Fuel leak or fuel odor on the 2011 GMC Terrain
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When fuel leak or fuel odor gets reported
There are 3 reports of fuel leak or fuel odor on the 2011 GMC Terrain, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 31st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 68,359 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$2,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 3 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 70,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 7; the 2011 has 3. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Vehicle is not delivering the epa fuel economy performance rated. The gmc terrian fwd 4cyl is rated 22 city, 32 hwy, and 26 overall. I drive 30% of my miles in the city and 70% hwy. My vehicle has 5000 miles and I am experiencing 17 city, 22 hwy, and 20 overall. All well below the expected range. I am a very conservative driver, no jack rabbitt starts at stop lights, use cruise control. I have complained twice to gmc and was told it takes apx 5000 miles to "break in" the vehicle. I now have 5000 miles and am now being told to use high octane fuel. Fuel performance is so poor I suspect a gas leak or some faulty component that may be potentially dangerous due to the excess consumption of fuel well beyond the controlled epa estimates. *tt
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 gmc terrain. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the contact heard a loud noise coming from the engine compartment. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The contact also stated that there was a fuel odor coming through the vents from the exhaust manifold. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the exhaust manifold detached and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 116,707. *tr
While driving down a busy two lane road I pulled out into an intersection in an attempt to make a left hand turn when the car stalled in the middle of traffic. I turned the car off and turned it back on again and it worked. However, later that day it stalled again while it was sitting at an intersection. I brought it to the dealership for repair and they said it was not covered under warranty even though I still had one. They said there was a fuel leak at the fuel composition sensor. They replaced the sensor. Gm extended special coverage # 17097 in may 1, 2017 for 2011-2013 chevy equinox and gmc terrains that are equipped with flex fuel due to a fuel leak at the fuel composition sensor but they did not include my 2011 model terrain that is not equipped with flex fuel but it should have been. This issue was out of my control as it was a manufacturing defect in the fact that they placed the composition sensor below the frame exposing it to damage from road debris.
Also reported on the 2011 GMC Terrain
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Excessive oil consumption
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other fuel system problem
Wiper or washer failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 3 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does fuel leak or fuel odor happen on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel leak or fuel odor on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed