Flat tow a 2020 Equinox?

[johnnyringo]

iS IT A VIABLE CHOICE

[dphorton]

If it s with Automatic Transmission it can’t be. Flat Towed,..

[wayne77590]

Don't believe anything you hear and half of what you see.

The manual 2020 Equinox Manual page 346 gives you all the instructions for towing with 4 wheels on the ground or on a dolly/trailer.

It's easy to look up manuals on the WWW!

Edited September 3, 2022 by wayne77590

[rossboyer]

I have towed a 2016, 2019 and 2022 Equinoxs all with automatic transmission. Just be sure to add a charge line to keep battery charged while towing. 

[dbchalk]

On 9/3/2022 at 2:51 PM, rossboyer said:

I have towed a 2016, 2019 and 2022 Equinoxs all with automatic transmission. Just be sure to add a charge line to keep battery charged while towing. 

We camped next to a gentleman who was towing a Buick Envoy (functional clone of the Equinox, I believe) who bitterly complained that he always arrived at his destination with a dead toad battery. How does one add the charge line described above?  

[rossboyer]

There are two methods. One is to have a 20amp breaker in the motor home feeding a #12 or #10 wire to the +12 pin on the rear receptacle. Also, a 20 amp breaker in the towed vehicle connected to battery and the +12 pin on the towed. Suggest you use the big 7 pin connectors on the motor home and the towed. Via Amazon you can purchase a 7 pin to 7 pin cable to connect together. That cable has larger conductors than the small round towed connection normally used. We found that the small connection would collect sand and water which would short the +12 pin to the brake or tail lights and would not clear until the water dries out which takes 24-36 hours. 
 

The other method is similarly wired, but a charge controller is added to the circuit. I don’t remember the manufacturer or part number, but if you call Dan’s Service Center in Elkhart, Indiana, they can tell you or supply one to you. Dan’s is recognized as being one of the best installers. He recommends using a charge controller vs using just a wired charge line to add safety to both vehicles. 
 

PS: Most newer auto manufacturers (GM is one) state to not wire into the existing tail and brake lights due to feedback into towed’s system. I used an Led kit from Roadmaster on our 3 Equinox toweds. 

[raypesek]

We've flat towed a 2020 Equinox Premier AWD with the 2.0L engine and the 9-speed transmission for two years.

rossboyer's description of the charge line is accurate but using the RVi Towed Battery Controller as the charge controller will not work with an Equinox. People have reported the LSL one as working OK. The Equinox draws almost 8 amps out of the battery when set up for towing. Once I ripped out the RVi TBC and went to just a straight charge line with a fuse I no longer had battery problems.

Based on watching Etrailer videos for the baseplate I chose the Demco baseplate and use a Roadmaster Nighthawk tow bar. The braking system is the Demco Stay-IN-Play DUO. The Roadmaster also looked like a good choice. With the Premier, because it has LED lights and a redesigned taillight assembly, you cannot install the separate LED light. You must use a diode kit instead, which is what I did.

Here is a recent thread on a person who had their Blue Ox baseplate fail on their 2018 Equinox while towing: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f85/base-plate-ripped-off-frame-591290.html

Ray

Edited September 16, 2022 by raypesek

[elibedarn]

Ray is your Equinox built in China?

I recently purchased a 2019 Buick Envision made in China. I set it up for towing. Curt base plate which is much better than Blue Ox in my opinion. I am speaking for this particular vehicle. The Curt and Road-master base plate each bolt on without trimming the frame. Blue Ox requires frame trimming for installation. 

Also I used Curt taillight wiring. A plug and play system. I saw a few notes regarding concern about taillight wiring so I better bone up with a possibility of changing.  Curt states diodes are built in the wiring for system protection.

[elibedarn]

I would love to have additional information regarding battery charge under tow. I am not familiar with direct wire with fuse in lieu of a trickle charge from the RV 12 volt system. If I run a fused direct wire from my engine battery positive post do I connect it directly to my tow battery. Is this accomplished by not using the six or seven way connector plug?  Single wire direct connector of some sort?

2019 Buick Envision owners manual says to pull fuse 29 and 32 while towing. Curt sales a double fuse line with rocker switch which I installed. This eliminates pulling and reinstalling fuses. I don't like this concept because it takes away your door locking ability under tow. I am hopeful I can use a charge from my motor-home rather than the fuse switch. 

I look forward to additional information on maintaining battery charge under tow. 

[raypesek]

My Equinox was made in Canada.

