What the F@#& was chevy thinking?

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johnparts

johnparts

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Ok so I had a customer come in yesterday for an oil change in his 00 Cadi DTS 4.6 Northsatr. Well I saw a bit of an oil pan gasket leak that needed attention and I have never had a customer say OK fix it before on this particular engine. So I look up the time and procedure on my Alldata and it's 12 hours and step 2 in the process is remove drivetrain!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here we are 6 hours later:
2010-10-07090219.jpg


FML
 
johnparts said:
Ok so I had a customer come in yesterday for an oil change in his 00 Cadi DTS 4.6 Northsatr. Well I saw a bit of an oil pan gasket leak that needed attention and I have never had a customer say OK fix it before on this particular engine. So I look up the time and procedure on my Alldata and it's 12 hours and step 2 in the process is remove drivetrain!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here we are 6 hours later:
2010-10-07090219.jpg


FML
Click to expand...
How bad was the leak??? I would have let it leak let me see not sure how much you charge per hoour but up here in GB they get approx. $95.00 per hour sooooo 95 x12=$1140.00 just in labor??? WOW glad I dont have a Caddy. good luck putting THAT back together, your a great mechanic to take that one on...
 
Geez, after that much work I'd be tempted to replace the gaskets and seals in the engine and transmission while it's all easy to get at.
 
Looks about right. Ive seen many GMs with the drivetrain out for "minor" repairs.
 
their front wheel drive Eldarodo of yesteryears was the same nightmare.
Nylon timing gear = clogged oil pickup = engine/trans r&r. Engineers in bowties.
 
Reminds me of doing the rear main seal in a all wheel drv crhysler mini van, had to remove the cross member,trans,ptu, drivers side suspension & had abs moved out of the way, and basically had the motor balanced on a tall jack stand on a lift back when I worked for goodyear...

fun ain't it?
 
My buddy works for Cadillac as a mechanic and told me that any bottom end work on their stuff the motor has to come out. The messed up thing is the motor has to come out from the bottom according to Cadillac's proceedures.
 
It's not just Chevy or Cadillac. My wife's daily driver is a '98 Olds Intrigue. I couldn't believe it the first time I went to replace spark plugs and couldn't get a wrench setup on the back 3 plugs of the transverse mounted V6. I finally gave up and took it to a local shop to replace those plugs. The mechanic told me you have to disconnect the motor mounts and rock the engine forward in order to get adequate access to the back plugs.
That's insane!
 
412 Stroker said:
How bad was the leak??? I would have let it leak let me see not sure how much you charge per hoour but up here in GB they get approx. $95.00 per hour sooooo 95 x12=$1140.00 just in labor??? WOW glad I dont have a Caddy. good luck putting THAT back together, your a great mechanic to take that one on...
Click to expand...
with labor parts and a drivers side axle (torn boot and clicking ) they are into this 144000 mile Cadi about $1600 US And the worst part is the pan was almost pouring oil to the point that it would lose a quart every 2 weeks so they couldn't just ignore the problem. They knew it was going to be big so they were prepared for the worst.
 
Thank God I drive a Jeep... that thing is easier (and cheaper) to work on than my Duster, and it's a '93!
 
The day of the ..Backyard Mechanic,s are gone,unless you know what your doing(licenced).They were all designed to be brought to the dealership for any work/repairs.
 
We had a Ford E series ambulance with a diesel in it that blew out the pan gasket. Had to remove the engine on that one to do it too. Imagine getting a diesel out of a van.
 
Is this a common problem with the Northstars? Is the "updated gasket" any better?

Kee Rist.
 
gts340 said:
We had a Ford E series ambulance with a diesel in it that blew out the pan gasket. Had to remove the engine on that one to do it too. Imagine getting a diesel out of a van.
Click to expand...


Wait til you have to pull the cabs and the bodies on the 6.4 powered F-series and Excursions...

Caddy Northstars and variations have always been a nightmare. Pull the engine half way out to change the starter...

The infamous block design for the heads that would pull the threads on the block, not on the head bolts...
 
I'd be tempted to zip the crossmember out with a plasma cutter and weld it back in after replacing the stupid gasket (using copious amounts of Gasgacinch. Then I'd throw my head back and loudly proclaim "Ha ha, The Man™!". What a nightmare.
 
The manual says to drop the motor for new valve cover gaskets too. I ended up rocking the motor with the motor mounts off to put them in. Of course then the head gasket blew. I googled Northstar head gasket problems and found that when you remove the head bolts the aluminum threads in the block come out. I ended up junking the car. It was nice when it ran but it had more check engine, check transmission codes than I could keep track of. What a piece of junk.
 
I used to work for Caddy back when the Northstars were just out, from 2000 to 2004. I painfully remember doing ALOT of Helicoils for a major pulled thread issue that GM was well aware of... Head gaskets and bottom end oil seals puking oil like the Valdez!. Nothing like splitting a motor apart on nearly new car Great time for flat rate but sucked for the consumer out of warranty.
 
GM has way more than their share of "design flaws". This kinda reminds me of anything with the 3.4 DOHC engine. You cannot even SEE the alternator. From the top OR bottom. In order to replace it, you have to drob the engine cradle and remove the driver's side drive axle. Some of those engineers I always thought need to be shot.
 
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