A Little-V Blog: The ATS-V purchase and ownership experience

[Hib Halverson]

I guess GM isn't in any hurry to find out why your engine gets oil in the turbo.

Apparently not.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Gear Oil Change

The new engine in our four-door, Pearl, continues to run nicely and exhibit no oil smoke after cold starts. The engine has 2436 miles on it and I think we need to get about 5000 miles on it before, I can say we finally have that problem beat. I have both fingers and toes X’ed.

The only problem left with this engine situation is that GM has never ordered the old engine shipped back for it to test and diagnose where the oil leaks are and what causes them. Initially, the word from GM was they wanted that engine back in Michigan so they could put it on a dyno and test it to see of the problem could be duplicated and the oil leak located.
Frankly, I don't think there's anything wrong with the engine itself. I think the problem is in the two turbos, specifically, the seal(s) on the turbine wheel end of the turbocharger shaft, but we’re never going to know for sure until GM runs some tests on the take-out engine. Come on, people, get with it!

When our four-door neared 36,000 miles, it was time to change the rear drive axle lubricant and send a sample to Driven Racing Oil for analysis. At 1096 miles, I figured the ring and pinion were broken-in. Typically, new gears wear quite a bit in the first thousand miles or so and that I believe was born-out when I observed a lot of fine iron "dust"in the lube. After a break-in period is when I switch to premium synthetic gear oils so I changed the axle lube from the factory fill to Driven 75W110, a racing gear oil originally developed by Joe Gibbs Racing when JGR owned Driven Racing Oil. It’s intended for use in rear axles without traditional limited slips, such as that in an ATS-V which has an external, electronically-controlled, hydraulically-actuated limited-slip differential (eLSD).



At 35706 miles on the car, I drained the lube and sent a sample to Driven Racing Oil for analysis. The analysis came back normal other than iron content at 146-ppm which I thought was high. After talking with Lake Speed Jr., Driven's Lubrication Specialist, I decided that 146-ppm was just a little on the high side but not problematic. At his suggestion, I refilled the axle with Driven's mainstream gear lubricant, "Synthetic 75W90". LIke all Driven Racing Oil lubricants, it utilizes a synthetic mPAO base so it has excellent high-temperature properties. It uses the same extreme pressure lubricant package developed by Joe Gibbs Racing for 75W110. It is ideal for both clutch, cone and Torson limited slips as well as drive axles without integral limited slips. It delivers outstanding performance in extreme environments like autocross, off-road trucks, track day cars and race vehicles as well as high-performance road cars such as an ATS-V. Synthetic 75W90 exceeds the performance requirements of API GL-5.

My plan is to run the Driven 75W90 about 10,000 miles and then sample the lube to monitor the iron content.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Trans Oil Change

The latest on our ATS-V Coupe, the "Blue BMW Buster"? While every once in a while it will smoke a bit after a cold start, I'm living with that until GM gets around to testing the old engine out of the other car. Once they do that, hopefully, I'll get the word about what's causing the leakage and get it fixed under warranty.

In the meantime, I love driving that car. Hard to believe I've had it almost two years. The "novelty" of having a 464-horsepower daily driver that handles so well has yet to wear off–not even close.

The car has a just under 11,500 miles on the new transmission which was installed in February of 2017 to fix the vibration problem discussed earlier in this blog. I wanted the shift feel of the Triple-B's TR-6060 six speed to be more like the feel of the TR-6060 in my '12 ZO6 and the T56 in my '04 ZO6. Of particular concern is the 1-2 up shift and 2-1 downshifts which have noticeably higher effort than do other shifts, so I decided to try a trans lube change to Red Line SuperLight Shockproof Gear Oil which I have in the two Corvette six-speeds. In the '04, I've been using "SLSP" for 13 years and, in the '12 for six years.



Red Line's Shockproof Gear Lubricants are unique because they have a combination PAO and ester base stock in a very soft gel form. The word "gel" might have some people thinking "Jello" and, indeed, Jello is one kind of gel. Other kinds of gels are bearing and chassis grease, RTV silicon sealers and calks, some toothpastes and hair gels as well as “thick” liquids like dishwashing soap and many liquid glues.