The purpose of the diodes is to isolate the the two electrical systems, the car's and the RV's. When power to the tail lights comes from the RV to the car it can also "travel backwards" from the tail light and back into the car's electrical system if there are no isolating diodes. Or from the car back into the RV. Cars today are not like the old days with discrete wires and switches. Everything is tied to the data bus somehow.

Chevy actually has a TSB for the 2018+ Equinox and Terrain where water accumulates in the right tail light and eventually causes a problem with the CAN bus wiring further upstream that prevents the car from starting or other problems: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10222667-0001.pdf

Condition	A customer may come in with a complaint of a no start, extended cranking time, a dead battery, a fuel pump that runs with key off, or a Service Safety Restraints message on the DIC.
Cause	This may be caused by water intrusion from the right side tail lamp due to a cracked or broken lens or housing. If the right tail lamp has standing water, the water may migrate through the bulb connector wire strands, and may settle at the X350 connector, the X320 connector or BCM.

There simply is no way that Curt or any other third-party can be aware of all the subtle changes from model year to model year or even within a model year so it depends on what Curt really means by "system". If they are referring to the car's wiring I'd be leery.

However, I suspect what they mean is that they already included the required diodes into their wiring harness and that would be great. When I did my Equinox no one had a unplug-and-insert wiring harness for the LED tail lights or I would have gone that route rather than cutting into the very small gauge wiring of the car. That looked like 24 AWG wire or so.

[raypesek]

5 hours ago, elibedarn said:

I would love to have additional information regarding battery charge under tow. I am not familiar with direct wire with fuse in lieu of a trickle charge from the RV 12 volt system. If I run a fused direct wire from my engine battery positive post do I connect it directly to my tow battery. Is this accomplished by not using the six or seven way connector plug?  Single wire direct connector of some sort?

2019 Buick Envision owners manual says to pull fuse 29 and 32 while towing. Curt sales a double fuse line with rocker switch which I installed. This eliminates pulling and reinstalling fuses. I don't like this concept because it takes away your door locking ability under tow. I am hopeful I can use a charge from my motor-home rather than the fuse switch. 

I look forward to additional information on maintaining battery charge under tow. 

One of the pins in the 7-pin connector provides 12 volts DC to the tow bar wiring harness so it can be used to charge the vehicle's battery. There is a corresponding pin in the 6-pin connector on the baseplate and in the tow bar harness. So a heavy gauge wire is run from the 6-pin connector through a diode and fuse or just a fuse and to the car's battery.

But...

I see this in the 2019 Envision Owners Manual:

4. To prevent the battery from draining while the vehicle is being towed, remove fuses 29 and 32 (Body Control Module) from the instrument panel fuse block.

The reference to the BCM gives me a lot of pause. Fuse #29 disables Body Control Module #2 and Fuse #32 disables Body Control Module #1.

If you're not familiar with the BCM, it's kind of a central box with a lot of circuitry to control many, many functions such as the wipers, the lights, the ABS, power windows, the electronic steering (if any), automatic parking brake (if any), you name it. Exactly what a particular BCM does depends on the car.

I know what the Owners Manual says pulling those fuses is intended to do, keep the battery from dying, but there simply is no way to know if that is a dumbed-down explanation or not. For example, the pre-2018 Equinox needs one fuse pulled that disables the ABS to eliminate the possibility of the "death wobble" with the 4-cylinder engine. Killing the entire BCM in an Envision probably kills ABS as a side effect (even if the Envision has the same problem as the older Equinox/Terrain).

For me, I would never risk keeping the fuses installed and just charging the battery from the motorhome. Essentially Buick is taking an "electronic guillotine" to the BCM by pulling those fuses and disabling all BCM functions. An owner has no way to know if having some of those functions being powered up while being towed will cause other problems like a "death wobble", damage to an electric steering system, an electronic shifter, or anything else. The car does not normally coast at 65 MPH with the ignition turned off for long distances.

Your only hope would be to contact Buick, find someone who knows, and get them to provide an actual Buick bulletin that says a charge line is an acceptable alternative. I don't think it's going to happen. Installing a charge line is not an uncommon requirement but Buick chose another method. No one wants to end up with a dead battery so that may be why they worded it that way.

But it's your car so you get to do what you want because you're the one that will suffer any consequences.

Good luck.

Edited May 10, 2023 by raypesek

[raypesek]

Or if you are really bored you could wade through every TSB that Buick has filed with the NHTSA for the 2019 Envision and see if one applies: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2019/BUICK/ENVISION/SUV/FWD#manufacturerCommunications

Click the + sign to see the general description.

Click on Associated Document(s) to see the list of applicable PDFs. Then click on the PDF link to read it.

There's only 414 to look at, 83 pages worth.

Happy Reading!

