3.6L Oil Change Pictoral

[RobertCTS]

An important part of doing it yourself. What do you do with the old oil? I heard you can take it to an oil change place and they in turn sell it to recycle it. Any easier way?

[schmit]

hi everyone....newbie here....Just got my 04 CTS a couple weeks back...1SB pak with 8900 miles and I love it. 1st car in 20 years after pickups and SUV's.....anywho....it says in the original thread that louiefl99 bought a 5 qt jug and a single. Then at the end it says he put 6 qts in, then added another 1/2 qt. I decided to change my oil because the dealer couldn't tell me exactly when the oil was changed last so I looked up the capacity in the manual and it says 5.6 qts for the 3.6L...(great engine by the way). I did the change adding the 5.6 qts and the oil showed to the bottom of the crosschecks on the dipstick. To my question...is this a misprint in the manual for the 3.6L or an approximate capacity?.... it will take 6 qts to hit the top of the cross checks on the stick.....Thanks in advance and Ive already used this forum to eyeball some of the "extras" that are must-haves.....like a billet grill from US Speed and maybe some wheels and the air intake and the.......Im in BIG trouble.....Thanks Schmit

[Ilyesha]

Originally Posted by RobertCTS

An important part of doing it yourself. What do you do with the old oil? I heard you can take it to an oil change place and they in turn sell it to recycle it. Any easier way?

Yeah remember the old days when dad used it to kill weeds in the yard!!!

[zzxpyw]

Originally Posted by schmit

....it says in the original thread that louiefl99 bought a 5 qt jug and a single. Then at the end it says he put 6 qts in, then added another 1/2 qt. I decided to change my oil because the dealer couldn't tell me exactly when the oil was changed last so I looked up the capacity in the manual and it says 5.6 qts for the 3.6L...(great engine by the way). I did the change adding the 5.6 qts and the oil showed to the bottom of the crosschecks on the dipstick. To my question...is this a misprint in the manual for the 3.6L or an approximate capacity?.... it will take 6 qts to hit the top of the cross checks on the stick.....

2005 CTS Owners Manual
Engine Oil, Page 5-16
1. Turn off the engine and give the oil several minutes to drain back into the oil pan. If you do not do this, the oil dipstick might not show the actual level. [I suspect the extra 1/2 qt. of oil was added due to not allowing enought time for the oil to drain after turning the engine off.]

Capacities and Specifications, Page 5-108
Engine Oil with Filter 6.0 quarts

I changed the oil in my daugher's CTS last evening for the first time. It could not have been easier. Based on information shared in the forum, it prompted me to do so and glad I did. Six quarts put the level at the top of the cross-hatched area of the dipstick. I checked the level after five quarts; it was at the bottom of the cross-hatched area. Instructions on page 5-17 state "If the oil is at or below the cross-hatched area at the tip of the dipstick, then you will need to add at least one quart of oil." The sixth quart took it to the top as documented in the instructions.

If you are not changing your CTS' oil yourself, consider doing so!

[RobertCTS]

Originally Posted by schmit

hi everyone....newbie here....Just got my 04 CTS a couple weeks back...1SB pak with 8900 miles and I love it. 1st car in 20 years after pickups and SUV's.....anywho....it says in the original thread that louiefl99 bought a 5 qt jug and a single. Then at the end it says he put 6 qts in, then added another 1/2 qt. I decided to change my oil because the dealer couldn't tell me exactly when the oil was changed last so I looked up the capacity in the manual and it says 5.6 qts for the 3.6L...(great engine by the way). I did the change adding the 5.6 qts and the oil showed to the bottom of the crosschecks on the dipstick. To my question...is this a misprint in the manual for the 3.6L or an approximate capacity?.... it will take 6 qts to hit the top of the cross checks on the stick.....Thanks in advance and Ive already used this forum to eyeball some of the "extras" that are must-haves.....like a billet grill from US Speed and maybe some wheels and the air intake and the.......Im in BIG trouble.....Thanks Schmit

to the Forum Scmit.
5.6 is correct. Did you allow enough time for the oil to run down to the pan? Did you put in a new filter as that accounts for some of the oil?
Yes, you will find a lot of neat ideas for your CTS at this Forum. Enjoy the CTS man.

