Welcome to the Cadillac V-Series Forums!

288 Miles and an engine failure

Alright so we’ve done the full teardown. Cylinder 3 and 4 rod bearings fused to the crank due to lack of lubrication. Complete manufacturing error and according to the service manager was the result of my engine builder. New motor will be sourced from a different builder. Pictures will follow
Interesting. Thanks for the update OP.
I guess the silver-lining is a brand new engine instead of a Frankensteined one & hopefully it doesn't take too long!
They should give you 2 complimentary V Academy Days to make up for having 2 engines & well basically 2 of everything as an apology.
 
Alright so we’ve done the full teardown. Cylinder 3 and 4 rod bearings fused to the crank due to lack of lubrication. Complete manufacturing error and according to the service manager was the result of my engine builder. New motor will be sourced from a different builder. Pictures will follow
... cue everyone running out to their car to pop the hood to double check who's autograph they have...

baby-goat-stampede.gif
funny-animals-goat.gif
 
Some of you are placing too much faith in Carfax.

I traded this in on my BW....


I hit a deer on 4/20, did 28k worth of damage and Carfax shows a minor accident......

IMO it wont catch the engine being replaced.


FYI, the deer didn't make it......

View attachment 13730View attachment 13731

monty python scratch GIF
 
the motor that is going to be put back into the vehicle is going to be another hand built motor. More often than nought on the carfax it will be posted that the power train was inspected, not “engine replaced”. I understand where you’re coming from and I am also upset about it as well. But at the same time I’m not planning on getting rid of this vehicle. Maybe I’ll have some form of agreement with GM that they’ll get me another allocation and I’ll simply drive this car until the new one arrives. I don’t know. I’ve already spoken with customer support and I’m expecting a call from GM by the end of the week.

It will be fine when all said and done. Just annoying to deal with when you spend this kind of money.

As far as hand built motors go, I had the same thing on my ZL1 but I always thought to myself whether a hand built motor with current technology is actually better vs. letting the robots assemble it?

I think the reality is that low volume specialized engines tend to be hand built because they're not really making that many motors to make it worth it to build a fully automatic assembly line for the motor. So for a motor you're going to be building 500,000 of it's worth the investment into a fully automated setup, but for low volume vehicles like a lot of high performance versions of vehicles the engines end up being hand assembled because they're not making that many and it's much cheaper to train people to build them than to go build a whole automated factory just to build 2000 motors.
 
Well boys here’s the damage. To be honest it’s impressive that the engine held up for 288 miles and this much heat with basically no oil going to those bearings.

New motor has been ordered
 

Attachments

  • 5EAE6431-E6D2-407E-B7B3-70EFD8704A6B.jpeg
    5EAE6431-E6D2-407E-B7B3-70EFD8704A6B.jpeg
    441.5 KB · Views: 208
  • AF094B69-345A-4F4D-9E01-2DEF90B3A897.jpeg
    AF094B69-345A-4F4D-9E01-2DEF90B3A897.jpeg
    397.2 KB · Views: 213
  • AF864474-659D-4DF1-8462-822A575A9E2A.jpeg
    AF864474-659D-4DF1-8462-822A575A9E2A.jpeg
    506.9 KB · Views: 197
  • F8FEF581-9F7B-4275-8CFD-4F3CC8F43B5B.jpeg
    F8FEF581-9F7B-4275-8CFD-4F3CC8F43B5B.jpeg
    291.3 KB · Views: 179
  • 07B2A3C7-F174-4EB0-9BC9-F4C4379F01BC.jpeg
    07B2A3C7-F174-4EB0-9BC9-F4C4379F01BC.jpeg
    287.7 KB · Views: 179
  • 4E4D25F6-4E93-4263-BAC7-FB1C38211BB9.jpeg
    4E4D25F6-4E93-4263-BAC7-FB1C38211BB9.jpeg
    355 KB · Views: 173
  • ADC3BACB-D512-4D2F-B459-DF98B73EA1BC.jpeg
    ADC3BACB-D512-4D2F-B459-DF98B73EA1BC.jpeg
    298.6 KB · Views: 163
  • 4039C64A-DE05-4661-86F7-743377788861.jpeg
    4039C64A-DE05-4661-86F7-743377788861.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 173
  • DECBEC04-767D-4358-A7B0-88B0D5651831.jpeg
    DECBEC04-767D-4358-A7B0-88B0D5651831.jpeg
    486.7 KB · Views: 210
Well boys here’s the damage. To be honest it’s impressive that the engine held up for 288 miles and this much heat with basically no oil going to those bearings.

New motor has been ordered
I'm impressed the dealer got you in so fast. We have cars waiting for 60+ days on motors.
 
Cylinder 3 and 4 rod bearings fused to the crank due to lack of lubrication. Complete manufacturing error ...