[elibedarn]

Thank you Ray for responding. Very good information. Much apricate your input. Safe travels. After losing the cost of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk from Death Wobble i will be careful in selecting how to tow.  

[five]

On 9/3/2022 at 9:34 AM, johnnyringo said:

iS IT A VIABLE CHOICE

I would go to a dealer and read the owner's manual of the year/make/model of what you want to tow.

[gasbu01]

Just purchased a 2023 Chevrolet Equinox Premier AWD which is on the ground towable. Following instructions it does not say if you need to leave FOB in vehicle or not while traveling. GM tech support was unable to answer question. Any thoughts?

[raypesek]

16 minutes ago, gasbu01 said:

Just purchased a 2023 Chevrolet Equinox Premier AWD which is on the ground towable. Following instructions it does not say if you need to leave FOB in vehicle or not while traveling. GM tech support was unable to answer question. Any thoughts?

We do not need to leave the fob in our 2020 but...

You will want to review this long thread on iRV2: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f85/toad-tires-screech-in-cloverleaf-onramp-offramp-611553.html

Several people with the 2023 Equinox are reporting that there are problems on long, sweeping turns such as an interstate cloverleaf. There are some videos that dramatically show the problem with the front tires wobbling back and forth, making screeching noises, etc. Apparently something was changed in the 2023 (including some changes to the whole braking system).

Several people have opened support cases with GM and in one of the later posts it was reported that GM is investigating the issue due to all of the reports.

One person reported they were asked to disconnect the battery and that did stop the problem but who knows what other problems that may cause.

Ray

Edited August 11, 2023 by raypesek

[gasbu01]

Thank you for your post. Will pay attention to this problem. Will leave turn signal off to watch car in camera.

[raypesek]

55 minutes ago, gasbu01 said:

Thank you for your post. Will pay attention to this problem. Will leave turn signal off to watch car in camera.

Good thought. If it does happen be certain to open a support case with the dealer and let them know about the other cases. It'd suck if there is some front end component damage and you were denied warranty because you never reported it so they thought you caused it.

[gasbu01]

Thank you Ray. I have towed a 2003 Saturn and a 2013 Honda CRV. Both cars have had tire scuffing on the inside of the casing. Need to rotate tires more often after towing but will watch the Equinox more closely. Going on my first trip soon towing the Equinox.

[rossboyer]

I towed 2019 & 2016 Equinoxs. Only problem was with the 2019, I had to add a charge line. Otherwise, zero problems. I didn't have any tire problems, but I rotate tires every oil change. 

Edited August 15, 2023 by rossboyer

[james681]

Some good info here. I have been towing an equinox auto trans for about 50,000 miles.

The manual states to start the engine for about 10 minutes at each gas stop. This not only lubes the trans but charges the battery.

I start the engine whenever I stop and I never have a dead battery and do not have to bother with a charging line.

Have a charger module handy in case you need it. They are the size of a cell phone and work great.

[gasbu01]

On 8/11/2023 at 8:43 AM, raypesek said:

We do not need to leave the fob in our 2020 but...

You will want to review this long thread on iRV2: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f85/toad-tires-screech-in-cloverleaf-onramp-offramp-611553.html

Several people with the 2023 Equinox are reporting that there are problems on long, sweeping turns such as an interstate cloverleaf. There are some videos that dramatically show the problem with the front tires wobbling back and forth, making screeching noises, etc. Apparently something was changed in the 2023 (including some changes to the whole braking system).

Several people have opened support cases with GM and in one of the later posts it was reported that GM is investigating the issue due to all of the reports.

One person reported they were asked to disconnect the battery and that did stop the problem but who knows what other problems that may cause.

Ray

Ray, thank you for bringing the problems while towing a Chevrolet Equinox. I had the same problem with the front tires not tracking. A good person flagged me down on a recent trip while traveling in the mountains curvy road. He said my front tires were wobbling back and forth and could see smoke coming from the tires. I have contacted GM but they say they do not have an open case with this problem. I have contacted the dealer where I purchased the vehicle. I will see where this takes me. If anyone can provide me with a GM Support Case I would appreciate it.

George

[raypesek]

If yours is a 2023 Equinox these case numbers were listed near the end of that long thread:

GM case # 9-9951144997

GM case # 9-10324909390

Ray

[gasbu01]

Thank you Ray. GM rep called me this morning. They say they will contact the dealer where I purchased the car. The dealer and I had a long conversation about this problem yesterday. I forwarded the link that you provided me to my dealer. He read every post, so now he knows what we are experiencing. He is aware that GM engineers are working on a fix and is expecting a recall from GM. Hope so and thanks for all the information.