The gel-base technology used in the Shockproof gear oil family makes for some desirable characteristics in a transmission lube. It offers high viscosity at high temperatures to cling to rapidly rotating gears and prevent metal-to-metal contact between gear teeth. Shockproof has lower viscosity when cold for acceptable shift feel. It has lower fluid friction for less power loss, lower oil temperature and slightly better fuel economy.

ShockProof lubricants' greater viscosity in the microscopic spaces between teeth offers as much as 250% higher load-carrying capacity and much less metal-to-metal friction. Its up to 40% less internal fluid friction means parasitic torque loss is reduced along with further temperature decreases. Heavy Shockproof viscosity is about that of a 75W250 gear oil, but has the lower fluid friction of a 75W90. LightWeight Shockproof is about a 75W140 gear oil, but has the lower internal friction of an SAE30 engine oil. SuperLight Shockproof is about a 70W90, but has the lower fluid friction of an automatic transmission fluid, which, coincidentally, is the recommended lubricant for the Tremec TR-6060 used in an ATS-V along with other GM high-performance manual trans applications.


An ATS-V TR-6060

Another unique feature of Shockproof gear oils is they use a "Complex Calcium Technology" (CCT) extreme pressure (EP) additive rather than the sulfur-based EP additives in conventional gear oils. The CCT extreme pressure additive provides far superior protection from metal-to-metal contact during shock loading and is one reason most Top Fuel dragsters and Nitro Funny Cars have Red Line Heavy Shockproof in their rear axles. Another racing application for which the Shockproof gear lubricants provide a significant durability margin is off-road racing where violent changes in loading when the racers get airborne causes extreme driveline shocks. Not only is Shockproof’s CCT a better EP additive under shock loads, but it, also, makes gear systems operate more quietly and has excellent detergent and anti-corrosive properties.

Improved reliability and durability in high-performance use is the primary benefit of the ShockProof family of gear lubricants. Given proper clutch operation, Shockproof gear lubricants, also, can improve shift at both operating temperature and cold, "start-up" temperature. Due to less internal friction, When using Shockproof, peak oil temperature reductions between 25°F and 75°F are common in severe duty applications.

After I refilled my ATS-V's TR-6060 with Red Line SuperLight Shockproof and drove about 5 miles for the new lube to work its way into all the bearings, bushings and synchronizer assemblies, I noted an improvement in shift feel. The Blue BMW Buster's shift feel was improved and now consistent with that of the six-speeds in my two Vettes.

 

[Hib Halverson]

ATS-V Ownership: a Love/Hate Thing?
Part 3

I spend too much time writing about the love/hate relationship I have with the his and hers ATS-Vs my Wife, The Fairest Sandra the Red, and I own.
(sigh. Ok...big sigh)

The reason for the hate is Cadillac's crappy quality. It's a damn good thing neither of us rely on either of these two cars as our sole transportation because, often times, we'd be Ubering, biking or walking. Fortunately we have other vehicles to drive when one or both ATS-Vs are in the Service Department at our dealer, Bunnin Cadillac of Santa Barbara.

So, the Wife's car, the one which, first, had its cylinder heads replaced, then both turbos and finally a whole new engine–wait for it...
(another sigh)
...is stuck at the dealer, again.

This time the freakin' instrument cluster went tits-up. The gauges went dark and just about every service or warning light available came on. Interestingly, the car ran, so I'm thinking the cluster just died. The Fairest Sandra the Red had the forethought to leave the car running when she gave it to the Service Advisor. He shut the car off, let it sit for a while, then restarted and the same thing happened. This was last Wednesday. No word, yet, on what the problem is or what it's going to take to fix her car.

If that's not bad enough, one day, two weeks ago, I noted that the A/C in our other ATS-V, the Blue BMW Buster, wasn't working properly when the car was moving slowly or stopped in traffic. The next day, it was pretty hot outside and the same thing happened again. When I parked in my driveway, I opened up the shop, got out my scan tester, connected it and watched the engine coolant temperature for a while. With the A/C on, the engine cooling fan should have been commanded on. I watched the ECT climb to 235°F with no fan-on. The A/C and the cooling fan both crapping-out at the same time? WTF?

This has got to be former Cadillac President, Johan de Nysschen's revenge for the nasty stuff I've said about him both before and after GM booted his sorry ass back on April 18th.

I took the car to Bunnin Cadillac. My pal, the service department's Lead Technician, Tony Espinoza found the A/C compressor front seal had failed, so the a lot of the refrigerant had leaked out. What was left was insufficient for the system to work properly. After Tony got a new compressor installed, sure enough, he found the cooling fan had failed, so he replaced that, too.

