CarComplaints.com Notes: Ahh, the ole' sophomore slump. The 2008 Acadia suffers from widespread transmission failure around 75,000 miles.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
81,929 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2008 GMC Acadia drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2008 GMC Acadia Owner Comments (Page 11 of 14)

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problem #64

Jul 202013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 91,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Traveling on the interstate with my 3 year old daughter when transmission failure message came on. Has come on multiple times, requiring me to pull onto the shoulder of the busy road with semis speeding past. GMC is aware of this issue, yet refuses to address it on a large-scale. Someone is going to get killed before they actually come to action on this manufacturing defect!!!

- Lafayette, IN, USA

problem #63

Jul 182012

Acadia

  • 82,000 miles
3.5.R waved clutch plate failure in 2008 GMC Acadia 6 speed transmission. Engine in reduced power mode. Call to onstar - diagnostics - transmission issues. No reverse gear. Limited forward gears.

- Castle Hayne, NC, USA

problem #62

Jul 282013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 109,750 miles
We live in camarillo ca. We left to go to sacramento for my daughters college orientation. About two hours into the first leg of our trip the dic informed us the transmission was overheating and the car should be idled for it to cool off. We did just that. After it cooled off we began driving again. It did this once more before we arrived in san luis obispo. We left the next day to sacramento. Again about two hours into the drive the same thing occurred. We idled the car, trans cooled off and we got under way again. It did this once more before we arrived in sacramento.. while in sacramento it drove fine. On our return trip it did this twice on the way home. After looking back it seemed to do this when we were going up an incline. We were not towing anything either. We were lucky that while on the freeway when we received the overheat notice that the car did not lose power and slow down while on the freeway in traffic. This is the third transmission for this vehicle since we purchased it in 2008.

- Camarillo , CA, USA

problem #61

Aug 262011

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 71,309 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

8/26/2011 - 71,309 miles - water pump went out and had to be replaced. 5/07/2012 - 86,885 miles - transmission shuttered when coming to a stop in traffic. Would not start and had to be towed to mechanic. Transmission assembly replaced with GM reman transmission due to broken reverse wave plate that damaged the carrier, sun shell and metal throughout. Also detected an oil leak in the engine front cover that needed to be repaired and heard power steering noise so bled power steering system. 12/31/2012- 100,947 miles - headlight switch fell inside dash panel. 7/26/2013 - 112,506 miles - power steering has never worked properly. It has always made noises and has been stiff. Had it bled several times with no improvement. Power steering went out while making a left hand turn into a busy intersection. At shop now to determine if it needs a new power steering pump, rack, and/or serpentine belt. I have read many complaints with the same issues as those that I have experienced. I am disappointed that GM isn't more concerned about the safety of their consumers and the reliability and quality of their vehicles. I have never owned such a lemon! I personally will never own another GM product. Going back to Lexus.

- North Salt Lake, UT, USA

problem #60

Jul 272013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 117,245 miles
At driving speed it was noticed that Acadia began to fail to shift gears, basically on highway it is stuck in first gear and after finding a place to stop, it will now not go into reverse. Have found the edmunds, ask and numerous other sites are full of transmission complaints concerning the 2008 Acadia and it's failures. This transmission has had minor issues in past, minor leak and some whining, but this is a complete and hazardous failure while driving in traffic. I have since learned that this is a common and known issue to General Motors costing the consumers approx. $3000 to $3500 per instance. Is there nothing to be done to assist the consumers?

- Roseboro, NC, USA

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problem #59

Jul 222013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 92,000 miles
I was driving my Acadia to work on Monday morning and it started having transmission problems, it would not shift in the lower gears and would rev up to 4-5 RPM between gears. I drove it to a transmission shop the next morning and they diagnosed it, needed a whole new transmission. Upon leaving the transmission shop, it completely stop moving, causing me to roll to a complete stop on a highway. I got it pulled over, stopped the vehicle and restarted it. I was able to drive a block or so before it stopped again. I was stranded and stuck in the middle of the road. I was finally able to get it to a parking lot and had it towed to a dealer to look at.

