Consumer Complaint Detail

CADILLAC / CATERA / 1998

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 001082405 Incident Date: Oct, 21 2001
Consumer's City: LEXINGTON Consumer's State: KY
Vehicle Transmission Type: Manufacturers Name: General Motors, LLC
Model Name: CATERA Model Year: 1998
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling:engine
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: W06VR52R9WR Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Oct, 22 2001 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Mar, 31 1999
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 0 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Timing belt tensioner pulley bearing is prematurely failing and causing major damage in the engine valve train. if the car is out of warranty, this defect results in the customer having to pay a repair bill of several thousand dollars. if the defect is found soon enough it still costs the cusomer over five hundred dollars. when i bought the cadillac the timing belt was suppose to last at least 100,000 miles and now i hear they are recommending the replacement of the assembly (p/n9120501) within 60k. the only problem with is some cars have the problem before 60k. the warranty on the replacement parts is 12 months/12k. there are also no procedures to assist the customer in reducing the costs of the necessary repairs. the edmunds website list many customers all over the country who have experienced this problem. gm should be required to have a recall to fix this problem and they should be required to reimburse all customers who have experienced this problem. as far as i know all years of this model can experience this problem. also the current replacement parts are prone to fail at the same rate as the original parts since the design hasn't been improved. *ak