So...the count so far of major warrantied parts on our two ATS-Vs:

2 cylinder heads
2 turbochargers
1 complete LF4 engine
1 center stack touch screen
1 flywheel
1 clutch assembly
1 TR6060 six-speed manual trans
1 drive shaft
1 A/C compressor
1 engine cooling fan
(tentative) 1 instrument cluster assembly

And, we're probably not done yet because the engine in my ATS-V has the same oil smoke on cold starts that the Wife's car had, except, it doesn't do it as often.

The Cadillac ATS-V is such a great car from a performance standpoint. GM offers nothing else like it, ie: compact sedan or coupe with lots of power, an excellent suspension, great brakes and high fun factor. It's just a cryin'' shame that the cars' quality is so bad.




GM finally had the take-out LF4 from Sandy's car shipped back to Michigan. Our dealer was told the people at Global Propulsion Systems were going to run the tests on the engine to see what was causing the oil smoke after cold starts and perhaps even devise a "fix" for it which could be applied to other engines with that problem.

One can only hope.

Finally, a follow-up to my post in June about Red Line SuperLight Shockproof gear lubricant in the Blue BMW Buster's TR6060 six-speed manual: Wow! What a difference in shift feel. I have that in both my TR6060s (ATS-V and '12 Corvette ZO6) and a T56 ('04 ZO6) and each time, shift feel has improved noticeably.

 

[Unclevito]

2016 Malibu SS 6.2L with Magnusson Supercharger

Since we have been a little off topic here talking about BMWs I thought I would mention my daughters 2016 Malibu SS 6.2 L with recently added magnuson supercharger. Car as stock was rated at 410 hp and is expected to have that rating upped by about 100-120 hp by the supercharger. 6 speed manual car. She got it because her husband is an Aussie and this is the last Malibu that GM/Holden is going to make from that country. She had all the Chevy badges changed to Holden badges.

 

[Hib Halverson]

As the SS was based closely on the VF Commodore SS, it makes perfect sense to swap the Chevy badging for Holden. It's even more appropriate as the SS was one of the last platforms made locally in Australia.

Someone told me that Holden even had a VF Commodore with an LS9.

 

[Hib Halverson]

ATS-V Ownership: (still) a Love/Hate Thing?
Part 4

I tell ya, this blog has turned into a place for me to bitch-out Cadillac and these ATS-Vs...certainly not an outcome I expected when I began it several years ago.

My Wife's "hanger queen" the four-door we call "Pearl," is once again, at the local Cadillac dealer for an engine problem and eventually...warranty repair. Initially, it went in for a problem with the IP and Bunnin Cadillac got that problem fixed but, if you can believe this, on a road test by the tech who worked on it, the MIL (check engine light) came on and began to flash. When the MIL flashes, that means not only is an engine fault code set, but the nature of the problem is that OBDII diagnostics believe the car's exhaust emissions are 50% or more above the maximum limit. I'm told by my Service Consultant the problem is misfire of cylinders 3 and 6.

I hear that and thought: WTF?! The car as a freakin' new motor in it! How can it now be misfiring on the two back cylinders?! I was told that they suspect bad ignition coils. If that's the case, there is more evidence that Cadillac's quality is just terrible. I'm just about at the end of my rope with the Wife's car. I'm thinking of replacing it with a Chevy Equinox or maybe even a Volt.

That said, Bunnin Cadillac, like many dealers nationwide suffers from a shortage of Service Technicians. This really isn't a fault of the dealer but a fault of our society and its economy. Young people today are not interested in careers in the trades–ie: construction, automotive service, industrial toolmaking, welding and so forth. Many of those jobs pay good money and, because people with those skills are in huge demand, seldom have to look for work., but I digress...

Because of a shortage of Technicans and that Bunnin Cheverolet/Cadillac is the only GM dealer in town, they have work backed-up everywhere on their back lot. Our ATS-V four-door has been parked there for two weeks because their Techs who do engine controls diagnostics are tied-up on jobs which came in before our car got in there.

Word is: this coming Monday, they're going to be able to get on that, finish the diagnosis process then fix the car.

