Cadillac CTS Seat Experiment – conclusion of part 1

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Got my 2005 Cadillac CTS back from  Crest Cadillac in Plano, Texas today with the Service Air Bag light corrected from The Great Cadillac CTS Seat Experiment.

Literally drove the Loaner CTS in to the Service Drive, was whisked in to the Cashier, and my Cadillac CTS was pulled into the Service Drive almost immediately.    Could not have been faster service unless we practiced together a lot more lol.

I enjoyed the 2010 Cadillac CTS loaner car; it gave me pause about my plan to purchase a Generation 1 V-Series model, but I think I am still planning on the V.

The air bag light is fixed.  The diagnosis was it needed new seat belt pretensioners.    The seat belt pretensioner is a pyrotechnic device that takes the slack out of the seat belt immediately before the airbags fire.  In my experience seat belt pretensioners are electronically sensitive or fragile, so I am not that surprised anytime one needs replacement.

The receipt lists part number 89024402 Belt Kit and 89024405 F-Belt Kit and 1.8 hours of labor.

On to the next part of the Seat Experiment — now my Driver’s seat thinks it is part of a memory seating system, but my CTS doesn’t have a control panel to select the memory seat positions.  So in part 2 I plan to add this control panel from a CTS that does have one.  Stay tuned!

When is 3L better than 3.6L?

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Cadillac replaced the LY7 non-direct injected 3.6L V6 as the base engine in the CTS Family in 2010.  The new base engine is the LF1 3.0L direct injected V6.  How do these two engines compare?

The LY7 V6 was used by Cadillac from 2004-2009.  Originally it made 255 hp, but was improved to 263 hp in 2008 in this application.  To be specific, 263 hp (196 kW) @ 6400 rpm and 253 lb-ft (342 Nm) @ 3100 rpm of torque.

The LF1 V6 is a 3L variant of the direct injected 304 hp 3.6L V6 in the CTS Performance or Premium models. In the CTS family it makes 270 hp.  To be specific, 270 hp (201 kW) @ 7000 rpm and 223 lb-ft (302 Nm) @ 5700 rpm.

It is sometimes said that people buy horsepower, but they drive torque.  The 3.6L non-DI LY7 V6 in this case makes more torque than the LF1 3L V6, and it makes it much lower in the rpm band.  Both these engines are variable valve timing engines, so although it looks like the 3L is ‘tuned’ for power at higher RPMs, the technology should allow for both low-end power and high-end power.

The difference in displacement, in this case 20%, from 3L to 3.6L, allows the 3.6L to make 253 lb ft of torque at 3100 rpm where the LF1 3L appears to be making around 215 lb ft of torque.  That is a big difference in how these two engines would feel in the CTS.  The LF1 is making good power, but it will need to be wound up a bit to do so.

There may be other advantages to the 3L direct injected engine over the 3.6L non-DI engine in terms of emissions.  Direct injection’s high pressure fuel delivery system allows for partially stratified operation, helping to reduce emissions up-to 25%, on cold starts – the time when most engine emissions are typically created.    Having both engines in the CTS use the same type of fuel injection may also help simplify the configuration of the vehicle — same fuel pumps for example — over producing variants with non-DI and DI engines together.

The clear boost for the 3L LF1 engine would be to introduce a supercharged or turbocharged variant of this power plant.  This engine family was originally developed to be well suited to work under pressure.

CTS Seat Experiment — The Loaner CTS

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Took my 2005 Cadillac CTS over to Crest Cadillac in Plano, Texas today to see about the Service Air Bag light on from The Great Cadillac CTS Seat Experiment. I had emailed and called ahead to make an appointment, and my Service Adviser was waiting for me when I arrived.  We briefly discussed the situation, and then I worked with the Loaner Car desk to get the Loaner car setup and I was off.  In and out around 20 minutes total.  Everyone was very nice and helpful, especially since I arrived at the extended hours opening time of 7 am.  Crest’s service hours make it super easy to drop off your Cadillac for service and still get to work on time.

The Loaner CTS appears to be a 2010? Cadillac CTS 3L with 9k miles or so.  Light platinum exterior, neutral leather (now called cashmere?) interior.

UPDATE:  the loaner car is a 2010 CTS 1SD 3.0L Luxury Model.  So it has Luxury Level One Package, including (ARH) heavy-duty pet guard cargo net, (RYJ) retractable cargo area shade, (UA6) theft-deterrent alarm system, (U2R) audio system, and (TSQ) accent lighting, 6 disc CD player, leather upgraded seats, and bluetooth.  The wood trim accents are also part of this package.


No insignia on the rear left which I think indicates this is the 3.0L model and not the 3.6L model.


These wheels are a 1000% improvement over the 08-09 base model wheels. I love these, although I suppose they are difficult to clean. Certainly worth the trouble though.


Engine compartment shot. No markings on the engine cover, which seems uncharacteristic. I would have expected the cover to say VVT, DI, 3L etc. Look at that strut brace! Here is a closeup:


This has a very ‘aftermarket’, serious look to me with the exposed weld. I like it, but surprised to see it as the ‘stock’ piece.


I am a sucker for the wood trim steering wheel and shifter.

Overall this CTS drives very well. I am jealous of the manual-shift option on the 6-speed automatic transmission, and it holds selected gears which is perfect.  The 3L seems to have plenty of power for the CTS.  This combination has gotten a lot of mixed reviews from the buff books, but I am not sure why.  The 3L and 6-speed automatic seem to work very well together to me.

Hopefully I’ll get my 2005 CTS back today; God willing and the creek don’t rise they just need to run a diagnostic to correct the airbag issue.  I have ordered a new control panel for the driver’s door to address the new discovery that the new driver’s seat is a memory seat.  In other words, it wants to move to the position that I select when I open the door with my remote so it is ready for driver 1 or driver 2.  Unfortunately, my CTS does not have the position selector switch, so I have ordered one.