I’ll give you some professional advice... So there are a few reasons why these engines consume oil. 1. The pcv is plugged up with sludge. 2. There is an updated rear valve cover gasket that basically has a baffle that blocks oil from getting to the pvc and bringing it to the intake. 3. The holes in the pcv are too small they need to be drilled out bigger so the crank case has much more vacuum. If the crank case doesn’t have a vacuum then the positive pressure from the crank case will basically push oil past the breather tube on the front valve cover into the snorkel (tube that connects the air filter box to throttle body). If the crank case has positive pressure it will create leaks everywhere mostly rear and front main seal leaks. General Motors does know about the pcv holes being too small their is a bulletin for it and they know about the updated rear valve cover gasket obviously because they made it. 4. If your piston rings are starting to go bad it will create positive crank case pressure resulting in oil going into your intake but it’s not common on a 3.6 to have bad rings or even valve seals. If you have the updated rear valve cover gasket that has the baffle then take the pcv out of the rear valve cover. It’s just pressed in the valve cover you can take a pair of side cutters and gently pry it up. I don’t remember what size the drill bits need to be but if you look online you will find the information. I would be willing to put money on it that this will fix your problem it typically always does. Here’s a little more advice to you and anyone else reading this. If you have a problem that you don’t know how to fix or how to properly diagnose like this bring it to a high quality shop or a dealership if you would have done that you wouldn’t be wasting time and money on parts that do not need to be done. I am not trying to be rude but I own a shop and see this all the time. I’ll tell you about a few that I’ve had in the past couple weeks. I had a customer yesterday that spent 1500 bucks trying to fix a high idle problem and he finally brought it to me and it ended up costing him 250 bucks for me to diagnose and fix the problem. Another customer had a Cadillac CTS that was shifting hard they were going to a cheaper shop that has a lower labor rate then me well that shop wasted 1500 bucks of the customers money when they came to me it costed them 400 bucks it needed a pressure control solenoid and wiring harness. Last one I’ll tell you about the customers vw Jetta lacked power they had auto zone scan it and it had a mass air flow sensor code and a bunch of other codes so the customer put the sensor in and it didn’t fix it. The customer brought it to 3 other shops that replaced tons of parts amounting to 2500 bucks. They bring it to me and I find the mass air flow sensor was installed backwards so I installed it properly but still wasn’t working correctly. I find a box of parts in the trunk and found the old air sensor so I put it in. I find that it wasn’t working so I checked the wiring and found the 5v reference wire didn’t have 5v. I found a loose pin in the connector for the engines computer so I fixed that and the mass air sensor worked and all the other codes went away. The customers bill was 300 bucks. These customers went to shops that had a cheaper labor rate trying to save money but it costed them more in the long run. It can be expensive to be cheap.
Is this updated valve cover gasket available for Cadillac CTS 3.6L 2005 Base (LY7) engine? Or i would have to replace valve cover too to make it work? Would valve cover fit from a later CTS model?