Then there's our other ATS-V, the Coupe I call the "Blue BMW Buster"...in a situation of total irony : (you can't make this s**t up), last Friday morning, I'm driving back home from a visit to Bunnin Cadillac to discuss my Wife's four-door. I get on the 101 freeway headed west and, about a mile later, the LTPWS light comes and I see the left-front tire is down to 24-psi. As I'm driving along, the pressure is dropping, ie: there's a big-ass leak. I didn't even make it home. About five miles short, the tire is at 10-psi so I pull off the freeway into a Chevron station. Strangely, they don't do tire work and point me towards their air hose. Trying to add air doesn't work as I can hear a huge leak in the inside of the tire. There's no spare (obviously) and the inflation kit is not going to fix this big leak. I call a local towing service and had them disptach a roll-back.

So I'm thinkin'...if I have them haul the car to Bunnin, with them backed-up on service, the car will just sit. F**k that :frown:, I decide. I have the roll-back driver take the car to my house. I have two spare, used ATS-V fronts, so I'll fix the damn thing myself.

Ninety bucks lighter after the tow, I get the car up in the air on jackstands and pull off the left-front. That bitch is toasted–corded in several places on the inside edge of the tread, the casing is holed, but there is plenty of tread depth left. So I stick my head under the right side and, s**t, that tire is almost as bad! I got the two used spare fronts I have off my garage tire rack, take the two tore-up tires off my ATS-V and throw all that in the back of our Colorado ZR2. I head for Woolever's Tire Service on the other side of town.



I get there and Robbie Woolever takes one look at the two tires I took off and says, "I think those are defective. Look at all the tread left on them." He and I continue to confer. We decide that I'm going to bring the car this coming Tue to have him check the front alignment. If it's within specs, I'm going to take the two fried tires down to the dealer and ask for some kind of adjustment.



I looked at the front end alignment on GMSi for an ATS with FE4. GM says 1.3° neg. camber in front. Wow. That's a lot for a street car. Good for street-track but no so good for street-no-track with decent tread life. FE3 is -0.5°.

I decided to have the front camber reset to -0.5°. The front suspension is not easily adjustable for camber so I bought two Moog Cam Bolt Kits (PN K100024) which make adjusting camber much easier and had my dealer install them then set the camber at a half negative.

That should solve this tire wear issue.

 

[Tuna]

Double Wow!
The bad luck you've been having with your ATS's is incredible.
Did you check the tires on the BB? Does it have the same alignment set-up? Same tires?

It's no wonder you don't have much hair on the top of you head.

 

[Hib Halverson]

It's freakin' unbelievable how much GM has spent on warranty work on our two cars. I'll betcha, parts, labor and travel, it's -large. I know the cost on just the new motor in Sandy's car was 15 large. The parts for all the driveline work on my Coupe was probably 5-grand. I'm not even counting labor or what it cost GM to fly that engineer out here for two weeks back in '17, when they were fixing my Coupe. I'll bet GM has shelled out almost 30,000 to fix these things.

The four-door is the one I'm really unhappy with. In fact, I'm thinking of replacing it. A Chevy Equinox is on my radar. Traverse is to f'ing big. Trax is too small and ugly. One of those new Blazers might be nice but, after these ATS-Vs, I'm too gun-shy about buying a new platform, regardless of who makes it.

A Volt is actually on my radar, too, if it looks like most of what Sandy is going to be doing in the future is making 25 mile round trips to work and back.

Tuna, you have a Volt, right? If so, do you have a home charger? And if you have that, is it 110, 220 or 440V?

 

[Tuna]

A Volt is actually on my radar, too, if it looks like most of what Sandy is going to be doing in the future is making 25 mile round trips to work and back.

Tuna, you have a Volt, right? If so, do you have a home charger? And if you have that, is it 110, 220 or 440V?

Had a volt. Might still have it if Ally hadn't wanted so much for it at the end of the lease. The Volt was a good car and did everything GM promised it would do.
Susan had a 37 mile round trip every day. Our Volt was rated for 35 miles on a charge but regularly got more than that. Susan went over three months each summer without putting gas in it.
We used the 110v charger that came with the Volt. Plugged it into a wall socket in the garage and left it there since Susan parked the Volt inside every night. Fully charged each morning.
Cold weather runs the battery down faster, so does driving in rain (more rolling resistance).
The new Volt does better.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Didn't realize you leased it. We don't lease vehicles because, I feel it doesn't make sense economically unless it's a business which is doing the leasing because of the write-off or I just have to own a car I cannot afford to buy.

