What model year is that?

 

2008

 

This is a bell housing bolt from hell. I think it took me 30-45mins to get it out. A metal pipe was in the way by about 2mm. Had to use a pry bar to bend that pipe slightly upward (probably where it should have been in the first place).

Here's the offending pipe. Hard to gauge it from this angle, but the bolt barely clears this when backed out of its hole.

 

This is a bell housing bolt from hell. I think it took me 30-45mins to get it out. A metal pipe was in the way by about 2mm. Had to use a pry bar to bend that pipe slightly upward (probably where it should have been in the first place).
View attachment 394978

Here's the offending pipe. Hard to gauge it from this angle, but the bolt barely clears this when backed out of its hole.
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How did you take a picture of this bolt let alone see it?? I could only feel it and had to remove it by feel alone. It took me two hours to get this bolt out, good thing I have strong fingers.

 

Words cannot explain how poor the splines look.

 

Words cannot explain how poor the splines look.

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So this is one of the issues I thought I have. my car has 155,000 miles but when I pulled the transfer case off it was like new and there was an o ring on the output shaft so I figure it has been replaced already (right? I hope.). anyway, theres a lot of slipping in forward gears but not reverse so I figured the clutches are fried and when I tore it apart, the friction material is very thin. anyone know of an image source to compare? thanks for all the info by the way.

 

In case you're wondering, you don't need a hoist to do this job. 4 good jack stands and a transmission jack.

A little bit of a clearance problem now getting the transmission + tranny jack out, nothing you can't fix by moving towards the rear of the car and jacking the back end up higher.

 

Is a local garage helping you do the work? Where in Canada are you and what was the cost quoted?

 

So far it's just me on my own. I haven't decided yet if I want to pay someone to replace the shafts. I've watched a couple of 6L80 tear down videos on YouTube, and aside from one tool which I think I can make, it doesn't look that difficult.

When you look at the re-designed shafts, it's completely idiotic that they didn't put an O-ring in there in the first place. Even my 1973(!) Evinrude outboard has an O-ring on it's output shaft splines to keep the grease protected.

 

Is that residue all rust or a mixture of grease and rust that is flung around the shaft in your second pic? I suppose there's no way to preventively service/lube this part prior to an actual failure without incurring the same cost as the post-failure replacement?

 

It's a mixture of grease and iron oxidation dust (rust). The grease has completely dried out, there was a chunk (literally) of it inside the transfer case input shaft.

It's possible to remove the transfer case and re-grease the splines in 3-4 hours. I came across service bulletin (non GM, I think it was a transmission rebuilders association publication) where they suggested to install two O rings of a particular part number to seal up the spline socket on a unit if the splines were still good and re-usable.

 

is it common on the rwd models as well?
tnx.

 

How common is this at only 60,000 miles (if I calculated that correctly)?

 

is it common on the rwd models as well? tnx.

What he asked! Hope not

 

The RWD Manual trans has a flange at the output shaft of the transmission that is solid, a seal at the trans holds the trans fluid in. The longitudinal play is taken up by the driveshaft center bearing that incorporates a spline shaft that is sealed with an "O" ring.

 

So, today I thought I'd try taking the transmission apart. First hurdle, you "need" this SnapOn socket FLEPL120 to remove the 6 bolts that hold the valve body in place.

I couldn't help but notice that an old E12 socket that I had almost fit. Mr. Socket, meet Miss Grinder. That modification saved me $25 at the SnapOn store.

Next problem, how to remove that monster snap ring!!! Special tool J-46125 is "required". While my neighbour and I scratched our heads on how to make one, I remembered something that's been in my garden shed for 15+ yrs.... LOL

Straightened the handles up in the vice and used a grinder to re-shape the scissors and voila, one J-45126 for $0. Today is shaping up to be a good day (pun intended)

It took ~10-15 to dismantle the transmission and get the offending shaft out, but it took a LOT longer to get the transfer case apart. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the shafts of shame.

All I need now is some parts!

 

It's absolutely insane how modular the transmission is. It's SOOOO easy to take it apart to get that shaft out.

 

Here's the crazy large snap ring inside the 6L50 that you need to remove to get at the output shaft.

Garden scissor hack for the above snap ring. It makes me giggle.

 

Good write-up, now I know what the offending part looks like. Did you notice anything in the transfer case which could've caused that intermittent noise you mentioned last month? Also, I think it commendable that you're not complaining about how your recently purchased CTS is a 'piece of junk' etc, and instead got your hands dirty to fix the issue.

 

Did you notice anything in the transfer case which could've caused that intermittent noise you mentioned last month?

Yes, there is one bearing (output shaft, front side) that just feels a little bit off. I'm replacing it while the case is apart.

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Also, I think it commendable that you're not complaining about how your recently purchased CTS is a 'piece of junk' etc, and instead got your hands dirty to fix the issue.

I had only myself to blame. I knew about the AWD (and timing chain) problem when I was shopping. But I can assure you if you start Googling any car, that you end up finding the vocal minority that will tell you to run away from XYZ (but in reality you have no idea what the true failure rate is). I took a chance and lost, but it's what I call a first world problem. I wasn't afraid of it happening to me, just didn't think it would. But it's the past now, can't change it, but what I can do is deal with it. I'm hoping my posts and photos give someone else the confidence that they can fix this problem on their own without spending a crazy amount of money. Fear of the unknown stops a lot of people from even trying...

