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





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Forgot to mention that I have looked for a leak but its like the coolant disappears. Nothing found under car.

Thanks

 

Check for water in the oil. I would go to your local repair shop and have them pressure test you system to see if they can locate a leak first.

G.A.R.Y.

 

If there is was water in the oil what exactly would that mean?

 

Blown head gasket, is there any white smoke comming out of the exhaust?

 

Oh nice!!...Would there be any other reason for the coolant to just disappear like it is??

 

Sounds like excessive coolant consumption normally associated with head gasket problems. Is the DIS telling you low coolant or are you checking it yourself?You don't mention overheating either, has this occurred? Sometimes because of the water pump location the pump can be leaking when in use and when hot only and spraying coolant ontothe block which evaporates it and conceals the source of the leak. I have read this on this forum and experienced this myself with my engine in the past.A pressure test has been suggested and this is a good idea but when my water pump went bad it held pressure for the entire hour they did the test. It only leaked when hot.

A water pump repair is not that costly, say $400, 2 hours labour and $200 for the pump kit. It is tricky though and requires a special tool so if it is the water pump make sure that whoever does it has the tool otherwise they can damage the block. You might also get a bottle of Barr's extra strength stop leak sealer and see what happens. it's $5.00 or so. Read the label and add it to the coolant and see if you get better coolant consumption. If yes that means the leak is probably not that bad and probably not the head gaskets but still needs attention.

The bad news is the head gasket repair is serious money, the number is big and you need to be sitting down to see or hear it.

 

Thanks for the replies.

This is what happened yesterday while driving home. I filled up the coolant the day before and yesterday morning the display said to check coolant level. While driving home display said engine hot, idle. So I pulled over to wait for someone to bring me some coolant. He took the cap off and there was plenty of coolant in the resevoir. What do you think that means?

I changed my oil a couple of weeks ago and didnt notice any water in it.

G.A.R.Y - There is no white smoke.

Thanks everyone.

 

I have a list of codes...

P0300 - Engine Misfire Detected
P0603 - Control Module Long Term Memory Reset
P1139 - Heated Oxygen Sensor (HO2S) Insuff. Switching Bank 1 Sensor 2
P1258 - Engine Coolant Overtemperature - above 268°F - Protection Mode Active
P1527 - Transmission Range to Pressure Switch Correlation
B1552 - Keep Alive Memory (KAM) Error
B1983 - Device Power Circuit Low

Can someone tell what these mean or tell me where I can get more information on them and how to repair them?

Thanks

 

It sounds more and more like a head gasket issue.
Search this site, i have posted info on this several times.

I wouldn't worry too much amout those codes until you get the overheating issue figured out.