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Envision 2.0 power loss

4468 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Phil Weber
Hello all,
Our 2016 Envision Premium II has just shy of 12K on it. We don't drive the car very much but lately i've noticed what seems to be a remarkable loss of power. When we bought the car it was quite snappy and had incredible low speed passing power. Lately it seems as if the turbo isn't even working because it feels like the power of a non-turbo engine. Last week I was traveling on the highway and stopped at a store. Car was shut off for a few minutes. Got back in, and got on the highway and the driveway was at the bottom of a slight hill. I was practially standing on it, and it actually felt like it was hesitating a little bit but had very poor acceleration. I have no warning lights and driving normally it does fine. We've tried running premium, and regular and don't see any difference in performance. It's getting about 21 mpg. Anyone else having any drivability issues like this? One would think if there was something going on with the turbo, it would set the check engine light.

Thanks,

John

PS I posted this at the Buick forums as well.
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Wow nobody else?
Took it in last week, this was the only thing the SA didn't know if they had found the issue. She said the tech said "different animal" when I told them that the brand new, 2019 GMC Terrain that they gave us as a loaner, had about twice the pickup as our Envision. Of course, the GMC has a nine speed transmission. So I set about to look up the specs. The engines are identical as far as power. Then I thought well maybe the 0-60 would be different because of the transmission. Every spec I've seen lists teh Buick as a tiny bit faster in the QM!! That's with us running premium in the Buick, and regular in the loaner car. So i think for sure, we have something going on. Hopefully when I take it back next week they find something, along with a new axle and fixing the rear AC..
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Hi Since reading your post about a month and half ago, I tried to determine if there was any performance issue in our Buick Premium with the 2.0. It is summertime in the Northeast and I have noticed during really humid days there is a slight degradation in power. I am not sure if it is a breathing issue or combustion due to the heaviness of the air or some combination of both. We have pretty consistently used Shell Premium fuel with Exxon or Mobil here or there. The price of gasoline has been reasonable thus far and the car is far better in mileage than the Equinox v6 replaced so Net/Net I am slightly down in fuel costs.

I will say for the most part the car has fairly good get up and go and to do 70 is only 2K RPMS, 2.5K with the v6 Equinox. I will also say my experience in driving the transmission was really fine tuned by Buick to match the motors power ranges. The same 6 speed in the Equinox made the v6 seem sluggish in normal driving (GM and Ford use the same 6 Speeds across the lines). It was only when you really punched it did it take off like a rocket. I found it often was very slow to upshift and too often quickly downshifted.

Anyways that is our experience.
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It was 96°F one day this week. Datslogging the ecu I found intake temperatures at 118°F and about 25% loss in torque. A difference you can feel when merging on the highway

This morning it is 65°F and power is back!
It was 96°F one day this week. Datslogging the ecu I found intake temperatures at 118°F and about 25% loss in torque. A difference you can feel when merging on the highway

This morning it is 65°F and power is back!
Norm, are you having power loss issues too? After three weeks in the shop, that was the only thing they couldn't fix. They say they cannot duplicate the issue. Obviously, because it's not their car. When we bought this car I was most impressed by it's passing power. We often drive a two lane highway coming home from work and occasionally have to pass. When we first bought this car, it would scream around a car. Now, I got to pass and it feels like a standard, 4cyl non turbo car and yes, using 93 octane from Shell. Did I see somewhere on here that you have a tune on your car? Any posts on that? How are you datalogging?

Thanks!

John
No, power loss here just a typical hot summer day that is not the best for combustion engjnes.

I use Hptuners software which includes cataloging feature. Now temps are 60-75°F the zip is back!
Did you ever get to the bottom of the power loss? I assume you had a power reference before you were comparing to? Anyhow, you can download the Torque free app and get a $10 Bluetooth ODB adapter. Using these you can monitor the turbo boost. Sounds like you may not have boost. Mine did this because the connector to the Turbo boost control valve came unplugged. It was WAY down on power, down shifted a ton on interstate, etc.
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