Cadillac SRX 3.6L Timing Chain Failure

[silverrat]

We have a customer who comes in with his 3.6L Cadillac SRX.

He noticed it was burning oil at 80,000kms and we recommended topping up between oil changes and going by the OLM that will take him close to 10,000km intervals.

Instead in the last 8 months he's done 3 oil changes at approx. 4,000km intervals. This last time he came at 4000 interval and was already 3/4 of a liter low on oil. Mobil 1 5w30 as per GM spec. Did the oil change.

Two days later and he comes back saying his engine is ticking from the passenger side rear of the engine, he claims we screwed up his car. I told him he should take it to the dealer and let them listen to it and that its a direct injection engine so it ticks louder than regular engines. He says hes out of warranty.... I also told him to try a search online and see what he finds, and he said he had already and found nothing.

So after 10 mins of googling I found that these engines have a faulty timing chain design that starts with oil consumption and leads to the ticking that results in the timing chains failing which requires two timing chains to be replaced. Apparently this has been reported in the 07 SRX as happening between 45-60,000 miles. A LOT of them have this problem.

But of course someone will have to take the blame for the repair costs. The customer wont accept that it was his bad luck in choosing a vehicle that will lead to an expensive repair so early in its life.

So the customer today filed a claim at our shop for the costs of the repair and a rental car while its inoperable.

Well see what happens.

 

[The Critic]

What yr SRX?

Most late model GM cars are covered under a 5/100k warranty.

 

[silverrat]

I don't remember what year, but when I asked about the warranty he said he was past 80,000km and out of warranty.

 

[Spykem4e]

I don't think its the direct injection engine in this srx since you said it has more than 80k kms and out of warranty. The 5yr/160k kms warranty started in 2007 so I think its the regular 3.6l.

As for the timing chain, it would rattle a lot or trigger the check engine light if the timing chain was faulty (95% of the time on the cts/srx). As for the oil consumption, 3/4 qt per 4000 kms, thats is very good! There's a tsb on the 3.6l about piston rings and valve seals but with a consumption of 3/4qt per 4000 kms, no one will do something in the engine.

My cts burns about that 1qt per 4000 kms with M1. Now I'm trying with GC and I'm at 1 qt per 6000 kms.

For the ticking sound, it could be the evap solenoid that could be very loud on certain 3.6l and 2.8l. And since you're talking about rear/passenger side of the engine, it sounds very much like it.

FYI, if you do the timing chain, there's 1 primary and 2 secondary chains but I don't think its chains related.

 

[bigmike]

So a customer is stating that his car has somehow been damaged based upon the evidence of a ticking noise? I'd probably laugh, but I'm not in the customer service business.

If it isn't BROKE, then what's to FIX?

 

[Trav]

It sounds like this guy is really trying to give you business and not in a good way.Why don't you call Cadillac and get the scoop he only has 48K miles on this car.

"So the customer today filed a claim at our shop for the costs of the repair and a rental car while its inoperable"

I would tell him to hit the road before i call the cops and have him charged with trying to defraud a business.

 

[silverrat]

I stand corrected, it is not the DI engine. It's the 3.6L High Feature.

 

[nfs480]

If I had a nickel for every time someone said we screwed up their car when doing an oil change i'd be rich.

We had one lady who called because her car wouldn't start and she was blaming us, the assistant manager goes out to her house and finds out she was trying to start the car with the shifter in drive. He puts it in park and it starts right up, but no, she'll never come back to our shop again.