[ProjectLtg]

Could all you guys who have seen bad pistons or blown motors on the 2.0T please post to this thread along with your build date? It would be interesting to know if you are/were tuned, but I don't think that info necessarily needs to be shared (especially if you are concerned about "privacy").

There are a lot of assertions what GM did or did not do and when. Let's try to generate some facts! GM is not sharing their data yet, but I think this community is large enough where we can start compiling some data of our own.

Who wants to go first?

I say there is a flaw in this engine. The exhaust manafold is very restricted, ring gaps, and engine pressure. The heat in the cylinders get way to hot and the exhaust fumes can’t escape fast enough. The exhaust manifold is more of a restriction then anything. We see a lot of cracked manafold’s second the ring gaps are to tight against the cylinder wall. I feel the fuel system DI engine computer over compensates under hard acceleration. There is a delay and a lot of unburnt fuel is still left in the cylinder, the cylinder so hot because the gases from the previous fire hasn’t left the cylinder, thus get between the rings get warped or damaged and eventually blown engine. If the ring gap was loser the pressure wouldn’t build as much and blow past the cylinder wall into the low end as the piston comes back up. Engine pressure plays a tool in this as well. Stock no catch can pressure was 80lbs I had a mishimoto dropped to 50lbs and then a custom one and dropped to 30lbs under normal driving conditions. These are my findings based on my own data and hp tuning logging.

 

[Life in the Fastlane]

In fairness to GM, they did do a recall in 2014 for this issue and it has been pretty rare ever since. Colder spark plugs and some software changes have been a pretty effective mitigation.

I say there is a flaw in this engine. The exhaust manafold is very restricted, ring gaps, and engine pressure. The heat in the cylinders get way to hot and the exhaust fumes can’t escape fast enough. The exhaust manifold is more of a restriction then anything. We see a lot of cracked manafold’s second the ring gaps are to tight against the cylinder wall. I feel the fuel system DI engine computer over compensates under hard acceleration. There is a delay and a lot of unburnt fuel is still left in the cylinder, the cylinder so hot because the gases from the previous fire hasn’t left the cylinder, thus get between the rings get warped or damaged and eventually blown engine. If the ring gap was loser the pressure wouldn’t build as much and blow past the cylinder wall into the low end as the piston comes back up. Engine pressure plays a tool in this as well. Stock no catch can pressure was 80lbs I had a mishimoto dropped to 50lbs and then a custom one and dropped to 30lbs under normal driving conditions. These are my findings based on my own data and hp tuning logging.

How do we find out our build date?

 

[RudyF6]

How do we find out our build date?

Top left on the VIN label is a month/year. Base of the b-pillar inside the driver's door.

 

[ProjectLtg]

How do we find out our build date?
[/QUOTE I never searched for a build date. Usually you can run the vin or I believe there an engine number you can look up. I never checked before, other models i owned That’s what’s did.

 

[Prettyboiidale]

I'd tell them to hold off replacing the motor and drop a twin turbo V motor in it, lol.

Will the twin turbo v engine even bolt up to the tranny? Been thinking about doing this myself since the #1 cylinder went out and has had no compression

 

[Pasharin]

I need install crankshaft bearings, but i don't understand, where need install black bearings?

 

[docmac1000]

i just started a list with a list of members i found that reported failures. (i posted a link to this list in the CTS section so they can add their failures and info to this list)

of course i dont have build dates of other member cars, and mine is at dealer so i cant look

