2019 GMC Acadia

For a few months I intermittently get an engine light on, the temperature gauge goes to zero, the AC stops working, and an error that driver assist in unavailable. This will happen for a fee days and return to notmal where everything is fine. This happens on and off again. I google searched this and it is a huge problem with GMC Acadias. I used an obdII scanner and get a P0128 coolant error when this happens even though the temperature is fine. I just recently went over the new car warranty and GMC will not tell me if this is covered or not.

“Shift to park” message frequently appears and unable to turn vehicle off, will drain battery if left on. First appeared infrequent within 1st year of lease, brought to dealership service, they were unable to reproduce and stated they did not know what was wrong with vehicle if they couldn’t reproduce the message. Fast forward 4 years, I have now purchased the vehicle and message and condition appears very frequent almost daily. Returned to dealer service was advised by customer service manager “ I know exactly what it is it is in the gear shift” but since car is no longer in warranty I would have to pay out of pocket. I attempted to explain that I did I bring it back when it would have been on warranted and was told they couldn’t find anything wrong!!! I have replaced battery multiple times due to power drain from not being able to clear “shift to park” message. Last battery lasted less then 1 year!! I feel GMC is aware of the issue and did not take care of problem when it was under warranty and is now forcing the finiancal burden to replace/repair parts to me!!!

Thermostat gets stuck, generally in open state. AC also is disabled in this condition, soft code (no MIL) mentions "limited steering available" and temp gauge on dash goes to 0. Hard code eventually comes (solid Check Engine light on the dash). Code, MIL, and temp gauge can be cleared and fixed by disconnecting battery negative terminal and reconnecting it, and it will run consistently for a while, though it will return. Online there are no thermostat modules for this engine available (3.6L V6, also in Cadillac XT6, Buick Enclave, and Chevrolet Traverse) showing that thermostat replacement is widespread. Online forum searches also describe widespread thermostat issues for this engine, at roughly $1200 per fix. A reliable thermostat is critical for long-term engine functionality, and should not need replacement at half of design life (~75-80k miles). Though this one tends to fail open instead of close, overcooling of an engine still could have its own issues, and failing closed could lead to engine overheating.

2019 Acadia originally displayed a shift to park message at 12K miles and vehicle was still under warrantee. New shifter harness was installed and a wire harness jumper added. GM covered the cost of repairs. At the time I was told hopefully the repair fixes it but a chance it won't and will need to bring it back in. Two years later at 36K miles it occurred again but was out of bumper to bumper warrantee so GM would not cover and dealer would not give any discount. Both the dealer and the GM claim rep I talked to were not able to adequately explain why this is not considered in the powertrain warranty which is still valid. GM did reimburse 50% of the cost of repair but I am still out ~$380. This issue seems well documented across numerous models / years of GM products.

The electrical and gear shift failed, causing a problem that GMC calls “shift to park.” Even when the car is placed in park, the car does not recognize that it was placed in park and cannot be turned off, preventing the driver from leaving the running car. This is a known problem that multiple dealers are aware of and there even appears to be a recall and lawsuits on the 2018 Acadias. However, on my 2019 Acadia, which has the same problem as the 2018 vehicle, this is a problem that costs hundreds of dollars to fix. This should be recalled because it renders the vehicle a safety hazard because it cannot be turned off and it is a known GMC problem that they refuse to fix.

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that after the transmission was shifted into park(P), the “Shift to Park” message was displayed. The contact shifted the gear shifter into several other gears and was able to turn off the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that there was no recall associated with the VIN. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

Several times we were unable to put the vehicle in park which would not allow the car to be cut off. I went on line to read reviews about this kind of problem and found bulletin 19-NA-206 describing the shifter assembly as a common problem on this vehicle. A Gen shifter harness was replaced at a cos of $589 with a two year warranty and was told that this will probably happen again. (Gen Shifter Harness) We are now afraid to take trips now because we use to make many stops in small towns to visit relatives. My wife wants to get another kind of vehicle because of this problem. We have purchased four cadillacs and two GMC vehicles from Coulter Cadillac but no problems with the Cadillacs.