2017 Buick Encore Turbo Failure

[GreyRX]

Its been a long day....

I have a 2017 Buick Encore purchased brand new that has 31k miles on it. 95% of the miles are highway as I travel quite a bit for work. I also follow the "aggressive" maintenance schedule in the owners manual. Coming home from Nashville, TN, my check engine line start to flash and my RPMs go up to about 4k. My car has no power and cannot maintain speed. I pull over, the car isn't overheating everything else looks good. Just no power.

Now, I know a little about cars and quickly realized it had to be the turbocharger on it. I limped to the closest Buick dealership for them to run diagnostics on it and tell me that the turbocharger has failed and it would need to be replaced. First of all, I understand shit happens. Im like ok, when can it be fixed. They state not for at least a month. Im like a month?! The inform me that the turbo charger is on backorder, and they have a another customer with the same problem and she has been waiting since May 31st. Im like....ok ok I understand, Im fine with a loaner.

To which they reciprocate with, "We cannot provide you with a loaner as we can only loan our cars out when we know that the part is in stock and on its way" Strange, but ok. In which case I respond with, I can rent a car, I'll pay for it as long as you all will reimburse me. They stated that they cannot do that, that they have no options for me even though my car is still in its bumper to bumper warranty.

Call GM customer service. At this point I am getting a little frustrated, I've own several cars in my lifetime, I understand things break, but anytime I have ever had to have warranty work done, they (Honda, Acura, and Cadillac) have always provided me with a loaner or rental. Long story short, I call GM, they open a case and escalate it. They offer to cover the rental for 48hrs (they will only cover a GM rented vehicle) until the case manager can get back to me with how they want to proceed if it all. This is the first time I have ever had this kind of experience. Do I have a recourse? Any options I am missing?

 

[HotZ28]

Sounds like you are SOL with GM service, they should do better than that!! Have you tried another dealer?

 

[Perkge]

Due yourself a favor and trade it in. This engine will not withstand highway speed commuting. I have a 2016. First turbo will blow. Then vacuum seals. Then premature timing chain replacement. $3500 goes puff For me just past the power train warranty. Call Buick care and watch them yawn at you. I have spent 5 times $ on engine repair on this POS in last 10k than all the other 1M miles put on all other cars I have driven. Great car. Awful engine if you use the turbo at all

 

[KevinJ]

Edit.... Hey Everyone, I'm deleting my original post.
I forgot I was in the Encore forum and not the Verano forum.
Posted about the wrong engine.
Oooops...

With that being said.... Neither my Brother or I are overly impressed with the underpowered engine in his 2017 Encore.

 

[Outtolearn88]

Edit.... Hey Everyone, I'm deleting my original post.
I forgot I was in the Encore forum and not the Verano forum.
Posted about the wrong engine.
Oooops...

With that being said.... Neither my Brother or I are overly impressed with the underpowered engine in his 2017 Encore.

With that being said.... Me & others here are NOT overly impressed with your post here on the Encore forums about underpowered engine.

 

[DocBrown]

With that being said.... Me & others here are NOT overly impressed with your post here on the Encore forums about underpowered engine.

What's you issue with the post? He and I have disagreed on a couple of things but he's one of the most helpful members here. He has a lot knowledge and experience. And I am not overly impressed with the engine's power either. The 153 hp in my wife's Encore is adequate for most city driving and hwy trips, but horrible for a daily commute.

 

[KevinJ]

What's you issue with the post? He and I have disagreed on a couple of things but he's one of the most helpful members here. He has a lot knowledge and experience. And I am not overly impressed with the engine's power either. The 153 hp in my wife's Encore is adequate for most city driving and hwy trips, but horrible for a daily commute.

Thanks Doc, He is allowed to have his opinion, as am I ....
I guess he is assuming that since I don't own an Encore I shouldn't be allowed to post on this forum. Just for the record, I have been on a couple of extended road trips in my Brothers Encore and have probably put around 1,000 miles in it behind the wheel. My Brother is a serious gear head so he and I talk cars a lot including his experiences with the Encore. My Brother is not an "internet" guy, so I keep an eye on this forum for him about any possible issues he may encounter.

 

[Outtolearn88]

All's good 👍 I didn't want to offend anyone. I just don't understand why some people coming on the forums with all the negatives and don't even own the car they are complaining about and not in the right forums to top it off.

Again no offense but let try to keep it positive and on topic of the forum.

Have a great day

 

[oregon_rider]

The encore is much happier with premium fuel.. Feed it well and it has very adequate power and better mpg as well.

For example checking my OnStar app on my phone I see that my wife drove about 40 miles of mixed driving yesterday and got 34 mog.

Not too shabby for a vehicle rated at 30 mpg highway by the epa

I have seen close to 40 mpg highway with Chevron premium fuel.


Jeff

 

[drhealyourself]

Hey...

so first thing, I want to address the underpowered engine.

I thought the same thing at first.

I bought a 2017 Encore in Sept 2019 with 34,800 miles on it.

I do a lot of highway miles on my car for work also.

I thought it was extremely underpowered, as compared to my 2006 RAV4 Limited.

