Cadillac Owners Forum banner

2.0t engine piston failures!!!!????? ATS section has started a list

7K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  dbphelps 
#1 ·
#2 ·
these are the failures i have found so far.


1. smurfkiller , 47xx miles , ATS 2014 #3 failure, engine replacement
2 .400hpATS , ATS #3 failure , 2013, 4213 miles, warranty would not cover, building aftermarket 800+hp engine
3. caleb bennet , ATS #4 failure, piston replacement
4. byrce2.0t , ATS
5. shortfur7 , ATS 5200 miles #3&4 failure , piston replacement
6. soop3rn0t , ATS 6800 miles built 7/13 #4 failure, piston replacement
7. calicts CTS , 9000 miles, #1 failure , piston replacement
8. romanats , engine replacement
9. firepowerats , CTS #1 failure
10. ElanX , ATS piston replacement
11. Shooter2384 , ATS piston replacement
12. chrisgarner , ATS engine replacement
13. Skenny50 , ATS 6000 miles, #4 failure , engine replacement
14. DB_Outlaw , ATS 12k miles, piston replacement
15.
----------
 
#4 ·
1. smurfkiller , 47xx miles , ATS 2014 #3 failure, engine replacement
2 .400hpATS , ATS #3 failure , 2013, 4213 miles, warranty would not cover, building aftermarket 800+hp engine
3. caleb bennet , ATS #4 failure, piston replacement
4. byrce2.0t , ATS
5. shortfur7 , ATS 5200 miles #3&4 failure , piston replacement
6. soop3rn0t , ATS 6800 miles built 7/13 #4 failure, piston replacement
7. calicts CTS , 9000 miles, #1 failure , piston replacement
8. romanats , engine replacement
9. firepowerats , CTS #1 failure
10. ElanX , ATS piston replacement
11. Shooter2384 , ATS piston replacement
12. chrisgarner , ATS engine replacement
13. Skenny50 , ATS 6000 miles, #4 failure , engine replacement
14. DB_Outlaw , ATS 12k miles, piston replacement
15.thenasty0ne714, CTS 8,300 miles #4 piston failed, build date june/2014
 
#7 ·
1. smurfkiller , 47xx miles , ATS 2014 #3 failure, engine replacement
2 .400hpATS , ATS #3 failure , 2013, 4213 miles, warranty would not cover, building aftermarket 800+hp engine
3. caleb bennet , ATS #4 failure, piston replacement
4. byrce2.0t , ATS
5. shortfur7 , ATS 5200 miles #3&4 failure , piston replacement
6. soop3rn0t , ATS 6800 miles built 7/13 #4 failure, piston replacement
7. calicts CTS , 9000 miles, #1 failure , piston replacement
8. romanats , engine replacement
9. firepowerats , CTS #1 failure
10. ElanX , ATS piston replacement
11. Shooter2384 , ATS piston replacement
12. chrisgarner , ATS engine replacement
13. Skenny50 , ATS 6000 miles, #4 failure , engine replacement
14. DB_Outlaw , ATS 12k miles, piston replacement
15.thenasty0ne714, CTS 8,300 miles #4 piston failed, build date june/2014
Landshark1960 82 k one 1000 miles out of warranty #4 pist. Fale need replacement motor ?
 
#9 ·
Just wondering, how long have you had the car?

Any mods? (Cold air kit, performance downpipe, tune?)

Is it a manual or automatic?

Just wondering why it lasted so long and then failed. There HAD to be a change. If you had the car for only a short time then maybe the previous owners never drove it hard and you drive it harder than they did?

If it was owned since new, and no changes in driving habit, than it doesn't make sense.

If it was owned since new, than that just means you never drove it hard enough and it was weak to begin with. If you only got it 9 months ago, than I would figure the previous owners never drove it hard enough.

Personally I drove mine hard for the first year because it still had a full B2B warranty at 39k miles when I bought it, and I wanted to know if it had issues I needed to worry about so that they would be covered under warranty. Honestly, my definition of "hard" is still not abuse... Basically used Sport Mode a number of times. I figured that was enough exercise to stress things. I still let it idle for a few minutes when I parked it to help cool the turbo down.

I do think there was a "known bad batch" of pistons that they never fessed up to back in 2014. Mine was a late 2014 model year CTS-4 Performance 2.0t and in my research I think mine was after they had issues. I don't think there are any 2015s or later on the list, and if there are I think those owners abused it (or the dealerships, valet parking, etc did the abuse if the owners didn't drive them hard). I know the pistons used in the 2017+ cars are a totally revised design as they expected the Camaro guys to abuse theirs and made changes to account for it.
 
#10 ·
Also, didn't your car overheat after losing a hose?

If it overheated AT ALL, then that is why it failed. I wouldn't look any further into things.

And, yeah, kinda shitty, but these are max-effort designed engines. If they overheat, damage WILL be done and can be assumed.

Most engines can blow a head gasket from overheating and you tear them apart, put a new headgasket on, etc, etc, they are just fine after the fact... Not on these. They are almost as bad as the Northstar engines in that regard. If I remember correctly, if the Northstar engines overheated you needed new heads in most cases.

The fact of the matter is, they should have used forged rods and pistons in these engines. To apply 16+ pounds of boost and NOT have forged rods and pistons is criminal. Ultimately if they did that we would not have ANY failures if people didn't abuse them. At the same time I am sure people would be putting out over 425hp+ with them on the regular and they would have broken transmissions, transaxles and differentials instead, all hard for GM to prove and would have cost them more than a few engines have. So for them, it was the right move to limit the motor.

But, at the same time, think about it, you get to replace the rods and pistons and can make more power after the fact. Just as long as the overheat didn't damage anything else and the engine failure didn't damage anything else in the process.
 
#11 ·
add me pls. June 2014 built CTS 2.0T. replaced engine block under warranty at 17000 miles, then piston cracked again at 51000 miles out of warranty (but GM agreed to cover half of the engine replacement cost), then engine #3 replaced out of pocket, piston 4 failed again at 90000 (per GM I installed MSG ignition coils which voids the warranty), so I paid out of pocket to replace with the 3rd engine.
 
#12 ·
Hopefully the third engine replacement had forged pistons installed. They are cheap (around $500-600), but would be sure you never have a piston failure again.

Ultimately, if I have problems with mine, I will put forged rods and pistons in it and be done. Then I will get a more aggressive tune, put in colder plugs, MSD coils and max out the bigger turbo I have.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top