I don't mind working on them anymore. Could be worse, I'd work on Northstars all day if I could avoid seeing another Catera.

Yup. Those were from a 2005 STS with a broken chain. I must of jinxed myself cause I just got a 2012 CTS Coupe with no compression in cylinder 4...

Amen. I have a Catera staring at me right now that is kicking my ass.

dat soot
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...cture010-1.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...cture012-2.jpg

I hate Catera's! That's why i went the Northstar route. Great motor good power and i love the sound of em on WOT.

Cateras :shudder:

While on the subject of Catera's: The first generation "Catera Touring Sedan" wasn't D.I., IIRC... just a 2.8L & 3.6L V6s with VVT. I know the 3.2L was the Opel motor, and had it's quirks, but how how do you mechanics & techs feel about the 2.8 & 3.6 VVT motors in 04-07 CTSes?

What car is that LTblow?

EGR valve off a Duramax

Regret rolling coal now?

Choked up diesel junker, I see no problem.







:moon:


:kneeslap:

Not my truck and AFAIK that was off a high mileage, 300k+ stock motor. EGR systems combined with a PCV system FTL.

They didn't start DI until recently, last 4-5 years. No Catera had DI, just 2.8 and 3.2's.

I'll work on new(new to me is 04-up) CTS's all day.

Good to hear! Considering getting back into a 1st gen V6 CTS as a replacement DD. I think outside of timing chain issues/maintenance, the 3.6L was pretty safe. The 3.2L had CPS-related no start nightmares, but I haven't heard much about the 2.8L as far as reliability. I don't want to get this derailed (because those pictures MyFirstZ posted are absurd, and I'm hoping he'll follow up after the new head is installed), but have you heard of, or experienced any reoccurring issues with those cars? If so, I'd like to take this to PMs when you have time.

yes terrible for 300,000 miles lol

PM sent.

Update on the Bimmer?

Finished already. Car runs like a top. Think the customer picked up today. Was done yesterday morning.

Just wanted to show the valves and head. All the valve train was swapped over to a brand new stock head. Didn't think it was picture worthy lol sorry

Nice

Again fuel treatment will not work on valves like this.

Its direct injection. The fuel is squirt right into the combustion chamber instead of the intake port so the valves will not see any fuel or cleaner.

Higher octane fuel does not increase power or reduce the amount of carbon buildup. The higher octane rating is related to the fuels ability to avoid predetination in higher performance or forced induction engines. If the manufacturer of your car recommends regular, running premium will offer no benefit. However if you run regular in a car recommended to run on premium you could cause issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

When I had my 04 Ram (mid grade fuel was recommended) the owners manual actually said use of premium fuel is not necessary and continued use may cause adverse affects to performance and mileage.

A simple nitrous system would clear that carbon build up nicely :)

I did the next best thing. Replace the head lol

I think that most premium fuels have a little more detergent in them so that could probably help the slightest bit in carbon build up. The fact that this is a direct injection engine makes his post quite funny though :kneeslap:

Wow, you guys get the tough jobs... we would just R&R a new longblock for anything like this...

Not sure if that was directed at my post or at Mezzy. Earlier in the thread I also noted that there is no fuel flow past the valves on a DI engine so conventional fuel system treatments are useless in DI applications for valve deposits. My last post was just a response to Mezzy's comment about only running premium grade fuels.

I think it was directed at mezzy.

My diagnosis for the head actually had nothing to do with the carbon build up. This was just something I knew was going to be resolved as well.

That being said it was not warranty. After replacement they authorized good will but regardless the car did not need a long block. Leak down and compression where both ok.