Help Please!! 1997 Cadillac Deville head gasket ? - Page 3

Awesome!  Thanks...I will look at that as soon as I get home.  Is that repair costly?

I have never had it done, but in 2000 Cadillac went to an air cooled conventional system because of the leaking problems. The parts are specially bent aluminum lines and hoses so in themselves not expensive but it is tight in there and probably a 1 to 2 hour job on the flate rate scale.

I took the cap off to refill the reservoir and there are still alot of pellets from the sealant in there.  Are they suppose to be?

The proper proceedure is to get the sealer and pellets into the radiator as I mentioned, but given the fact that you need to take the rad hoses off to do this that was going to be tough. They should be in the rad. The sealer is most likely gone by now, hopefully into the engine and having the pellets sit in there is not perfect. They will eventually breal down but they need coolant to do so. I assume you have not overheated, just low on coolant. Get the pressure test and this will pinpoint the leak. Once you sort out the leak the sytem should be flushed and cleaned and that will take care of the pellets.

sb
 
check out posting under general tech,    cooling system.
 
Do not put pellets in reservoir....................
 
G.A.R.Y.

So what do I do now??

You need to get a pressure test. IMO that other article is reactionary and alarmist.

We did change 4 of my spark plugs last night and it made a huge difference in the idleing and acceleration.  No more jerks or anything.  We dont think the plugs have ever been replaced. 

quote:

ORIGINAL: Katzmans Caddy

You need to get a pressure test. IMO that other article is reactionary and alarmist.

 
FYI, the partial quote under general tech, cooling system, is from an engineer who helped design the N*.
 
This person used to be on another board and had to terminate further postings for reasons. He gave a wealth of info to allante owners, and we all miss his hands on knowledge.
 
In any case, after being here a short time,  I believe that you know a whole lot about these engines also.  Perhaps that info is dated. If so I will be happy to request that it be removed.
 
What do you think?
 
G.A.R.Y.

Hey G.A.R.Y. - All I'm saying is that it probably scarred the heck out of Sandi, yes the pellets are recommended to be installed in the lower part of the radiator as Cadillac specs them. I think all information is good, especially from an engineer. I'm just an accountant who has worked on cars since I was 15 (almost 35 years) but I'm taking the part about the pellets in the reservoir ruining the cooling system with a grain of salt.

To Sandi - I bet you changed the front 4 plugs, just a hunch! No burning rubber! Please get a pressure test to settle the coolant loss. You can't be adding coolant this often. Once you fix it clean and flush your cooling system.

No offense intended.  You're right, I don't want to scare the ladies, for sure. Your advice is good and should be followed.

Yeah by the time we got the new plugs and ran some more errands it was pretty late and was out of light so we will change the other 4 today.  Ill let ya know how it goes.  I am gonna see about the pressure test today after work as well. 

Went to the GM shop today with a young woman in my office. Turns out she had the timing chain cover break on her Jimmy and wanted me to come for some support and advice. Anyway the mechanic working on the car see us pull up in the Deville. "Nice car, any oil leaks?" I say main seals fixed under recall, "good" he replies , "Any Cooling problems" Touch wood not yet and I quizz him some.

He says to ignore the DEX cool 100,000 mile change claims, do a flush and clean every 2 years and you will save yourself head gaskets problems. On the pellets he says he crushes them and drops them in the reservoir when small leaks occur, other wise on big jobs he gets them into the radiator (messy). Just passing on a bit of info from a GM trained mechanic.

PS. He also told me how much it is to change the starter. 15 hours in the Mitchell flat rate guide!!!!

So do you think I should do a flush then see what happens?

First find the leak, the puddle under the car should help but a pressure test will find it. Next get the leak fixed, then flush and clean and add new coolant. I still say get the sealant pellets but get them into the recommended spot when the coolant is flushed out. 

quote:

ORIGINAL: sburrell78

I have a 1997 Cadillac Deville and I have to put coolant in about every other day.  I was told that it may be a blown head gasket.  How would I know if thats it or not and what else could it be.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sandi

sandi,

this product will answer the head gasket question if you still cant fine the source of the loss of coolant.
 looking at the posts and the codes you reported  overheating,  if te overheating is serious, the car may
have warped heads and therefore a compromised headgasket ....  may .. somwthing to keep in mind... 

even if you have a leak, i am not sure you would see white smoke unless the leak gets
into the exhaust system.  it could go into the crankcase and simply evaporate with driving,
or it could drip outside.

at any case, this should give you a yes/no answer IF the question remains. 
the normal procedure is the pressure test, but this stuff you can probably do yourself.

best of luck







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Make sure you are using the right mixture of anti-freeze in your system, too much water lowers your boiling point witch could cause your fluid to exsesivily expand at higher temps and be pushed out of the expasion tank, also check your radiator cap, if it is not holding the correct pressure it will have the same effect.

