Other engine problem on the 2005 Cadillac Sts
1 crash 1 of the 14 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Cadillac Sts report other engine problem at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 165,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 154,064 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
20% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,426 miles | 58,750 miles | 70,750 miles | 119,750 miles | 167,490 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 70,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 15; the 2005 has 14. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Dt: purchased a new vehicle that had an odd smell, but soon became overpowered with its strong odor. Consumer's wife eyes watered from the smell and her throat burned. Took vehicle to dealer for who tried to remedy the problem by placing odor eaters inside of the trunk from where the smell was strongest. The odor was stronger when vehicle was outside in heat or hot weather. Consumer was concerned that this may be toxic. The problem was ongoing. Contacted gm , but they did not answer the concerns. Vehicle continued to smell of odors. *ak *tt front passenger side seat was squeaking with side to side motion. Front seat adjuster assembly replaced. *tt
Tl*- the contact was driving when she lost consciousness for about 30 seconds. The contact believed that loss of consciousness was due to fumes in the passenger compartment. At the time of the incident the vehicle was traveling at 40 MPH under dry conditions. As a result the contact's vehicle crashed into another vehicle. The contact stated that she was unaware that she was in a crash, and that the air bags deployed. She regained consciousness because of the gases caused by the air bag's deployment. The contact had the car taken to the dealer to check if fumes were leaking into the passenger compartment. The contact stated that she has a police report from the crash. *ak
There was no previous indicator of a trouble condition--first indication of trouble was mis-firing---long story short---a complete engine over haul (rings, bearings etc.) was made aware that these cars normally use 1 qt oil per 2000 miles---there is no warning for low oil level on the dash or dic other than remaining oil life, which was ok--an extended warranty covered the repairs the car had between 68k-69k miles and had been maintained as required by the dealership---- *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Cadillac Sts
Differential or transfer case failure
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other powertrain problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Headlight failure or clouding
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2005 Cadillac Sts?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2005 Cadillac Sts?
14 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed