Sugar Bears 2015 GMC Terrain SLE-2 2.4 AWD

[Grumpy Bear]

On 8/2/2022 at 10:36 AM, garagerog said:

Grumpy, one can't help but admire your dogged determination to get to the bottom of the myriad of problems that the GDI 2.4 engine has, I just hope you don't get to feeling so good about resolving the engine issues only to get bit in the arse by the transfer case. I belong to a Terrain/Equinox forum and judging by the threads I see there, it appears that the transfer cases have an abnormally high failure rate, and surprise, surprise, GM is unable (or unwilling) to supply new, replacement transfer cases to their dealers. I looked up the curb weights of the AWD and FWD comparable models and was somewhat shocked that the AWD only weighs a little over 160 lbs more than the FWD. So we're not only talking about a transfer case, but a driveshaft, rear differential and axles and that only adds up to a 160 lbs? Makes me think that these are uber light duty components more suited for a side by side ATV than a 4000 lb crossover.

 

 

If you've read enough of my drivel Rog you know I am a huge fan of post war Brit big single motorcycles. Still own a 50's style  Enfield Bullet half liter and when you buy one you know from the minute you sit on it this isn't an 82 Yamaha SR500G. Also have one of those. 

 

These are raw machines not for the faint of heart. IN fact if I showed you the inside of the Albion 4 speed you would swear a drunk 5 year old drew it up with sidewalk chalk and his baby sister whittled it out of Play Dough with an axe. 

 

How does one make a Enfield Albion live?  He treats it for what it is instead of what he wished it was or thinks it should be.

 

A lesson sadly the Mrs. has yet to learn and why I normally get 2 to 5 times the life from machines Joe Average does. First time I saw the underside of this thing I said, "Tinker Toy" construction. 

 

I agree with your assessment and treat it accordingly. Then I fix what ever Sugar Bear can break. Design and modify as I can and happy to be in it's second life. 

 

Kid you not; if you drove this thing you would have not idea how sick it has been. Drives and feels like silk sliding over bees waxed cellulose lacquer. It's why I put up with it. Gives me the same sort of smile swinging a leg over the Bullet does. 

[Grumpy Bear]

181,421 Services

 

8/9/2022

 

2,280 OCI. 

Usage at a quart in 5,000 miles

5 Quarts Red Line HP Euro Spec low SAPS 5W30

FRAM XG 9018 Filter

Air Filter service. Element looked mint! Removed and cleaned entire air system inside and out.

Pull and inspect the plugs. Look great. 

5/64" CVC orifice installed 

 

[Doublebase]

The thing I really like about this thread is that you guys are still driving this vehicle and getting your money’s worth out of it. Your last sample was July 28th with 178,800 miles on it, now just a couple weeks later you’re at 181,421. That’s a lot of driving. You’re dealing with a problem and yet managing it enough that you’re able to keep the vehicle and continue extending its service life. Not many people do that. Nice work! 

[Grumpy Bear]

2 hours ago, Doublebase said:

The thing I really like about this thread is that you guys are still driving this vehicle and getting your money’s worth out of it. Your last sample was July 28th with 178,800 miles on it, now just a couple weeks later you’re at 181,421. That’s a lot of driving. You’re dealing with a problem and yet managing it enough that you’re able to keep the vehicle and continue extending its service life. Not many people do that. Nice work! 

 

My wife really likes Dizzy and I've grown fond of driving it as well. Our favorite pass time is driving. Just for the fun of it. 

 

My life's work was troubleshooting so this is a game for me I like to play and WIN. Things like this keep breath in me and I in Dizzy.  

[mikef95]

Wanted to provide a quick update. We changed our oil earlier this week after 3k miles and the level was only down slightly if at all. We will continue to monitor the situation. 

On another note, what is your opinion of using something like fluid film to help avoid rust on these vehicles? We live in the northeast so they use quite a bit of salt on the roads in the winters. I have a guy who can apply the fluid film for $200 and then do annual touch ups for $50. Would this be worth it or is the factory rust protection on these vehicles good enough?

