Other engine problem on the 2011 GMC Terrain
1 crash 2 fires 1 injury 4 of the 86 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 GMC Terrain report other engine problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 66 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 117,250 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
26% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,750 miles | 24,750 miles | 66,000 miles | 89,896 miles | 120,000 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
Of these reports, 1 a crash, 2 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2026 at 290,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 gmc terrain. The contact turned the ignition to start the vehicle and heard a loud bang coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated there was also a vibration felt from inside the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer yet the technician stated that they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 2,500. Updated 5/24/11 *cn the consumer stated the vehicle has been reparied. 06/06/11
I own a gmc 2011 terrain. It has 3600 miles on it. Ever since I bought it there is a hesitation and it doesn't seem to know when to shift gears!.it also jerks all over the place I brought it to the dealer because one day it almost completely stalled on me. The dealer said that there were no codes that came up on it and everything is fine. The kicker is that the serviceman who took care of me took it home and said that it is doing what I said and that they can't do anything about it until it shows a code on the computer. I called gm and they told me the same thing. Meanwhile I get in my car today,start it up and it makes this horrible like grinding noise for like 3 seconds and then went away. Very irritated with the whole situation. If I could return this car I would . I cant stand it . I pay good money on a monthly basis and this is what I get. So until gggggggmc gets with the program and admits that there is a major issue with this vehicles engine I think were all in for alot of headaches. And from what I've read there's a few people who are having the same problem.oh wait don't let me forget the lovely vibration my car makes…
The issue is only happening on 2011 I-4 2.4l engines. Many people with this engine (terrain and equinoxs for a couple) have the same issue. The vehicle makes a rattling noise when starting up..its intermittent. Also I have had (as others have) had the car stall and give an check engine light with code p0011. The car makes the rattling when car is cold or hot..I have it happen at least once a day. Gm had a tech. Bulletin out on it in feb.2011. The fix did not take care of it. In june 2011 gm put out another tb saying 'they are aware of the issue, have no fix yet'.. Again this is happening on alot of these vehicles..as of right now, gm is not helping me with this..just that they are aware and will let me know..in the meantime, im driving a new car that makes a horrible noise, I don't know what internal damage its causing, and im afraid its going to stall again, in traffic and I will have an accident... *tr
Also reported on the 2011 GMC Terrain
Other powertrain problem
Excessive oil consumption
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other fuel system problem
Wiper or washer failure
Complete engine failure or seizure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 86 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 other engine problem happen on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
Across 66 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
86 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.9 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