- Auburn, IL, USA

problem #58

Jul 092013

Acadia

  • 46,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I was at my son's baseball game and went to move my vehicle when I was pulling out of the parking lot and the vehicle started revving and would not move other than coasting (since I was on a hill). I was 3 hours from home and had to have the vehicle towed to the tune of $300 +. I have since had to have the transmission replaced. This has cost over $4500 not to mention having to drive 2 vehicles with my family since the Acadia was the larger of our vehicles.

- Sayre, PA, USA

problem #57

Jul 092013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 94,000 miles
About a week ago my family and I were driving home from vacation and had been on the road for about 3.5 hours. As we pulled out of a driveway about 5 minutes from our home the car engine light came one, the car would not gain speed like normal and it began to over heat rapidly. We took side roads and slowly crawled home. I took it into the shop the next day and it came back with a crack in the radiator and codes P0700 and P07016, which they confirmed to be a transmission issue and suggested to have a specialist look at it. I did some research and found that this are common codes that come back for the 2007 and 2008 Acadia's that require a rebuild/replaced transmission with an average cost of $4000. This is a known issue with GMC for many years and they have yet to acknowledge it. I am very lucky to not have had a worse incident in discovering this issue, but I am very concerned that at any moment the transmission will go out, and we do not have $4000 to drop into a new one, especially when I just spent $650 on a new radiator. These are not problems that a reliable car, the 2008 Acadia, under 100,000 miles should be having. GMC needs to own up to these issues and take action to correct it before something more serious happens.

- Rocklin, CA, USA

problem #56

Jul 132013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 85,200 miles
We are a family of 5 driving along the highway when the check engine light came on. We stopped and put the car into park. When I went to put into drive, the car would not engage. Finally after a few minutes we were able to get the car going again, but the car would not shift itself (automatic transmission). We then had to drive along the side of the highway for 13 miles to the next town with the hazards on at 20 miles per hour. Went to a Chevy dealership and after they read the codes, there appears that the transmission is completely out. We were more than 800 miles away from home on vacation in Missouri. The car is still in Missouri at the dealership, as they will not be able to take the transmission apart until early next week.

- Thornton, CO, USA

problem #55

Jul 092013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 69,046 miles
As I was pulling off of the interstate onto rockville rd I noticed that the car upshifted from 3rd very violently. I then hit a stop light and it dowshifted pretty rough as well. I thought uh oh and noticed the check engine light come on. When I pulled away from the light I noticed the car was most likely stuck in 3rd gear as the rpms matched the mph and from driving a stick all those years they made sense. I later found out this was done on purpose to stick the transmission in 3rd gear to further damage it and allow you to continue to drive. I got to work and had onstar run a diagnostic. It came back with a P2715 code for the transmission control. After looking into this code it appears to involve the 3-5-R waveplate that controls the clutch for these gears. I, of course, am 6 months out of warranty on the drive train. After confirmation with GMC it was the wave plate. This appears to be a common problem cropping up with this transmission when you look around social media.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

problem #54

Jul 092013

Acadia

  • 76,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While my wife was driving our 5 children on the highway the truck stopped on her. She was able to restart it but only drive about 40mph while the RPM's were redlining. The reverse went completely out. She ended up having to push the truck by herself with all the kids inside. The dealership says the transmission is bad, it'll cost $2600 to repair. From reading the forums it's obvious there is a problem with the transmission with this particular truck. We are very fortunate no one was injured.

- Bedford, IN, USA

problem #53

Jul 072013

Acadia

  • 112,453 miles
While in traffic, my engine revved up and my vehicle jolted forward when my transmission stopped working. If anyone would have been behind me, there would have been a major accident.

- Pearland, TX, USA

problem #52

Apr 012013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 70,000 miles
On occasion, our 2008 Acadia would not shift out of low gear when first attempting to drive. The tac would rev to 5-6000 RPM at a max of about 20 mph. We would need to pull over, turn off the vehicle, wait a few minutes and restart. At this point everything would be fine with the exception of the check engine light being displayed. At first this would happen very rarely. It then began to happen more frequently. The last incident was very scary for my son, a new drive. He attempted to pull out into heavy traffic on a street with a 50 mph speed limit. The vehicle would only go 20 mph and there was no shoulder for him to pull over. We took it to the dealer and they diagnosed the problem as a failed wave plate. And from what I have been reading, a very common failure. The repair involved a transmission rebuild and cost us $2,800. GM refused any compensation. Absolutely ridiculous that a company would not stand by an obviously defect issue in its product.

