- #11 of 30
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Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy]
by sls002
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Jun 19, 2008 (12:46 pm)
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Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 11:48 am)
The FWD northstar V8's are known to use some oil. My 2002 Seville used about 4 quarts every 10,000 miles. My 1998 Aurora (small northstar V8) did use some oil, but the oil was changed at 3-4,000 mile intervals, so I don't recall adding more except at longer intervals.
However, part of my response is a result of the problems I see with the V6 in the CTS forums. My understanding is that GM's policy on oil consumption is that engines that use more than a quart in 1,000 miles are using more than they should. However the dealer has to confirm the consumption rate. Most of my cars have not used too much oil. The one exception was a 1976 Buick Riviera that I owned for a short time. It did use more oil and then started using coolant. About then I traded for an Oldsmobile diesel.
I do find that my SRX is a much more fun vehicle to drive than the FWD Seville was.
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- #12 of 30
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The SRX is finally gone
by sleeper41
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Jun 19, 2008 (12:52 pm)
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Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 11:31 am)
Good for you. My next car will be a Honda. I have come to hate this SRX. Noisy on acceleration, an absolutely, positively useless GPS. 8 out of 10 times the built in GPS cannot find a business. I use my wife's Garmin now, sticking it on the dash. I'm getting ready to buy the new 800 series Garmin, which has voice recognition. Yipee! Now I don't have to buy a Lexus to get this feature. I have about 18 months left on my lease and I'm counting the time. I am dissapointed in myself for not figuring out what this car is costing me per month. Imagine, I'm paying $576/mo and am allowed 833 miles/mo, comes to $0.69 cents/mile! If I go over the limit I get a deal at $0.41 cents/mile. What a waste.
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- #13 of 30
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Re: The SRX is finally gone [sls002]
by fastguy
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Jun 19, 2008 (2:59 pm)
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Replying to: sls002 (Jun 19, 2008 12:46 pm)
That is very interesting. Cadillac told me that 1 quart for each 750 miles (which was my experience) was normal. They did the monitoring routine, which cost me an extra oil change, and said everything was OK. My Mercedes (all of them) have never used one quart of oil in all the years I have owned them. They did not consider the color or smell of the oil which at 1000 miles was worse than my Mercedes at 10,000 miles. I believe that if I had stuck to getting the problem resolved, it would have been fixed. There were so many other issues that I just gave up. The water leak issue was unresolvable. It would have eventually lead to a rust issue in the pan under the third seat. The bottom line here is that Cadillac won by wearing me down to the point where I no longer cared. I am so relieved to not have that car in my garage. To top it all off, I discovered that in our travels, we could get as much into the Mercedes Sedan as the SRX. And it is much more a joy to drive at maybe $2,000 additional.
I am really glad you enjoy you car, but I do feel compelled to tell the world of my experience.
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- #14 of 30
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Re: The SRX is finally gone [sleeper41]
by fastguy
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Jun 19, 2008 (3:09 pm)
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Replying to: sleeper41 (Jun 19, 2008 12:52 pm)
You are doing OK. My depreciation was 68.3 cents per miles plus the lost opportunity paying cash. I did not finance or lease. Be happy you do not have to try to trade it in. All of dealers I talked to said it is a truck and we don't take trucks on trade. I had to go to a rural dealership to make the trade because I was unable to sell it myself. BTW Cadillac dealers said the same thing.
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- #15 of 30
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Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy]
by ericzoom
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Jun 20, 2008 (5:26 am)
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Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 3:09 pm)
I've had no problems yet with my 6 month old 08' SRX V6, but i'm glad i only lease it. When lease is done, it goes back.
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- #16 of 30
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Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy]
by sls002
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Jun 21, 2008 (5:54 am)
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Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 2:59 pm)
Some oil should be used if the engine is lubricated as it should be. In particular, the oil on the cylinder walls should burn. However, if the rings are seated right, they should reduce the oil on the walls to a minimum so that oil consumption is minimal. Engines designed for synthetic oils will probably use less oil. My Seville was designed for conventional oil, and when I used synthetic in it oil consumption was probably more than it would have been with conventional oil. The RWD northstar V8 is a third generation design, and was designed for synthetic oil (I think), so I am not surprised that oil consumption is less, but I think my engine may be better than average.
