CT5-V 2023 CT5 Blackwing Engine Failure (Shavings)

[Finally-a-V]

Just prepare a script and repeat it every time they try to convince you otherwise.

“This repair goes beyond any reasonable expectation from what an owner can expect, and what a vehicle can potentially incur during the warranty period. The procedure is invasive, and will most likely have downstream effects on other systems within the vehicle inside or outside of the warranty period. I wouldn’t feel safe operating the vehicle with a new engine and even if I was, the skill needed to accomplish the repair to complete specifications and quality control cannot be accomplished at a franchised dealer. Please proceed with the buyback and explain what my options are at this point.”

Wow. Excellent!

 

[FormerM3]

Best of luck I really hope everything gets resolved and you'll be able to initiate a buy back, If you work a corporate job you may have a subsidized legal service that can help you with this process if they are not responsive.

 

[Nadnerb]

Howdy howdy. As the second person having a motor blow up on them (car and driver being the first) I figured I’d jump on this thread. Regarding the initial failures it was due to excess material in the crank causing an eventual blockage of one or more ports to the bearings causing an eventual spinning and seizing of said bearing. I’m now at 15500 miles on this new motor and haven’t experienced any new issues. New motor wise took about a month, GM expedited everything upon me talking about the potential of a lemon law and I had it done really quick. If you love the car, no reason not to just get the new motor and call it good. If you have any second guesses on how you wanted it built etc, go the route of lemon lawing it. Shame that we’re having issues with these cars though.

 

[Philsblackraven]

Hello everyone. Figured a start a thread for advice. My 23 CT5 BW with 10500 miles went into the shop on Monday. Heard yesterday they found metal in it and I need a new motor. No lights, no nothing just a small tick I brought it in for. Dealer is great, has me in a loaner and has been super responsive. They don’t know the eta on the new motor and frankly I dont want it. My state (VA) auto lemon laws in 30 days if within 18 months which I am. Any advice on how to get GM to get me a new car instead of a Blackwing built by the dealer?

I'm experiencing the same thing with my Blackwing. My 2022 Blackwing is at the dealer right now waiting on a new motor. Unfortunately, this isn't the only problem I have had with this car. I'm in the process right now of having GM buy the car back. I put a claim in with The Better Business Bureau Auto Line. Was going to have them replace the car with a new one but after reading about several other Blackwing owners needing their motors replaced I think I will take my refund and run away from this nightmare. Good luck with whatever you decide to do from this point on.

 

[CT5BW757]

I'm experiencing the same thing with my Blackwing. My 2022 Blackwing is at the dealer right now waiting on a new motor. Unfortunately, this isn't the only problem I have had with this car. I'm in the process right now of having GM buy the car back. I put a claim in with The Better Business Bureau Auto Line. Was going to have them replace the car with a new one but after reading about several other Blackwing owners needing their motors replaced I think I will take my refund and run away from this nightmare. Good luck with whatever you decide to do from this point on.

i have heard of a TON of them so far. What steps did you take to get the buy back process kicked off? Also I find it interesting they’ve had your car so long. I have heard the motors were back ordered indefinitely but also a few folks have had a quick turnaround.

 

[Philsblackraven]

i have heard of a TON of them so far. What steps did you take to get the buy back process kicked off? Also I find it interesting they’ve had your car so long. I have heard the motors were back ordered indefinitely but also a few folks have had a quick turnaround.

I filed a claim with the BBB Auto Line. this is the link BBB AUTO LINE
My car has been a nightmare. My first major problem happened around 4,000 miles and that's when my alternator went out. the next major fail was my water pump. Both times I had to get the car towed. This latest visit to the dealer was for a couple of things. One day while driving I got a message telling me that the "rear axle is off" and my check engine came on. Took it to the dealer and the rear axle message had disappeared but the check engine light was still on. they told me I needed to replace my passenger-side catalytic converter. Got the car back and drove it home and the car was hesitating and would not rev out. It was also making a horrible sound when shifting through the 7th gear. took the car back and one of the service advisors rode with me. They concluded that it needed a new rear diff. While making sure the new rear diff was installed correctly the car was still hesitating. They pulled the codes from the car and saw that a cylinder was misfiring because of a bad spark plug. After further investigation, the failed spark plug had caused damage inside the engine, and the motor needed to be replaced. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. After uploading all my service records dating back to April of last year it only took GM a week to agree to either buy the car back or give me a new one. I'm taking the money and running away as far as possible from GM. I've owned a lot of cars and all of them combined have not caused me this much stress as this one. And I've owned several German cars, and that's saying a lot. It sucks because I enjoyed this car when it was running right.