My business modifies the vehicles it owns as part of its work, so leasing is impossible, anyway.

If we were to buy a Volt, I'd have to do some math to see if we'd recover the EV "premium" in better fuel mileage in a reasonable amount of time. I'm skeptical that we would, but we'll see.

 

[Tuna]

The Volt was the only car I ever leased. New technology that we didn't want to get stuck with if it didn't work out. So, we leased.

It turned out to be a very good car. Our electric bill went up about 5-bucks a month and that included charging it every night.

If you were to buy a Volt, your business might not want to modify it. There's a lot of volts and amps under the hood.

 

[Unclevito]

Cadillac XT4

Didn't realize you leased it. We don't lease vehicles because, I feel it doesn't make sense economically unless it's a business which is doing the leasing because of the write-off or I just have to own a car I cannot afford to buy.

My business modifies the vehicles it owns as part of its work, so leasing is impossible, anyway.

If we were to buy a Volt, I'd have to do some math to see if we'd recover the EV "premium" in better fuel mileage in a reasonable amount of time. I'm skeptical that we would, but we'll see.

Cad XT4 Wadda ya think?

 

[Hib Halverson]

Cad XT4 Wadda ya think?

Wow. Just looked at the date of your post. Guess I haven't been on my Blog for a while. Sorry bout that.

As for the XT4, well...since I'm really not a CUV kinda guy I have no strong opinion one way or the other except to say I hope Cadillac has a better handle on quality with the XT4 than they did with our two ATS-Vs.

The last several months, I've been so busy with Corvette situations–my 2012 has chronic problem with the Katech engine I put in it a year and half ago and we considered, then negotiated, and ordered, then, finally, took a Museum Delivery, of a 2019 ZR-1 and road-tripped it home to California–I haven't posted to the Little V Blog in a long time.

I've been driving my ATS-V Coupe as my daily driver. In DD service, that car works out pretty well. I still really like the looks of an ATS-V with the Track Package. I'm one of the people who likes the ATS-V's instrumentation. I've accepted the 2016 version of CUE–it is what it is. One thing I've grown to like are the fold down rear seats, which are standard on the Coupe but optional on the Sedan. The cheapskate I am, we didn't order them on our other ATS-V, a four-door. In the Coupe those folding seats have come in handy in bringing some purchases home form Home Depot or Costco and it's also been useful on a few road trips we've taken.

I have fun with the car's relatively low gearing, 3.73s and a 2.66 first gear. That makes the car a rocket ship in highway onramps which are two cars wide and there's a BMW, Audi, Benz or some millennial in a slammed ricer in the other lane.

But, then, as much as I like looking at and driving my ATS-V, the quality problems with the car and GM's poor response to warranty claims continue to making me and my little -V a "love-hate" relationship. A month ago, I had to have the CUE touch-screen replaced because it went "bonkers"–the radio preset display would start "vibrating" and would not respond to any touch. So, now the screen in both our ATS-Vs have needed replacement and there are lots of other cases where ATS touch screens have failed. That's ridiculous for a compact coupe costing upwards of 60-large.

Worse, yet, the car has a growing problem with oil smoke out the exhaust right after cold starts. If you are a regular reader of the Little V Blog, you know our other ATS-V, an early production Sedan, had a long-standing problem with that which prompted GM to replace, first, the cylinder heads, then, both turbos and, finally, the complete engine.

My coupe is now doing the smoke-after-start "thing" on a regular basis. Here's some video of the problem.

I've been to my dealer, Bunnin Cadillac in Santa Barbara CA, twice about this and GM has taken no action so far. This is not a problem with the people at Bunnin which have done their best for me. With today's GM, dealers have little discretion or decision-making power on warranty issues. It's GM's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) which is often bureaucratic and and regularly in denial that a problem exists and, all-too-often, in my opinion, deaf to customer satisfaction issues.

The problem which causes this short duration oil smoke after cold starts lies with the turbocharger shaft seals and I'm not making this stuff up, either. Go back in this Blog to the discussion of this oil smoke problem with our ATS-V Sedan. In post #251 you'll find pictures of oil on the turbine wheel and inside the turbine housing which document the trouble.

