bought my first Caddy, may have a BIG Problem, please advise 1999 Cadillac Deville NorthStar

Hello All,
I recently bought a 1999 Cadillac Deville. January 10th to be exact. I have put about 500 miles on it, and ever since day one, it would backfire once in awhile. Just a little Backfire, then smooth out.
It doesn't seem to miss or cutout, in fact it rides great and is quiet as a mouse. I took it to my mechanic 2 days ago to see why it backfires once in awhile, and he discovered 2 plugs were fouled, number 1, and number 5, I believe.  He had hooked it up to the machine for codes I dont really understand all that, and thats how he discovered the plugs were fouled.
He said when he pulled out plug #1, a puff of steam came out. He thinks it may have seepage in the cylinder which he said could be a head gasket going out.
I had read that these cars require pellets that are sort of like "stop Leak" in the radiator from when they were brand new. ( I know my wifes old 1992 Chevy Lumina required the same thing in it's cooling system from the day we bought that car new). Anyway,  the Dealer I bought the Deville from said he had just put in a new water pump, and Theromastat at his Mechanic and I wonder if they forgot the pellets? He isn't a Cadillac "Dealer" he deals in Luxury cars of all types.
In any case, it seems to be running really great now, I've put 120 miles on it since the replacing of the 2 fouled plugs, and it seems to be doing fine, cross my fingers.
My mechanic told me if the head gasket needs replaces that it will cost me $2500 dollars! I'm very poor, and cannot afford that, but I love this car.
Oh yeah, my mechanic also recommended the pellets, but said that if they already put them in, and I added the recommended amount, it could clog the radiator. He suggested just 2 pellets, as it requires 6 to 7. I think I'm going to have the antifreeze drained and the correct amount of pellets put in. Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?
Other than that, I love this car, and would like to keep it forever, I like it's roominess and ride, better than the newer DeVilles.
Do you think I should dump this Cadillac and get something else? I paid $4400 bucks for it, and haven't even had it a month, not to mention about another $1000 in tax, Licence, getting another set of keys, having my mechanic put it on that machine, and other little costs. I've wanted a Cadillac all my life, but if this is going to cost me an arm and leg, I just can't afford that.
Oh ya, I forgot to mention, it gets awesome gas milage, so far it averages around 23 MPG. I didnt trust it's thing that tells MPG so I did it the old fashioned way, and got 23 on the nose for town/highway combined.
Thanks so much,
                 Jack...AKA...Bassmusician



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Title

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bassmusician

Hello All,
I recently bought a 1999 Cadillac Deville. January 10th to be exact. I have put about 500 miles on it, and ever since day one, it would backfire once in awhile. Just a little Backfire, then smooth out.
It doesn't seem to miss or cutout, in fact it rides great and is quiet as a mouse. I took it to my mechanic 2 days ago to see why it backfires once in awhile, and he discovered 2 plugs were fouled, number 1, and number 5, I believe.  He had hooked it up to the machine for codes I dont really understand all that, and thats how he discovered the plugs were fouled.
He said when he pulled out plug #1, a puff of steam came out. He thinks it may have seepage in the cylinder which he said could be a head gasket going out.
I had read that these cars require pellets that are sort of like "stop Leak" in the radiator from when they were brand new. ( I know my wifes old 1992 Chevy Lumina required the same thing in it's cooling system from the day we bought that car new). Anyway,  the Dealer I bought the Deville from said he had just put in a new water pump, and Theromastat at his Mechanic and I wonder if they forgot the pellets? He isn't a Cadillac "Dealer" he deals in Luxury cars of all types.
In any case, it seems to be running really great now, I've put 120 miles on it since the replacing of the 2 fouled plugs, and it seems to be doing fine, cross my fingers.
My mechanic told me if the head gasket needs replaces that it will cost me $2500 dollars! I'm very poor, and cannot afford that, but I love this car.
Oh yeah, my mechanic also recommended the pellets, but said that if they already put them in, and I added the recommended amount, it could clog the radiator. He suggested just 2 pellets, as it requires 6 to 7. I think I'm going to have the antifreeze drained and the correct amount of pellets put in. Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?
Other than that, I love this car, and would like to keep it forever, I like it's roominess and ride, better than the newer DeVilles.
Do you think I should dump this Cadillac and get something else? I paid $4400 bucks for it, and haven't even had it a month, not to mention about another $1000 in tax, Licence, getting another set of keys, having my mechanic put it on that machine, and other little costs. I've wanted a Cadillac all my life, but if this is going to cost me an arm and leg, I just can't afford that.
Oh ya, I forgot to mention, it gets awesome gas milage, so far it averages around 23 MPG. I didnt trust it's thing that tells MPG so I did it the old fashioned way, and got 23 on the nose for town/highway combined.
Thanks so much,
            Jack...AKA...Bassmusician

NO, i would dont recommend the pellets until you find out the problem .. and not for the reason you stated, but that is certainly NOT a solution.

your description of the problem is very good, but you didnt state the mileage.

the "what to do", is getting the cart ahead of the horse.

look in our FAQ section, there are several methods to TEST for the headgaskets
and are fairly simple and cheap to do.  IF the headgasket has been compromised
you got at least two posibilties .. gasket failure and/or headbolt failure.  Not sure you
can test the headbolts w/o opening the engine on a 9 yr old car, maybe our other
TECHs can comment on this.

