2005 Chevrolet Equinox from North America - Comments

I have a 2005 Chevy Equinox LT with 56,000 miles on it. I originally bought it with 33,345 miles on it.

New brake (2) pads, 5 serpentine belts, new pulleys tensioners, pulleys, the works. Had an extended warranty, which cost me for the 3 years, in and out of shops almost $3000 plus $1700 in warranty work.

Has a overheating problem. I immediately shut the vehicle down and waited for a appointment. When I took it in, it needs rotors, so another brake job. I also have to do a thermostat, the works again, which cost me $847.00.

It has been back 3 times to same dealer with the air bubbles in coolant lines, as the dealer is unable to burp out the coolant lines.

Today I dropped this vehicle, now I am told it has a head gasket problem; approx cost to fix $1700.

I had brought these problems to the CAC 1-800-222-1020 attention at Chevy many times before and they gave me the runaround. Please save yourself some money, buy foreign. The Chevy Equinox is a piece of junk and should not be on the road. Buy foreign!!! Forget American cw.clebo1@netzero.com

I purchased a new 2005 Equinox in June 2005. I am terrified at what I've read here because I have similar problems as have been documented.

Particularly the brakes. First brake job @ 35-40K miles, said I needed the rotors replaced -- never had this occur so soon with any other vehicle.

Now 75K miles, car shimmies when braking over 40-50 mph. I can barely afford doing the brake job (including replacing rotors if necessary). I hope nothing else develops and this is not a problem with the front suspension because I'm 61 yrs old and unemployed almost a year due to downturn in economy. I owe far too much and can't trade or otherwise deal with this of it breaks down -- I'll just have it repossessed.

I always do oil changes regularly when the indicator light comes on. I have come to despise American made cars (certainly not like they were 40 years ago and more. Each any every American car I've owned, either new or used has cost me more to maintain than the cost of the car!

No wonder GM is bankrupt; if they'd have paid attention to customer service and worked to make their cars more dependable. It seems that now the American car market only makes money on after-purchase parts and labor -- a very sad condition for American manufacturing. Now, I wish the government had not bailed out GM or the other two car-makers. Chrysler was a total disappointment for me (1 new, 1 used). Ford 1 used extreme repaid and maintenance. One Toyota Corolla Station Wagon (little problems other that from an oil change place not ensuring oil plug in securely, blew engine; replaced and drove until totaled in an accident.

2005 Equinox bought new in August 2005. Started having suspension issues last last year & definitely had the "apply the brakes over 45 mph & feel like the car is going to shake itself to death" issue. The most disheartening issue is now at 43,000 the head gasket blew. It is a $2200 repair that the dealer has offered to go 50/50 on. I still find this unacceptable & do not even feel safe in this car anymore. I am so upset because I loved this car.

Yes and the fabric stains & the paint wears off, but that is nothing compared to brake & engine issues.

Will never buy a GM car again!!!

Thus far I have enjoyed my '05 Chevy Equinox. Reoccurring problems are: oil light stays on for extended periods even after being reset; brakes are terrible when attempting to apply at speeds of 45-50mph; MP3 player replaced by dealer 4x with refurbished parts; seals around headlights weak; doors unlock automatically when putting in park.

No major problems until last leg of roadtrip - car would not start and I heard a loud thud under hood while attempting to turn on ignition. Could not locate battery under hood. Thank goodness for roadside assist. Noticed very sluggish looking coolant. Any suggestions??

I have a 2005 Equinox with 85000 miles. I also have had most of the problems that I have read on this web site. My warranty is up in a few months and I was wondering if some out there could help with avoiding a future head gasket problem, which as I read could cost me as much as $2000 if it happens after warranty expires. So seeing that I have 4 months left on my extended warranty, what could I have the dealer do as far as checking up if my time is coming up also?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you want to email me direct, maxnicden@aol.com

I have been having paint flaking under the wheel well of my 2005 Chevy Equinox and it is not from stones. Looking at the body it appears to be a web like appearance, unit you press it and the paint came right off. A friend of my bought the same time and the back of his chevy is pealing off. I think GM should look into recall, because I will never Buy another GM until the quality and warranty improves.

"doors unlock automatically when putting in park."

That's not a problem. They're supposed to do that!

I have a 2005 Chevy Equinox AWD and I drove it for about 2 weeks and the front end makes a horrible squeaking noise everytime I turn the wheel. Any comments or know how to fix this problem? I don't want to take it to a dealer and them try to fix it and it not work. I don't have a bunch of money to pay for this and I am tired of wasting money on it. Any ideas? E-mail address is joshua_0818@yahoo.com.

I don't know where to begin... I am still paying on my 2005 Equinox.

I bought it with approx. 19000 miles, the day after I signed the papers, I had to take it to have the rotors fixed...