TSB for piston failure *PI-1178


List updated 2015-01-05 per smurfkiller

1. smurfkiller 4700 2014 ATS ??/?? #3 replaced 2nd engine blew at 69xx miles
2. 400hpATS 4213 2013 ATS ??/?? #3 warranty would not cover, building aftermarket 800+hp engine
3. caleb bennett ???? 2014 ATS ??/?? #4 repaired
4. byrce2.0t 15000 2013 ATS ??/?? #1&4 repaired
5. shortfur7 5200 2014 ATS ??/?? #3&4 repaired
6. soop3rn0t 6800 2014 ATS 07/13 #4 repaired
7. calicts 9000 ???? CTS ??/?? #1 repaired
8. romanats 20000 2013 ATS ??/?? #3 replaced
9. ElanX 3700? 2014 ATS ??/?? ? repaired (from the other thread this looks like it was injector failed and blew a hole in the piston, maybe not the same type of failure?)
10. Shooter2384 5k miles 2014 ATS ??/?? ? repaired
11. chrisgarner ???? 2014 ATS ??/?? ? replaced
12. Skenny50 6000 ???? ATS ??/?? #4 replaced
13. DB_Outlaw 12000 ???? ATS ??/?? #1 repaired, he sold car then new owner possibly had to have engine replacement
14. Firepower ATS 9000 2014 CTS 09/13 #1 repaired
15. TheRival 5500 2014 ATS 02/2014 #4 replaced
16. parker133t 17000 2013 ATS ??/?? #4 repaired
17. pnm215 20000 2013 ATS ??/?? ? repaired
18. SmurfettesCaddy 16000 2013 ATS ??/?? ? repaired?
19. lemons1843 22000 2013 ATS ??/?? ? repaired?
20. LChris24 40,000 miles 2013 ATS
21. Dolvich 2013 ATS 6700miles #2 cyl failure pistons replaced
22. RemaxAL 2013 ATS 27,000 miles
23. ilovejuicysteak Ats 6700 miles
24. Macvanglist 2013 ATS 6m
25. FDNY-L107 2013 ATS 38k miles
26. GoofyGoober 2013 ATS 34,5k miles #3 cyl failure pistons replaced
27. Darren67 2014 ATS #4 cyl failure
28. Dpelow07 24k miles #4 cyl failure
29. Smurfkiller (loaner car) 2014 CTS 3500 miles engine replacement

----------

ok so this is getting ridiculous. my car is at dealer currently. they are installing a entire new long block.

we need to start a list of members who have had piston failures so we can keep track of build dates, gas used etc.


my car is at dealer so i cant currently get build date.

fuel other than first tank dealer stupidly filled with 87. (they dont care its cheaper) i only use 93 octane from shell or marathon. & never fill up when i see the tanker there stirring up all the trash in the tanks.

my car is a 2014 i purchased 4 months ago with 3 miles on it. car went back at 16xx miles for Human interface module replacement (CUE) . car currently has 47xx miles. at 1626 miles i changed the oil and filter AC Delco filter Mobil 1 5w30 oil.

symptoms were: service traction & stablitrac message, rough idle, lots of burnt oil smoke out of exhaust, loss of power & CEL for misfires in CYL #3.

i did not do a compression test. i just had car towed to dealer. (my service writer is kinda dumb so i couldnt get any answers from him on what tests they did) mine is the first failure they have seen at my dealer. my service writer said "Might be low on oil" LOL. i didnt tell him i work at a shop and consistently build 1000+ hp cars. and have been working on cars & building engines for 20+ yrs.

talking a with guy on FB in the CTS-V pages he is a tech at a caddy dealer, he claims in the past few months he has personally repaired 8 cars with failures of 2.0t pistons. he claims #3 seems to be most common but most engines have failures on multiple cylinders. most recent engine he was doing and posting pics of had failures in cyl #1,3 & 4.

yes of course my dealer is fixing car under warranty and gave me a loaner car, but this issue seems to be far worse then just a bad batch of pistons. i understand a batch of pistons could be 1000+ but we need to keep track of info so we can know what cars might be affected. (for resell and potential buyers in the future)

when i get my car back i will post build date VIN whatever so we can try to figure out a window for affected cars. that to say the 2015s dont end up having failures as well.

Do you know if any of those on the list has the 3.6 or are all of these failures on the 2.0T?

 

[DavidATS]

This is only a 2.0T problem.

 

[Vandelayimports]

I recently bought a 2014 2.0t. It’s been around. Has about 215,000 miles so I want to take it easy on it and make sure I get whatever out of that’s left. As far as these failures etc. What’s advised? I’ve searched and see the 15/16 got a colder plug etc. To finesse this as long as I can should I run a run only 93 gas and a colder plug than stock and / or widen with the gap to like .035 to burn the carbon better or put the gap at .030 so it doesn’t burn as hot? Tranny is starting to shift a little hard once in a while too and I’m thinking I should just leave that because I don’t know if filters ever even been changed. Could do more than good? Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Sergio526]

I recently bought a 2014 2.0t. It’s been around. Has about 215,000 miles so I want to take it easy on it and make sure I get whatever out of that’s left. As far as these failures etc. What’s advised? I’ve searched and see the 15/16 got a colder plug etc. To finesse this as long as I can should I run a run only 93 gas and a colder plug than stock and / or widen with the gap to like .035 to burn the carbon better or put the gap at .030 so it doesn’t burn as hot? Tranny is starting to shift a little hard once in a while too and I’m thinking I should just leave that because I don’t know if filters ever even been changed. Could do more than good? Thoughts? Thanks.

I don't think you need to worry about the plugs. Yes, the 2015 model came with the colder plugs, but all 13s and 14s were recalled to get those new plugs and the new tune. The majority of those piston failures, caused partially by the hotter plugs, happened within the first few dozen thousand miles. That said, it's still a really good idea to use 93 octane gas.