A turbo-supercharger has a turbine wheel, which is driven by exhaust flow, and a compressor wheel, which compresses the intake charge, on a common shaft. On the turbine side of the turbo, when the engine is running, if the seal on that end of the shaft is faulty, exhaust pressure keeps oil from leaking. After engine shutdown, because the turbocharger shaft is one of the lowest parts of the engine's pressure lubrication system, oil remains in the cavities through which engine oil flows to the shaft bearings and oil above that creates a small amount of head pressure. If the turbine shaft seal is faulty, there will be gravity-flow of oil past that seal. From there, oil migrates to the turbine wheel and, if there's enough of it, drips off the turbine into the turbocharger compressor housing, then pools in the bottom of that housing–again, see the pictures referenced above.

The next time the engine is started, within seconds, exhaust heat burns that oil away and the customer, in this case, me, sees a cloud of oil smoke which blows out the exhaust pipes for several seconds. Depending on how much oil has leaked past the seal during the time the engine was not running, this can be a little oil smoke or a huge cloud of of it–trust me, I've seen both plenty of times.

When a dealer contacts TAC asking for its blessing on a warranty repair for this problem, TAC, which, IMO, seems to have a lot of people who don't know much about cars and/or just don't listen, usually responds, regardless of what details the dealer gives them about the customer's problem, by telling the dealer to begin a "Measurement of Oil Consumption" according to GM Information Bulletin 01-06-01-011J or whatever current revision of that bulletin which is in force at the time.

The problem with this type of oil use problem and GM's "Measurement of Oil Consumption" procedure is that, while the duration of the oil consumption might only be 10-20 seconds but can make a huge cloud of oil smoke, the actual oil consumption over the 2000-mi distance mandated by the procedure will be minimal because the only time oil is consumed is the 10-20 seconds after start-up. For the rest of that ignition cycle, oil use will be normal–which of course is minimal. In fact, you could have a car that blows oil smoke every time the engine is started but which GM would never fix because, given an engine that has only a start-up smoking problem due to a leaky turbo shaft seal, it would not use more than a quart of oil in that 2000-mi test which is the minimum oil use for which GM will normally take action.

Back to my Coupe's smoking cold start problem: GM told TAC to start an oil consumption test which means, unless I take some other kind of action, the wizards at the Technical Assistance Center could conceivably never do anything to fix the freakin' car.

Some might suggest: get the dealer to contact their GM "Rep". Problem with that is: long-gone are the days when the GM representatives who work in the field with dealers had a lot of discretion in matters of warranty administration and customer satisfaction. The way things work between GM Reps and dealers nowadays isn't much better than how things work between dealers and TAC.

So where does that leave ATS-V owners? Well...we're stuck with cars we love to drive but suffer from a lot of quality issues and are warranted by a company which has lost sight of what makes up good customer satisfaction.

Crappy quality and a arduous process customers have to endure in getting GM to process warranty claims is one reason Cadillac has become a second tire luxury brand sucking hind tit to Mercedes, BMW and Lexus.

 

[Unclevito]

More of your story

Wow. Just looked at the date of your post. Guess I haven't been on my Blog for a while. Sorry bout that.

As for the XT4, well...since I'm really not a CUV kinda guy I have no strong opinion one way or the other except to say I hope Cadillac has a better handle on quality with the XT4 than they did with our two ATS-Vs.

The last several months, I've been so busy with Corvette situations–my 2012 has chronic problem with the Katech engine I put in it a year and half ago and we considered, then negotiated, and ordered, then, finally, took a Museum Delivery, of a 2019 ZR-1 and road-tripped it home to California–I haven't posted to the Little V Blog in a long time.

I've been driving my ATS-V Coupe as my daily driver. In DD service, that car works out pretty well. I still really like the looks of an ATS-V with the Track Package. I'm one of the people who likes the ATS-V's instrumentation. I've accepted the 2016 version of CUE–it is what it is. One thing I've grown to like are the fold down rear seats, which are standard on the Coupe but optional on the Sedan. The cheapskate I am, we didn't order them on our other ATS-V, a four-door. In the Coupe those folding seats have come in handy in bringing some purchases home form Home Depot or Costco and it's also been useful on a few road trips we've taken.

I have fun with the car's relatively low gearing, 3.73s and a 2.66 first gear. That makes the car a rocket ship in highway onramps which are two cars wide and there's a BMW, Audi, Benz or some millennial in a slammed ricer in the other lane.

