General STS thread

[kevm14]

That's the regular Northstar STS, not the V6.

That’s also 149 horses and 124 pound-feet more than a regular STS.

Suspension tuning is about 15 percent stiffer than that of a standard STS, thanks to Sachs shocks and bigger front and rear anti-roll bars; the variable-assist power rack-and-pinion steering is a bit quicker

I'm not sure why you thought performance was going to be lame. Different shocks, springs, anti-roll bars and steering rack than my car.

[kevm14]

That red is hideous. Otherwise the interior isn't bad except the outdated cheap looking deck/HVAC controls.

The performance is better than I expected. It is Challenger heavy though.

I always liked these so it is tough to argue against it.

I think the interior is plenty good for the mid-2000s, especially GM. I'm good with it. I would accept FAR less for a daily driver. And...anything else, too. Interiors aren't disqualifying for me, at least not yet.

I'm not too fond of the red either. But I bet you hate it way more than I do.

Yes it is heavy. But it is still ~200-300 lbs lighter than a Challenger Hellcat. The weight difference would decrease with lesser Challengers I guess.

Wiki says the 08-09 STS-V was 4,233. Hmm. I dunno.

2006 $77,090 4,343 lb (1,970 kg)[3]
2007 $77,715 4,295 lb (1,948 kg)[4]
2008 $78,775 4,233 lb (1,920 kg)[5]
2009 $79,465 4,233 lb (1,920 kg)[6]

Not sure what that's all about.

[kevm14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_STS-V

Features

Standard features in 2006 & 2007 included;

Heated seats, express up & down windows, voice command of HVAC, windows, locks, audio, and NAV system. Blind spot warning system (flashing built into mirrors), automatic high & low beam system, backup proximity sensors, proximity digital key system, heated steering wheel, additional digital instrumentation (including boost, oil pressure, etc.) via the selectable vehicle module. Only a sunroof, head-up-display (HUD), and RainSense wipers were optional.

In 2008 and 2009 the model was lightly refreshed, including in the standard configuration a head-up display (HUD). This was available on all STS's starting in '05 but it was very expensive, thus why it is so rare to find outside of the '08/'09 V models. The refreshed version also offered standard RainSense (automatic) wipers which was an option on non-V STS vehicles. This matters only peculiarly, as Cadillac didn't offer RainSense wipers on any STS model in 2010 or in its last year of production, 2011.

Production

STS-V Production Numbers

2006 - 1,306 Total - 55 were exported to various countries
2007 - 642 Total - 65 were exported to various countries
2008 - 459 Total - 32 were exported to various countries
2009 - 96 total - 4 were exported to Gulf States (Bahrain, Oman, Qatar , United Arab Emirates)

Total production 2,503 Units

Pretty rare.

[kevm14]

Car and Driver may have gotten 12.9 but I don't know what the trap speed was. I'd assume 109 I guess. But it is annoying that their article does not include the table of performance measurements.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/co ... ison-test/

[kevm14]

This is supposedly in some priority order so I will maintain the order in which they were listed.

ESC (suspension module)
C0630 symptom 55
Passed this and last ignition cycle
This corresponds to an issue with the right rear ride height sensor. I did have to replace a right front sensor a year ago so maybe it needs a right rear now. Not sure yet. A Delphi right rear sensor is $122.79.

Along with my cat efficiency code this one came back, too. Reset again. Like I said before, it may need a right rear sensor at some point. There are no other symptoms though. Like no service suspension display or anything.

So that was 10 months ago. It has been a while since I did a full module scan with the Tech 2 but based on some ride symptoms, I'd say I would expect this C0630 to be lurking behind the scenes.

Lately the rear end has felt more floaty that it should be, even in Touring mode. That thing it does where it damps out oscillations is much less effective than it usually is to the point that it sort of feels like a bad shock. I can't place which one but knowing about this history, I'd say there's a very good chance the right rear is not being controlled properly. If the sensor does not fully report motion, the system will not apply damping changes (like after a bump) because it doesn't actually see the oscillation on that corner. This makes sense and actually I think I felt something similar from the front right before that sensor let go. In the meantime I have selected Performance which has mostly cured the bounce, because the base level of damping is higher. It is probably still not reacting to bumps correctly but the added stiffness masks it which makes the ride tolerable while I diagnose.