 

[Rgraf77]

My wife's 2013 ATS 2.0T with 84k miles just had an engine replacement (part#12669126). They found the #1 cylinder in the valves damaged. Turbo also blew. Cost 10k for engine, turbo, labor and various gaskets and hoses. Car was out of warranty.

 

[Smallen]

2016 ATS with 76k miles. #4 piston cracked at the ringlands. Cylinder looks to be perfect so hoping to rebuild with forged pistons to solve this problem.

 

[CheeksRus]

2016 2.0t. Manual transmission. Failed piston 1 at 160,000kms.
Fourth and last Cadillac I ever buy I’m pretty sure the dealership knew that this car had this issue at 20,000 km. It kept surging under boost and they did nothing but replace coils and spark plugs.

I took it back numerous times, but they kept giving me the runaround

I’m contemplating putting an engine in. Since it’s a manual transmission and it’s worth more.

I have babied the crap out of the car and yet it has broken down.

from what I hear it’s not worth rebuilding the Ecotek is notorious for its tolerance is being too tight. I’m in between selling the car as is since everything inside is mint.

I just put in new clutch and flywheel at 150,000 km. Also a new differential at 130 K system was replaced at 90 K.

 

[CheeksRus]

I recently bought a 2014 2.0t. It’s been around. Has about 215,000 miles so I want to take it easy on it and make sure I get whatever out of that’s left. As far as these failures etc. What’s advised? I’ve searched and see the 15/16 got a colder plug etc. To finesse this as long as I can should I run a run only 93 gas and a colder plug than stock and / or widen with the gap to like .035 to burn the carbon better or put the gap at .030 so it doesn’t burn as hot? Tranny is starting to shift a little hard once in a while too and I’m thinking I should just leave that because I don’t know if filters ever even been changed. Could do more than good? Thoughts? Thanks.

That is bs. GM didn’t fix anything and that’s why they discontinued the LTG to avoid lawsuit.

You are one of the few people that have made it this far. Congratulations.

Just better off selling the car to be honest. All the talk about colder plugs or running higher octane, or putting Gucci oil is all bs.

You’re pretty much rolling the dice every time you drive the car at any point that piston could just fail

 

[dbphelps]

There are a TON of LTGs that made it past 150k miles. Not only in Cadillacs, but also Buicks, Chevys, GMCs, etc... They put the LTG in a TON of vehicles.

Just because a few people got "bad ones" or had a bad experience doesn't mean there isn't a TON of them out there still running and owners that are happy with thier vehicles. The big issue is when the second or third owners get them and start modding them.. Once the vehicles got cheap enough they were abused...

And, agian, EVERY engine has some "bad ones" out there... The more that engine is used, the more there are and the more unhappy owners there are as well. But, overall it is a VERY well engineered engine... They just built in "limits" so that people didn't start modifying them and competing with thier bigger engine offerings...

CheeksRus, be salty all you want, but you HAD a warranty... You shouldn't have babied it and let it blow under warranty, then they would have HAD to fix it... Sounds like your dealer sucks... No one can fix that and a LOT of people have run into scummy dealers... Hell, I had a dealer void my powertrain warranty on a car 20 years ago because THEY were scamming GM for warranty work that was to mod the controllers sons car and they got caught... So when I had my car in for warranty work they claimed it was modified, which it was not, as I bought the car brand new (actually ordered it the way I wanted it) and refused to modify it until the warranty was up... But, they lied and voided my warranty (all because I was in my mid-20s, as if I was older they wouldn't have tried that) and within 6 months it had a built engine and the rest is history... Best thing to ever happen to me, as I got HEAVILY into engineering and building cars.

But, again, you have sour grapes on something that is mostly dealer-based and the rest is solely on you for babying the car. Babying a vehicle will NOT keep it from having problems. Driving it normal and running it within it's rev-range is what you are supposed to do. No idea where people think that if they only rev it to 4k will somehow "keep it nice"... There is a BIG difference in beating the hell out of your vehicle and just driving it the way it was meant to be driven.

