With only about 3370 miles on a brand new car, my rear differential internals were destroyed and the housing cracked due to the following 2 reasons: 1. Excessive wheel hop due to a poorly designed rear suspension 2. The differential that comes stock in every 2004-2005 cts-v cadillac is not rated to handle as much horsepower and torque as the car puts out. Gm cut corners and put in a differential that was meant for their v6 base model cts that makes about half the power. When the rear differential blew up, it also destroyed my driveshaft. I noticed the differential over time started to whine and clunk more and more and become louder and louder until all of a sudden while driving I heard a loud boom and a bunch of clunking and metal grinding. The car was immediately undriveable. My dealership replaced my driveshaft and the differential with a 2006 cts-v differential which is a beefier piece. I have 2500 miles on the new differential which is already starting to whine and clunk. Wheel hop is still atrocious and it is only a matter of time before this differential breaks as well. My dealership denied knowledge of any issues with cts-v rear ends, and tried to place the blame on me by stating that my rear tires were very worn for only 3370 miles, so I must have been abusing that car. That is not the case, and these tires are notorious for having the worst tread wear of any tire on the market, and every cts-v owner complains about how long they last. In fact, consumers gave the tires on this car the worst rating of any tire listed on "the tire rack." see here: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tiremake=goodyear&tiremodel=eagle+f1+supercar+emt consumers rate the tire wear as a 2.6/10. What a joke, and cadillac dealerships place the blame for the tire wear on me the owner.
2005 Cadillac CTS transmission complaints
Page 4 of 4: complaints 71 to 82 of 82, newest first, as owners wrote them.
4/11/05 - 8,367 miles - 1 day out of service rear end failure 4/28/05 - 9,664 miles - 5 days out of service rear bushing failure. *jb rear end failure 5/5/05 - 9,720 miles - 1 day out of service rear end failure wheel delivered from factory will not balance - no sign of damage 7/25/05 - 15,732 miles - 4 days out of service PCM recall #05544 - dealer unable to reprogram rear end hops wildly in rainy or slick roads when accelerating hard shifting into 1st gear rear end whine drive line clunk parking brake goes to floor and won't stop car rear end failure - dealer replaced rear differential and did not add friction modifier, claimed cts-v's do not need - later determined this was incorrect 8/29/05 - 17,372 miles - 22 days out of service rear end grinding friction modifier added transmission rebuilt replaced pressure plate replaced clutch - tsb 05-07-31-001 rear end bushings installed to reduce wheel hop tsb 05-04-114-001a navigation system replaced after all buttons were peeling parking brake goes to floor and won't stop car PCM recall performed 10/6/05 - 18,990 miles- 0 day out of service navigation system not programmed properly by dealership - returned for repair 11/5/05 - 22,151 miles - 0 day out of service replace all center caps on wheels - peeling 1/2/05 - 27,171 miles - 10 days out of service rear end failure radiator failure tsb 05-06-02-005a sun visor replaced due to peeling 1/19/06 - 27,538 miles - 6 hours out of service PCM removed and replaced at gordon histed's request 1/26/06 - 28,000 miles - 2 hours out of service navigation system removed and replaced 2/2/06 - 28,500 miles - ? Transmission failed again - won't shift into reverse 10 service visits in the last 9 months 44 days of out of service in the last 9 months.
Differential failure.
Rear-end differential failure, transmission failure.
When driving in rain / poor weather, the car during take-off violently shakes when the rear wheels spin. This shaking has thrown off my rear alignment, aided in premature tire wear, and may have caused significant rear-end damage.
Noticed oil spotting on floor and inspection revealed rear end differential unit was leaking fluid. Dealer found hairline crack and replaced differential.
Excessive wheel hop frequently under mild to heavy acceleration excessive tire wear, tires need to be replaced after 4000 to 6000 miles rear end differential is very weak and may break causing injury or death cadillac knows of problem providing some customers with extended warranties had a 2004 ctsv and it was lemon lawed in july 2005 for the rear diff breaking 3 times within 1 year.
On aug. 26, 2005 our three month old cadillac cts's transmission would not shift out of first gear after going through a busy toll booth. Car had to be towed to dealer for 8 day repair of computer and replacement of transmission. Few days later car had to go back to dealer due to transmission not shifting properly, out of commission for days again. After picking vehicle up, car would not start in garage and had to be towed to dealership again, picked up car a couple of days later, next day would not start again and had to be towed. At dealership for 6 more days. When picked up dealership refused to give us a service ticket showing the problem and what they did. Service manager stated that he would not give us "ammunition" to give to a lemon law attorney. Dealership tried to lay entire blame on the car's aftermarket sirius radio addition which had been in place and worked perfectly since car was new.
Dt: the contact stated new vehicle did not have any transmission fluid in it when he bought it. The transmission failed and it was in the shop being rebuilt. The bolts on the wheels were all torqued over specifications, and had a flat tire, and that was the reason he took vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle seized as he was driving into the parking lot. The bolts broke off in the wheel as they were trying to remove the tire. This occurred on 9-6-05.
Purchased in july 2004. Rear end and differnetial failed at 2700 miles.replaced rear-end. Replaced rear-end agian at less that 7000 miles, replaced tires at 13500miles, rear-end continued to lock and slide tires. Have had car in dealer 5 times and tomorrow, the 3rd rear-end will be put in!!! Cadillac refuses to buy car back but has extended drive train warranty to 100k miles.
2005, cadillac cts-v, wheel hop from rear differential, very common in this vehicle. Cadillac has acknowledged issue by providing extended warranties to "some" owners of vehicles, but not to all owners, rear differential is very weak and may break apart, causing serious injury or death, wheel hop is experienced in my vehicle on a daily basis, original tires lasted less than 6,000 miles, and provided a safety/hazard probelm as manufacturer did not advise consumers that tires would have to be replaced in this time frame, 6,000 miles was a period that most consumers would not consider enough mileage for a tire rotation.
Shifting the vehicle from 1st gear to second gear and upon releasing the clutch there is a loud bang. Half shaft broken. This is the second time the rar end of one of my cts-v's has broken.
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