Where did you buy the car?
Dealer?
A 9 year old car may still carry a  warranty .. check - fast.

The $4,400 seems about right for a car with around 80,000 miles and in pretty good condition.
IF the gasket is bad and you dump it, you be lucky to get $2,000 ..
Do the math .. you put in $4,400 + $1,000, about $5,500? .. you will lose what, $3,500 ?

IF worst comes to worst, I tend to prefer low mileage salvage engines, tested and guaranteed, from
rusted out cars or rear ended cars.  You can get one with low mileage for around $1,200 .. there are
lots of crashed Devilles out there, and I bet plenty of rust in St Luis .. rusted cars crush easy.

* Next option is to buy a wrecked car with a good engine, do  a swap. usually even less cost and you can part the rest of the car on ebay .. if you're lucky on ebay parts, you can even come out with a free engine.

* Another option ir s REM engine .. check costs.

* Then of course, you got the gasket replacement that can be $2,500 or climb to $4,000 depending on what they find upon opening the engine up.

* Last option - usually not endorsed by techs, but poor is poor - the resin seal treatment - its here in the threads somewhere.

Again, what is the mileage?
A lot of what I said is fine for a 80,000 car, but a 250,000 mile car is another story.



  to our site ....





      

quote:

ORIGINAL: slowroll

There was a recall 99086 involving 1999 Northstar and Aurora V8 for head bolt holes being drilled to deep. A condition where head bolts could come loose. There is a vin break of less than 20k cars to be inspected. Engines that failed inspection were to be replaced. VIN breakpoints:

DeVille  XU791675 - XU802142

Seville  XU938976 - XU940640

Eldorado  XU613134 - XU614972

Only some of the engines would fail inspection.

From  our TECH

All 1999 Cadillac and Aurora Northstars?
check your VIN ...

99086 Aurora vin break X4115396 - X4117518

quote:

ORIGINAL: Stealth

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bassmusician

Hello All,
I recently bought a 1999 Cadillac Deville. January 10th to be exact. I have put about 500 miles on it, and ever since day one, it would backfire once in awhile. Just a little Backfire, then smooth out.
It doesn't seem to miss or cutout, in fact it rides great and is quiet as a mouse. I took it to my mechanic 2 days ago to see why it backfires once in awhile, and he discovered 2 plugs were fouled, number 1, and number 5, I believe.  He had hooked it up to the machine for codes I dont really understand all that, and thats how he discovered the plugs were fouled.
He said when he pulled out plug #1, a puff of steam came out. He thinks it may have seepage in the cylinder which he said could be a head gasket going out.
I had read that these cars require pellets that are sort of like "stop Leak" in the radiator from when they were brand new. ( I know my wifes old 1992 Chevy Lumina required the same thing in it's cooling system from the day we bought that car new). Anyway,  the Dealer I bought the Deville from said he had just put in a new water pump, and Theromastat at his Mechanic and I wonder if they forgot the pellets? He isn't a Cadillac "Dealer" he deals in Luxury cars of all types.
In any case, it seems to be running really great now, I've put 120 miles on it since the replacing of the 2 fouled plugs, and it seems to be doing fine, cross my fingers.
My mechanic told me if the head gasket needs replaces that it will cost me $2500 dollars! I'm very poor, and cannot afford that, but I love this car.
Oh yeah, my mechanic also recommended the pellets, but said that if they already put them in, and I added the recommended amount, it could clog the radiator. He suggested just 2 pellets, as it requires 6 to 7. I think I'm going to have the antifreeze drained and the correct amount of pellets put in. Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?
Other than that, I love this car, and would like to keep it forever, I like it's roominess and ride, better than the newer DeVilles.
Do you think I should dump this Cadillac and get something else? I paid $4400 bucks for it, and haven't even had it a month, not to mention about another $1000 in tax, Licence, getting another set of keys, having my mechanic put it on that machine, and other little costs. I've wanted a Cadillac all my life, but if this is going to cost me an arm and leg, I just can't afford that.
Oh ya, I forgot to mention, it gets awesome gas milage, so far it averages around 23 MPG. I didnt trust it's thing that tells MPG so I did it the old fashioned way, and got 23 on the nose for town/highway combined.
Thanks so much,
           Jack...AKA...Bassmusician

Where did you buy the car?
Dealer?
A 9 year old car may still carry a  warranty .. check - fast.


  to our site ....

 
 
The only caddy I know of that had a 10 year warranty was the allante.  Good thing as mine got a new engine in the summer of 2003.
 
As far as a used car dealer warranty on this car, it's probably as is, unless you made it part of the the deal.  You still may have 30 to 90 days for some things.  As Stealth says, check it out quick.
 
Good luck.