1999 cadillac catera 3.0L v6 engine. It’s the girl friend’s car.
Bought 11 months ago … ie no history available because I don’t drive it and she has only had it 1 year.
It was –28 C (-19F) one morning (Barrie, Ontario Canada). She drove it about 45 minutes til she smelt smoke. Pulled into a gas station, lifted the hood to find engine on fire (passenger side). Fire extinguisher put out the fire. Towed to GM dealer.
1. Dealer tech cleaned the passenger side of engine as he said it was covered with oil and extinguisher chemicals. (Note I did not see any of this until I picked the car up from the dealer) so he could see what damage the fire caused. After the shampoo, the engine and engine bay did not show any signs of fire damage.
2. Tech said he checked online for similar problem and found…. Crankcase breather system was plugged from sludge or frozen (or combination of condensation and sludge) caused pressure in crankcase to build until it forced the passenger side valve cover to lift and the pressure blew oil out onto the right wheel inner fender and exhaust manifold… this is why it caught fire… oil burning on the exhaust manifold.
3. Tech said he checked oil and it was not showing on the dip stick so he filled it up (did not say how much oil it took).
4. Tech said he pulled the crankcase breather system from the top of the intake manifold (plastic bar with 4 vac hoses on the rear and 3 places where it connects to the intake manifold) found it to be extremely dirty/plugged/sludge. He cleaned the openings out, reinstalled and started car… said it ran fine for the short time (+-10 minutes) he had it running. He said the engine has a lot of sludge. And to prevent further pressure in crankcase from blowing oil out the valve covers again he drilled a small (maybe 1/16” dia) hole in the oil filler cap (to prevent any pressure build up).
5. He said the valve covers seem to be sealed again and not leaking oil but recommends replacing the valve cover gaskets. Estimate from dealer +$3700.00 to replace valve cover gaskets… talk about being asked to bend over while they grab the KY !
6. So needless to say, not paying them $4K to change valve cover gaskets.
7. Picked up car from dealer after having to pay them $500.00 for them to shampoo the engine left side, add some oil, look online for possible cause of problem and a quote for $4K to change the valve cover gaskets.
8. Opened hood checked oil and quick look over engine, got in and started the car. It started but noticed fuel light was at zero and I did not have the key to unlock the gas cap so had to go with what ever gas was in it … I don’t know how many times I’ve told her not to run the car on empty… women.
9. Had to drive 15 miles to get the car to my dad’s heated shop (it was –20C). Car start out fine… but after about 10 miles it started to have a misfire… I thought could be running out of gas. Made it to the shop put car in the garage. Got the fuel cap key the next day and put 5 gallons in.
10. Looked over the engine, could see no signs of fire damage, no elec lines damaged, no hoses damaged, even hood liner showed no signs of fire. No sign of oil leaking from left or right valve covers.
11. Pulled upper intake manifold off to see if any fire damage under manifold or at back end of engine. Found none, only some fire extinguisher chemical under intake manifold… cleaned that up as it can corrosive
12. Replaced all spark plugs. Reinstalled upper intake manifold. Started engine… let it warm up and it had a small miss, rought idle. Test drove (15-20 minutes) and miss confirmed when accelerating and at idle but at 1500-2000 rpm miss vibration only slightly noticeable. Back to the shop. Check engine light on… read code… P0302 misfire cylinder 2 detected…cleared code. Ok looked around no signs of vacuum leak (used old trick to find vacuum leak… spray some ether around the vacuum lines/fittings and if there’s a leak the engine will rev up as it sucks in some of the ether) no leak detected. Code P0302 showing again… Pulled #2 spark plug and it looked fine (not wet or fouled or deposits)
13. Added GM crankcase cleaner to engine, followed instructions, ran, drained, installed new oil and filter to help clean out engine sludge.
14. Some times the misfire is rougher than at other times which could indicate the #2 coil is not gone completely but is going. Car is not being driven… just test drives to see if what we have done cleared up the misfire. Always comes back with P0302 misfire code, and now P1460 Cooling Fan Control System.
15. So now the question is…. Why is the misfire happening now, was it there before the oil leak fire and the girl friend just did not notice? She said it running perfect before the fire.
16. Do I replace the COP (coil on plug) bar for cylinders 2, 4, 6 …. Its $140.00 + tax (if I have to take it to a dealer they will most likely change the coil first thing anyways and if that does not fix it they’ll keep adding parts until they find the problem) or is it something else… its never another misfire code always cylinder #2 which is on the opposite side of the engine from where the fire was (fire on cylinder 1, 3, 5 side) and because the ignition coil is a bar that does the whole bank and bank 1, 3, 5 coil is different than bank 2, 4, 6 (you have to specify which bank you want when ordering a new coil bar) I can’t swap coils from side to side to see if the misfire code follows the moved coil to the other bank. And because it’s a bar I can’t just pull the ignition lead to # 2 to see if the misfire stays the same or gets worse. Guess I could interrupt #2 by cutting the trigger lead for #2 coil… dealers most likely have a adapter that they can plug into the coil and the leads to the coil plugs into the adapter, thus they can scope what’s coming on all 5 lead into the coil bar…. There are 2 thicker leads, one lead must be + and one – (to charge the coil ) and the 3 remaining leads are the trigger leads for each of the 3 coils
17. Going to check pressure in cylinder 2, 4, 6 since I would have to pull that side anyways to replace the coil maybe I also pull 1, 3, 5 to compare with bank 2, 4, 6
18. Could it be fuel pressure or the injector on #2? Or injector seal. But no code about fuel pressure or cam or crankcase sensor or lean/rich condition or O2 sensor…
19. If it’s a fuel pressure problem then the misfire code should move around all the cylinders as they would/should be equally starved for fuel and the computer sensing a misfire on more than just #2.
20. Some internet findings for similar misfire showed changing coil bar did not fix misfire. One case for similar symptoms for a Volvo was they changed coil and plugs, did not fix problem but replacing fuel injector seals and intake seals fixed misfire. Most other postings says it’s a bad coil or its starting to go thus why the misfire is worse at times.
21. Right now Just want to fix the misfire as the valve covers seem not to leak. At least no smoke or smell with the small amount of time I have run the engine chasing the misfire problem.
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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 AT 3:34 PM