Also when the car is heating up check your heater core hoses, if one is hotter than the other your heater core is plugged, sometimes the plugging can be intermitant, so check it when the car temp. first goes unreasonably high. If it is plugged the water pump can't circulate the coolant properly, causing your engine to over heat. 

quote:

ORIGINAL: Katzmans Caddy

You need to get a pressure test. IMO that other article is reactionary and alarmist.

 
NO ACTUALLY THERE IS A FACTORY BULLETIN ON NOT ADDING PELLETIZED SEALERS OR THE RCOMENDED ADDATIVE PELLETS TO THE RESEVOIR......ONLY THE LOWER RADIATOR HOSE.
 
There is no substitute for doing the job right...Short cuts on a Caddy will cost you in the end....I see it everyday..usually on the hook of a tow truck
 

quote:

ORIGINAL: Katzmans Caddy

Went to the GM shop today with a young woman in my office. Turns out she had the timing chain cover break on her Jimmy and wanted me to come for some support and advice. Anyway the mechanic working on the car see us pull up in the Deville. "Nice car, any oil leaks?" I say main seals fixed under recall, "good" he replies , "Any Cooling problems" Touch wood not yet and I quizz him some.

He says to ignore the DEX cool 100,000 mile change claims, do a flush and clean every 2 years and you will save yourself head gaskets problems. On the pellets he says he crushes them and drops them in the reservoir when small leaks occur, other wise on big jobs he gets them into the radiator (messy). Just passing on a bit of info from a GM trained mechanic.

PS. He also told me how much it is to change the starter. 15 hours in the Mitchell flat rate guide!!!!

 
Someone is out of their mind!!!!
 
Time manual calls for 2.9 hrs average for starter change..and even if that is a bit conservative it is no ways a 15 hour job
Hell...R & R entire engine with parts swapping is only 18.3 hrs
 

sorry to go back but for all who dont know, a flashing service engine soon lights mean- Severe engine misfire detected, light will flash for the duration of misfire, catylytic converter damage may occur   figured id put that out there, as for this leak its sounds fishy, i dont mean to scare but coolant loss, along with a powerfull missfire and a malfuntioning oxygen sensor sounds suspiciously like a blown gasket to me, obviously we can hope, but when u guys pulled the plugs on the front bank, were any of them wet? see the problem is prior to her visible leak there were no prior signs of leakage, i worked on a ETC with a blown head gasket and it didnt put out white smoke, as a matter of fact it was doing a very similar routine, he was able to drive on cool days and his temp only hit about 250 and went back down when driving, the stuttering and all that existed as well, the ONLY way we narrowed it down the head gasket, was we pulled his plugs and plug number 7 was wet and reaked of coolant, you really need to have a pressure test and chemical analysis done  to know for sure.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lithorian

sorry to go back but for all who dont know, a flashing service engine soon lights mean- Severe engine misfire detected, light will flash for the duration of misfire, catylytic converter damage may occur   figured id put that out there, as for this leak its sounds fishy, i dont mean to scare but coolant loss, along with a powerfull missfire and a malfuntioning oxygen sensor sounds suspiciously like a blown gasket to me, obviously we can hope, but when u guys pulled the plugs on the front bank, were any of them wet? see the problem is prior to her visible leak there were no prior signs of leakage, i worked on a ETC with a blown head gasket and it didnt put out white smoke, as a matter of fact it was doing a very similar routine, he was able to drive on cool days and his temp only hit about 250 and went back down when driving, the stuttering and all that existed as well, the ONLY way we narrowed it down the head gasket, was we pulled his plugs and plug number 7 was wet and reaked of coolant, you really need to have a pressure test and chemical analysis done  to know for sure.

Concur .. see the FAQ for details on those.