GM 2.4L Ecotec LAF/LEA - Any known problems?

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AdmiralYoda said:
For the 2nd Generation Equinox (2010-2017), there was a re-fresh for the 2016-2017 years. The 2010-2015 got the 3.6L LLT (Trash) or the 2.4L Ecotec LEA (Trash). The 2016-2017's got the 3.6L LFX engine, which is good! The 2.4L LEA (Trash) carried over through 2017 as well.

For the 2018+ Equinox's they came with the 1.5L LYX Turbo or the 2.0l LTG Turbo. The 1.5L LYX (Trash) has tons of reliability problems and the 2.0L LTG is a great motor.

So I've narrowed it down to the following:
  1. 2016-2017 Equinox with the 3.6L LFX. $11k, 3.6L LFX, 100k miles
  2. 2018 Equinox with the 2.0L LTG only. $12k, 2.0L LTG, 110k miles
  3. 2017 GMC Acadia with the 3.6L LGX. $13k, 3.6L LGX, 100k miles.
If (when) the 2016 Mazda CX-5 gets totaled it will depend on the payout on what we pick. Less money.... 2016-2017 Equinox, more money...2017 GMC Acadia.

KBB has a dealer fair purchase price of $9,650 and private party price of $8,600. Browsing on CarFax, any 2016 with close to my mileage (145k) and no accidents is listing for $10k+. We will see.

I'm sure insurance is going to start out around $2k lol.
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Not sure where you are getting your info about the Equinox and the 3.6 but its wrong. No Equinox ever had a LLT 3.6. The LFX 3.6 started with the 2013MY and ran through the 2017MY. The 2010-2012MY's had a LF1/LFW 3.0 V6 option.
 
ctechbob said:
Lol, I knew he was in for a time when he started that project. I'm still baffled how the tone ring spun on the camshaft.......
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I watched part 2 of WWW today and as I was watching it, I could swear Ivan at Pine Hollow saw this on a 3.6 Pentastar in a minivan. IIRC he said the customer swapped the cam in his parking lot.

So, it's not unheard of. Unless I'm remembering wrong. Which is absolutely possible.
 
Lawnman23 said:
Not sure where you are getting your info about the Equinox and the 3.6 but its wrong. No Equinox ever had a LLT 3.6. The LFX 3.6 started with the 2013MY and ran through the 2017MY. The 2010-2012MY's had a LF1/LFW 3.0 V6 option.
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You are correct! 2013-2017's came with the optional LFX V6. I must have made a mistake in my notes. If I go with the 2nd generation Equinox I'm still shooting for a 2016-2017 with the V6. There was a mid-cycle refresh for 2016 and I like the styling a bit better.
 
AdmiralYoda said:
Any known issues with the 2.4L LAF/LEA engines? Google says there are some oil burners and timing chain issues, but it seems more related to poor maintenance. Any thoughts? Thanks!
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I was just going to post that Watch Wes Work video, but @supton beat me too it. IMO, the worst thing about the 2nd gen Equinox is the 2.4L engine IMO. GM may have made some improvements to them towards the end, but I'm not sure I'd want one. If you poke around enough Equinox forums, you'll see some very high mileage 2.4's and a whole lot more lower mileage issues with them.

I believe the 2018+ with the LYX/LSD 1.5T is the better way to go. I absolutely love my 2021 Equinox LT AWD with the LYX 1.5T. ~58K miles on it currently. I bought it ~13 months ago with 34K miles on it for $19500+TTL.
 
D60 said:
I watched part 2 of WWW today and as I was watching it, I could swear Ivan at Pine Hollow saw this on a 3.6 Pentastar in a minivan. IIRC he said the customer swapped the cam in his parking lot.

So, it's not unheard of. Unless I'm remembering wrong. Which is absolutely possible.
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A little OT, but did you see the 2019 Jeep Wrangler 3.6L pentastar pine hollow video with the bad cam and followers @ ~ 72K miles and no cams are available anywhere? That one shocked me.
 
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I think our friends have this engine and it cannot pass emissions and the fix is expensive so they have been uninspected 3 years. I’d avoid….I’d also avoid the GM 3.6 V6 without any debate, having owned it for 13+ years. I’m a GM fanboy so it’s not as if I enjoy diming out bad products of theirs…
 
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I know with the 3.6 and some of the SUVs the allure is the low price and how nice they are. But once a person is faced with $1,000’s in repairs it’s just downright discouraging. And even disappointing when folks discount experiences all over the web. Because many don’t want to admit they bought the wrong vehicle. I forget our friend’s code and what the repair needed was but it was almost $4k and why they are driving with no emissions inspection on their Equinox with the 4 cyl.

The 3.6 as well has P0420 all day long. Dealer fix is no troubleshooting: is

new primary cat, 02 sensors, and that Cali cat costs a fortune. Equinox was a different issue just mentioning this one.

The way I see it is when this happens and someone bought the vehicle new, they may fix it. But why buy someone else’s major issue if you can help it… my .02
 
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