Just for educational purposes: Do they know what specifically was done wrong? Con rod bolts torqued too tight?

UPDATE: not builder error, per post further below.
 
Last edited:
Alright so we’ve done the full teardown. Cylinder 3 and 4 rod bearings fused to the crank due to lack of lubrication. Complete manufacturing error and according to the service manager was the result of my engine builder. New motor will be sourced from a different builder. Pictures will follow
Sorry, I don't pick up what he's putting down. WAY TOO many variables IMO to conclusively say the engine builder is the culprit. I've had many custom engines built over the years, and purchased create motors, etc., and when something goes amiss there's just way too many unknows, manufacturing stress cracks/ metals- tolerances and on and on.

Case in point- I popped a brand new 5.8 S/C GT500 motor with 3500 miles on the clock and 2 independent engine builders could not agree as to what created the failure.

The good IMO is your getting a new motor and can move on, and hopefully soon!
 
Interesting. Thanks for the update OP.
I guess the silver-lining is a brand new engine instead of a Frankensteined one & hopefully it doesn't take too long!
They should give you 2 complimentary V Academy Days to make up for having 2 engines & well basically 2 of everything as an apology.
That would be well deserving for sure!
Just returned from V Academy earlier this week. Must say they run a world class program at Spring Mountain.
 
Now, we see the obvious result of what was going on, but unless we know the exact building process, we don't really know how it happened. I've seen lots of videos of engine building where they use automated torqueing devices and where a computer selects individually spec'd parts to be used in a specific place. That, in itself could open up another can of worms, but realistically, without input from the builder I don't think we have a good answer.

It might seem to be an aberration, given the number of good engines out there, but IMO, I would have this incident immediately scrutinized by the GM Performance Build Center at Bowling Green in case there are procedural things that might need attention.
 
Disregard the service manager on that one. The tech discovered that the crankshaft had a defect/nick in the oil supply channel and that’s why there was no lubrication to those bearings. Not the builders fault more than likely but definitely cause for concern with other Blackwing LT4 motors assembled on the same day.
 
Disregard the service manager on that one. The tech discovered that the crankshaft had a defect/nick in the oil supply channel and that’s why there was no lubrication to those bearings. Not the builders fault more than likely but definitely cause for concern with other Blackwing LT4 motors assembled on the same day.
That very thing was on my mind since both rods on that journal were affected. I guess we now know the service life of the assembly lube. ;)

Poor Crystal...thrown under the bus because of a bad crank. :(

Maybe now they will be double checking for oil gallery obstruction? I can't say I have ever looked for that myself when building an engine.
 
Last edited:
That very thing was on my mind since both rods on that journal were affected. I guess we now know the service life of the assembly lube. ;)

Poor Crystal...thrown under the bus because of a bad crank. :(

Maybe now they will be double checking for oil gallery obstruction? I can't say I have ever looked for that myself when building an engine.
Whenever I hear, "a service advisor said, or a service manager said..." I just remember those are SALES jobs, not technical jobs.
 
My only hope is that it was just my car affected. The worst thing would be if other blackwings start popping at super low mileage due to a similar situation. As shitty as it is the smart thing for GM to do would be to look at all the motors that were assembled same day as mine and check for said oil channel damage.
 
My only hope is that it was just my car affected. The worst thing would be if other blackwings start popping at super low mileage due to a similar situation. As shitty as it is the smart thing for GM to do would be to look at all the motors that were assembled same day as mine and check for said oil channel damage.
When was yours produced? I ask as I have a '23 5bw with 251 miles...
 
My only hope is that it was just my car affected. The worst thing would be if other blackwings start popping at super low mileage due to a similar situation. As shitty as it is the smart thing for GM to do would be to look at all the motors that were assembled same day as mine and check for said oil channel damage.
It would be interesting to compare the VIN/build dates of your car with the C&D one. You should reach out to them.
 
When was yours produced? I ask as I have a '23 5bw with 251 miles...
I’m VIN 0025. It’d be hard to actually dictate what cars may be affected as the crankshaft more than likely comes from another supplier. I’d assume the VINs closes to mine would potentially contain a similar issue. Again I’m really hoping that it’s just a fluke and I got the shaft on this one. After so much time in the goat pen it’s nothing I’d want to wish upon any of you.
 
It would not be so much as when the car was produced but when the engine was. Could be two totally different time frames, being they are produced at different locations.
 

Win 2 Supercharged Cadillacs!

Win both supercharged Cadillac Vs!

Supporting Vendors

Delaware Cadillac

Exhibitions of Speed

Signature Wheels

Taput Tunning LLC

V-Series Marketplace

Advertise with the Cadillac V-Net!

Torque Shop

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom