremely loud tires. This causes a phantom vibration at about 45mph. I plan to replace the stock 17 inch wheels with aftermarket 19's. Other than that a great car for the purchase price. P.S. routine maintenance and synthetic oil are a key to the life of a vehicle.

I too have a 2005 Chevy Equinox that I bought in March 2008, big mistake! The vehicle appeared to be well maintained both inside and out. I was really surprised at how "peppy" it was because I was use to driving a 2005 Mustang GT. As the old says goes "mother knows best", my mom was right on the money!!! She use to tell me that buying a used vehicle is basically like buying someelse's headache. I go through vehicles pretty quick. If something starts "acting up" I am ready to get rid of it. I think if it was under warranty I would not be panicking after reading all of the comments here.

Here is my list that I seem to keep adding to:

1. When I start the car the starter drags, put a new starter on, it is still dragging.

2. There is a horrible noise coming from the rear end, that I was hearing maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks. Now I would say I hear the noise a least once a day. Oh and of course up until a week ago I was the only person that heard it. It makes the noise no matter if the car is running or not. At first I thought it was the temporary tag flapping in the breeze, but that is not it. I would describe it a thump, thh-thump, thump. It sounds like something is going to fall off the rear end. Trying to describe the noise to a mechanic is a joke - especially being a female.

3. Not sure if the transmission is going out, but it seems to get stuck in a lower gear when driving. Not sure if this is related to that problem but it often feels like you almost have to push the accelerator to the floor to go faster. This problem could best be described as driving into high winds.

4. Driving over the slightest bump, the front end sounds as if it is literally going to fall out. Not trying to be funny, but I am always looking in my mirrors to make sure something didn't fall off.

5. New brakes pads were installed and the rotors were turned a few months ago. I first thought I needed an alignment due to the shaking of the steering wheel when I would press on the brake. This has started again along with the high pitch screeching noise of the brakes.

6. The drivers side window button is now extremely hard to push. Just waiting for it to stop working on a cold or rainy day.

7. Ticking noise when the engine is sitting idle.

8. The road noise is horrible! Geez don't try and carry on a conversation if you have the windows cracked. I am surprised I haven't blown my ear drums out due to the pressure it seems to create.

8. The silver color is rubbing off (almost completely worn off) the interior handles.

9. Occasionally the steering wheel has a grinding noise, again not sure what is causing this.

I am stuck between a rock and hard place. I haven't even had the car for a year yet and I feel if I don't get rid of it soon, I am just looking at more problems. I haven't put too much money into it because... well I don't have it. What to do now, trade it in, start fixing things and have a small fortune of parts and labor on the piece of crap?

This is a reply to the Feb 3rd and 4th entries.

I bought my Equinox LS AWD in 2005.

In reply to the Feb 3rd entry, I had the same problem with the tire noise. I had to get a new set of tires at 20k miles and I decided to replace them with Cooper CS4 Touring tires instead of the kind that was already on them and it seemed to fix the noise. I've driven 25k miles since and still have great tread and no noise.

In reply to The Feb 4th entry, for the front end noise when you go over bumps, have the struts checked out. I had the same problem and found out the passenger side strut was "bleeding" and had to be replaced. If that is the problem, have both front struts replaced.

For the window noise if you don't already have a set, you might want try a set of ventshades. They might be a cheap fix to the road noise when you crack your windows. I bought my set for $50 at Advanced Auto Parts, but usually any auto parts store has them.

I only just replaced the brakes and rotors, so I can't really help there.

I hope I was so help.

I purchased my 2005 Equinox LS AWD in August, 2004. Within in the first few months, all the hoses were replaced due to a problem with the cooling system. Shortly after, the heater core blew. That repair took over a week. Under warranty.

Almost 2 years to the date, the heater core blew again. Another week in the shop. Under warranty.

I had every silver painted interior part replaced due to the paint coming off or scratched. Under warranty.

Since my extended warranty was going to end within a few months, I made numerous phone calls to GM Customer Care to start a complaint case in an effort to have my warranty extended due to the all the problems. The only thing they offered was one year of oil changes. Since I've been a very loyal GM customer for many years, I felt this was an insult.

And today, my vehicle is back in the dealer for a blown head gasket. And my vehicle has only 30,000 miles and has been only serviced by a GM dealer. Before this repair can be started, a GM Service Adjuster must approve this repair even though it is still under my extended warranty. So I sit here without a vehicle and don't know if this work will be covered.

There is one thing that is for certain. I will definitely not own this vehicle after my extended warranty has expired. And I will not purchase another GM vehicle as a result of how GM has treated me. My dealer has been great to work with. It's unfortunate that they will lose a customer.

We have a 2005 Equinox, 43k when purchased. We now have a 2005 Equinox with 80k!

Loved this vehicle until 2-14-09. Started overheating on way to sectional swim meet approx 1.5 hours from home. Put water in system, drove almost home, started overheating again! Finally got home, checked engine and voila - blown head gasket, took motor apart and sent heads to machine shop, and...? You guessed it, both heads are cracked!!!

Next step is I'm replacing the engine and selling this vehicle. I guess we are luckier than most. God bless.

I bought my 2005 Chevy Equinox in 2006. Since then have had to do only normal maintenance, i.e. brakes and tires. Over the last year I've been having problems with the ignition (key not turning), silver paint is coming off on the inside, and the seats are terrible to clean (easily stained even from water).