It is sad watching people fight the symptoms of a bad design, the 3.2 and 3.6 GM Motors had a design issue, they had tiny holes in the pvc valve, the port was also small and the hoses were prone to clog. When the engine was new, no problem, but, after 100k or so the gunk blocks the positive crankcase system causing pressure to build up in the crank case blowing oil out seals and gaskets but mostly blowing oil into your intake at the point where there should be a negative pressure . Let me explain, the vent system is a loop, one end ( the PCV valve end) , hooks to your intake suction or vacuum port, it is suppose to pull exhaust gases that blow by the pistons from the crankcase directly into the vacuum side of the valve body to be burned. So the loop sucks gasses from the intake vacuum port, through the PCV valve from the crankcase and then from the other end of the crankcase back to the intake hose between the air filter and the valve body, that air is filtered so it does not contaminate the oil in the crankcase as it feeds the crankcase inlet air. What causes all the problems is, the PCV valve, hose and ports get clogged, then the crankcase pressures build up pushing gasses and oil backwards directly through the un restricted air intake hose blowing oil into the rubber boot before entering the the valve body. In short If you see oil in your intake, you have Positive Crankcase Ventilation issues. Kind of a no brainier explained in an acronym. Positive Crankcases need Ventilation Valves I've met a lot of book smart engineers that were pretty logically stupid, the guys designing this PCV system qualify as educated idiots, or maybe not if you consider the design gives job security to the dealers mechanics with blown gaskets and oil leaks, not to mention complaints of oil in the intake and misfiring engines with oil fouled plugs. The service bulletin for the GM 3.2 and 3.6 motor PCV design recommends drilling out the holes in the valve to 4 mm which were from the factory like pin holes, and drilling out the PCV valve port hose connection hole also. As long as you have good crankcase venting, your oil will not blow where it is not suppose to. Believe it or not I even have a Briggs twin with an crankcase air breather that had one tiny hole in the bottom of the oil catch canister to drain the oil blow by back into the motor after being filtered through a catch screen within the breather valve, it also was a poor design, the revised part had 2 larger holes. Bad engineering happens. My Briggs was blowing oil into the air filter compartment, (same issue as here) the fix was, the revised crankcase breather with a two larger holes in it. What this guys problem was with his #3 cylinder is it was the closest in the intake at where the oil was being blown back in, , it was fouling his plug and he was burning oil. Lesson to learn here is that crankcase pressure should never be positive pressure, it can be either negative or equal but never positive. The old chevy V 8 motors had a filtered cap on one valve cover and a pcv valve in the other leading to the base of the carb or intake port, I was playing around with a Corvette motor and did not like that It was sucking outside air into the motor through the breather cap, so I put a direct hose right to an intake port making it a loop system instead of an open one, it created a negative pressure in my crank and the car ran better. But the design guaranteed I never had a positive crankcase pressure cause if the PCV valve ever clogged, oil would try and blow out my oil filter cap, but that is all old school stuff. Showing my age. Positive pressure in your crankcase can make you lose HP, these motors are a closed system, the problem is the book smart engineers screwed up not allowing large enough passages in the valves and hoses which after a little gunk builds up, the pressures are blocked in the crankcase building up to cause engine leaks, and oil causing to blow into the intake.
So what the exact fix I tried cleaning pvc system out still oil I put update gasket all that would only stop sucking oil in intake of it had a oil can engine runs great but will foul plugs often
Here Tom is the video of what you drill out, the holes in the pcv valve are suppose to be drilled out but you need to make sure the valve covers are not clogged too. th-cam.com/video/wQAUgD0yJpQ/w-d-xo.html
Different models had different PCV venting issues, you have to find the service bulleton matching your car, my model required changing the valve covers and drilling out the holes in the PCV valve and cleaning all lines. The valve covers have baffles inside, they had to be redesigned to prevent the oil from getting to the PCV valve and also the idiots placed the drain for the baffles directly over the intake valve of one cylinder on each side, bathing the valve stem constantly in oil, so after 30k and a little wear, oil was sucked past the valve stem and seal into the cylinder, burning the oil and sometimes fouling plugs. If the system was clogged long enough, the oil rings could impact into the piston and lose their seal. If you change the valve covers to the updated ones, make sure your pcv system is clean through the whole loop and then if you still have oil burning issues, you might have impacted oil rings especially if your engine inside looks like it has a lot of gunk .from the oil not being changed regularly. You have to look through the service bulletins for the engine in your model, someone had the same problem as your having and the fix will be listed. I am just going into detail as to what is actually going on to cause the problems because of their bad design.
