GM 3.6 / 6 AT Enclave / Acadia / Traverse - known issues etc?

[SC Maintenance]

School me on this platform - first Gen GM Lambda platform. Seems to have 3.6l GDI and the 6 speed joint developed by GM / Ford? Goods and bads.

Not interested in other recommendations, I know there are many other options. Interested in learning about this platform. Its at a price point I like and fits my needs. I don't need the 3rd row, and it would be used mostly for family road trips but likely not daily.

Thank you in advance for your experiences and opinions!

 

[Graham Piccinini]

It's a platform that kept many GM mechanics well-off financially, and improved their kids' college funds. And it made a lot of owners steer away from GM, because at some point people just couldn't afford to keep fixing their Enclaves & Traverses. Please do yourself and your wallet a favor and steer clear of this platform.

Here is what actual Traverse owners are saying about them:

Here are 10 just off the top of my head:
1. Timing change failure
2. Steering pump failure
3. Steering rack failure
4. Ignition coil failures
5. HVAC actuator failure (seems to be fixed on 2013+)
6. Gas tank vent valve failure
7. Transmission wave plate failure
8. Failure to start (numerous reasons)
9. Engine failure while on the road (numerous reasons)
10. Flash drive always plays from the top

Another one:

I have a 2009 Traverse AWD with the LT trim. Now with 185,000 miles, there have been ~$10K in repairs (failed parts, not routine maintenance) over the lifetime of the vehicle. Just did the math on whether to buy a new car, so wanted to share my traverse history here. I've been a happy user of the site for troubleshooting and repairs, and wanted to contribute.

-water pump - replaced twice under warranty (first two failed and left me stranded)
-steering rack - replaced twice (~$1500 each time)
-front struts
-front lower control arms
-timing chain at 160K (~$3000)
-throttle body at 140K
-transmission control module rebuild at 180K
-oil pressure sensor
-front wheel bearing
-rear lift gate shocks - under warranty
-rear washer fluid pump
-engine mounts
-vapor purge valve

As a comparison our 2007 Honda Odyssey has had two major repairs - steering rack on my dime, and two power door motors on warranty.

And unfortunately there are a lot more... These^ are just scratching the surface.

 

[mrsilv04]

Ask the guy who works in a junkyard...

 

[Egg_Head]

I owed a 2013 Acadia for nearly 200k miles, great family hauler, comfortable road car however:

Starter knocked out some teeth in the flywheel = new flywheel
Torque converter replaced
Timing chains replaced at 145k
Water pump replaced

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other 4 digit repairs

 

[Graham Piccinini]

Not interested in other recommendations, I know there are many other options. Interested in learning about this platform. Its at a price point I like and fits my needs. I don't need the 3rd row, and it would be used mostly for family road trips but likely not daily.

At similar price point there are much better options available. And with basic maintenance will serve you about 3-7 times longer than a Traverse...

- 2009-2015 Honda Pilot 3.5L legendary J-series. My 2009 still doesn't consume any oil at 207k miles. And the rest of the SUV is doing so well, that I decided to drop $2k on it's maintenance, rather than buy another lower mileage car. That $2k went into timing belt, water pump, cam & crank seals, intake hose, alternator, front VTEC solenoid, and rear hydraulic motor mount. I can see this vehicle easily reaching 300k miles, unless Bambi interferes with that plan. I also mentioned this before, but this Pilot handles a lot better than any other FWD based V6 SUV, and I've driven many. Better than the 2.5T Volvo XC90 too.

- 2007-2015 Hyundai Veracruz 3.8L transversely mounted. I know only 2 people who have these, and both are very happy with them. Haven't heard of any failures with regular maintenance. Neglected ones did chew through a transmission here and there at high mileages, due to lack of periodic ATF replacement.

- 2009 Kia Borrego. Body on frame SUV, available with longitudinally mounted 3.8L V6 or 4.6L V8. It is less reliable than Pilot or Veracruz, but still MUCH more reliable than Traverse/Enclave/Acadia/Outlook.