 

[waynebarneszx10]

i just started a list with a list of members i found that reported failures. (i posted a link to this list in the CTS section so they can add their failures and info to this list)

of course i dont have build dates of other member cars, and mine is at dealer so i cant look

TSB for piston failure *PI-1178


List updated 2015-01-05 per smurfkiller

1. smurfkiller 4700 2014 ATS ??/?? #3 replaced 2nd engine blew at 69xx miles
2. 400hpATS 4213 2013 ATS ??/?? #3 warranty would not cover, building aftermarket 800+hp engine
3. caleb bennett ???? 2014 ATS ??/?? #4 repaired
4. byrce2.0t 15000 2013 ATS ??/?? #1&4 repaired
5. shortfur7 5200 2014 ATS ??/?? #3&4 repaired
6. soop3rn0t 6800 2014 ATS 07/13 #4 repaired
7. calicts 9000 ???? CTS ??/?? #1 repaired
8. romanats 20000 2013 ATS ??/?? #3 replaced
9. ElanX 3700? 2014 ATS ??/?? ? repaired (from the other thread this looks like it was injector failed and blew a hole in the piston, maybe not the same type of failure?)
10. Shooter2384 5k miles 2014 ATS ??/?? ? repaired
11. chrisgarner ???? 2014 ATS ??/?? ? replaced
12. Skenny50 6000 ???? ATS ??/?? #4 replaced
13. DB_Outlaw 12000 ???? ATS ??/?? #1 repaired, he sold car then new owner possibly had to have engine replacement
14. Firepower ATS 9000 2014 CTS 09/13 #1 repaired
15. TheRival 5500 2014 ATS 02/2014 #4 replaced
16. parker133t 17000 2013 ATS ??/?? #4 repaired
17. pnm215 20000 2013 ATS ??/?? ? repaired
18. SmurfettesCaddy 16000 2013 ATS ??/?? ? repaired?
19. lemons1843 22000 2013 ATS ??/?? ? repaired?
20. LChris24 40,000 miles 2013 ATS
21. Dolvich 2013 ATS 6700miles #2 cyl failure pistons replaced
22. RemaxAL 2013 ATS 27,000 miles
23. ilovejuicysteak Ats 6700 miles
24. Macvanglist 2013 ATS 6m
25. FDNY-L107 2013 ATS 38k miles
26. GoofyGoober 2013 ATS 34,5k miles #3 cyl failure pistons replaced
27. Darren67 2014 ATS #4 cyl failure
28. Dpelow07 24k miles #4 cyl failure
29. Smurfkiller (loaner car) 2014 CTS 3500 miles engine replacement

----------

ok so this is getting ridiculous. my car is at dealer currently. they are installing a entire new long block.

we need to start a list of members who have had piston failures so we can keep track of build dates, gas used etc.


my car is at dealer so i cant currently get build date.

fuel other than first tank dealer stupidly filled with 87. (they dont care its cheaper) i only use 93 octane from shell or marathon. & never fill up when i see the tanker there stirring up all the trash in the tanks.

my car is a 2014 i purchased 4 months ago with 3 miles on it. car went back at 16xx miles for Human interface module replacement (CUE) . car currently has 47xx miles. at 1626 miles i changed the oil and filter AC Delco filter Mobil 1 5w30 oil.

symptoms were: service traction & stablitrac message, rough idle, lots of burnt oil smoke out of exhaust, loss of power & CEL for misfires in CYL #3.

i did not do a compression test. i just had car towed to dealer. (my service writer is kinda dumb so i couldnt get any answers from him on what tests they did) mine is the first failure they have seen at my dealer. my service writer said "Might be low on oil" LOL. i didnt tell him i work at a shop and consistently build 1000+ hp cars. and have been working on cars & building engines for 20+ yrs.

talking a with guy on FB in the CTS-V pages he is a tech at a caddy dealer, he claims in the past few months he has personally repaired 8 cars with failures of 2.0t pistons. he claims #3 seems to be most common but most engines have failures on multiple cylinders. most recent engine he was doing and posting pics of had failures in cyl #1,3 & 4.

yes of course my dealer is fixing car under warranty and gave me a loaner car, but this issue seems to be far worse then just a bad batch of pistons. i understand a batch of pistons could be 1000+ but we need to keep track of info so we can know what cars might be affected. (for resell and potential buyers in the future)

when i get my car back i will post build date VIN whatever so we can try to figure out a window for affected cars. that to say the 2015s dont end up having failures as well.

Wish the dealer would do something. My cats just found out number 4 piston is low compression wtf 79k and the car was babied. My girl is the only one that drives it. 42 k for a car that lasted 79 k miles. And come to find out there are alot of people with the same problem. Never buy another caddy ever. F n junk.

 

[pulaskitrio]

Just took 2017 ATS in for an oil leak. Oil being leaked from inside seal on the turbo and a repair was scheduled. Piston failure during service drive after repairs. Engine now being swapped and dealer confirmed GM is well aware of the piston issue but has still offered nothing to assist. Will not be surprised if this happens again.