mel frank I took top half of engine completely apart I cleaned everything that I could get to pretty thoroughly even let cleaner sit on valves that was fully closed I replaced all gaskets with updated design I did not replace actual valve cover the baffles looked like a bad design when I was looking at them are u supposed to replace actual valve covers? My car is a 2008 Buick Enclave cxl I drilled holes out in pvc and replaced gaskets on valve covers check psi it was 3 psi but keep getting reverse suction oil catch can help didn’t let oil get in intake so I put it off until could study up and get to know the engine because there all different well 5 kids a divorce lol and 2 years later I got back at it got tired of service engine light po420 code I bought I new pvc took oil catch can off haven’t had a service engine light on 4 days but haven’t checked intake just yet I has some oil in number 3 cylinder and when changing spark plug was being difficult to get socket all the way down and get plug when pulled it out had oil on outside of plug engine has 145000 on it been well took care of as far as oil changes and routine maintenance but takes for all the advice everything helps and I love learning I rebuild my first engine at 17 and love working on cars 🚙
My 3.6 LY7 VVT enine now has over 165,000 miles. I put all of those miles on it with the exception of 29K it had when I bought it - 12 years ago. The 3 timing chains, the 4 cams, the 4 phasers, and their solenoids, wIll last IF you use a really good oil and change it every 4 thousand miles - for sure. I use Valvoline 100% synthetic, 5-W30 Is a good oil. These engines will burn some oil - you must check it and keep it to the full level. What happens is the timing chains will get hot and will stretch IF you idle a lot and have a low oil quantity. I had a small "stumble" with the engine, no check engine light, so used one treatment of Lucas fuel injector cleaner and all now is OK. Yesterday, on a trip, got 31.5 to 32 miles per gallon. I do NOT have a pvc valve. I have a pvc HOSE. Hose runs from the engine to the boot intake. Clean the boot and the hose from time to time. There will be a little oil in the boot. It's working as advertised. Problem with this car is the power steering - 3 pumps so far - is an expensive job. Have changed two Evap purge valves - would not fully close. Also, the transmission will go through the "Pressure control solenoid," most all did. Still have had great service from this lacrosse.
Yea saved me some cash for sure most trained mechanics don’t know nothing about it as long as your not pushing more than 4 psi through pvc hose your engine is good also egr solenoids are junk and cause many issues always buy oem factory ones
are all V6 VVTs interference engines? I have a 2012 V6 VVT did they update the gaskets by then? I hope I did not get a lemon engine. Also what oil were you using before a full synthetic? The dealer puts Mobil one semi synthetic in mine and say that is what is recommended?
Hotwheel66 yes they did do updates to the engine as far as gaskets intake design but the block is the same the problem is positive pvc systems and u need to check if it’s direct port injection if it is gas doesn’t run over valves to keep them clean and they build up a lot of carbon mine only runs over 1 valve so I got 1 really carboned valve in each cylinder and the pvc system will start to suck oil through valve cover into air intake once engine gets Miles on it as piston rings wear pvc pressures get higher so just keep eye on that u will get misfire codes makes plugs go bad from oil building up on spark plugs
@@beeasy4360 thanks . We have a 2011 traverse for past 8 years , at 201 000 km on it . And i did check after watching this video . And i do have fair amount in there . I just clean it . I will check every 10 000 km now . I never even change plugs on this vehicule yet , or touch exhaust . But i alwas change my engin oil at recommended time . Thanks again
@@marcleclair2261 definitely good to keep oil changed on these engines they have sensors that can get dirty the read camshaft main thing that causes problems is the rubber around the spark plugs it will let oil leak down into spark plug hole and causing misfire the pvc system has a positive crankcase pressure so if u have a bad gasket u lose that pressure or have to much and to much can cause oil to get into intake piston rings wearing out can also cause to much pressure u can stop it by putting the baffles oil separate in but finding and fixing the problem is best but on the other hand u don’t wanna put a bunch of money in a engine with a lot of miles when u can buy a low mileage engine for 2500 dollars
Ok dilinder 3 maybe clog so need cleaning treatment for gas great 👍 i need to dothat i see oil in the intake my number 6 silinder was failing i change the sparks plugs plus the coil ontop of the spark plug plus i change the pvc valve i hop that oil don't go inside the intake againg
If your getting to much blow by in the engine caused by the piston rings u might still get oil in intake hopefully not I have done everything still some makes it in I’m not a master mechanic but I work daily as a mechanic so know a bit of knowledge
I’ll give you some professional advice... So there are a few reasons why these engines consume oil. 1. The pcv is plugged up with sludge. 2. There is an updated rear valve cover gasket that basically has a baffle that blocks oil from getting to the pvc and bringing it to the intake. 3. The holes in the pcv are too small they need to be drilled out bigger so the crank case has much more vacuum. If the crank case doesn’t have a vacuum then the positive pressure from the crank case will basically push oil past the breather tube on the front valve cover into the snorkel (tube that connects the air filter box to throttle body). If the crank case has positive pressure it will create leaks everywhere mostly rear and front main seal leaks. General Motors does know about the pcv holes being too small their is a bulletin for it and they know about the updated rear valve cover gasket obviously because they made it. 4. If your piston rings are starting to go bad it will create positive crank case pressure resulting in oil going into your intake but it’s not common on a 3.6 to have bad rings or even valve seals.