- 2001-2007 Toyota Highlander. Aged, but proven and reliable. Skip the 2.4L, due to heads lifting off the block. But 3.0L or the 3.3L are great options. Even Hybrids are available. We had two 2006 Highlander Hybrids and both were great. Lots of power (3.3L+electric) and MPG stayed at 27 city and 25 highway.

 

[cptbarkey]

A friend owned a 2012 Impala with the 3.6 and it went to about 150k before he sold it. The dash actuators knocked like a crew framing a house. He needed only general maintenance and intake cleaning wasnt ever done best I recall.

The overarching bad thing about the Lambda platform is its difficulty to service the engine. I do not believe out the top is an option, and out the bottom is the service procedure. If you are comfortable with that, then maybe collecting a field of broken Lamba's to cobble 1 good one is a possibility. I had dreams of that with Chrysler Cloud cars, but the junkyards beat me to it with acres of them.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Ask the guy who works in a junkyard...

LOL. "Because They ALL blow up".

Guess I have my answer. Thank you!

 

[ragtoplvr]

Mary Barra is sure doing a good job ruining the company.

 

[AZjeff]

Mary Barra is sure doing a good job ruining the company.

Yeah the first gen Lambda platform came out in 2009 and gen 2 came out in 2018. Barra became GM CEO in 2014 but blame her for all the problems before her time. She hasn't been stellar but the gen 1/3.6 problems were already happening.

 

[edyvw]

Mary Barra is sure doing a good job ruining the company.

Yeah, I heard she invented a time machine, teleported herself, and messed up this platform.

 

[ragtoplvr]

Yeah, I heard she invented a time machine, teleported herself, and messed up this platform.

She has been in charge for 10 years, and that platform has been in timing chain hell the entire time.

 

[Corollaman]

There's always 4 or 5 of those vehicles sitting in the back row of the local Chevy dealer service area, I'm assuming the owners either can't afford to fix them or abandoned them. I was tempted to buy one in the past, but thankfully went a different route.

 

[John105]

I owed a 2013 Acadia for nearly 200k miles, great family hauler, comfortable road car however:

Starter knocked out some teeth in the flywheel = new flywheel
Torque converter replaced
Timing chains replaced at 145k
Water pump replaced

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other 4 digit repairs

Was the water pump that much? I diy and it wasn’t fun but YouTube really helped. I didn’t even remove the fender liner.

We’re so used to 115 cu ft which is why Tahoe is the next step for us. Nothing else in a non suburban type has as much cargo.

But yeah you should be handy if you want to drive this car as list prices on GM parts can also be more than a BMW. Online huge discounts but it’s not affordable at the dealer.

How’s catalytic converters and power steering rack and pump each close to $3k sound? Why not get a 750 used instead

I am still looking for a 4th alloy rim.
So far paid $70, $56, $60 shipped and all 3 are nice, center caps and tpms. They are $792 each list to illustrate how expensive GM list (what dealers get) is on parts. Look for a cabin air it’s $30+. Wiper blades need to be OE or they’ll fly off

I was never a toot your own horn type of guy which is why I quit the other forums (where you can’t say anything bad about the car you own). BMW still on it

 

[John105]

A friend owned a 2012 Impala with the 3.6 and it went to about 150k before he sold it. The dash actuators knocked like a crew framing a house. He needed only general maintenance and intake cleaning wasnt ever done best I recall.

The overarching bad thing about the Lambda platform is its difficulty to service the engine. I do not believe out the top is an option, and out the bottom is the service procedure. If you are comfortable with that, then maybe collecting a field of broken Lamba's to cobble 1 good one is a possibility. I had dreams of that with Chrysler Cloud cars, but the junkyards beat me to it with acres of them.

You also have to be very careful with YouTube. I was able to do the water pump based on 1 where he did it from below. Others were removing all kinds of stuff from top incl the main electrical box.

