[Johnson's91Coupe]

My parents purchased my grandmothers Caddy when she passed away back in 03. It was a 98 Deville with only 37K very pampered miles. The coolant was flushed every 2 years(my uncle knew all about the N* problems) and the vehicle was taken out once a week by that same uncle to "blow it out". Anyway, fast forward to 05 and my parents are driving to Virginia to visit my sister. To make this trip they have to drive on I-64 through the mountains of West Virginia. Guess what happens? Head gaskets blow going uphill. After a lot of grief getting it to Virginia and back home they get it into the Caddy dealer. Exactly as AJ said, they had done quite a few HG's at this point and said that since the car had such low miles and was maintained so well(less than 42K when the failure occured) that the repair had a good chance of working, maybe 50%. Six months later my mom notices a coolant smell and the low coolant message coming on in the dash. Fast forward a couple of years when I move back to my stomping grounds and sure enough the timeserts have failed. The car at this point only has 59K on it, and Mom won't even drive it across town for fear of blowing it up. So, long story short, the timesert "fix" is definately a very expensive($3200 at the Caddy dealer, GM helped out a little bit because of the maintenance records, them being the selling dealer, and low mileage) band aid that can unfortunately peel off at any time. We ended up taking it to a local Ford dealer here that I used to work for that are known crooks and traded it in on a low mileage Mustang.(Mom always wanted one) What is really sad is that as much as I love Caddys I am scared off of the newer ones. I can afford a newer N* Caddy but will not buy one for fear of HG failure. That's why I drive a 91 with a less powerful and refined yet vastly more reliable 4.9. I love the N* when it's running right, not much can beat it for for power and effeciancy. It's too bad that GM won't(and with their current financial situation, can't) stand behind these vehicle and their owners by providing an extended warranty so that owners faced with this problem won't be left standing in the dark footing the bill for an admitted design defect.