 

[Jim2000]

i have heard of a TON of them so far. What steps did you take to get the buy back process kicked off? Also I find it interesting they’ve had your car so long. I have heard the motors were back ordered indefinitely but also a few folks have had a quick turnaround.

A ton is non specific. How many have you heard of?

 

[CT5BW757]

A ton is non specific. How many have you heard of?

Over 10 just from 2024 forum postings and people reaching out. That’s in 4 days. Come to find out mine is the third at my dealer alone and they only delivered 2. Mine just ended up there for service.

 

[MCC217]

Does anyone know how many manual vs autos have had engine failures? Obviously too small of a sample size to make a correlation, I’m just curious.

 

[BimmerFan]

So, I'll give my 2 cents here with the usual caveat that lemon laws vary between states and I've been through this (kind of successfully) with BMW. I understand that GM may do it differently.

The new engine should be a new engine, built in the same factory as the OE engine, so really it's just a matter of replacing it at the dealership. Sure, it's possible that they may make a mistake, but I'd wager that they probably won't, and if they did, a code would pop up if something wasn't plugged in right. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

And to be fair, you should give GM a chance to make it right before you start trying to get a buyback. Stuff happens.

I know in NC, the lemon law states that you have to give the manufacturer the chance to fix the issue after you've notified them of your intent to sue under the law.

 

[Finally-a-V]

i have heard of a TON of them so far.

No disrespect, but 10 out of over 5000 5BW's plus how many other GM's built with variations of the LT4 isn't much. Terrible if it's your car, but TON's?

Edit: You want tons? Let's talk Kia and Hyundai. They've had engine blowing up for years. Latest is something like 1600 2024 Palisades with bad valve springs. That's TONS!

 

[DCV]

Didn’t the C7 also have bad valves or springs that broke quite a bit?

 

[CT5BW757]

No disrespect, but 10 out of over 5000 5BW's plus how many other GM's built with variations of the LT4 isn't much. Terrible if it's your car, but TON's?

Edit: You want tons? Let's talk Kia and Hyundai. They've had engine blowing up for years. Latest is something like 1600 2024 Palisades with bad valve springs. That's TONS!

I’m not debating that it’s a very small %. But a few things on that. #1 for all the ones we see on the forums you have to assume there are many more we don’t. #2 These are just the BW forums and its motor. Other 6.2s actually have a pending class action against them with GM from a variety of models. And lastly the only part that concerns me and really what lead me to use the word “ ton “…. every failure I’ve seen posted ended up diagnosed with the same reason. It’s absolutely not a statistical “ ton “. But it is quite a few for the exact same story.

 

[CT5BW757]

So, I'll give my 2 cents here with the usual caveat that lemon laws vary between states and I've been through this (kind of successfully) with BMW. I understand that GM may do it differently.

The new engine should be a new engine, built in the same factory as the OE engine, so really it's just a matter of replacing it at the dealership. Sure, it's possible that they may make a mistake, but I'd wager that they probably won't, and if they did, a code would pop up if something wasn't plugged in right. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

And to be fair, you should give GM a chance to make it right before you start trying to get a buyback. Stuff happens.

I know in NC, the lemon law states that you have to give the manufacturer the chance to fix the issue after you've notified them of your intent to sue under the law.

I’m going to give them time. The dealer has been great and I fully understand their go between role. If they do a bang up job and get my car back to me in a certain time I absolutely dont have a leg to stand on and I can understand that. After the time however… I will be courteous. I’m just not accepting my car back later than I legally have to with a condition I’m already apprehensive about.

 

[668LT4]

I feel for the OP. But I also wonder how many of the "online reports" are really true. And even if they are, what is the history? Maybe the car was redlined multiple times on test drives, long before the break-in period? Or other protocols not followed? Did C&D really do all of the break-in before launching the car 15 times in a row? Maybe, but all these random people on the internet? No way.

If you really care about other people's reports, make sure to investigate properly. We had one guy recently report his "Cadillac Blackwing went into limp mode" only to find out it is because some idiot mis-wired a radar detector or something. So 0 fault by Cadillac. But does the guy amend his post title? Of course not. Too proud to admit he made a stupid post. But now people searching the net see a title about a CT5-V Blackwing in limp mode and think the car sucks. Whatever.