- Naperville, IL, USA

problem #51

Jun 102013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 125,000 miles
Transmission failure immediately followed by engine failure after the transmission was replaced.

- Mckinney, TX, USA

problem #50

Jun 302013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 62,000 miles
My transmission failed on my GMC Acadia at just under 62000 miles. As I understand this is a very common occurrence with the model year and could easily cause a major accident. When mine failed, I lost all power to the wheels. Had I been in heavy traffic, it most certainly could have caused an accident. GM needs to recall these vehicles.

- Pickrell, NE, USA

problem #49

Jun 162013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 121,364 miles
I recently purchased a 2008 GMC Acadia in April of this year. On June 16th my husband and I did not get any type of warning before our vehicle completely stopped because the engine light did not come on until after it made a loud sound right before quitting. It was a good thing that my family and I were on a back road when this happened or there would have been some fatalities. The vehicle would start afterwards but would not pull in any gear. We contacted a mechanic and he informed us that he had worked on plenty of Acadia's with the exact same problems and when he checked our vehicle it was no exception. Our reverse function was completely gone out in the computer system and the transmission had to be rebuilt. I called the dealership to see what they could do since they told me that they did a full service/five point inspection on my vehicle and found nothing, but they said there was nothing that they could do to help. I have searched the internet for similar problems with this make and model vehicle and have found plenty of disappointed customers, so I feel that the problems with this vehicle were not disclosed in transparency and causing families safety and financial strains. I have contacted GM and they said that there was nothing that they could do because they didn't know about the problem and that only GM forums were a reliable source, even though I received their email from a non-GM forum where they told consumers to contact them with this particular problem. They told me that I had a headlight recall on my vehicle and should get it fixed, even though my vehicle was down at the time. They are being very insensitive to this issue, and a family is really going to be hurt in this vehicle if they do not take this matter serious.

- Tunica, MS, USA

problem #48

Jul 082013

Acadia

  • 62,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that she attempted to shift gears but the vehicle did not respond. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic, who stated that the failure was caused by a faulty wave plate in the transmission. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure was not reported to the manufacturer. The failure and current mileage was 62,000.

- Denver, NC, USA

problem #47

Feb 132013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 60,000 miles
In February of this year (2013) the transmission in our 2008 GMC Acadia failed while I was driving my two small children home from preschool. Thankfully I never lost control of the car although it was extremely frightening and a very dangerous experience to not be able to shift into another gear while in the middle of moving traffic on a busy road. I barely made it home, drove with my hazard lights on, shaking and counting my blessings that our car was not hit and we were not hurt. What makes it all the more upsetting is that GM is aware of this issue with 2008 Acadia models but yet has never done a recall on the defective transmissions in our cars. GM is essentially telling it's customers that it does not care about their safety or well being. They allow us to continue to drive their cars even though they are aware of the potential danger involved when the transmission shuts down. I cannot afford another car for my family right now so every day I live in fear that this car will fail again and put us in danger. It is not the safe, reliable car I was led to believe it was when I purchased it for my family vehicle. GMC should be forced to recall these cars (2007/2008 GMC Acadia) and required to put in completely new transmissions.

- Stone Ridge, VA, USA

problem #46

Jun 112013

Acadia

  • 50,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while driving 20 mph, the vehicle failed to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnosis and the contact was informed that the third and fifth gears in the transmission had failed and the transmission would need to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure and current mileage was 50,000.

- Albuquerque, NM, USA

problem #45

Jun 262013

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 47,000 miles
Transmission on 2008 GMC Acadia stopped working. Towed to lehmer's GMC in concord, ca. Advised that transmission must be rebuilt or replaced.

- Berkeley, CA, USA

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