If you have the updated rear valve cover gasket that has the baffle then take the pcv out of the rear valve cover. It’s just pressed in the valve cover you can take a pair of side cutters and gently pry it up. I don’t remember what size the drill bits need to be but if you look online you will find the information. I would be willing to put money on it that this will fix your problem it typically always does.
Here’s a little more advice to you and anyone else reading this. If you have a problem that you don’t know how to fix or how to properly diagnose like this bring it to a high quality shop or a dealership if you would have done that you wouldn’t be wasting time and money on parts that do not need to be done. I am not trying to be rude but I own a shop and see this all the time. I’ll tell you about a few that I’ve had in the past couple weeks. I had a customer yesterday that spent 1500 bucks trying to fix a high idle problem and he finally brought it to me and it ended up costing him 250 bucks for me to diagnose and fix the problem. Another customer had a Cadillac CTS that was shifting hard they were going to a cheaper shop that has a lower labor rate then me well that shop wasted 1500 bucks of the customers money when they came to me it costed them 400 bucks it needed a pressure control solenoid and wiring harness. Last one I’ll tell you about the customers vw Jetta lacked power they had auto zone scan it and it had a mass air flow sensor code and a bunch of other codes so the customer put the sensor in and it didn’t fix it. The customer brought it to 3 other shops that replaced tons of parts amounting to 2500 bucks. They bring it to me and I find the mass air flow sensor was installed backwards so I installed it properly but still wasn’t working correctly. I find a box of parts in the trunk and found the old air sensor so I put it in. I find that it wasn’t working so I checked the wiring and found the 5v reference wire didn’t have 5v. I found a loose pin in the connector for the engines computer so I fixed that and the mass air sensor worked and all the other codes went away. The customers bill was 300 bucks. These customers went to shops that had a cheaper labor rate trying to save money but it costed them more in the long run. It can be expensive to be cheap.
Is this updated valve cover gasket available for Cadillac CTS 3.6L 2005 Base (LY7) engine? Or i would have to replace valve cover too to make it work? Would valve cover fit from a later CTS model?
It is sad watching people fight the symptoms of a bad design, the 3.2 and 3.6 GM Motors had a design issue, they had tiny holes in the pvc valve, the port was also small and the hoses were prone to clog. When the engine was new, no problem, but, after 100k or so the gunk blocks the positive crankcase system causing pressure to build up in the crank case blowing oil out seals and gaskets but mostly blowing oil into your intake at the point where there should be a negative pressure .
Let me explain, the vent system is a loop, one end ( the PCV valve end) , hooks to your intake suction or vacuum port, it is suppose to pull exhaust gases that blow by the pistons from the crankcase directly into the vacuum side of the valve body to be burned.
So the loop sucks gasses from the intake vacuum port, through the PCV valve from the crankcase and then from the other end of the crankcase back to the intake hose between the air filter and the valve body, that air is filtered so it does not contaminate the oil in the crankcase as it feeds the crankcase inlet air.
What causes all the problems is, the PCV valve, hose and ports get clogged, then the crankcase pressures build up pushing gasses and oil backwards directly through the un restricted air intake hose blowing oil into the rubber boot before entering the the valve body.
In short If you see oil in your intake, you have Positive Crankcase Ventilation issues. Kind of a no brainier explained in an acronym. Positive Crankcases need Ventilation Valves
I've met a lot of book smart engineers that were pretty logically stupid, the guys designing this PCV system qualify as educated idiots, or maybe not if you consider the design gives job security to the dealers mechanics with blown gaskets and oil leaks, not to mention complaints of oil in the intake and misfiring engines with oil fouled plugs.
The service bulletin for the GM 3.2 and 3.6 motor PCV design recommends drilling out the holes in the valve to 4 mm which were from the factory like pin holes, and drilling out the PCV valve port hose connection hole also.