But, then, as much as I like looking at and driving my ATS-V, the quality problems with the car and GM's poor response to warranty claims continue to making me and my little -V a "love-hate" relationship. A month ago, I had to have the CUE touch-screen replaced because it went "bonkers"–the radio preset display would start "vibrating" and would not respond to any touch. So, now the screen in both our ATS-Vs have needed replacement and there are lots of other cases where ATS touch screens have failed. That's ridiculous for a compact coupe costing upwards of 60-large.

Worse, yet, the car has a growing problem with oil smoke out the exhaust right after cold starts. If you are a regular reader of the Little V Blog, you know our other ATS-V, an early production Sedan, had a long-standing problem with that which prompted GM to replace, first, the cylinder heads, then, both turbos and, finally, the complete engine.

My coupe is now doing the smoke-after-start "thing" on a regular basis. I've been to my dealer, Bunnin Cadillac in Santa Barbara CA, twice about this and GM has taken no action so far. This is not a problem with the people at Bunnin which have done their best for me. With today's GM, dealers have little discretion or decision-making power on warranty issues. It's GM's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) which is often bureaucratic and and regularly in denial that a problem exists and, all-too-often, in my opinion, deaf to customer satisfaction issues.

The problem which causes this short duration oil smoke after cold starts lies with the turbocharger shaft seals and I'm not making this stuff up, either. Go back in this Blog to the discussion of this oil smoke problem with our ATS-V Sedan. In post #251 you'll find pictures which document the trouble.

A turbo-supercharger has a turbine wheel, which is driven by exhaust flow, and a compressor wheel, which compresses the intake charge, on a common shaft. On the turbine side of the turbo, when the engine is running, if the seal on that end of the shaft is faulty, exhaust pressure keeps oil from leaking. After engine shutdown, because the turbocharger shaft is one of the lowest parts of the engine's pressure lubrication system, oil remains in the cavities through which engine oil flows to the shaft bearings and oil above that creates a small amount of head pressure. If the turbine shaft seal is faulty, there will be gravity-flow of oil past that seal. From there, oil migrates to the turbine wheel and, if there's enough of it, drips off the turbine into the turbocharger compressor housing, then pools in the bottom of that housing–again, see the pictures referenced above.

The next time the engine is started, within seconds, exhaust heat burns that oil away and the customer, in this case, me, sees a cloud of oil smoke which blows out the exhaust pipes for several seconds. Depending on how much oil has leaked past the seal during the time the engine was not running, this can be a little oil smoke or a huge cloud of of it–trust me, I've seen both plenty of times.

When a dealer contacts TAC asking for its blessing on a warranty repair for this problem, TAC, which, IMO, seems to have a lot of people who don't know much about cars and/or just don't listen, usually responds, regardless of what details the dealer gives them about the customer's problem, by telling the dealer to begin a "Measurement of Oil Consumption" according to GM Information Bulletin 01-06-01-011J or whatever current revision of that bulletin which is in force at the time.

The problem with this type of oil use problem and GM's "Measurement of Oil Consumption" procedure is that, while the duration of the oil consumption might only be 10-20 seconds but can make a huge cloud of oil smoke, the actual oil consumption over the 2000-mi distance mandated by the procedure will be minimal because the only time oil is consumed is the 10-20 seconds after start-up. For the rest of that ignition cycle, oil use will be normal–which of course is minimal. In fact, you could have a car that blows oil smoke every time the engine is started but which GM would never fix because, given an engine that has only a start-up smoking problem due to a leaky turbo shaft seal, it would not use more than a quart of oil in that 2000-mi test which is the minimum oil use for which GM will normally take action.

Back to my Coupe's smoking cold start problem: GM told TAC to start an oil consumption test which means, unless I take some other kind of action, the wizards at the Technical Assistance Center will never do anything to fix the freakin' car.

Some might suggest: get the dealer to contact their GM "Rep". Problem with that is: long-gone are the days when the GM representatives who work in the field with dealers had a lot of discretion in matters of warranty administration and customer satisfaction. The way things work between GM Reps and dealers nowadays isn't much better than how things work between dealers and TAC.

So where does that leave ATS-V owners? Well...we're stuck with cars we love to drive but suffer from a lot of quality issues and are warranted by a company which has lost sight of what makes up good customer satisfaction.