I now have 65,000 miles on it and just recently the car over heated and come to find out it has a blown head gasket and estimated repairs are $850, and if the head is cracked, another $400. The T/C light is coming on, and we have no clue on what that could be.

We're thinking about trading it in, especially after reading about all of the problems with this vehicle. I don't want to start dumping high dollars into a vehicle that's going to continue to have problems. I'm a Chevy fan, but having second thoughts now.

My 2005 Equinox had brake problems.

First brake job, I need new rotors and it fixed the problem!

The clunking noises are the result of bad sway bars. Had one replaced a few months ago, and just recently had the other front sway bar replaced, and the noise went away!

Piece of junk! Only good thing about it is that it rides real nice on the highway!

I have been having all of the same issues with my 2005 Chevy Equinox...

First the CD player went probably 1 year after having the car. I didn’t bring it to the dealer cause my husband found a 5 disk changer for 100.00 on eBay.

The brakes and rotors get changed often. They were just changed on Saturday, and no lie, 3 days later they are squeaking again.

The front end is solo loose and the struts are bad.

I replace the starter, thinking it was bad due to the constant sticking and not starting, but no, just like everyone else said, it's still doing it.

Now I need a new water pump. No one makes it but the dealer, and we are looking at around 300.00; that is nuts considering I have to turn the vehicle in, in 3 months cause the lease is up.

WHAT A HEADACHE... the car is so un-trustworthy that my husband doesn’t really like me driving it with the baby in it... now that’s bad!!!

I own a 2005 Chevy Equinox. I can't say I'm too happy with it.

- Anything painted silver in the car has the paint rubbing off

- Driver side window whistles (bad weather stripping)

- Passenger window doesn't role up properly (I have to push it in the right direction)

- Brakes wore after two years

- Had to replace both front struts

- Windshield wiper fluid container leaks

- Seat fabric seems almost impossible to clean

- Back lift-support recently gave out

I would really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction as to fixing my windows. Seeing as how my warranty is over, I would love to do it myself but don't know how. (Maybe there's a website?)

If you have an answer to my passenger window problem, please e-mail me at ja53@humboldt.edu Thanks!

We have a 2005 Chevy Equinox that we purchased new. We were pretty happy with it up until about 37,000 miles, which would be 1000 miles after the warranty expired. Since then:

- It blew a head gasket at 37000 miles, when we took it to the dealership they mentioned that this had been a common problem with the 2005 models. We asked why it hadn't been recalled and they stated that most of the ones they had seen were still under warranty. We just got "lucky" I guess that ours went longer, and GM refused to extend the warranty for an issue that should have been a recall.

- The radio that they replaced twice under warranty for the paint on the buttons wearing off. Has again worn off and is no longer under warranty.

- It starts on the first try only when it feels like it, otherwise takes 3 or 4 times.

- There is some glitch in the electrical or something, so when you put the car in park the shift indicator light flashes continually between park and reverse, which wouldn't be that big a deal except for that is what is connected to the automatic locks, so the car will just continually lock and unlock over and over again until you take the keys out.

- When you brake at higher speeds, it feels like the car might fall apart.

- The brakes squeak horribly, yet at my last oil change I had them check the brake pads and was told they were fine.

- On top of all of this, my check engine light came on a couple of days ago, and I have tried all of the fixes they list in the manual so it's back to the dealership, I can only pray it's not going to cost us as much as the head gasket did.

I would love to get rid of the piece of junk, but I'm pretty sure we couldn't sell it if we practically gave it away, so we can't afford to replace it right now.

Because of all of the issues, coupled with being ignored by GM when we tried to get them to recognize that a head gasket isn't an issue you should have at 37000 miles, I will not only never ever buy another GM car again, but I have already told and will continue to tell our horrible experience to anyone who is looking for a vehicle, or asks how we like our Equinox.

I have been online looking up how to combat my auto mechanic, who wants to replace my thermostat twice now in a matter of 4 months. The car was overheating, and they first quoted me $1500 to replace the thermostat (again) and the radiator. The key mysteriously got jammed in the ignition as well, so that was an additional $480 they wanted! After taking a car savvy friend to the shop with me, I am now down to $290. Everyone needs to know this though:

The key stuck in the ignition is on a TSV alert. The fix is to grease the assembly (cylinder) with graphite, and once they did this it works and I don't need to replace the whole thing (they spent 5 hours trying to figure this assembly out vs going online right away for the TSV).

I am worried now that the thermostat is not the problem though, and the head gasket could be the problem.

I just purchased a used Chevy Equinox LT, with 62K miles on it. It looks nice on the outside and was clean on the inside, the 'pleather' seats were taken care of. But I've had the car one week and so far these are my problems...

* A/C didn't work and I had to take it to the dealer, and was told they had to order a compressor for it.

* Something is wrong with the electrical wiring because I can lock the doors, but they will not unlock in the passenger doors. Part comes in today or Monday.

* The brakes squeak like crazy! I hate it. I was told the brakes are fine, that ALL equinox and trailblazers to this.

* The dome light came on while I was driving in the freeway in the dark by itself.

* I've already had problems starting the ignition.

TOO MANY PROBLEMS... and I haven't even had it for a week! Thinking of trading it in already!