Oldblue

Apparently it’s piston and rings design , I googled 2012 Equinox, got a lot of pages of information. Apparently the HPFP squirts fuel at 2,500 psi, so fuel dilutes the oil a bit and that causes the rings to wear leading to oil consumption. Not good!

donbrew

And, if the oil is getting mixed with gas in the combustion it is going out the tail pipe, mucking the cat, making tree huggers angry.

Oldblue

We had problems with the old 1.9 l engine in the old Cavaliers, they developed a rod knock after a few thousand miles , back then GM just authorized a complete engine replacement. That was before the bankruptcy and bailout’s . It doesn’t effect our Ecotec engines but is part of the history of their development.

PulpFriction

HHR SS’ LTF has a HPFP too. Maybe we got better rings.

Oldblue

The LNF wasn’t prone to oil consumption, however the intake valves did have a tendency to coke up.

RJ_RS_SS_350

The 18-20 Equinox use the same rings as our LNF. So, yes, the LEA in question got different rings.

Oldblue

But the oil issues were the 2012 LEA

RJ_RS_SS_350

Yes, they got different rings. We're agreeing.

Oldblue

Just clarifying, they fixed the rings and pistons , by 2016 or 17.

PulpFriction

The way I understand it, very subtle details on the piston skirt are important, because it functions as the first pass for scraping excess oil from the cylinder wall.