Well...I report this with a heavy heart. My 08 CTS had to be loaded onto a flatbed and is now waiting for the service folks on Monday.

I was driving at a normal clip...about 55...in a 55 zone...and suddenly I got a beep from the dash and a message telling me that the engine was overheating, the A/C was being turned off, and the engine power was being reduced. I pulled over as the car was instructing me to idle the engine. The amount of steam rolling out from under the hood, just in front of the driver, was more than alarming. Initially it was so solid white it looked like smoke and it appeared the car was on fire.

I popped the hood and found that there was an overwhelming smell of antifreeze and it was dripping from an area of the firewall just in front of the driver. There were not any visible leaks in that area and there wasn't any leakage after the initial "burst". The temp guage was pegged initially, then actually went dead. The engine was making a ticking noise while idling.

Very unsettling.

I immediately buzzed OnStar...who asked me to drive to a location with better reception. I explained that I could NOT drive the vehicle anywhere and proceeded to deal with the lousy reception. Roadside assistance was very straight-forward and easy.

I drive this vehicle in a very reasonable manner. I had one of the very first models on the lot. I picked it up in late September. I have the AWD, DI model and I've had absolutely no issues with this. I love this car. I was very happy to come back to an American made vehicle from my Acura MDX that I got rid of last fall. (For the record, my Acura, with 60,000 miles over 3 years, had no issues.) Now I'm faced with a dilemma. This is obviously a bad situation for the engine. Ticking doesn't give you a warm fuzzy. I only have 7,000 miles on this car. If the head gasket went, I'm not sure I want a repaired vehicle that only had 7,000 miles on it to begin with.

Now I wait.

- Scott

Sorry to hear that man. Hope the problem is something minor that is a quick fix. Got my CTS around the same time, first one on the lot at the dealership. Best of luck!

Sorry to hear about this. I hope they take good care of you as they seem to be doing for others. I am wondering if this is related to the oil consumption issue that seems to be ongoing. Did you keep an eye on the oil level since your purchase?

The recent rash of complaints on this forum as of late are a little unsettling.

Very sorry to learn about your vehicle. I'm certain you'll keep us
posted on how your dealership takes care of this situation.

Best wishes to you!

wow scary i feel bad for these people UNREAL******

Sorry to hear about those problems associated w/ your vehicle .
Please keep us updated and all the best wishes

Scott, Sorry to hear of your problem. This sounds a lot more like a cooling system failure (hose perhaps?) than any type of oil level issue. A head gasket usually doesn't cause a sudden loss of coolant. One question, and I don't mean to sound snarky, but why did you leave the engine running after pulling off the road? Running a overheated engine can cause major damage. Please follow up with the failure mode and how everyone concerned responded. I wish you the best.

My experinece with a blown head gasket is that most of the steam (smoke) exits the exhaust. It looks like you are laying down a smoke screen. There is the anti freeze smell that goes along with it and a small amount of leakage in the engine bay. With a broken or loose hose there was a lot of steam from the engine bay that didin't last very long. In either case once the engine is stopped there is little leakage anywhere. After the broken hose, the engine was filled with water and after it cooled, it ran fine, unitl the head gasket blew, maybe a couple of months, about 2,000 miles. That was a '71 Buick Century, I think it was a 350 CI.

Did the engine quit running or did you turn the engine off? I ask beacuse if it seized on its own from the heat, when it cools it may run fine, but there could be trouble later on related to this incident.

Wow...that's terrible. Please keep us posted about this catastrophic failure.

My experinece with a blown head gasket is that most of the steam (smoke) exits the exhaust. It looks like you are laying down a smoke screen. There is the anti freeze smell that goes along with it and a small amount of leakage in the engine bay. With a broken or loose hose there was a lot of steam from the engine bay that didin't last very long. In either case once the engine is stopped there is little leakage anywhere. After the broken hose, the engine was filled with water and after it cooled, it ran fine, unitl the head gasket blew, maybe a couple of months, about 2,000 miles. That was a '71 Buick Century, I think it was a 350 CI.