Soooo....what I should do is borrow back the Tech 2 from Adam, scan it, and maybe do a live stream of all sensors and see if that right rear is lazy. I bet it is.

This would be a good time to point out that a Delphi right rear sensor is $115 which is more than some shocks. The Rockauto AC Delco prices for rear shocks are....get ready....$460. Each. Good thing those were done much more recently. The fronts are original. And don't seem to be available on Rockauto for AWD. But the RWD front ones are also $460/ea. However, listings for a 2007 drops about $100 off that which is at least a little more reasonable. I think the word is it is fully compatible. I have no idea why GM still carries a separate listing, but it appears to be a physically different part even if the form/fit/function is the same.

Anyway, I don't mind doing the sensor. Easy job. But I probably should scan first before I just throw the part at it, even though I am 99% sure that is what I am going to find. If inconclusive, I can also max out damping to 100% on each corner and just do a bounce test to see if it's an actual shock issue. I doubt it is. At $460/ea it is definitely not a shock issue...….

[kevm14]

150k.

[kevm14]

From the nav time thread, this is from the Denso employee:

We have the fix validated and approved by GM. Just waiting for DENSO internal approval of the validation we did. Should be next week, 2 weeks max. There was a couple road blocks we had to get through so it took longer than it should to get the SW approved. Fix will be for 05-10 Corvette, should work on 05? Grand Prix but it wasn’t validated. STS 08-11. Unfortunately for earlier STS models, we couldn’t find the SW. Through our testing we found that the clock will correct itself on 8/16/2020. The date will not be correct but the time will be. This is good news and bad because it delayed the approval process. Some groups at DENSO wanted to cancel the SW but GM rejected this. Sorry this took a year but with so many different groups involved and different ideas, directions, it took a long time. This fix was not moving forward until some Corvette owner sent a letter to the DENSO President and he told management to give GM a fix. You may want to send him a thank you letter.

That's cool but really it's not cool that this is even doing anything because someone's nastygram made it to president of Denso...it shouldn't require such a special form of communication.

Also it is not looking good for 05-07 STSs. Well my clock still works because of my clever jumper cable placement, and apparently the clock will start working for everyone next August anyway.

[kevm14]

I made a video of all of the voice commands the system supports, according to the help menu that I just found.

https://youtu.be/OcG9i4T5j4M

This reminds me of that Top Gear episode that I think was with the ZR1 and Clarkson was like "Iraqi restaurant" which of course the system didn't know about.

[kevm14]

The fix is in for the 08-11 STS clock. People appear to be passing a zip file around via forum PMs. You burn it to a CD, insert it into the nav, and it updates the firmware. Afterwards, folks have GPS and clock 100% functional. So all that Denso stuff paid off. Unfortunately, no one can find the uncompiled code for the 05-07 system so, no fix.

Now I will ask Bill to spin me a cyber theory on how this could be risky.

[Adam]

Can anyone find compiled code? That would be more useful for you since I doubt Denso included a compiler in your head unit.

Here is a cyber theory on how this could be risky:
The "firmware" includes modifications which records your audio and transmits it via OnStar's cellular radio. Extra bonus points for augmenting the voice recognition to support speech to text to keep the bandwidth usage low.

Is there a separate OnStar module from the head unit? Perhaps the "firmware" update could include some CAN exploit code that allows the head unit to run arbitrary code on the OnStar module allowing a re-write of the firmware with some that spoofs its way on to the cellular network allowing higer bandwidth access with limited tracibility.

Super bonus points for using the head unit to commendeer other CAN modules and ruin everything the head unit can talk to. Hopefully GM was smart and segragated the engine/body control CAN from the infotainment CAN in a way that can't be bridged by S/W.