Repair-It

Wow look at this: http://s1174.photobucket.com/user/Ludac ... t=4&page=0

Chinese market car called the SLS. It was an STS but even longer and nicer. Check out the interior. I see a few bits from my 05 but a lot is updated. I wonder how this differs from the 08 refresh. The steering wheel looks like the 07+ SRX steering wheel.

This will make Bill flip out. This is from a thread on the Cadillac forum (a subsection just for the SLS in fact). The thread started when the car was released in 2007. Here is a post from mid-2008:

05-16-08 04:31 PM #15 GM-4-LIFE's Avatar GM-4-LIFE GM-4-LIFE is online now
Re: Real Life Pics of the SLS!!!
This makes me really upset! I have a 2007 STS-V that stickered at $77K and I don't get an interior as nice as a standard CHINESE STS. How is this fair? Why doesn't GM give the American public what we want? This really doesn't make sense! If they can make it for the Chinese, why can't they make it for the Americans?

Drive home report: metallic clank from front end definitely gone. This is great. The chassis feels pretty solid to me. Also, the torque converter is seemingly doing better than ever. I didn't really even notice any symptoms at all. I am not done maintaining it but this is obviously encouraging.

I am kind of enjoying this process overall, as the last car I had where I went through anything like this was the Fleetwood. Granted $5,000 isn't $1,300 but this car has a lot more to offer, FWIW.

Mostly parking info here for the future. I am realizing that there are TSBs for some of the little annoyances I am noticing on this car. I guess this is good.

Here's one:
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/ca ... ystem.html
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/ca ... farts.html

Recirc door linkage makes a groaning sound when it switches between recirc and fresh air. Some folks call it a farting sound. Anyway, you can lubricate the linkage/actuator arm. There are also replacement parts. Surprisingly, to lubricate, you just need to remove the glove box door. Once again, there is history of this problem all the way back to 2006. Which means, in my interpretation, a car like mine probably did this for its entire life just about and no one really cared to have it fixed. It doesn't cause any functional issue but with a quiet interior you notice things like this more.

Subject: Groan Noise Coming From Right Side of Instrument Panel (Install Recirculation Door Actuator Lever Service Kit) #06-01-39-009 - (09/29/2006)
Models: 2005-2006 Cadillac STS

Add another one to the pile.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/ca ... st16685194

Unlike the recirc door actuator thing where I can probably just lubricate, this is a different issue.

Symptoms:

But there is another noise and I am having a harder time finding info on this. I have narrowed it down to the air blend door. There is a clicking somewhere in the dash. Outside temp around 73 and A/C on 70, so similar temps inside and out. It seems if I turn the temp up a lot, or down a lot, the noise goes away. So my feeling is, the air blend door actuator or something has a weird spot that causes it to click for whatever reason.

Anyone heard of this and what can I do about it that doesn't involve taking the entire dash apart? I don't believe anything is functionally wrong with my climate control. I can try the 90-60-90-60-etc. approach and see if that does anything.

I tried the 90-60-90-60-etc thing last night and this morning with identical conditions (same outside and settings inside) there was no clicking. But based on this picture and the way the actuator works, I think it is a matter of time until it clicks again. The clicking happens because those black rings on the gear are some kind of resistive thing that allows the thing to find the correct position that is being commanded. So there is a worn spot and it clicks between worn out areas and hunts. Eventually, I guess it will just quit entirely. Or so I have read. Rockauto has these for like $40 and of course it is a huge pain. Some folks pull their entire dash apart. I'm not doing that. Other folks have done it by pretzeling themselves under the dash. I'd rather do that. This is another one of those things that all of these cars seem to eventually need. But I'll wait until it gets worse.

kevm14 wrote:

kevm14 wrote:A lot of my research suggested the Italian tune up. Specifically, wind out a gear (like 2nd) and let off holding that gear to decelerate and make a high vacuum in the cylinder. Do this a few times. Well, don't mind if I do.

I did a couple runs of this on my commute. Wound out 2nd, holding 2nd, and coasted from redline. Did that a few times. Tried it in 3rd as well. I didn't notice any exchaust emissions but it'll be interesting if this changes anything.

I've been pretty hard on it this week due to anger and nonsense so I'll be very interested to see what happens in another 1000 miles. I should check the dipstick now actually...

Haven't heard the blend door actuator clicking come back. Maybe I have more time than I thought.

Torque converter clutch shudder also is mostly gone. There really are just very vague and occasional remnants and it isn't even like the original shudder. I honestly wouldn't even notice if I wasn't looking for it. That's after only a 50% fluid change. I am quite pleased with this. I have another 6 quarts on the way to do another fluid change. At this point I will not add the additive. If it were to come back after that, I'd probably change the fluid again and add it at that time.

kevm14 wrote:Haven't heard the blend door actuator clicking come back. Maybe I have more time than I thought.

Heard it this morning. Did the 60-90-60-90 thing again and that "fixed" it. If I know I have to replace the actuator I will just live with this as long as possible. Probably should replace before winter or...if it somehow gets stuck in full heat, sooner...

I decided to order new serpentine belts for the Northstar Cadillacs. I am planning on doing a coolant change to both and I am thinking that would be a great time to do the belts, since I will have the lower air dam off the car to access the hoses.

They use the same belts obviously. The long one is dual ribbed for her pleasure and the AC Delco brand one is a spendy $59. The other belt (I think for the alternator) is only $14. That means I just dropped $142 on belts. Which will probably be good for at least 100k so not a big deal.

Let's check the cross compatibility for both belts for fun.

Long, dual ribbed belt:

CADILLAC
SRX
2004-2009
CADILLAC
STS
2005-2010
VOLKSWAGEN
BEETLE
2006-2015
VOLKSWAGEN
BEETLE CABRIO
2010
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
2011-2015
VOLKSWAGEN
PASSAT
2012-2014

I see. Shorter regular belt:

ACURA
LEGEND
1991-1995
ACURA
TL
1996-1998
CADILLAC
SRX
2004-2009
CADILLAC
STS
2005-2010
CHEVROLET
ASTRA
2000-2007
CHEVROLET
CORSA
2002-2004
CHRYSLER
SEBRING
2001-2005
DODGE
STRATUS
2001-2005
FIAT
PALIO
2004
FORD
ESCORT
1981-1982
FORD
EXP
1982
HONDA
ACCORD
1985-1986
MAZDA
626
1986-1987
MERCURY
LN7
1982
MERCURY
LYNX
1981-1982
MITSUBISHI
ECLIPSE
2000-2005
MITSUBISHI
GALANT
1999-2003
MITSUBISHI
MIRAGE
1995-1997
TOYOTA
TERCEL
1989-1990

I guess that helps explain the price difference. Large applicability.

kevm14 wrote:I got a tip to check the PCV system and brake booster vacuum line and I will do that.

PCV stuff seems alright. I pulled the clean side apart while doing the belts and that was fine. The other side I didn't remove but didn't feel like it was falling apart.

But I did notice the brake booster hoses was pretty swollen and took very little effort to pull off of the nipple on the back of the intake manifold. So I added a hose clamp. This was actually quite tricky because of the location of the nipple. Visualize trying to put on a hose clamp and keep it from turning with one hand and you'll get the idea. It is at the lower back side of the intake so access kind of sucks but I made it work. Who knows, maybe I fixed another small vacuum leak. Haven't road tested yet.