Well, back in November, the engine light came on, and if I remember correctly, it lost power.

I took it to the dealer, and they said that it was leaking vacuum, and that the valve cover needs replacing.

They said that this is a common issue.

At the time, I was at about 48,000 miles and still covered under the bumper-to-bumper warranty.

After that work was done, the car drove much better. Still not as powerful as the V6 engine in the RAV, but enough for me to stop complaining.

Then about three days ago, the engine light came on again. I was working and 160 miles out of town, so I just crossed my fingers with plans to take the car in to the dealer the next day. I did call OnStar to get the trouble code.

The trouble code indicated that air was leaking. To me, air, vacuum, sounds like the same thing to me.

By this time, I'm at 55,000 miles. Well out of the bumper-to-bumper warranty, but still covered under the powertrain warranty.

So I pulled the invoice from the valve cover work out of the glove compartment, and saw that Buick's work is guaranteed for 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first.

So the next day, the engine light went out on its own. Later that same day, I still took the car to the dealer.

The guy insists that it's not the same thing, and that I have to pay the $110 diagnostic fee so they can figure out what's wrong.

They were kind enough to give me a loaner: a 2020 Encore that felt like the exact same car to me.

Only differences are the color on the outside, and the fact that the 2020 has less than 1,000 miles on it. Maybe it felt slightly faster, quieter, and with brighter headlights. But other than that, I drove the 2020 for two days, and I had to keep reminding myself that wasn't my 2017 Encore. The interior design and interior color are also exactly the same.

Anyway, the dealer called me last night and said that it turns out that it was the turbo, and they are replacing it, as it's covered under the powertrain warranty.

I'm very happy I don't have to pay, but very unimpressed with Buick. I'm thinking about getting an extended warranty now, because I don't trust it anymore. Wish I could give it back.

 

[drhealyourself]

It does get great gas mileage, though. I think the record on my car was 43, more commonly 37 mpg.

 

[ThatsNotABuick!]

Anyway, the dealer called me last night and said that it turns out that it was the turbo, and they are replacing it, as it's covered under the powertrain warranty.

I'm very happy I don't have to pay, but very unimpressed with Buick. I'm thinking about getting an extended warranty now, because I don't trust it anymore. Wish I could give it back.

What did the turbo fail for, a cracked housing? You should not have to pay anything for a diagnostic fee, it was their part that failed.

 

[oregon_rider]

Paying for diagnosis fo a car under warranty is a scam.

And also what oil was used and how often did you change the oil. I am using full synthetic with 5k oil change intervals to avoid issues also always let car idle for a few moments before shut down to let turbo.cool a little

Jeff

 

[drhealyourself]

According to the paperwork I received when I picked up my car, it says, "Turbocharger failure. Compressor air intake turbocharger replacement".

Then on the other page, it says, "Accelerated to wide open throttle. Found turbo wastegate actuation rod only moves slightly, compared to a like vehicle, and did not move as a known good vehicle".

I don't trust this car. Thinking of trading it in.

Has anyone driven an Encore over 100,000 miles and have good stories to share?

 

[drhealyourself]

I use synthetic.

Paying for diagnosis fo a car under warranty is a scam.

And also what oil was used and how often did you change the oil. I am using full synthetic with 5k oil change intervals to avoid issues also always let car idle for a few moments before shut down to let turbo.cool a little

Jeff

 

[ThatsNotABuick!]

According to the paperwork I received when I picked up my car, it says, "Turbocharger failure. Compressor air intake turbocharger replacement".

Then on the other page, it says, "Accelerated to wide open throttle. Found turbo wastegate actuation rod only moves slightly, compared to a like vehicle, and did not move as a known good vehicle".

I don't trust this car. Thinking of trading it in.

Has anyone driven an Encore over 100,000 miles and have good stories to share?

Sounds like it just had a wastegate failure and not a total turbo failure. It might have just needed a replacement solenoid.

 

[drhealyourself]

He said something about they couldn't just replace the bad part, so they replaced the whole thing.

 

[poncho167]

On other forums some people have said they have over 100,000 miles. I know of one person with that engine in a Cruze that has 182,000 if I recall and never a turbo related issue. It is not a common issue believe it or not, but just seems to be something that would be reported on a website blog. Not too many people go on Face Book or other places to say how happy they are with something.

 

[DocBrown]

On other forums some people have said they have over 100,000 miles. I know of one person with that engine in a Cruze that has 182,000 if I recall and never a turbo related issue. It is not a common issue believe it or not, but just seems to be something that would be reported on a website blog. Not too many people go on Face Book or other places to say how happy they are with something.

Very true. Internet forums have a way of making things seem worse than they are.

 

[ThatsNotABuick!]

The 153 hp in my wife's Encore is adequate for most city driving and hwy trips, but horrible for a daily commute.

What kind of gas mileage is your wife's Encore getting? Supposedly the Trifecta tune really wakes it up, at least the dyno-sheets claim it does. I wanted to get the DI engine, but they are extremely rare around my area and dealers do not discount them at all if they do have one in stock.