A Warning for Owners of GM Vehicles with HFV6 Engines

An important service bulletin has been distributed by General Motors pertaining to vehicles manufactured between 2007 and 2009 that are equipped with the “HFV6” engine.

The issue at hand is premature timing chain wear that has resulted from extended oil change intervals under certain driving conditions.

GM’s solution is to recalibrate the vehicle’s oil life monitor so that the owner is prompted to change engine oil on a more frequent basis.

The affected vehicles include:

• 2009 Buick Enclave
• 2009 Chevrolet Traverse
• 2007-2009 Cadillac CTS, SRX, STS
• 2007 GMC Acadia
• 2009 GMC Acadia
• 2007 Saturn Outlook
• 2009 Saturn Outlook

If you own one of these vehicles equipped with the “HFV6” V6 engine and if you have not received a letter from General Motors, visit a GM  dealership and have them address the “10287C” recall bulletin.

For owners of these vehicles that may be using AMSOIL synthetic motor oil, AMSOIL has published a technical service bulletin on the matter. See TSB: Service Intervals for GM Vehicles with HFV6 Engines.

The upshot of this AMSOIL bulletin is to urge owners of the aforementioned vehicles to have the recall procedure performed and then change their oil when prompted by their oil life monitor. AMSOIL is not promoting extended oil change intervals for these cars, but they do suggest that AMSOIL synthetics are the best defense against premature  timing chain wear.