Did the engine quit running or did you turn the engine off? I ask beacuse if it seized on its own from the heat, when it cools it may run fine, but there could be trouble later on related to this incident.
Macdad you are right on the money with your observation. A common occourance after a severe overheat is a blown head gasket miles later. Cylinder heads do not react well to overheats, and will often warp from experiencing one. that leads to loss of clamp load on the gasket and subsequent failure.

Ugh...

The recent rash of complaints on this forum as of late are a little unsettling.




I couldn't agree more. I hope the outcome is good on this one.

I'm extremely tardy in posting this follow-up...but I wanted to get the info out there.

My CTS died on 3/15 as I posted. Regarding the question about why I left the engine running, I actually did that based on the computer telling me to idle the engine...and roadside assistance also telling me to idle the engine. According to Cadillac...if I had shut the car down it would have done more damage because there would then be no coolant flowing. Regarding the oil levels, I had not had any issues with oil consumption.

I initially suspected that it was a blown hose...but was quickly swayed because of the ticking noise the car was making.

What happened...
It turns out that the surge tank split and the result was just like a coolant hose break, except that there are sensors in the surge tank. The sensors evidently freaked out with such an immediate loss of coolant and actually failed themselves. I'm not sure if the clicking was from the thermostat or the sensor(s), but it was one or the other. I'm concerned about the overheating that occurred and the potential damage that was done, but I'll have to rely on the 100K warranty...and it is a 3 yr lease.

I spoke with my brother...who is a team lead in Lansing. He immediately suspected what happened. This is an issue that has came up with some of the initial vehicles produced. There has been an engineering change that reduces the torque on the surge tank. It's really too bad that this was a somewhat known issue and I still had to experience a dead vehicle situation.

Roadside assistance and the dealer were very pleasant to deal with and I'm somewhat comfortable with the outcome. The larger issue is that this was a problem from the beginning that made it to the field. 6500 miles and it had to go on a flatbed...not exactly marketing material.

I love my CTS...and I sincerely want GM to be successful, particularly in Michigan where we need any help we can get. I would still recommend the vehicle to friends.

szuke good luck in the future with youre car.

I dont get why people are freaking out about a few recent problems. Every car has problems especially the first model year. Honestly though, I wouldnt think twice about driving my car across country over and over.

The reason why people are freaking out is it's the "best foot forward" for GM. The "first model year" argument is old and tired. The Japanese have figured out how to do it...and if GM is going to maintain any market share, the excuses have to end.

I bought a CTS and I'd do it again. I'm not sure if I would buy it without the 100K warranty though.

We're right there in terms of design. We need to close the gap on quality.

If I had driven my car across the country, I would've been stuck for the weekend somewhere. That's not what you expect from a $50K car.

"The "first model year" argument is old and tired. The Japanese have figured out how to do it...and if GM is going to maintain any market share, the excuses have to end. "

Have you bought a first year japanese car?
I have.
Nissan Murano.

6 trips to the dealer in the first 6 months.
All documented on the Nissanmurano.org site

in addition I am on my 4th new 6 disc CD player in the Nissan.

There were also 5 recalls issued against the first year Murano, designed and built in Japan.

I absolutely agree. One of my business partners had a Murano with tons of issues. On the other hand, he was never stranded with the vehicle. He was always able to drive the Murano to the dealer. The CTS was it towed in the first 6000 miles!!!

We've owned 3 Acuras as a company and they've never let us down, first year or otherwise.

Having said that...I'll reiterate...

I LOVE my CTS and will buy another when my lease is up. I continually recommend GM products and I've been trying to shift our purchases to GM, locally built vehicles.

There's nothing wrong with demanding higher quality. Actually, I think it's critical to getting more people to give up Hondas/Acura and Toyota/Lexus for GM vehicles.

Please buy American...but also demand higher quality!!!

...for the record...

I didn't own a single Japanese vehicle until my 2001 Yukon with 38K miles on it started having issues with ABS sensors. We were told that we didn't drive the vehicle enough. The Yukon was kept in a garage, and it was driven for about 15K per year.

This issue was later recalled, well after we had already spent $1500 on ABS/brake repairs and gotten rid of the vehicle.

