general problems of the 2011 Chevrolet Avalanche

Purchased a used 2011 chevy Avalanche with 87,000 miles one owner from a small dealership. After having the vehicle for about a week noticed it shuddering when pulling any kind of grade. Thinking it was some kind of misfire had all the plugs changed only to find that it also had an oil file problem with 1 of the cylinders. When the vehicle would shudder it was around 1500-2000 rpms. If I would give it more gas it made it past the 2,000 rpms and would shift with no problems. Needless to say the transmission is now toast as it gave out completely and needs replaced. No warning lights of any kind made me aware of a potentially serious problem. After reading more I am seeing that the transmission is something that gm has not fully taken care of as stated with older models. The transmission failed while driving on a major interstate roadway while nearing the top of a hill. It just went completely into neutral and would just rev the engine. The truck was carrying 3 adults and 2 children in car seats when this occurred. Thankfully we were able to get to the shoulder of the road safely. Currently the truck has 89,995 miles on it. I only put approximately 2000 miles on it since purchase.

Engine runs rough at idle when engine light, service stabilitrak light and traction control off lights all come on. Upon acceleration, only engine light remains on. Will repeat at lower idle.

At times when the vehicle is slowing down/down shifting (more common when going up a grade) it will suddenly lunge forward (before coming to a stop) even with your foot on the brake. It seems to happen when downshifting from 2nd to 1st gear and sometimes it catches me off guard. This is a very dangerous situation especially when slowing down near people. I am always concerned that the vehicle is going to lunge forward and hit something or even worse someone. I hope NHTSA investigates this situation as other people have reported the same problem.

I was driving my truck at about 45 mph when the traction control light came on the dash and my truck suddenly went from 45mph to 20 mph and the motor began to miss fire and buck. If there would have been someone following me they would of hit me in the rearend due to the sudden slowing of my vehicle.

The dashboard cracked for no reason in two places. One crack involves the passenger side airbag cover and the cover is coming off due to the crack. I told the dealership and they said they had seen this before but would not cover it. The crack is getting worse and the airbag cover is lifting up which will compromise the airbag deployment. There are many other complaints online of the same issue of cracking of the dashboard and all are saying the dealership will do nothing to fix this defect. This vehicle has already had to have the engine replaced twice due to defects, 3 times if you count the initial rebuilding of the engine.

I own a 2011 Chevrolet Avalanche ltz and at times when the truck down shifts it will lunge forward. I really need to have my foot firmly pressed on the brake to keep the truck from possibly hitting something or someone in front of me. It does not do it all the time and it's rather random. I feel that is worse then it happening all the time because I don't know when to expect it. I have not received any notification of a recall, but I feel a fix is definitely in order. Something is not right and it could result in a crash.

I have began to notice when slowing down (foot off the gas and coasting with foot on brake, or brake applied) at any area where my speed decreases to less than 15 mph that my Avalanche will seem to sort of lunge forward. The first time I experienced this I believed it was related to me and ignored it. The next couple of times I experienced this I thought there may be something wrong with the gas or engine. I have spoken with several other owners (who own the same year model Avalanche and suburban - the suburban and Avalanche are made from the same frame/body/parts) and they state experiencing the same issue. I must be cautious to ride my brakes and be read to heavily apply them now when taking an off/on ramp and vehicles are in front of me as my vehicle has lunged forward before with vehicles in front of me. I noticed here that (at the time of this submission) that two other users have reported the same incident. I am hoping that my report here will help open an investigation with Chevrolet on this issue.

At @4000 miles on the vehicle the engine light came on. The dealership found that there was no oil in the engine and #1 spark plug was bad. They replaced the plug & oil. Again about another 4000 mile it did the same thing. They replaced the valve guide seals, that stopped the spark plug from going bad, but I have to put a quart of oil in it every 3,000 miles. A vehicle using synthetic oil should go about 7,500 miles or more. That means two quarts oil between changes. They claim with general motors that is acceptable. I have never owned a new vehicle where I had to add oil before and due oil change. The same vehicle has so much wind noise coming in around the doors or windows it is hard to hear the radio. My complaint to the dealer their answer was – there isn’t a bulletin on this. That means they don’t know what to do, or won’t. And didn’t do a thing.

Reduced engine power , engine dies no power steering or power brakes almost rear ended on I-25. Trouble code says p2135 throttle body has happened 20 times or more in 8 months. Dealer where purchased say they never heard of this problem then said new wiring harness might fix it,knew the price without looking it up? there are thousands of posts on line about problem,but they never heard of it. Wiring harness replaced throttle body cleaned and checked peddle checked still happens ,have spent hundreds. No solution . I have to drive on highway to get to work on oil rig,I'm afraid it well cause an accident . Gm doesn't know what is causing problem and doesn't seem to care.