As long as you have good crankcase venting, your oil will not blow where it is not suppose to.
Believe it or not I even have a Briggs twin with an crankcase air breather that had one tiny hole in the bottom of the oil catch canister to drain the oil blow by back into the motor after being filtered through a catch screen within the breather valve, it also was a poor design, the revised part had 2 larger holes. Bad engineering happens.
My Briggs was blowing oil into the air filter compartment, (same issue as here) the fix was, the revised crankcase breather with a two larger holes in it.
What this guys problem was with his #3 cylinder is it was the closest in the intake at where the oil was being blown back in, , it was fouling his plug and he was burning oil.
Lesson to learn here is that crankcase pressure should never be positive pressure, it can be either negative or equal but never positive. The old chevy V 8 motors had a filtered cap on one valve cover and a pcv valve in the other leading to the base of the carb or intake port, I was playing around with a Corvette motor and did not like that It was sucking outside air into the motor through the breather cap, so I put a direct hose right to an intake port making it a loop system instead of an open one, it created a negative pressure in my crank and the car ran better. But the design guaranteed I never had a positive crankcase pressure cause if the PCV valve ever clogged, oil would try and blow out my oil filter cap, but that is all old school stuff. Showing my age.
Positive pressure in your crankcase can make you lose HP, these motors are a closed system, the problem is the book smart engineers screwed up not allowing large enough passages in the valves and hoses which after a little gunk builds up, the pressures are blocked in the crankcase building up to cause engine leaks, and oil causing to blow into the intake.
So what the exact fix I tried cleaning pvc system out still oil I put update gasket all that would only stop sucking oil in intake of it had a oil can engine runs great but will foul plugs often
ricksfreeautorepairadvice.com/oil-in-air-intake-duct/
Here Tom is the video of what you drill out, the holes in the pcv valve are suppose to be drilled out but you need to make sure the valve covers are not clogged too. th-cam.com/video/wQAUgD0yJpQ/w-d-xo.html
Different models had different PCV venting issues, you have to find the service bulleton matching your car, my model required changing the valve covers and drilling out the holes in the PCV valve and cleaning all lines. The valve covers have baffles inside, they had to be redesigned to prevent the oil from getting to the PCV valve and also the idiots placed the drain for the baffles directly over the intake valve of one cylinder on each side, bathing the valve stem constantly in oil, so after 30k and a little wear, oil was sucked past the valve stem and seal into the cylinder, burning the oil and sometimes fouling plugs. If the system was clogged long enough, the oil rings could impact into the piston and lose their seal.
If you change the valve covers to the updated ones, make sure your pcv system is clean through the whole loop and then if you still have oil burning issues, you might have impacted oil rings especially if your engine inside looks like it has a lot of gunk .from the oil not being changed regularly. You have to look through the service bulletins for the engine in your model, someone had the same problem as your having and the fix will be listed. I am just going into detail as to what is actually going on to cause the problems
because of their bad design.
mel frank I took top half of engine completely apart I cleaned everything that I could get to pretty thoroughly even let cleaner sit on valves that was fully closed I replaced all gaskets with updated design I did not replace actual valve cover the baffles looked like a bad design when I was looking at them are u supposed to replace actual valve covers? My car is a 2008 Buick Enclave cxl I drilled holes out in pvc and replaced gaskets on valve covers check psi it was 3 psi but keep getting reverse suction oil catch can help didn’t let oil get in intake so I put it off until could study up and get to know the engine because there all different well 5 kids a divorce lol and 2 years later I got back at it got tired of service engine light po420 code I bought I new pvc took oil catch can off haven’t had a service engine light on 4 days but haven’t checked intake just yet I has some oil in number 3 cylinder and when changing spark plug was being difficult to get socket all the way down and get plug when pulled it out had oil on outside of plug engine has 145000 on it been well took care of as far as oil changes and routine maintenance but takes for all the advice everything helps and I love learning I rebuild my first engine at 17 and love working on cars 🚙
My 3.6 LY7 VVT enine now has over 165,000 miles. I put all of those miles on it with the exception of 29K it had when I bought it - 12 years ago. The 3 timing chains, the 4 cams, the 4 phasers, and their solenoids, wIll last IF you use a really good oil and change it every 4 thousand miles - for sure. I use Valvoline 100% synthetic, 5-W30 Is a good oil.