Crappy quality and a arduous process customers have to endure in getting GM to process warranty claims is one reason Cadillac has become a second tire luxury brand sucking hind tit to Mercedes, BMW and Lexus.

Good to hear your story further. Wow 2019 ZR-1 sounds great. Your 2012 427 get a new engine?? Very cool. Sad that even Ktech has problems. I need an SUV or pickup where I live on 4 acres in Atascadero. Got a 2007 Highlander than I am keeping going with 198,000 miles. New timing belt, water pump, pulleys. Got some MIL light issues but ran the drive cycle then got the car smogged. Have a $34 cheapo scan reader. Just replace the transmission park/ tranny selector switch. Was showing inconsistent readings on the dashboard as to whether it was in D,3,2, etc. Did not want to have it not start because it was not showing it was in Park or neutral. Keep posting on this thread. Like to read what you discover. You interested in that supposedly OHC new engine that is being developed by GM for Cadillac that may find its way into the Corvette mid engine?? We will see what happens.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Good to hear your story further. Wow 2019 ZR-1 sounds great. Your 2012 427 get a new engine?? Very cool. Sad that even Ktech has problems. I need an SUV or pickup where I live on 4 acres in Atascadero. Got a 2007 Highlander than I am keeping going with 198,000 miles. New timing belt, water pump, pulleys. Got some MIL light issues but ran the drive cycle then got the car smogged. Have a $34 cheapo scan reader. Just replace the transmission park/ tranny selector switch. Was showing inconsistent readings on the dashboard as to whether it was in D,3,2, etc. Did not want to have it not start because it was not showing it was in Park or neutral. Keep posting on this thread. Like to read what you discover. You interested in that supposedly OHC new engine that is being developed by GM for Cadillac that may find its way into the Corvette mid engine?? We will see what happens.

Atascadero, eh. I get though there once in a while. That State Route 41 going over to SR46 is a favorite twisty road of mine.

So you understood the need to run the drive cycle prior to a smog check. You're sharper than the average DIY. How'd you find out what Toyota's drive cycle is?

That new OHC engine is called the "Black Wing". It's a 550-hp, 4.2L twin turbo V8. The '19 Cadillac CT6V uses it. The Black Wing will not, however, be the debut engine in the base C8. TI will use a new version of the Gen 5 V8 called the LT2.

I don't have a big interest in owning a mid-engine car and certainly not the first couple of model years of a car which will be such a departure from the last three generations of Corvette.

 

[Unclevito]

New OCH Vette engine

Atascadero, eh. I get though there once in a while. That State Route 41 going over to SR46 is a favorite twisty road of mine.

So you understood the need to run the drive cycle prior to a smog check. You're sharper than the average DIY. How'd you find out what Toyota's drive cycle is?

That new OHC engine is called the "Black Wing". It's a 550-hp, 4.2L twin turbo V8. The '19 Cadillac CT6V uses it. The Black Wing will not, however, be the debut engine in the base C8. TI will use a new version of the Gen 5 V8 called the LT2.

I don't have a big interest in owning a mid-engine car and certainly not the first couple of model years of a car which will be such a departure from the last three generations of Corvette.

Lots of twisties around here. Looked up on the internet what the drive cycle is. 55 then 45 mph for a certain number of minutes. Got flipped off several times up 101 from SLO. If you and your wife want to stay in our guest house let us know. We also have a pool and spa. Would love to see your ZR-1. Wineries in Paso are only a few minutes away. Same with Cambria and Morro Bay. No cost to you for the GH.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Video of my coupe, the Blue BMW Buster, belching oil smoke after several cold starts is posted above.

 

[Unclevito]

belching smoke

Video of my coupe, the Blue BMW Buster, belching oil smoke after several cold starts is posted above.

Do not know why you punish yourself by buying GM cars. They gave up long ago on building decent, reliable, cars. They only care about selling high profit pick ups now and all they merely do is keep up with the competition and sell more football TV ads.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Do not know why you punish yourself by buying GM cars.

Actually, when I spent some time in Atascadero for a while, they told me that they'd let me out if I'd stop beating myself up.:

They only care about selling high profit pick ups now and all they merely do is keep up with the competition and sell more football TV ads.

If that were true...GM "keeping up with the competition"...the Ford F150 and the Ram 1500 would not be outselling the Chevy Silverado so...are those TV ads during football games really helping?