 

[CT5BW757]

I feel for the OP. But I also wonder how many of the "online reports" are really true. And even if they are, what is the history? Maybe the car was redlined multiple times on test drives, long before the break-in period? Or other protocols not followed? Did C&D really do all of the break-in before launching the car 15 times in a row? Maybe, but all these random people on the internet? No way.

If you really care about other people's reports, make sure to investigate properly. We had one guy recently report his "Cadillac Blackwing went into limp mode" only to find out it is because some idiot mis-wired a radar detector or something. So 0 fault by Cadillac. But does the guy amend his post title? Of course not. Too proud to admit he made a stupid post. But now people searching the net see a title about a CT5-V Blackwing in limp mode and think the car sucks. Whatever.

Oh yea definitely. But what I’m referring to are people who have exclusively had their engine replaced or had a buy back. So definitely only Cadillac officially approved examples. I’ve seen posts, made a post, had people message me, reply etc What tipped me to it was the dealer I took my car to said they had one fail right off the showroom floor with 37 miles on it. Capt on here said the service tech at Sewell claimed they had some more than just his as well. I know the disgruntled are the loudest. Frankly I only came on here for advice on how to deal with Gm on the matter and to see about turn around times. But the response and # of folks initially blew me away.

 

[668LT4]

Oh yea definitely. But what I’m referring to are people who have exclusively had their engine replaced or had a buy back. So definitely only Cadillac officially approved examples. I’ve seen posts, made a post, had people message me, reply etc What tipped me to it was the dealer I took my car to said they had one fail right off the showroom floor with 37 miles on it. Capt on here said the service tech at Sewell claimed they had some more than just his as well. I know the disgruntled are the loudest. Frankly I only came on here for advice on how to deal with Gm on the matter and to see about turn around times. But the response and # of folks initially blew me away.

GM definitely has issues these days. I still believe the LT4 is a very reliable motor, and am not yet convinced all of the issues people post about are wholly GM's fault. Yours, of course. And as you say, the problems are always broadcast online. It is just impossible to judge fairly without having every detail for every car claiming to have a problem. Too many "influencers" looking for clicks.

Now, if you were saying this about GM's L87 used in the Sierra and Silverado, I would agree you're on to something. I had a neighbor have the motor in his 2023 fully replaced at 10,000 miles. A dealer I am buying a 2500 at has told me they have had multiple problems on recent models years, and 2024s have been the worse. One customer has already had his 6.2L engine changed TWICE in a 2024 Denali. So I have no idea what is going on with GM engines, but it is sad for owners who really have done nothing wrong and have to deal with such headaches.

 

[CT5BW757]

GM definitely has issues these days. I still believe the LT4 is a very reliable motor, and am not yet convinced all of the issues people post about are wholly GM's fault. Yours, of course. And as you say, the problems are always broadcast online. It is just impossible to judge fairly without having every detail for every car claiming to have a problem. Too many "influencers" looking for clicks.

Now, if you were saying this about GM's L87 used in the Sierra and Silverado, I would agree you're on to something. I had a neighbor have the motor in his 2023 fully replaced at 10,000 miles. A dealer I am buying a 2500 at has told me they have had multiple problems on recent models years, and 2024s have been the worse. One customer has already had his 6.2L engine changed TWICE in a 2024 Denali. So I have no idea what is going on with GM engines, but it is sad for owners who really have done nothing wrong and have to deal with such headaches.

Yea definitely not the Lt4s fault. Seems to be a bad batch of parts or some manufacturing error. I’ve seen the words crankshaft, blockage and metal particles on every single post. So got to be a part or assembly process for a limited time/run.

 

[Jim2000]

Maybe we all need to buy a Camry next time. Seriously, I will take my chances with this engine and if I have an issue, I can only hope GM will fix it properly and in a timely manner. Maintenance and not abusing the car will greatly reduce the number of problems. I find that most people do not care for their cars properly; however, I find that most car enthusiasts, who are buyers on this forum, are more likely to properly care for their cars.

 

[CT5BW757]

Maybe we all need to buy a Camry next time. Seriously, I will take my chances with this engine and if I have an issue, I can only hope GM will fix it properly and in a timely manner. Maintenance and not abusing the car will greatly reduce the number of problems. I find that most people do not care for their cars properly; however, I find that most car enthusiasts, who are buyers on this forum, are more likely to properly care for their cars.

Haha yea mine had 2 oil changes before 5k miles and 3 at its current mileage of 10k. Never tracked my recent MPG on the last tank was over 17 so the definition of not driven hard. To me the timely manner happens to be the exact LL time in my state, 30 days. So once it’s past that I will use that too uhhh at least move the process along.