Any engine upgrades available for the Buick Enclave?

[John105]

It isn’t the worst job in the world. Time consuming yes, dash can be torn down to accessible components in about an hour.

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not bad, the hvac actuators will be back in service in no time. As mentioned, not being able to defrost the windshield is not a joke--it's needed and a safety issue

 

[John105]

On good day in the best conditions maybe I could get 20 mpg on our Enclave. Average was probably around 16-18 mpg which is about the same as my 5.3 Yukon XL before it. The big difference is my wife hated driving the Yukon so Enclave was a better option. Not everyone likes driving big trucks/SUVs.

This is exactly why we got an Enclave new, in 2011. I actually was "afraid" to go body on frame. Which is what we've done in 2025. When I was given a Tahoe loaner car, right away I said, hmmm....more powerful, a little less cargo, and same or better fuel economy? Then when I got the 2016 Suburban loaner, I said dang, better fuel economy than the Enclave? And it was in auto, not 2WD.

 

[Greyroom]

Well it really depends upon the repair. The pic I posted, that was me having the dash 3/4 of the way out to pull the HVAC box out to replace AC Evaporator core and heater core. This entire job was a good 10-14 hours. But I also gutted the 2G onstar module, fixed a lot of rotten weatherstripping and sealing foam, cleaned out the HVAC box. You know… not a slap together deal.

But just HVAC actuators on a GMT800. Pull the dash bezel, pull out the vents, remove the dash cap and you can get to the actuators. The hardest two hidden ones are the recirc door and the top driver or passenger blend actuator (I can’t remember which is which). The mode select actuator is up on the driver side center and the other blend actuator is on the bottom of the HVAC box. Whole job could be done in 3-4 hours if you went slow and took lunch.

A lot of shop prices are the go away price. I think if I was a tech I’d also wanna choose brakes/suspension/fluids on stuff versus interior work on old 800s where a customer might be crabby when the dash cracks or the mounting tabs rip off the 20 YO dash cap… I had to plastic bond them all back on.

That's what he said in that video. It's all just begging him to break something, and then he's on the hook for that part because he can't really give them back something that he broke. It would probably rattle and drive the customer nuts.

I always thought that if you had to pull a modern dash, you just lived with rattles forever after that. To avoid it you'd have to somehow know exactly where to spray some silicone spray while you had it out.