[Cadillac Customer Service]

Hello, This is my 1st Post, sorry for my english first of all, im from Europe/Germany.

I have bought a ATS-V from 2017 with defective/faulty engine. The crankshaft had a heavy rod knock. I got the car with completely dismantled engine and have never assembled an LF4 engine before.
Installed new crankshaft, connecting rods, bearings, oil cooler, Head gaskets, piston Rings, valve seals and and..

Now im getting directly after start really ugly white smoke from exhaust.. thought First it can be remains in exhaust, but after Test drive with Bad throttle response + misfires i have stopped, cannot Drive and Start anymore because the smoke is so much that neighboors Are angry, cannot make a test run in my Garage because it’s within 30 seconds full with smoke 😬 there is no fault at the PCM/ECM, the engine runs on idle Fine w/o noises and w/o misfire .. the smoke continues Many minutes after stoping engine 🤷‍♂️

what can be my mistake ? A wrong "mis"mixed/matched line or Hose ? I assume a Bad fuel injector? There Are no Parts for that engine in Europe so i cannot change Parts so easy and quick.

Have builded up Many German Engines AMG/M5 M6 , v6,v8,v10,v12 or LS1,LS2,LS7,LS9 , 5.7/6.1/6.4 hemi srt but the intercooling and piping system of the LF4 is new area for me , because i didnt dismantled it..


Thanks in advance for all advises and tips.

This is certainly not what we like to hear, sd3433. Please know, customer satisfaction is extremely important to us. Our team would be more than happy to take a closer look into the concerns with your 2017 ATS V. To do so, please send an email to [email protected] with ATTN: sd3433/Cadillac Forums in the subject line.

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[sd3433]

Now looked on driver Side, there is also oil on the pistons..
Is it possible that the guys from cadillac have mounted 0.25 pistons in the factory or all were delivered in Standard dimension? So the piston Rings could be wrong with the Standard Version… or the Hastings Rings Are Not compatible with the lf4 pistons ? 🤷‍♂️

another opportunity: the Guy who has dissambled the Engine Wrote the Order of cylinder numbers wrong on the pistons ..european Order of cylinders are 1,2,3 on Passenger and 4,5,6 on driver Side 😵‍💫

but what would happen if The pistons were wrong mounted ( left / Right ) and mixed up?

 

[Submariner409]

One side of the engine is 1-3-5, the other side is 2-4-6. Odd and even cylinder banks. If the pistons are numbered and placed in the order you posted the engine is assembled incorrectly.

Piston rings are tapered and marked for top and bottom sides. If the rings are upside down they WILL pump oil into the combustion chambers.

 

[sd3433]

So, i have dissambled the Engine, the Pistons Are in correct Position all 3 L Are on left , all 3 R on Right … but the piston Rings seems to be wrong Not the top bottom side , there Are general in my opinion wrong for the LF4 although in Hastings Catalog they Are listed for the LF4.

i have Now ordered all Pistons with Rings genuine by GM… but im a Little Bit irritated, on every Piston is the Number " 4 " , ive ordered now by RockAuto and on the picture the Pistons have the number "3" even if STD Size or 0,25 ?!

for what Is This number ?

 

[tta1456]

The numbers "3" or "4" you are seeing on the pistons may just be tooling related numbers to indicate what mold cavity/pattern/die they were made with, and not a specific part number or oversize dimension.

I would expect a full part number to be engraved onto the pistons somewhere, possibly under the crown or on the outside near the wrist pins, but I haven't seen a piston for an LF4 in person so I'm not sure where it might be.

 

[FL103Dave]

The numbers "3" or "4" you are seeing on the pistons may just be tooling related numbers to indicate what mold cavity/pattern/die they were made with, and not a specific part number or oversize dimension.

I would expect a full part number to be engraved onto the pistons somewhere, possibly under the crown or on the outside near the wrist pins, but I haven't seen a piston for an LF4 in person so I'm not sure where it might be.

There are some pics on the Tapout site. It looks like the part number is on the bottom under the wrist pin hole. The crown seems to have some type of stamping, but it's hard to make out from the pics

 

[sd3433]

A Short Feedback : Never buy the Hastings piston Rings for the LF4 !! They have listed the LF4 in their catalogue but they arent suitable for that Engine !
With oem pistons and Rings the smoke Went.

Last question: How Many liters of fluid i will Need insert by the bleeding valve for the intercooler ? There is nowhere an information about that. Already more than 1-1,5 liter premix went in ( have actuated the pump as auxiliary) but there is no end and from the bleeding screw on the sides comes Nothing out?

Im using AF12+ / G12+ , Here in Germany you cannot find exactly the dexcool prestone so easy.

 

[TwinTurboFan]

Last question: How Many liters of fluid i will Need insert by the bleeding valve for the intercooler ? There is nowhere an information about that. Already more than 1-1,5 liter premix went in ( have actuated the pump as auxiliary) but there is no end and from the bleeding screw on the sides comes Nothing out?

Im using AF12+ / G12+ , Here in Germany you cannot find exactly the dexcool prestone so easy.

Total intercooler system capacity is 3.3 quarts.

 

[Jantzen]

Keep us posted in regards to your car sir. Hope you get to enjoy it soon!