[customboss]

4 hours ago, Doublebase said:

The thing I really like about this thread is that you guys are still driving this vehicle and getting your money’s worth out of it. Your last sample was July 28th with 178,800 miles on it, now just a couple weeks later you’re at 181,421. That’s a lot of driving. You’re dealing with a problem and yet managing it enough that you’re able to keep the vehicle and continue extending its service life. Not many people do that. Nice work! 

Better living through engineering Grumpy Bear style and Black02Silverado 

chemistry ! 

[KARNUT]

5 minutes ago, customboss said:

Better living through engineering Grumpy Bear style and Black02Silverado 

chemistry ! 

You guys need to get a room.

[Grumpy Bear]

23 hours ago, mikef95 said:

Wanted to provide a quick update. We changed our oil earlier this week after 3k miles and the level was only down slightly if at all. We will continue to monitor the situation. 

On another note, what is your opinion of using something like fluid film to help avoid rust on these vehicles? We live in the northeast so they use quite a bit of salt on the roads in the winters. I have a guy who can apply the fluid film for $200 and then do annual touch ups for $50. Would this be worth it or is the factory rust protection on these vehicles good enough?

 

Never used that product but hear good things about it. I crawl under and do a scrape and paint now and again so I'd have to say the factory stuff...meh! 

 

Pretty sure Nick (@Black02Silverado) has a similar AMSOIL product to Fluid Film that he uses personally. You could get some feedback from him?? 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Grumpy Bear
spelling

[Grumpy Bear]

Body Maintenance

 

8/12/2022 - 181,986

 

As everything is going so well I decided to do some chip repair (3) I've put off for a few years. That was a mistake. Chips become breeding grounds for rust and I had to peel the paint back 10X further than the initial chip to clear the rust. This was done with a Dremel tool with a flex cable and a dental burr. Real small ball burr that lets you 'pit out' rust while removing the minimum of metal. Still more void than I like to work with. If this had not been a tail gate I could lift to get flat the fill work would take a month of Sundays and would have gone to my paint man. 

 

Good old Duplicolor paint pen got called to duty for the initial and major filling of the voids. This takes a few days to build up the paint so it looks a bit tacky right now. Rust however is now in check. That's the important part. Blocking it out maybe early next week. It started raining so.....

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Grumpy Bear
Correct Mileage

[Grumpy Bear]

Miscellaneous Stuff

 

8/14/2022

 

Chip repair progresses. Washed her yesterday and went over each panel finding about six more in the leading areas of both front fenders and addressed those as well. Still building depth on the deeper ones in the tailgate. This is lacquer and shrinkage is great. Give it lots of time between coats. If you sand it out to soon in a week or so it's below level again and harder to touch up. Factory did a pretty good job of guarding the painted panels on this SUV. This is a small number of repairs for the miles it has on it. Rubber nose is like any other. Peppered with chips.  

 

Under carriage is next. I touched this up last year with spray paint but it's getting the scrape and brush this time. The spray didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. 

[Grumpy Bear]

Miscellaneous Maintenance

 

8/15/2022 - 182,822 miles

 

1,400 this OCI without an oil add. 

 

Blocking out paint chip repairs. Starting to look new again  Also finding a ton of micro chips in the lift gate. How does this thing take such a beating?

 

Replaced the rear wiper blade. First try was a NAPA Exact Fit 13N which 1.) would not lock 2.) To short from pin to blade to keep the plastic cover from rubbing on the glass 3.) So stiff it did not conform to the glass. I returned it then went to the local Chevy dealer for a new ANCO GM part #19432589 OE Original Equipment. Perfect. Only cost $4 more than the one that didn't work. Okay spent a gallon of gas running it down and that cost $3.80 

 

I've never worn one out but as little as they get used the tend to stick to the glass and tear when needed the most 

 

 

Last two points are since the HPFP was replaced. Each point is all miles divided by all gallons for that oil change interval. so these are the "result' not the average. Didn't do this well when we first bought it. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Grumpy Bear

[Grumpy Bear]

183,420 Miles Service

 

8/19/2022

 

2K this OCI and finally added 4 ounces of make up oil. 