10K miles later I was on my way to a wedding and the drive shaft snapped in half, that's right, snapped in half. This is an SUV that never leaves the pavement... Thank God I purchased the extended warranty.

Since my purchase I have had 3 fuel sending kits replaced, 2 rear differential replacements, a new wiring harness because the air conditioning wasn't working, and the console lights randomly go on and off, and for some reason when I shut the car off the dinging noise still sounds like I left the keys in the car... even after I have locked it.

The list goes on and on and on... and it is very convenient that when I take it to the dealership for other "odd" issues they can never duplicate the problem... oh and as of 2K miles ago, my warranty has run out, so now all of these issues are going to cost me out of pocket.

I am sour towards Chevy, they have made no attempts to try to keep me as a customer... and I don't need the headaches any longer. I am switching before the car won't start and even the dealership won't want it back.

I have a 2007 Equinox and guess what? I have issues with the throttle body which costs 800.00 to fix. I swear they make vehicle last just long enough to make it to the warranty, then GM really makes money off of people. I don't have 800.00 - point blank. To make matters worse, my head and tail lights have all gone out at the same time - I have had at least 6 changes.

I wouldn't buy another Chevy if someone put a gun to my head. I have one car and need to get to work, the workmanship is crap. I hope they go out of business because they are hurting everyday people - really really bad.

"I swear they make vehicle last just long enough to make it to the warranty, then GM really makes money off of people."

This is EXACTLY what they do. It's why American vehicles become disposable after the warranty runs out.

05 LS FWD Equinox 80K.

I am a auto tech and have had some of the issues that you all have had.

Brakes - ceramic pads are the way to go; with lubing the slides and sticky paste the squeaks will go away.

Rotors warp - insufficient rear brake pressure cause 85%-90% braking done with the front brakes, hence the car dives when braking, which causes the rotors to heat up faster, and the front struts to work harder then they need to. Not a great selection of aftermarket parts for the brakes.

Front struts - just replaced them with new KYB struts and new GM uppermounts. When you replace the struts, get uppermount and take the new ones apart to add more hi temp grease to the bearings to last longer. KYB are half the price of OEM and have a good reputation.

I am just now experiencing the starting issue, which next on my hit list. I don't believe the fuel pump would be the problem because the car will run. It is the initial pressurizing of the system before the crank begins. Maybe a module problem. Like I said, it is my next task for this car.

Since we bought this car in 04, it has had few problems that either the dealer or myself have fixed.

The thump after start up in the rear is a emission valve activating in the charcoal can, which is mounted underneath the car on the floor just behind the rear seat driver side. Some of the other noises could be the front sway bar links.

I am a GM fan. I just retired my 88 Caprice with 285K on a 305 w/o a motor swap, body rotted out.

My 91 Caprice has 114k on it and I hardly do anything to it but general maintenance. It is not necessarily GM's fault, but it is more of the part source and manufacture of the materials that they use.

My 08 Harley has been in the shop more times than any car I have owned combined. Also I had many failures with my 02 Kawa Concours (internal part failures). The parts of today are inferior to what we are used to. We do live in a disposable world, and yes this has been a let down for me considering this is the first new car I have ever bought.

Just my 2 cents.

I have the 2008 Chevy Equinox and I'm at 49000 (highway) miles. Two days ago my car started kind of skipping as I drove down the road... check engine light flashed once in a while. Then yesterday the check engine light came on and stayed on and started skipping/jerking more. Stopped by auto zone and hooked it up for free to the scanner... it said cylinder misfire number 1. Could be a few different things... so I took to the dealership this morning and they want to charge me $95.00 just to diagnose the problem. They guy said it's more than likely the head. Thank God it's still under warranty... this is the first problem I've had with the problem (but it's only a year old).

Very worried regarding all these issues I'm seeing on here.

I have an 05 Equinox with 60,000 miles. on it. It has been nothing but trouble, and now that the warranty is well expired, new issues are cropping up.

1) When driving through thick snow/slush ruts, if some kicks up the car loses power and sounds like the muffler was removed. This started since year 1 and now happens when I drive through rain puddles and water splashes underneath. GM could never fix it as it was only reproducible with a mechanic in the car once. I explained it to a non-GM mechanic and they suggested that the exhaust pipe and exhaust manifold were being supercooled and 'twisted' causing a gap between a gasket joint. His first quote was 1500+ depending.

After warranty expired:

2) Intermittent issues starting - turn key, car turns over, no start. feels/sounds like no fuel to engine.

3) Ignition module seems to be 'scraping' the key, and now when I had 3 new keys made, they work in the door but only the worn key works in the ignition.

4) Replace front driver wheel bearing @55k.

5) New this week: Driver front side - squeaks while driving. Squeak appears after 10 minutes of driving. Sounds like metal on metal wear. Stops when braking.

Time to buy a non-GM vehicle