I think that your dealer must have determined that your oil consumption, while more than it should have been, was not a result of a leak or bad head gaskets. My guess is that your rings were not seated right or were not as tight as they could have been. Your service department may not have been interested in doing something about it too.
I will say that I would probably have bought a BMW wagon, but the nearest BMW, Mercedes or other upper end lux brand name dealer is more than 300 miles from where I live making service exceeding difficult and expensive.
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- #17 of 30
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Re: The SRX is finally gone [sls002]
by fastguy
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Jun 21, 2008 (12:31 pm)
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Replying to: sls002 (Jun 21, 2008 5:54 am)
It was not the dealer that said oil consumption was within normal parameters but Cadillac. I agree that the issues was most probably rings. That does not excuse Cadillac from denying the warranty claim. Particularly since the vehicle was always serviced at Cadillac dealerships and always before the computer said service needed to be done. If this had been the only issue, then I would have kept the car. I went back and looked at my service records, there were 97 warranty claims in 41 months of ownership. That does not count the water leak which was never submitted. The sunroof alone accounted for a third of the claims and it still creaked and rattled at the time of sale. The remainder of the claims were all sorts of problems anyone of which would not have been an issue, but together made life extremely miserable.
BTW Synthetic oil was specified for this car and was the only oil authorized to keep the warranty in force. I am also very compulsive when it comes to my cars. I do make it a habit to check the oil every Saturday along with washing and periodic detailing and primping. During our last driving trip I the car needed a quart almost every day.
Don't get me wrong, the SRX looked great and was a joy to drive, but the price paid in depreciation, trips to the dealer for warranty repairs and the abuse from Cadillac were more than I could bear
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- #18 of 30
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Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy]
by sls002
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Jun 22, 2008 (8:50 am)
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Replying to: fastguy (Jun 21, 2008 12:31 pm)
It was your dealer who determined whether or not there was something wrong with the engine. While I would not have wanted an engine that used that much oil either, I can see that even at a quart every 500 miles, the engine would only require 200 quarts in 100,000 miles at a cost of about $1000 or so. Replacing the engine would have cost a few thousand and is probably not worth doing.
I have not had 97 warranty claims total (or that many repairs) in the last 40 years of driving.
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- #19 of 30
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oil consumption
by sls002
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Jun 23, 2008 (10:11 am)
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a little searching on "oil consumption" in the Mercedes forums will reveal that some have problems too, and Mercedes does not replace otherwise working engines.
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- #20 of 30
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Re: oil consumption [sls002]
by fastguy
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Jun 23, 2008 (11:28 am)
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Replying to: sls002 (Jun 23, 2008 10:11 am)
The solution was not engine replacement, but tearing it down and replacing the rings. The dealer wanted to do the job, but Cadillac would not let the warranty claim go through. Had you seen the oil after 1,000 miles you would not have felt confident about the lack of cooperation, either. In any event, the car was so riddled with other issues, especially the water leak, that it was a lost cause.
I am glad you like you car. That is great. I liked mine also. It looked great and drove very well. Life, however, is too short to put up with a bad car.
So what is acceptable oil consumption to you? And what is an acceptable number of warranty claims? Do you accept pieces of trim falling off at highway speeds? Do you accept leaks that allow massive amounts of water in the car? Do you accept navigation systems that only tell you to "stay on the current road"? Do you accept rattling catalytic converters? Do you accept memory seats that forget where to go? Do you accept sunroofs that creak and rattle? Do you accept rear view mirror motors that fail? Do you accept weather stripping falling off? The list goes on. The dealer was as frustrated as I. To top it all off, I had to prove to Cadillac that I had an extended GM warranty as their system failed to record it. I just got tired fighting the machine that was designed to tell you to go away. So I did, for good. GM has a serious problem that they will not acknowledge. I am not a complainer. Yet they forced me to become one. As I say, life is too short.
I think I have said enough on this forum. My point has been made. No one, not even you, should have to put up with the "we know better than you" attitude of Cadillac.
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