 

in a different recent thread, a member simply deleted his AWD system and converted to
RWD. I think the op's original statement was he wished he had bought a RWD in the first
place? What are your thoughts on this? Godd for you tackling this issue I hope you get
it back together. thanks, Douglas

 

in a different recent thread, a member simply deleted his AWD system and converted to
RWD. I think the op's original statement was he wished he had bought a RWD in the first
place? What are your thoughts on this?

That was probably me. I had a weird problem with my transfer case a while back (that sounded to me like a bearing having a bad day) and had been driving the car in RWD "mode" since.

Since everything had to come apart for the shaft replacement, I was able to determine that one of the bearings in my T-case is not 100%. I've replaced plenty of bearings over the years, but usually by then they are very noisy and rough feeling. This one has a small amount of play in it, and as you rotate it it feels OK but it's just a tiny bit off. If I didn't have 3 others to compare it against, it wouldn't be obvious that it was bad. I'm sure if I used something more scientific like a dial gauge, it would be more black / white for diagnosis.

I'm 99.9% sure you can't do any damage to your car by pulling the AWD fuse. The transfer case has an ingenious shaft driven oil pump, and it looks like the electric solenoid is used to direct oil flow to the clutch packs.

 

I'm late to this party, but I had the same issue on my 08 AWD around the 85k mark. Contacted Cadillac customer support and they footed 75% of the bill as it was a known issue and I've been a repeat Cadillac customer. I filled out all things online at the Cadillac customer care website, I literally never spoke to a human at Cadillac Customer service and got a roughly $1500 credit from them. For all future people with this issue, don't hesitate to try and contact the manufacturer.

 

Well, I made one expensive mistake that I discovered after I got the car all back together. It would barely idle and was lean backfiring up the intake manifold...

I must have broken the fuel pressure regulator solenoid connector against the firewall when the engine was tilted down. Scanner code P0090 showed up in the diagnostics, which decoded to an open circuit condition on the FPR. At least it was easy to find. I was envisioning a pinched wire in the wiring harness at the back of the engine.

The good news is that once the computer got the idle under control, the motor was in low power mode and I was able to drive (albeit slowly) down the road. The tranny still shifts through the gears! 2 steps forward and 1 step back I guess.

Since I just came back from watching Finding Dory, so I'll I can say is "Just keep wrenching, just keep wrenching..."

 

Well, I made one expensive mistake that I discovered after I got the car all back together. It would barely idle and was lean backfiring up the intake manifold...

View attachment 399361

I must have broken the fuel pressure regulator solenoid connector against the firewall when the engine was tilted down. Scanner code P0090 showed up in the diagnostics, which decoded to an open circuit condition on the FPR. At least it was easy to find. I was envisioning a pinched wire in the wiring harness at the back of the engine.

The good news is that once the computer got the idle under control, the motor was in low power mode and I was able to drive (albeit slowly) down the road. The tranny still shifts through the gears! 2 steps forward and 1 step back I guess.

Since I just came back from watching Finding Dory, so I'll I can say is "Just keep wrenching, just keep wrenching..."

How much did the replacement solenoid cost?

You've saved a few thousand doing the work yourself so just think it was a small casualty of wrench war.

 

Well, this crazy DIY job is finally finished. She's back on the road!

 

good work...I hope she's running like new.

Bill

 

"It took ~10-15 to dismantle the transmission and get the offending shaft out, but it took a LOT longer to get the transfer case apart. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the shafts of shame."

This may be a dumb question, but I assume you mean 10~15 minutes?

I bought a 2008 STS in late February, and now I have the same issue!

 

Yes, once you have the transmission out of the car and on your bench, about 15 mins to get the shaft out... but go a lot slower!!! I wish I had spent more time feeling how the sections felt in their home position. I spent several hours putting it all back together and being unsure if I had the clutches aligned right with the drums. The first one you remove is the hardest to put back. The pump housing don't seat properly if you got it wrong and you might be tempted to use the housing bolts to get it that last little bit home, but don't it!!!

 

Thanks for the advice, and the quick reply! Also, I wonder if mileage is not the big factor here. The car I bought had a 1-owner, clean Carfax from a reputable dealership. It had 32,8xx miles. I'm just over 35,xxx and then the failure. At least, I assume it is this failure. I need to get it in the air and try to confirm...

 

Yeah, sounds like mine all over again. Good luck if you are going to try this yourself. It's not impossible!

 

How did you diagnose the problem? Currently my car when turning the steering left or right at slower speeds I hear likes grinding noise coming from under the car, not very loud, just doesn't sound right. Like metal is rubbing against metal. My mechanic thinks one of my bearings is bad. On a crazy note, I see on my carfax report that the driveshaft was repaired by previous owner at the dealer, but could it be possible for it to go bad. I have an AWD 2009 CTS 3.6. Let me know some info i would highly appreciate it.

 

So to prevent this, you have to actually take the whole thing apart? And just cleaning/re-greasing the splines is enough? How often though?

I wish there was a video or a set of pictures for that...

 

Has this been resolved in later models? This seems to be a huge issue with 2007 - 08 models