I wonder if that is where my oil was leaking from......

 

The porosity issue is in the gasket sealing surface at the top of the cover, near the high pressure oil crossover port. Refer to the picture below. The oil leaks by the gasket and runs down the side of the cover, and may appear to be a leak at the t-joint area of the cover. The fix is to replace the cover with GM P/N 12633579. Also, if porosity is found anywhere on the sealing surface of the engine block, use the following procedure to apply RTV to repair the engine block porosity. Refer to the illustration below.

Please select a corresponding number from the illustration below to view the details of that part.
1) CYLINDER HEAD 2) HEAD GASKET 3) VALVE COVER
4) VALVE COVER GASKET 5) INTAKE VALVE 6) EXHAUST VALVE
7) VALVE SEALS 8) VALVE SPRINGS 9) VALVE RETAINER
10) VALVE KEEPER 11) ROCKER ARMS 12) PUSH RODS
13) VALVE LIFTERS 14) CAMSHAFT 15) BEARINGS
16) FRONT COVER SEAL 17) FRONT COVER GASKET 18) FRONT COVER
19) TIMING GEAR 20) TIMING CHAIN 21) PISTON RINGS
22) PISTON 23) CONNECTING ROD 24) BEARINGS
25) BEARINGS 26) CRANKSHAFT 27) REAR MAIN SEAL
28) REAR MAIN SEAL RETAINER 29) REAR MAIN SEAL GASKET 30) VIBRATION DAMPER
31) OIL PAN 32) OIL PAN GASKET 33) OIL PUMP
34) OIL PICK-UP

 

I wonder the work hours/time it takes to do that tsb

 

They are supposed to be doing mine since it's in the shop. I'll let you know when I get the ticket if no one else does by then......

 

Dang, another solution for RTV sealant. That stuff is goooooooooood!

 

I think that is why my oil level keeps getting low. My dealer is doing an oil consumption test right now and I have to take it back to them in a few hundred miles, but I noticed that there is oil saturation where the engine meets the transmission. They probably didn't look up the condition to see the TSB. Oh well!

 

Thanks Curtis...no leak...yet...

But I detest oil leaks!!!

 

All I can say is, I am glad Jesse took the time to discuss this with me and the service advisor. He was on a beach in Florida with his family when he took the call.

 

I take it that GM/Cadillac has this problem fixed on the 2011s?

 

I guess so cause the TSB does not list 2011s. I would still look closely at the underside every time I had it on a lift, regardless of the year. It doesn't hurt to check.

 

I agree 100%. I know my dealer inspected underneath the car and they didn't see anything wrong, but when I looked at it, I noticed major oil saturation between the engine and tranny. Way more than should be present on a car with just under 10K miles.

 

If that is the case, I am willing to bet your a candidate for the tsb. Let us know how the diagnosis goes. I will do the same. I should have some news next week.

 

Hey Curtis, I'm guessing you had Jesse talk with the dealer because they were probaly saying your extensive mods were causing the leak ?

 

Yep! That was their first thought. I had Jesse talk to BJ and he convinced them, no way. The dealership was fair about it though.

 

^ Yea, if there is a TSB for it than there is no reason why they should blame the mods for it. Rear main seal sounds like pretty labor intensive and costly job hence the hesitation. Ahh the downfalls of modding a first yea production vehicle. What sucks is that after this they're going to keep their "eye" on you and your V.

 

Adrian, I am not worried about them keeping an eye on the V. I knew this possibility going into the mods. BJ and the dealership have been very good to me thus far.
The main seal swap requires pulling the tranny and exhaust and swapping out the old seal with a new one. So that would be alot of work. It was mentioned to me that the part will possibly fail another 15,000 miles down the road. Also, it could just be the porious block issue. I suspect they may try to seal it with rtv or some sort of engine block sealer. Again, I just have to wait until next week for the dye to work its way out and see what we are up against. I have zero drops on my garage floor at this time.

 

Hmm, I wonder if this is strictly an issue with the automatics or its universal no matter what transmission

 

I would venture to say it does cover both manual or autos. TSB does not differentiate between auto or manual trannies

TSB is for

your year
your LSA
Aluminum block
When you pull up the engine exploded view it appears to be the same for auto or manual
Get under that car and see if there is any oil collecting on or around the tranny pan.

 

I first thought the engine was consuming oil, because I didn't have any oil on my garage floor either. After seeing the amount of oil saturation where the engine meets the tranny, I would venture to say that this issue describes exactly what is happening to me, but at a slow pace. It isn't that bad yet, but it's just gonna get worse over time. I can't believe my local dealership didn't see the amount of oil saturation on the tranny and engine housings. They could have looked up the issue and found the TSB. I won't bring it up to their attention. Let them do their homework.

 

They probably know it is a big job as unless the owner says anything, they do not do anything about it. Jess said to check the PCV system to make sure oil is not all over the place. That is what would happen if the main rear seal failed. I do not have that issue. Some shops suggest PCV catch can. The delaership tech said I might consider one.
I told him I installed one quite some time ago (not for this reason) and since removed it cause there was no oil to catch. I believe this oil that you have found and I am starting to see is due to the aluminum block being porious at the joining. I can't stand oil and I do not want a $72,000 car seeping oil after 15,000 miles. I will decide what to do once we blacklight the dye and options are given to me.

 

It took this long for GM to fix it? That is, if the problem is fixed on the 2011 and up vehicles. Look at how many years of vehicle models this TSB covers! Ridiculous. No excuse for poor quality on $70K+ Cadillacs.

I understand it is a big job, but my dealer was calling GM TAC to setup a case to see what they should do because of the oil consumption. Had they caught the problem, they would be doing the TSB, so they can get paid for warranty work. I don't really care at this point and like I said, I am not going to give them this info. Let them sweat it out and do the legwork.

 

Yea this issue is pretty disheartening. To use a crappy seal on a high performance vehicle is just asking for problems. Worse yet is if there isnt a drastic re-design or change in the seal itself the issue will come back up in 15-20k miles , if that is the case I can guarantee the dealership will NOT cover the costs to re-do a rear main seal a second time. I currently have almost 30k on my V and next time its at the dealership I will ask them to check this out. I can see this being the first real weak link in our V's in terms of engineering / production material.

 

Let's hope Ed Piatek from GM Engineering can chime in and let us know what is being done to fix this issue and if the problem has been fixed on the 2011s.

 

BJ (my SA) inquired if I or my builder knew of an aftermarket high performance seal he could replace it with. He also echoed Adrian's sentiment about it it re-appearing 15,000 miles later. I sensed that was the hesitation to fix it until it gets worse. The oil has just started to appear on the transmission pan. I originally thought it was the tranny pan seal but it was confirmed by tech to be engine oil.

Some other views and comments from G8 forum.

http://www.g8board.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-4851.html

 

The way I read the TSB, the leak is caused by either rear engine cover or engine block porosity. If it's the former, replace the cover; if the latter, do the RTV sealant fix. Replacing the crank main seal is recommended whenever you remove and replace the transmission--SOP since you're "in there anyway."

 

Yes, I agree but it is a big job. I guess I would suggest they do all 3. The more I have read about this the more I realize that this happens to many engines, just not the cadillac fleet. The spot where the seeping occurs depends on the engine design. Oh well, I'll keep everyone posted on this TSB as I progress through it, for those that are interested.

Edit: I also think it smart to document this issue for valuation purposes in the event the car is sold later and they reduce the valuation based upon oil leak and cost to repair.

 

I would also have to mention that this issue would be quickly apparent on vehicles used all season. The extreme's of hot & cold during winter will accelerate any seal degradation.