[Ludacrisvp]

Car left at dealer january 7th @ 3pm.
Loaner car received (2013 impala ltz w/ v6 vvt)

The next day I called dealer @ 5pm since I had not heard anything from them yet. They provided me the codes below at my request. They said they were still working on it and ended call.

Today the (15th) they called me saying they have about 3.5 hours into diagnosis time but haven't repaired / replaced anything.

My reasons for visiting are the long standing speed limited to 120mph message, adaptive cruise disabling often (showing "radar cruise not ready" on DIC), loose feeling front end over bumps (described here as likely lower control arm bushings), unable to passively enter car on passenger side, transmission acting odd as if torque converter is staying locked too long when around 45mph when you get back on the throttle it seems to kick into gear kinda hard.

U2122 - (loss of communication with radio) they ignore it, to me no big deal.

p0174 - lean bank 2 ... They aren't concerned claiming bad gas likely. Not sure how I feel about this one.

C0179 system Thermal high - excessive braking / tcs application. No big deal to them or me.

B3120 keyless entry antenna 2 performance (shorted to ground or short to battery or open) - this prevents passive entry to passenger door while locked with fob in range. They were unable to reproduce issue - until I stopped in today and showed them directly what it's doing (now they claim they will take another look at it tomorrow) so they haven't done any testing with it. They have 2 options for this fault replace RCDLR or the right front door handle assembly.

B3794 - cruise control function request circuit. They are unable to reproduce issue. For me it happens almost daily causing me to restart the car to get cruise back. There is a 10 step procedure listed for this DTC that says what to do. Depending on what passes / fails they are to replace all or some of these components: BCM, IPM, multifunction switch. They are unwilling to do anything as they cannot reproduce this issue.

Now on top of all this I have a valid service contract that they sell that covers almost everything under the sun less typical maintenance / wear items (it has replaced one MRC shock already and the PPS)

Their big saying is what happens after we replace all of these things and either it still doesn't fix it or it happens again in the future. They don't want to go to the service contract company too many times and end up with a "mis-diagnosis".

Am I wrong in thinking that they should just do the tests and follow the replacements that GM said to do?

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Forgot to mention they think the front end might be a wheel bearing starting to go bad but they couldn't find any other issues in the front end.

Unable to reproduce anything transmission shifting related / no codes.

Unable to reproduce anything related to speed limited message / no codes.

 

[ddalder]

Guess work is unacceptable from a Cadillac dealership working on a Cadillac (I'm assuming you did take it to a Cadillac dealer). They are supposed to have the equipment, training and access to the Technical Assistance Center to figure these things out. They don't want to go to the service contract too many times for a misdiagnosis tells me they are not confident in their work. I can understand having problems diagnosing intermittent problems, but some of these don't seem to fall into this category. Be persistent.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Guess work is unacceptable from a Cadillac dealership working on a Cadillac (I'm assuming you did take it to a Cadillac dealer). They are supposed to have the equipment, training and access to the Technical Assistance Center to figure these things out. They don't want to go to the service contract too many times for a misdiagnosis tells me they are not confident in their work. I can understand having problems diagnosing intermittent problems, but some of these don't seem to fall into this category. Be persistent.

The dealer says they have spent quite a bit of time on the phone with Techline about the car, with little (no) success.

In my case its a GM Chevy dealer; I have been with them for about 8 years for my service on my Monte and the Deville I had before the STS they seemed capable for those vehicles and my parents have done well with their 2 SRXs with them (and a handfull of other Chevys in the past).

I have tried 3 other dealers already with this car (2 being Cadillac Dealers (Bob Ryan Cadillac, Morries Cadillac) and Gould Chevrolet - now cornerstone).