I also did the front motor mount and had such an easy time I got scared I lifted the engine too much. Wife’s cousin said did you hear any crunch (like AC lines breaking) DOH! So many parts needed replacement at 70-80k.

Hate to bash the car as it’s riding on Bilstein B6 so very nice. But I cannot recommend buying one. If I could do it over we woulda got a V8 Tahoe but we will

 

[loneryder]

Yeah the first gen Lambda platform came out in 2009 and gen 2 came out in 2018. Barra became GM CEO in 2014 but blame her for all the problems before her time. She hasn't been stellar but the gen 1/3.6 problems were already happening.

She was in upper management back then.

 

[loneryder]

It's a platform that kept many GM mechanics well-off financially, and improved their kids' college funds. And it made a lot of owners steer away from GM, because at some point people just couldn't afford to keep fixing their Enclaves & Traverses. Please do yourself and your wallet a favor and steer clear of this platform.

Here is what actual Traverse owners are saying about them:

Another one:

And unfortunately there are a lot more... These^ are just scratching the surface.

But they are so affordable.

 

[MalibuRam65]

Mary Barra is sure doing a good job ruining the company.

Oh no Mary is the best thing that happen to GM you see them record profits they making every quarter? They jacking up vehicle prices and folks still flocking for GM products smart woman . Let’s all praise Mary for what she has done

 

[edyvw]

She has been in charge for 10 years, and that platform has been in timing chain hell the entire time.

I am not defending GM and its numerous questionable choices; just saying this started long before she took the position.

 

[John105]

Oh no Mary is the best thing that happen to GM you see them record profits they making every quarter? They jacking up vehicle prices and folks still flocking for GM products smart woman . Let’s all praise Mary for what she has done

Where my $92k Tahoe at??!!

 

[JTK]

School me on this platform - first Gen GM Lambda platform. Seems to have 3.6l GDI and the 6 speed joint developed by GM / Ford? Goods and bads.

Not interested in other recommendations, I know there are many other options. Interested in learning about this platform. Its at a price point I like and fits my needs. I don't need the 3rd row, and it would be used mostly for family road trips but likely not daily.

Thank you in advance for your experiences and opinions!

SC, I don't know you saw my threads awhile back, but I was in a situation where I needed another 3-row AWD vehicle for my wife, came to the same conclusion as you and picked up a 2021 Traverse LS AWD w/ 30K miles on it for $25K. We've only put ~6K miles on it so far, but absolutely love the vehicle. I don't know why it wasn't on my radar sooner.

2018+ are what you want. Few major problems with 2018+. They come with the 9T65 and LFY 3.6L engine. Your basic maintenance and driveline fluid changes are easy. I've only done engine oil changes and transmission fluid spill/fills on mine so far. No crazy covers to take off and easy access to pretty much all fluids like the transmission, transfer case, rear diff and rear diff clutch housing. The LFY uses a big oil filter and the engine holds 6qts of oil that you can change in minutes w/out ramps or lifting.

The 2018+ has some oddities like the old school HID headlamps. The headlamp assemblies have LED day time running lights, incandescent turn signals and HIDs for the headlamps all mixed into one assembly. All of these bulbs are easy to DIY, it's just the HIDs are pricey for OEM.

Super easy to defeat auto stop/start on the 2018+ by installing a hood switch jumper harness.

Where it gets weird, is the GMC Acadia is the same Lambda platform is basically just a Traverse with GMC trimmings, yet it has a completely different 3.6L engine. The Acadia from 2017 on uses the LGX 3.6L and 9T65. The only issue I've heard of on the LGX version is T-stat failure. The intake plenum has to come off as the T-stat is buried in the valley of this engine. The Acadia also offers the LSY 2.0T engine and 9T65 combo as the base engine. Don't know much about that one.

All that aside, I wouldn't touch one of the earlier ones 2009-2013 and would shy away from any pre 2018.