These engines will burn some oil - you must check it and keep it to the full level. What happens is the timing chains will get hot and will stretch IF you idle a lot and have a low oil quantity. I had a small "stumble" with the engine, no check engine light, so used one treatment of Lucas fuel injector cleaner and all now is OK. Yesterday, on a trip, got 31.5 to 32 miles per gallon. I do NOT have a pvc valve. I have a pvc HOSE. Hose runs from the engine to the boot intake. Clean the boot and the hose from time to time. There will be a little oil in the boot. It's working as advertised.
Problem with this car is the power steering - 3 pumps so far - is an expensive job. Have changed two Evap purge valves - would not fully close. Also, the transmission will go through the "Pressure control solenoid," most all did. Still have had great service from this lacrosse.
Wish I would have seen this earlier, would have saved me some cash. Had the same problem in my buick.
Wayne Culbertson yea u can’t find much on these engines online mine has ran a lot cleaner no problems yea been few months now
Yea saved me some cash for sure most trained mechanics don’t know nothing about it as long as your not pushing more than 4 psi through pvc hose your engine is good also egr solenoids are junk and cause many issues always buy oem factory ones
What year did they start using an updated valve cover gasket?
if you used standard PCV valve without drill mod, it's good way to check engine compression
are all V6 VVTs interference engines? I have a 2012 V6 VVT did they update the gaskets by then?
I hope I did not get a lemon engine. Also what oil were you using before a full synthetic? The dealer puts Mobil one semi synthetic in mine and say that is what is recommended?
Hotwheel66 yes they did do updates to the engine as far as gaskets intake design but the block is the same the problem is positive pvc systems and u need to check if it’s direct port injection if it is gas doesn’t run over valves to keep them clean and they build up a lot of carbon mine only runs over 1 valve so I got 1 really carboned valve in each cylinder and the pvc system will start to suck oil through valve cover into air intake once engine gets Miles on it as piston rings wear pvc pressures get higher so just keep eye on that u will get misfire codes makes plugs go bad from oil building up on spark plugs
What would be the damage , if .... you would not clean the oil in air intake ? Or would it just smoke by the tailpipe ? Thanks
It would cause misfire for sure oil eats rubber to after a long period of time
So foul out your plugs idle funny clog your muffler converter all kinds of stuff really bad let oil stay getting in there
@@beeasy4360 thanks . We have a 2011 traverse for past 8 years , at 201 000 km on it . And i did check after watching this video . And i do have fair amount in there . I just clean it . I will check every 10 000 km now . I never even change plugs on this vehicule yet , or touch exhaust . But i alwas change my engin oil at recommended time . Thanks again
@@marcleclair2261 definitely good to keep oil changed on these engines they have sensors that can get dirty the read camshaft main thing that causes problems is the rubber around the spark plugs it will let oil leak down into spark plug hole and causing misfire the pvc system has a positive crankcase pressure so if u have a bad gasket u lose that pressure or have to much and to much can cause oil to get into intake piston rings wearing out can also cause to much pressure u can stop it by putting the baffles oil separate in but finding and fixing the problem is best but on the other hand u don’t wanna put a bunch of money in a engine with a lot of miles when u can buy a low mileage engine for 2500 dollars
@@beeasy4360 thanks , for the info . And have a great day
Ok dilinder 3 maybe clog so need cleaning treatment for gas great 👍 i need to dothat i see oil in the intake my number 6 silinder was failing i change the sparks plugs plus the coil ontop of the spark plug plus i change the pvc valve i hop that oil don't go inside the intake againg
Replace oil seal in valve cover that’s how oil gets on plug causes misfire
@@beeasy4360 no oil on spak plugs only i get oil inthe trotle or intake manifold
If your getting to much blow by in the engine caused by the piston rings u might still get oil in intake hopefully not I have done everything still some makes it in I’m not a master mechanic but I work daily as a mechanic so know a bit of knowledge