Unbelievable...... I've had my 1980 Coupe Deville for over 6 years love this car to death like most people on here. Well I just recently got tired of all the stalling and pretty much no power when climbing hills, and having to constantly pump the gas to keep it going so I sent her in to get the carb rebuilt.

Took the guy more than a week but I made sure the there was no rush and didn't call him every day. So week and a half rolls by and he says he's going on a camping trip with his family for Labor Day weekend. I was even ok with that week end rolls around and he finishes my cadi.

I must say wow turns out he stayed late a few nights just to work on it. Got her running REAL smooth and NO problems accelerating at all. I was like old times again. That night I drove a half tank of gas just had my DVD player playing and I was set. Smoothest ride ever.

Now yesterday I'm on my way to school and I notice that the generator light kicks on....hmm I wonder and I quickly shut off my DVD player and subs and even AC .....light still stays on. By now I'm kind of worried usually if the generator light comes on then the alternator is about to go. I figure I'd better pull over to take a look.

Lucky me there was a nice back up of traffic and no shoulder with tons on construction so I couldn't just pull over so I decider to take the next exit. About a mile before my exit the STOP ENGINE TEMP light comes on..... Now... the ONLY time I’ve seen this light come on is when I first start the car in the morning when you first put your keys in.... at the point I'm like WTF she starts pinging REALLY BAD.

At my turn she almost dies the buzzer starts to go off after the turn and I start to smell smoke. It also started to come thought the vent a little. By the time I finally found a place to pull over and shut the engine off the car felt like it was choking. I shut off right off the side of the road rust making my exit to school. Popped the hood and smoke/steam come rushing out BAD. Coming out of the radiator cap (which was pulsating) Oil around the motor was boiling! The buzzer was still going of even thought I had the hood popped and key out so I pulled the buzzer relay.

Well upon inspection I see the alternator belt was in fact off! And wrapped around the clutch fan! The belt was almost cut in half! Then looking further I see the water pump belt had come off too! It didn't even look real... I managed to get the belt off the clutch fan and after calling my dad we got belt back on the water pump.

SO with no alternator she started right back up and I stayed at 45-50 mph and drove home in the middle of traffic, she died, even died between cross traffic on the free way BUT I made it to the repair shop..... Who was getting ready to close but said he would look at it before he locked up.... I take my brother’s car a go to school I come back home and he's called..... He thinks I blew a head gasket....... wow.. I felt a cold chill go through my body.

Now today is the day after and he will look at it more today.. What should I do guys? I know the fixing a blow head gasket could run well over the thousands and believe me I've spent at LEAST 3k in fixing the car new AC/Rotors/CAT Converter/PWR steering/alternator/AC pump and just recently rebuilt carb..... must be a test of my faith to see how much I love this car :)

What are my options here guys?
What would you do?

Sorry for the wall o' text :)

The cooling system should be at operating temperature and completely full before checking for a bad head gasket. OK, so the car the fan belts off. Look for the reason the belts came off. Is the water pump bearing shot? How about the rest of the power accessories? Anything seized? Just old belts not liking the world in 2006? Have the belts replaced. Replace the thermostat and coolant. Do not skip replacement of the thermostat. They cannot be trusted after an overheat or even a simple coolant drain/refill. Get the engine oil changed. It has been cooked and the additives are no longer useful. After this the car can be started and run to see if any internal engine damage exists. #1 advice for owning an old car is for the owner to fully understand any repair process. This takes experience. Always have a factory shop manual. You did the right thing by not being in a hurry with the carb repair.
Maybe the head gasket is still OK. It's a gamble but don't give up without giving it a chance.
If the thing is toasted then maybe look around for another engine. Sometimes you are better off if you can find one out of a wreck. They don't show up every day but bargains are out there.

well just came from the shop shes got white smoke comming from the exhaust..... and a cracked radiator.... damn. oil looks good but collant is getting into the motor no doubt about that. I guess it would cost close to
$1500 to fix :( Well I think I"m going to start taking my stereo out today IF I can make it home she still starts and actually sound ok but as soon as you let off the gas she dies :( Proably need to have it towed just to be safe.

Damn had big plans for this car :(

A little follow up to my previous post he say s it looks like the clutch fan had started to come loose.... and it kicked the altenator belt off. Thats why the belt had a nice cut in it..

Sounds like you have a really nice car that you love. Instead of taking it all apart why dont you look around and find a replacement motor. All 368s except for the variable valve 81s will fit. any of the 425s and 472s and 500s will fit with out making any major changes. at most you might have to change the flywheel motor mounts and maybe the front pulley system if you want. You can probably find a good replacement engine for a few hundred bucks

if you have the time try replacing the gasket your self it won't hurt anything. If you decide to look at the headd & check for cracks or if it has been worped.I started working on my own car and it has saved me lots of money.the head gasget job would cost maybe 300 and thats buying the tools added.

Well I get her back today I decided to pay $65.00 for them to tell me exactly what needs to be fixed. I'm going to have to drive her home though looking for a new engine, I found a few rebuilts for $1500. Still need to find someone who will put it in though... I still havent decided on what I'm going to do cept just to park it. I might just park it and be done with it.

well i was going to post some information about a website for you, but it wont let me....so i will try to PM you with the info.

SBC

Small Block Chevy
Swap her in and be done! Dime a dozen and a lot cheaper than $1500 for a head gasket (I hope that includes an entire rebuild).

Not real experienced with older Caddies but if tranny bellhousing different than a TH-350 coupled with a SBC will still be cheaper than $1500! Ouch

It isn't all that simple to stuff in a chevy engine. Accessories, radiator neck, engine mounts, exhaust and other stuff will make it much more expensive than another Cadillac engine.

It isn't all that simple to stuff in a chevy engine. Accessories, radiator neck, engine mounts, exhaust and other stuff will make it much more expensive than another Cadillac engine.

There will probably be some hiccups - that is for sure.

But $1500 is ridiculous sounding to me. With some minor fabrication and a little bit of elbow grease, the SBC could definitely work - and for a lot less that $1500 which would still give you the same old engine again.

Of course it is probably a cardinal sin to put a Chevy powerplant into a BOP or Caddy, almost as bad as a Chevy-powered Ford. :bighead:
But at least it gets him on the road again for less money, also giving him a new (newer) engine.
Necessity is the mother of invention, sometimes.

Sorry for not responding for so long guys thanks for all the recomendations. I have been looking at another cadillac as of late. It's a 1989 Sedan Deville the cars was taken real good care of reciepts for alll repairs in the golve box. Alll factry origional every thing down to the hub caps. The seats are beyond clean. Teh guy only wants 1800 for it so I'm going to test drive ti today and see how she handles. I've heard the engine and its super quiet.

sizanjdf I couldn't find the section you where talking about :confused: maybe you can e-mail me gamemaster96@hotmail.com. Thanks again guys.

I had to drive her home for the last time of course she fired right up and sounder ok butI knew better, died at every stop light/sign thank god I put a deep cycle battery in there. I would like to fix this car still I don't think I'm at the point of selling it yet, that would be to hard to do. I'm going to post this topic in the engine section too.