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Timing belt broke on 2006 sts with 53,000 miles!

43K views 68 replies 29 participants last post by  AllGoNShow 
#1 ·
I leased this car brand new in 2005. Due to turn in 6 months from now. Timing belt broke and the dealer is insinuating poor upkeep. Pure bs this was my 7th caddy and NEVER missed an oil change. They claim the engine only had a quart and a half in the engine with no leaks. They suggest I produce oil change records. The dealership where the oil changes were performed is no longer in business due to the recession. I was told give him one more day while he contacts someone at cadillac. I swear so much for reliability. If they don't do right by me lexus here I come!
 
#11 ·
I think these V6's have 3 timing chains--one primary and two secondary's so the overall damage may depend on which one broke. There were problems in 2007 but so far I haven't seen any indication that the quality problem affected 2006--could yours be a late 06? Also, did the chain actually break or did it slip. I suppose it could be attributed to low oil pressure, but I would ask some tough questions first.
 
#8 ·
This is not very unusual for that engine. You really should check your oil level once a month. You really shouly keep your service records, if for no other reason, it adds to the resale value of the car and for insurance purposes if it gets totaled or stolen. I keep all of my service records and I work at the dealer.
 
#10 ·
Like so many things, YMMV. My dealer takes good care of us. We have bought 5 used cars from him over 15 years and the service is good provided you make sure they understand the issue and expectation. Our Cadillacs have visited the shop more than others but they have a lot more features than the others.
 
#13 ·
3 repairs under warranty. This is the 4th problem and its major. They called today with 2 offers. First offer they pay 4000 and I pay 4000 to rebuild the engine. I pay 6000 to fix it and they provide a voucher for 4000 towards the purchase of my existing car or a new one. This sucks. Not unusual for this engine. I guess I learned a valuable lesson. Keep all records and warranty ,warranty,warranty.
 
#15 ·
Well I do think it is unusual for this engine! There were some oil consumption issues which really is not that common, nor should that become your problem. Also, I don't think that low oil level will cause a timing chain failure.It's a roller chain that can endure a lot of punishment--more so than bearings and rings. Don't give in yet!!
 
#16 ·
You know--the more I think about this the more pissed off I get. These cars have both a low oil pressure warning and a low oil level warning. Whether they work or not is not your problem. If indeed your crankcase level was low, you should have had a warning (why are those systems there and explained in the owners manual). Also, if indeed the engine starved for oil, many other systems would have failed long before the chain failed. I personally think you need to go on the offensive and put your dealer on the defensive. I'm sure they will give you the normal crap about checking oil level, but ask them why the vehicle has indicator lights and why as a customer you shouldn't count on them. Also, what was your oil life indicator when this happened. If it still shows a fair amount of oil life remaining, you can challenge them on excessive consumption even though you had lots of oil life left. I know that this stuff is difficult for a lot of folks, but there's a lot of money involved here. Again, as an engineer, i don't think that a timing chain failure is the first failure to ocurr due to low oil pressure. Ask them about the 2007 failures that were attributed to vendor quality and how do they know your's may be different.
 
#27 ·
Don't know about this generation of STS but my 2000 used oil about a quart between changes. When it got down below 1 qt a warning came on. So I had 7 qts left and just needed to add a quart. My 05 V8 uses no oil, not sure this is good or bad. But I would expect there is a warning in the DIC when oil levels drop.
 
#30 ·
This IS THE REAL STORY. No reason to lie just left the dealership. The service manager just told me he knows nothing of timing chain problems with 05 ans 06 but the 08 and 09 cars have had timing chain problems. I will be contacting cadillac,they are about to lose a long time customer This is at the morries cadillac in golden valley mn.
 
#33 ·
Well hopefully this won't fuel any fires but... here goes.

1. Sometimes the 3.6 has a tendency to use oil. In the owner's manual it states somewhere that you need to always monitor the oil level. The OIL LIFE INDICATOR is to notify you when to change the oil, not when to check it. If you check the oil regularly you would see that it was getting low and you could take it to the dealer and they could fix the oil consumption issue.
2. These do have a LOW OIL INDICATOR message that will display, however for some reason it will only do so with the key on and the engine off (or so I have heard). This would indicate the low oil level. I don't know why this works, or doesn't, the way it does.
3. If the oil level is low the tensioners could lose pressure and cause slack in the chains which could lead to timing and or chain problems. Yes it should be accompanied by some other issues because the oil will not be feeding other parts of the engine. Valves should clatter and other stuff.
4. There are issues on a number of years with chains. They are on backorder I think right now because of a high demand. We do a lot of them but I can't tell you on what years this issue is most common.
5. If the chains stretch and break lots of stuff gets damaged inside the engine and it can cost a lot of dough to fix depending on what method of repair you choose.
6. Whether or not this issue is covered under warranty is up to the discretion of your dealer. Don't blame the whole corporation for your Dealer's decision. Cadillac will tell you the same thing.
7. Producing maintenance records and telling them you check your oil will help in the long run.
8. Call Cadillac Customer care, don't be a jerk, just tell them what is going on and have them try to talk to your dealer about getting you taken care of to keep your business.
9. Get them to involve the area manager

If they can't make you happy then I wouldn't blame you for going to another car make, but as I said don't blame all of us for the actions of a couple of boneheads up in MN.
 
#34 ·
I think that's a good summary. When I asked what the oil life remaining was, I was trying to see roughly how many miles had gone by since the last oil change. If we guess that 66% used (33% remaining)amounts to about 6000 miles and an oil burn of 1qt per 2000miles, it could have been 3 quarts down. Regardless, if you take a customer focus, 2000 miles per qt is certainly not world class, nor is the weird oil level warning customer friendly. Just like a plane crash, there are usually several things at play here, but a customer paying for a premium car deserves every benefit of the doubt.
 
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