1.6K left to go. This is doable  

[Grumpy Bear]

184,000 Mile Notes

 

It hard to hit a moving target and reading the oil level in a GM 2.4 qualifies. Winding this down and having a pretty day to do it I've been running some timed drain down test. This after reading some post of others experiences with this motor on a variety of cars/SUV's  that use this platform. It has to be the number one gripe of owners universally,

 

  

 

This is sitting on a 3* incline nose up after 3-1/2 hours drain time. I use the center diamonds as volume marks. Look 4 more diamonds down and on the right of the stick you will see a 'witness' mark I scored on the barrel with a file. Parked in the same place pulling the stick the 'book' 15-20 minutes when full will be at that witness mark. That's' my driveway hot check mark.  But 3 hours later it's 4 diamonds higher and each diamond is roughly 2 ounces. So between 15 minutes and 3 hours an additional cup, 8 ounces of oil will drain to the pan WHEN HOT. Caps for emphasis because done cold this takes all night. The longer the filter has been in service the longer it takes. Fact is nearly everything including how you address the stick matters. 

 

I started this yesterday getting Dizzy dead level and overfilling her about a pint then letting her sit overnight. Yes done hot...sort of. This morning I used my sample pump and drew out 4 ounces at a time till really close then 2 ounces until the level was perfectly on the top of the first diamond. Done cold. 

 

Took her for a run up town, 5 miles round trip, and parked her like I leave her each evening on the 3* uphill slope. 15 minutes it was on the witness mark and 3-1/2 hours was the same as 3 hours with the oil temp starting in the 190 F range. Normal for her operating temp. So a a hair over 6 ounces different from level to 3* or 2 ounces per degree. 

 

This is interesting because I've chased the new oil level some as you can read in previous post not understanding how much this matters. If you do a dump and fill hot on this motor and add the book amount you will be 6 to 8 ounces overfull! So you can ether wait 3 hours for the drain down or hold out a cup of oil.

 

Why this matters; oil consumption. You've heard me say many times, "she doesn't use any for 1500 miles or so then GULP!! Well if you are starting over full then it takes awhile to get to full then..... New oil is really hard to read on these sticks. 

 

Okay. Do you see how straight the oil level line is? And yes it is the same on both sides. Following general consensus for dipping the stick will have it higher on one side than the other. Don't do that. I read this in another forum. When you run the stick in face the cross hatch toward the motor instead of facing up. 

 

See the dots above an below the cross hatch? No oil is to be in the upper dot. That is almost 4 ounces overfull. 

 

So an oil check in the morning is preferred. I have a dummy plug I insert the night before and leave the stick on the bench. You don't have to but with you withdraw it in the morning the reading will be unclear and you will have to wait about 20-30 minutes for the oil to leave the dipstick tube. Yea, it drags oil up the tube. Thus the dummy saves me 20-30 minutes. 

 

Why all the fuss? It's the filter type. This unit does not have an anti-drain back valve and holds?//...Yea about 8 ounces. When hot and new it drains pretty quick. The more blocked the media becomes the slower it drains. Ditto colder.  

 

I added the scribe to aid in fueling stop checks and did the level vs slope for the same reason. Gives me points of reference so I don't over fill nor not add when I need to. As long as it is about the lower dot it can wait till the next morning. 

 

***************************************************************

 

Fitted up a new oil filler cap with a smaller hole to fit the PCV valve grommet tighter. 20 minutes in the lathe. Fit a new .054" orifice plate and stuffed the void with stainless wool to act as a demister. The PCV valve is just a check valve now protecting against backfire.  Just not the right spring in the valve and I'm not buying a multitude of random valves to sort this. Adjustable ones are available but cost has me holding off for now. 

 

I am going to look more closely at the remote filter system for this motor. 

 

 

 

 

[Grumpy Bear]

185,000 Mile Service

 

8/30/2022

 

3,579 miles this OCI

Using about a quart in 5K.  

 

5 Quarts Biosynthetic 5W30 SN

1 FRAM XG9018

[customboss]

A qt of oil in 5000 is a major improvement. Very happy you almost have this chicken plucked.