I then purchased a Subaru Outback and an Acura MDX. We still have the Outback. The MDX was perfect right up until I turned it in with 60K miles on it. The Outback had the turbo go out with about 45K on it. The Turbo was covered. This didn't require towing and my wife and kids were never stranded anywhere. Both of these vehicles are built in North America. The issue isn't about American workers. The workers will do it...but management has to make it an absolute priority.

Keep in mind that I was a diehard GM fan. It's in my family. I worked for GM for 5 years. My brother still works for GM. My dad retired from GM. My grandfather retired for GM. You get the picture.

I just want GM to show the quality that it's capable of.

in order to alleviate your apprehension over the engine's health, have thetechs do a compression leak down test for both the cylinders and the coolant system. these tests will uncover any problems with leakage. even if no work is deemed necessary (otherthan the obvious problem of probably a loose heater hose going into the firewall) try and get the pressuretests done...this will help your peace of mind.


jackg
06 sts6

...for the record...

I didn't own a single Japanese vehicle until my 2001 Yukon with 38K miles on it started having issues with ABS sensors. We were told that we didn't drive the vehicle enough. The Yukon was kept in a garage, and it was driven for about 15K per year.

This issue was later recalled, well after we had already spent $1500 on ABS/brake repairs and gotten rid of the vehicle.

I then purchased a Subaru Outback and an Acura MDX. We still have the Outback. The MDX was perfect right up until I turned it in with 60K miles on it. The Outback had the turbo go out with about 45K on it. The Turbo was covered. This didn't require towing and my wife and kids were never stranded anywhere. Both of these vehicles are built in North America. The issue isn't about American workers. The workers will do it...but management has to make it an absolute priority.

Keep in mind that I was a diehard GM fan. It's in my family. I worked for GM for 5 years. My brother still works for GM. My dad retired from GM. My grandfather retired for GM. You get the picture.

I just want GM to show the quality that it's capable of.

Szuke, I completely agree with your comments. I have always owned GM vehicles but think that people shouldn't come up with excuses for them. If GM is going to take back market share then they'll have to step up to the plate in terms of quality. Let's just put it like this. AC Delco sucks. My corvette was brought in for a faulty seat sensor. The dealer had to order the part three times before one came in that worked. What does that tell you? I personally don't think GM vehicles have any major issues...usually. With that being said, there are a lot of stupid little things that go wrong. I'm also sad to say that it seems like some of my older GM's were more reliable than the more modern ones. I haven't bought the CTS yet, but will soon. I keep watching the forum. Szuke, keep the pressure on!

Szuke- Best of luck with your CTS, and I hope you don't have any other issues.

I agree with what's been said about keeping the pressure on GM...the better the quality of their automobiles, the better for all of us. However, I don't think that GM is alone with having some room for improvement.

Keep in mind that plenty of highly regarded foreign automakers have their share of quality issues. Some that come to mind...the terrible repair history of the Nissan Quest minivan....the less than stellar first year of the Toyota Tundra pickup....the overheating issues with BMW's 300hp turbo six (I got stranded with my brother-in-law with his brand new BMW 535xi with 400 miles...turned out to be failed water pump)....my own '04 Nissan Maxima had to be towed with less than 1000 miles (bad fuel pump)....my client's Acura MDX had to be towed twice out of her garage due to electrical problems....even Lexus had some problems with the recently redesigned GS series.

Once again, I don't want to give excuses to GM, as there is room for improvement. It's just that some of these posts sound like "GM better do better if it wants to compete in this tough market"....well, this tough market
has plenty to worry about as well.

all cars, espeically new models, have issues...look at the acuras with the tranny problems and the avalon's myriad problems....


as far as your piece of mind goes, try and get the service department to do the cylinder and coolant system leak down tests...these will check for
the integrity of the seals and rings and so forth. probably, they will resist and might ask you to keep an eye on the levels of the oil and coolant, which is something that the owner is responsible for, anyway. i do mine once a month.


in fact, now that your "episode" happened....watch the levels of the oil and coolant religiously: i would do it every 3/4 days if it's driven every day...mark the side of the surge tank when the engine is stone cold, in the morning before taking off. check it in the morning when it's cold and you will know soon enough if there's a problem.

keep us posted with the results and good luck.



jackg
06 sts6