I just bought my mom a 1997 Cadillac Deville. The car has only 37,301 miles on it. It is mostly immaculate and seemed a pretty good deal for $4,000.
On one of her first trips out, the engine overheated due to water pump belt sheering. There was no way to know just how hot it was gettingas there is no actual gauge but rather a series of warnings, but the computer did shut down the engine as a precaution.
Against my advice, she has had the car towed to a Cadillac dealer. I was worried about this because the advice I read online about this dealer was mostly negative. So now the dealer calls and says the entire engine needs to be replaced. Problem is, there are no parts for such engine. I'm dealing with a salesperson who tells me what the technician said, she's reading from his notes. I told her to have the mechanic call me. But it seems for now the head was warped, etc. His "recommendation" is just replace the whole engine instead because, as he states, by the time he pulls the heads, he may find more damage.
My mechanic where I live (my Mom lives in Hawaii) is suspicious because he agrees this particular model car's computer would have auto-sshut the engine to prevent further damage. As it did. So I don't get how the engine could be damaged if the auto-shutdown occurred.
So now... I cannot afford a new engine, even if the parts were available, due to helping mom with this and other financial issues. I have my own family's financial challenges to address as the sole breadwinner, so I am more or less shrugging my shoulders and calling this a loss. But now my 70 yr old mother will be without a car so I'll eventually get dragged into solving that problem as well. I may be able to scrounge up the money to get the engine fixed (heads rebuilt?) but no way I can justify a new engine on a older car that may spring up a whole other set of problems down the road.
Any suggestions from the Caddy enthusiasts on here?
Does anyone have a mechanic recommendation in the Honolulu area? NOT a dealer?
Thx.
Frustrated.
On one of her first trips out, the engine overheated due to water pump belt sheering. There was no way to know just how hot it was gettingas there is no actual gauge but rather a series of warnings, but the computer did shut down the engine as a precaution.
Against my advice, she has had the car towed to a Cadillac dealer. I was worried about this because the advice I read online about this dealer was mostly negative. So now the dealer calls and says the entire engine needs to be replaced. Problem is, there are no parts for such engine. I'm dealing with a salesperson who tells me what the technician said, she's reading from his notes. I told her to have the mechanic call me. But it seems for now the head was warped, etc. His "recommendation" is just replace the whole engine instead because, as he states, by the time he pulls the heads, he may find more damage.
My mechanic where I live (my Mom lives in Hawaii) is suspicious because he agrees this particular model car's computer would have auto-sshut the engine to prevent further damage. As it did. So I don't get how the engine could be damaged if the auto-shutdown occurred.
So now... I cannot afford a new engine, even if the parts were available, due to helping mom with this and other financial issues. I have my own family's financial challenges to address as the sole breadwinner, so I am more or less shrugging my shoulders and calling this a loss. But now my 70 yr old mother will be without a car so I'll eventually get dragged into solving that problem as well. I may be able to scrounge up the money to get the engine fixed (heads rebuilt?) but no way I can justify a new engine on a older car that may spring up a whole other set of problems down the road.
Any suggestions from the Caddy enthusiasts on here?
Does anyone have a mechanic recommendation in the Honolulu area? NOT a dealer?
Thx.
Frustrated.