--
Ryan's is close by (7 mile 1-way) and actively refused to perform a simple task on my Deville (Programming my name into the instrument cluster).
My family has collectively purchased 4 lease return vehicles from them in the last 10 years, my monte carlo was from there actually and my parents 06 SRX.
Their service center is just plain lazy

They claimed Programming my name into the instrument cluster was impossible on the Deville DTS and was only available on the Seville STS claiming it was a misprint in the Owners Manual; they wouldn't even try.
(I took it to a chevy dealer the same day (Goulds) and they did it for free on the spot. Which has changed owners since this experience (now cornerstone) and I have tried them as recently as earlier this month.)
When I had hit a deer late last year and clipped off my driver side mirror and ended up buying a new mirror from Rippy that ended up having a poor reflection (it looked like there was a prism in the glass so everything was severely distorted at night) they did not want to honor new GM parts warranty on just the mirror glass, I had to show up and bug them several times to get anywhere with them. Leaving a 3rd sour taste in my mouth from them in recent years. (2nd being a big issue in how some of the IOUs were handled in conjunction with parents SRX purchase, not to mention a Ford Escape loaner car from a caddy dealer where a caddy was purchased and work needed to be done as part of a sales deal ... to me that loaner should have been a caddy, or at the very least a GM product!)

--
Gould/Cornerstone (1 mile away)

I stopped in while the car had the message on the dash of "RADAR CRUISE NOT READY" and kept it running so that someone could read the code while it was "live" to know for sure (as the speed limited message doesn't seem to leave a code and once the car is re-started the cruise works again most of the time so I didn't want to chance it). This was early afternoon mid week and there were a few people standing around in the service area but they were unable to read the code for me as 'they were too busy' and wanted to schedule a return appointment for the middle of the following week. Someone could have walked back and grabbed a Tech-2 for a few minutes and read the code, it is not hard. I am *really* annoyed that the STS doesn't have the built in code reader of the previous gen did, it also lacks the 'snapshot' feature to aid in diagnostics.

--
Morries Cadillac (formerly Anderson Cadillac) (about 45 miles 1-way)

I stopped in (called ahead even) and they wanted 1.5 hours of labor upfront @ about $150/hr just to look into the speed limited message and when I mentioned a service contract they seemed annoyed but said 'We don't care who its through as long as they will pay CC by phone'. they just had an overall stuck up ******* like attitude. I was surprised as when my parents picked up their 04 SRX from Anderson at the time (same building) the sales and service team seemed top-notch, they even provided a loaner car while some IOUs were taken care of ... a 2005 DHS with all the trimmings (no night vision though), and the loaner is the reason I bought my Deville DTS just based on how the DHS was. This time it was like we don't care just pay us or leave.
---
/End rant.

Perhaps in the end I'll have to give Ryan's another shot? maybe Morries as they did have about 8 STSs in the service bay when I was in there and another pulled in behind me when I got there. I had never seen so many STSs in one place aside from when they were all brand new on the sales floor, and even then they were not that common.

 

[ddalder]

It doesn't sound like you've had a very good time. I've had similar experiences with many dealerships and there are very few I'll take my personal vehicles to. I've never had a car with the code reader display, but I do understand reasons GM may have eliminated it. As you know, codes can be symptoms of a related, but indirect problem. People who don't understand how to properly diagnose problems will focus on the code and chase a problem that may not exist. I'm sure GM and their service departments had a lot of headaches brought about by customers who bought parts they didn't need, disagreed with the diagnosis of a technician or insisted on service that wasn't necessary.

My mom drives a 2008 Enclave. This is one very interesting vehicle. She was experiencing an intermittent rough idle that set the MIL. I scanned it with my Tech2 and found numerous codes including a misfire in two different cylinders, air bag codes, miscellaneous communications codes and a few others. Since they had recently changed the timing chain, I suspected a wiring harness under the hood may have been damaged or a connector may not have been reseated correctly. I took it back and they said it just needed a fuel system/emissions service. This really had me scratching my head. Yes, for the misfire I could understand. It just didn't make sense for codes in all the other unrelated systems. They told me they have no explanation, but hers was one of many they have seen with this very same set of problems/symptoms. I have an excellent relationship with this dealer and send them >$100K of business annually through my workplace so I'm confident they were not just trying to get a few bucks out of me. Sure enough, emissions service was done (under base warranty) and there has never been another problem since, nor any erroneous codes. Software can be a very unpredictable beast.