[schmit]

Yea I allowed plenty of time for the oil to run back down into the pan.....I put just about 6 qts in (new filter too) to get it to the top of the checked area on the stick and that was topping it off the next day after it sat in the garage overnight. My 04 manual states for a 3.6L HFV6 its 5.6 qts w/ filter.....zzxpyw says his 05 manual states 6 qts w/ filter.....maybe it the HFV6 designation....the top of my engine says 3.6 VVT though....I don't know but is without a doubt the cleanest, quickest and easiest oil change Ive done.....and Ive done every oil change on every vehicle Ive owned for over 25 years......and thats a lot of oil changes.....Its not a big deal.....we're talkin maybe 4-8 ounces.....I could drink that much Mobil 1 and it probably wouldn't affect me

[j-w]

I might just try using a fluid extractor. No sense in crawling on my hands and knees if I don't have too.

[rskim119]

Where is the filter canister located?

[RobertCTS]

On top of the engine. See the picture.

[jteolis]

Just did my change on the 05 3.6. Took all of 30 minutes from start to finish. The longest time was spent draining and putting 6 qts of oil in the engine, bad funnel; otherwise it was a snap and it will probably take me a lot less time. EASIEST OIL CHANGE I'VE EVER DONE!!!:coolgleam

[Z71]

Originally Posted by louiefl99

When the powertrain plant does final assembly, they use cleaned parts, fill, and run the engine on a test stand to collect data. They drain and send to the vehicle assembly plant for installation in the car, fill again and run the engine some more.

btw-Engines are not fired till there are installed into the car and fired near the end of the assembly line where the car is born. Each car goes thru a dynamic testing (dyno) to test brakes, emissons. Of these tests I have seen it is about 5 min or less, run the vehicle 70mph and went everything passes, it driven out the door to be sent on to the railhead.

The engines are tested at the engine plants using water pressure etc but not fired. Can you imagine the EPA controls this would require not to mention about the health of the plants workers. Its just not feasible or necessay to fire up 5,000 engines per shift.



The following copied from GM service line...

The following 2005 engines have synthetic engine oil installed at the engine plant(fig. 7).

2.0L LSJ
3.6L LY7 Cadillac only
4.6L LH2
6.0L LS2

TIP: When servicing these engines, use oil that meets the GM4718M specification, as outlined in the Owners’ Manual. Not all synthetic oils will meet this GM standard.

[Z71]

fyi

We recently received this e-mail from Mike McQuoid, at Norman Gale Pontiac GMC, Cedar Knolls, NJ:

“In the March 2005 issue of TechLink, there is a list of motor oils approved by GM for use in gasoline engines. I'm curious why so many “full synthetic” oils are listed in the “non-synthetic” list and not in the synthetic list.”

Here’s the answer from GM Powertrain:

“GM4718M is General Motors' High Performance engine oil specification. Oils which meet GM4718M tend to be made from synthetic base stocks, so it is often referred to as a "synthetic" specification.

“However, not all oils, synthetic or otherwise, are capable of meeting the stringent requirements of GM4718M. Only the oils listed on the GM4718M Registered Products sheet have proven their performance to the specification.”

- Thanks to Matt Snider, GM Powertrain

The only synthetic oils on the list that are registered as meeting spec 4718M are;
Chevron Supreme Synthetic
Mobil 1
Texaco Havoline Synthetic

While others may indeed meet it, they are not registered with GM and this not endorsed.

My Info comes from the Registered Oil Products list dated 9-May-05

Here is the PDF file link

[SoCadillac]

What are the torque specifications for the following:

1) Oil drain plug

2) Oil filter canister housing

Also, does anyone have the part numbers for the oil drain plug washer (is it a crush washer style?) and the oil filter canister O-ring? What intervals does the Service Manual recommend regarding replacing both? Thanks.

[Pengineer91]

What are the torque specifications for the following:

1) Oil drain plug

2) Oil filter canister housing

Oil drain plug: 25Nm (18ft-lb)

Oil Filter cap: Same.

(from page 6-510 of the factory service manual)

[2004CTS]

Thanks for the pics and info. Mine won't need it for a few thousand miles, but will keep this info tucked in brain cell 32.