I hope you're able to get these problems resolved soon

 

[Cadillac Customer Service]

Ludacrisvp, I'm sorry to hear you've been so frustrated with your service and vehicle concerns! It certainly sounds like you haven't had a positive experience, so I would be happy to look into the matter further for you to investigate. Have you contact our Customer Assistance Center hotline at any point?

Please email me anytime with your full name and the last eight of your VIN, and I can explore your best next steps with you.

Best,

Katie
Cadillac Customer Service

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Minor update.

Dealer is waiting to order door handle assembly until we can get the cruise under control. (no pun intended)

Once I showed the tech exactly how the door handle works he was able to figure it out. They will replace handle. The person who explained the issue to the tech said the door wouldn't open when you unlocked it with the fob. Not the passive entry system.

As far as the cruise goes their main complaint is that it was a history code not "current". I stopped in today to take the car home with a device to do a snapshot but the device wouldn't program to my car so we went with drive it until message is on (no big deal as once it's on it stays until car restarted). So I leave dealer and start playing with the cruise and about 1/2 mile from dealer it comes on and cruise died; so I turn around and they plug in the tech 2 and still no "current" codes. Supposedly the person that wrote up the service call put down the speed error message as the reason for the cruise not working, apparently completely missing the "radar cruise not ready" message. So the tech line claims that you cannot engage the cruise when speed is over 90mph. So they were apparently trying to diagnose an inaccurate problem. Supposedly now that they have the right error message they will do some research and get back to me hopefully tomorrow.
As of now I have my car, they have not replaced / repaired anything and they have not asked for any payment until they get the right diagnosis.

So I'll keep anyone in the loop as it goes down.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

So for now the dealers advice is just to not use my cruise as much. They said it is likely disabled because the car thinks someone is messing with it like a kid was messing with it so it was disabled. I call bullshit on this. They say I should only use my cruise one time per trip. The service tech is saying explicitly that he is "not going to throw any parts at it". The radar unit is not showing the clean radar message ever so it's not dirty and I keep the caddy logo clean on the grill so that shouldn't be affecting it either.

 

[ddalder]

Wow, I wonder how long it took for their service personnel to dream up that one? I'm sure you're as insulted as I would be if anyone every actually expected I might believe such nonsense. Mine has been covered in snow and ice, mud and dirt and I've never received that error message. I do leave mine on all the time so that the frontal crash alert system is active. It definitely sounds like this technician is in way over his/her head. Kind of like the Cadillac dealership that told me the lane departure warning system "goes through the outside mirrors". Guess they didn't read the FSM either.

As I recall, there was another member on here that had the same message you you're getting. They had difficulty determining why, but once the radar head was replaced, the problem was solved.

 

[ECha3]

Have you spoken with the service manager? If they don't want to work on it, take it to someone that will.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Have you spoken with the service manager? If they don't want to work on it, take it to someone that will.

The advisor I'm seeing is their head advisor that I've personally been dealing with for close to 10 years now. I haven't gone over his head just yet as they claim they are still researching this. I'll call / stop in on Monday for an update and if there isn't progress by Tuesday I'll be looking at his boss to make it right. Since it will be 2 weeks on Tuesday that they have had the codes it's leaving.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Wow, I wonder how long it took for their service personnel to dream up that one? I'm sure you're as insulted as I would be if anyone every actually expected I might believe such nonsense. Mine has been covered in snow and ice, mud and dirt and I've never received that error message. I do leave mine on all the time so that the frontal crash alert system is active. It definitely sounds like this technician is in way over his/her head. Kind of like the Cadillac dealership that told me the lane departure warning system "goes through the outside mirrors". Guess they didn't read the FSM either.

As I recall, there was another member on here that had the same message you you're getting. They had difficulty determining why, but once the radar head was replaced, the problem was solved.

Yeah I was like "yeah I'm sure that's what it is since kids drive these cars all the time and the cruise is in such an easy place for them to mess with." quite annoyed / insulted by it. When I was on the phone with them on my way in to hear this excuse they said you can just turn off the radar cruise option and run regular cruise instead. How hard is it to understand when I say the cruise is completely disabled when this happens means that the cruise is disabled when this happens? They won't even consider replacing the multi function lever that is what like a $50 part ... I can't imagine what that will say if I suggest to replace what's likely a $1k part being the radar unit ... And then hope that they align it properly too.

 

[ECha3]

I think both parts cost twice your estimate but why should they care? Cadillac, GM or the extended warranty underwriter foots the bill. If they are afraid of looking bad then they are unprofessional incompetent cowards.

Just be pleasant and persistent. If they can't fix it, go elsewhere. Once the claim is on file, you can still take it elsewhere and have it covered.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Stopped in today to see if they had any ideas. No progress made by them during this time. Had them re-scan my car for codes and told them that others have replaced the radar unit for this issue.

New codes:
DTC U2144 00
Lost Communication With Distance Sensing Cruise Control (DSCC) Module

Also an unrelated lean code from both banks at idle the other day.

They claim they will look into this new code.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Another update:

I told Miller that I was going to take it to another dealer and the time / labor they did was on them since they effectively refused to fix anything.
They did not do any work on the car just lots of 'diagnostic time'. Still wondering if I will see a bill from them.

---
Dropped the car off at Ryan Cadillac in Buffalo Monday night (hoping that my experience with them will improve compared to previous engagements with them).
Received a 2013 Malibu Hybrid loaner ... interesting car but not something I would buy exactly.

Just got off the phone with them for the things that need to be replaced:

Both front MRC struts (one will be under parts warranty from previous replacement) - Both are leaking bad enough to replace ... wtf? just replaced one not that long ago.
Passenger Door handle - bad antenna
Cruise Control MultiFunction Lever (was previously replaced during sales agreement during purchase of car) - past parts warranty for miles
MAF - this is apparently causing my car to run lean in both banks

---
The service contract company wants to use aftermarket parts for all of this.
(I wasn't aware of aftermarket MRC struts nor was the service guy but they were able to confirm they are available for about $350 each for the front AWD model)
service company is refusing to paint the door handle.

Ryan's said I can pay the difference to get OEM parts instead as the service contract wants aftermarket for all of the parts.
So it should run me about $275 on top of the $100 deductible to get all OEM parts.

---
They are 'blaming' the speed limited message on:

DTC C0228
Left Rear ABS Channel in Release Too Long

This code is set when the following criteria are met:

The EBCM is commanding a valve solenoid to release brake pressure.
The wheel that is commanded to release brake pressure has a speed less than 5 km/h (3 mph) for 1.25 seconds.

who knows if that was the case or not.

-------------------

Seems really odd to me that the replacement front strut went bad so fast when it was supposedly OEM.
But now I'll have 2 new front struts instead of just the one.
When they get it apart they will also look into replacement of the top strut mount bearing plate (supposedly they are $270 each) if they are needed to be done they will try to get service contract to take care of them too.

I think that once this work is all done I will be at about the break even money point on the service contract for all the work done on the car.

I should have the car back by Friday at the latest all ready to go. They are also replacing my fog lamps that keep burning out. (3rd set since I got the car)
He said that dealer replaced lamps are covered under the 12m 12000miles parts so if they go out again in that time they will warranty replace them.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Thinking about the fact that it needs both front struts now makes me wonder if the fact that I have the suspension in performance mode 95% of the time makes them wear faster.

 

[ECha3]

I'd be surprised if the setting matters much. Based on member reports, they typically start going bad around 80,000 miles.

What's with the foglights? I've yet to have a bulb go bad!

 

[Ludacrisvp]

I'd be surprised if the setting matters much. Based on member reports, they typically start going bad around 80,000 miles.
What's with the foglights? I've yet to have a bulb go bad!

Just seems odd is all that one strut that was replaced in september with maybe 5k miles on it is bad already.

Wish I knew what the deal was with the fogs. Both caddys that I have had seem to eat fog lamps like they are going out of style.
It was the main reason i went HID fogs in the DTS as they hardly ever burn out.
I am debating / planning on retro'ing some better fog projectors (considering Morimoto Mini-H1 bi-xeon and integrating it with the high-beams too) and go HID for them and never deal with it again.

 

[carter's_sts]

You realize you just cursed yourself.

What's with the foglights? I've yet to have a bulb go bad!

 

[Ludacrisvp]

You realize you just cursed yourself.

My thoughts exactly.