Blown Head Gasket? how to check

[rhblake57]

Hello 93etc
I have a 93 Deville that the caddy dealer diagnosed with a blown head gasket.
He said it was routine with 93 Cadillacs.
They put in new gaskets and very soon afterwards the oil pump clogged with gasket material and caused the engine bearings to burn out and kill the oil pressure and caused the engine to sound like a bucket of bolts.
Fortunately I had a repair policy and they paid to put in new bearings.

I write because in the interim I discovered an engine rebuilder who did rebuilding for many of the Dealers on the north shore in the Boston area who said he would do a complete rebuild for $2600.

So even though the engine still has some noise I've got the rebuilder as a fallback. $2600 doesn't seem bad.

I would think if you call around you could come close to that price in your area.

I did have a couple of local Cadillac dealer repair shops that a 93 Deville engine could not be rebuilt because the walls were too thin around the pistons.

Good luck

rhblake57

[Zorb750]

Your Deville 4.9 is fairly easy to repair. Wall thickness is irrelevant. You need a head gasket job, not cylinder rehoning.

I don't think routine is a good assessment. Routine on Northstar 4.6 maybe. Well, at least somewhat common. The 4.9 isn't known for head gaskets failing.

[toofast6]

hey... I just had this same problem... my mechanic is rebuilding my monster at 2.9k and just included dealer only parts as well as the hoses of the steering, ac, and cooling systems plus he guarantees his jobs for a year. Just as everyone said before me... KEEP LOOKING and you will find someone that can, will do the job at a good price and has the experience.. good luck

[huskyzzz]

So, in all reality, on a previous post I had... 94 ETC.. I have come to find that I also have the "blown head gasket" syndrome. Easier fix.. to just rebuild. Can't you just replace the head gasket(s)?

[Ranger]

Yes, you can just replace the head gaskets. There is usually no need to "rebuild".

[malo68]

I've got a 95 Eldorado w/Northstar 4.1 and came here to seek advice on how to determine if I need a head gasket for my car. What are the symptoms? When I first got the car, I started driving to my buddy's house which is 10 miles away. As I drove it, I got the message "COOLANT LEVEL LOW"...then a little further it turned to "ENGINE HOT"..."IDLE ENGINE". I then slowed WAY down and turned the heater on to try to get it to cool but it wasn't producing any heat inside the car. The coolant temperature shot from 215 when I first started out to 250 degrees. I then felt the car lose power (the cylinders shutting down) I pulled over and then I got the message "TURN OFF ENGINE" the engine right after the message, the car automatically shut itself off. I was pretty close to my buddy's house at this point so I waited 5-10 minutes, started it up and got to his house. When I got there, I told him the problem and we began to fill it up with water. We used a gallon container so we could see how much it was low. It took exactly 2 gallons of water which topped it off. I started it up and it ran nice and cool while idling in the driveway averaging a temp of 205 degrees. We then took it for a ride. It ran smooth flawlessly. I watched the tempature gauge the whole time. It fluctuated between 205-215. It did get up to 230 at one point and you could tell that the fans had kicked on because it immediately dropped back down to around 212. It had plenty of power, stayed cool for the most part. My buddy couldn't believe how smooth and powerful it was. We drove around for 10 miles (about 10-15 minutes) and our speed ranged from 60-90 at different times. When we got back to his house, I opened the coolant tank. We refilled the gallon water container and it took to our surprise 3/4 of a gallon to top it off again. We spent the rest of the night thinking of what it could be. No signs of water mixed with oil. No steam coming from the exhaust. So here I am shaking my head as I read this thread reading about how the Northstar is notorious for secretly blowing the head gaskets without showing the typical telltale signs and how costly it is to fix. I need to know for sure so I will be trying the coolant compression test mentioned earlier, then removing the plugs, and turning it over looking for water in the cylinders. God I hope it's not the head gasket...but it sure looks like it, RIGHT?!?!?

[Ranger]

It does not sound good, but keep in mind that the cooling system pressure test only puts 15 psi on the head gaskets from the cooling system. If it is just begining to fail and the breach is very tiny, it could hold 15 psi and give a false negative diagnosis. The cylinder pressure test on the other hand puts 125-150 psi on the gaskets from the cylinder and is a definate test.

[delzy]

Originally Posted by Grapetrucker103

[b]Has anyone ever tried this product called ([b][b][b][b] [STEAL SEAL) to repair a blown head gasket problem?

Grapetrucker103
nickelbird102@yahoo.com

No potion has ever cured a N* HG... ever.

[malo68]

Thanks for the reply Ranger and for the hardy welcome. I can honestly say it's a pleasure to be here learning so much. I would be going nuts right now if I didn't find this site! Yes, I think you're right the high pressure cylinder test would make more sense in this situation. Okay you guys who plan on or have done the head gasket repair yourselves, I have a question. Did you have the heads resurfaced before you put it back together? I would think that it would be foolish not to at least have the heads checked before reassembly...and for that matter why not the valves too? This is my problem, in order to insure that the job will get done right, I would not be able to skip these steps before reassembly which would cost me WAY much more and take way more time and effort than just remove, timesealing and slapping new gaskets in. That's why I'm deciding to put her on the auction block this Tuesday. I had it sold for $2900 then gave the guy his money back because of the problem that it has a week later. Now I'll just have to hope to get my money back, which I think it should plus a little more. We'll see what happens. Malo

[jcweller]

I have a 2000 DHS that just overheated going up a mountain. I had a Catalytic Converter error message for several weks prior to the overheat. I didn't have the money to replace the convertor. Could or would restricted flow to the catalytic convertor cause the haed gaskets to blow?

On some of the posts you say that replacement of the head gaskets is an option - do you know of any mechanics in the Winchester VA area you could recommend I talk to?

Thanks,

JCw

[Ranger]

"Could or would restricted flow to the catalytic convertor cause the haed gaskets to blow?"

No.

[rfishing]

Had to get my 2 cents in...

I found a Goodyear place willing to replace head gaskets, finally someone going to fix this car. Went there, and the mechanic whom would actually do the work said, no way! He just did his grandmoms car, and refuses to do another one. Claims they wound up replacing the engine anyway.

Im really sick of this norstar engine problems with head gaskets blowing. Especially after reading articles online about how they know this is caused by thread depth during manufacturing. GM is just letting the consumer deal with it, unless of course you have a warranty.

What a shame to have a nice car, that is practically doomed to fail. The least GM should do is give a discount for the repairs involved, or discount replacement engines. To put all the burden on consumers is just bad policy.

[delzy]

rfishing, you've been crying foul on your hg problem forever. I think its time you get rid of that pos (like you threatened to give it away over 6 months ago). You should just go out and buy yourself some trouble-free luxury car like a MB, BMW or a Lincoln. They never have any problems.

IIRC, you already had a mechanic do an improper job on your HG's. Why didn't you ever just bring it back and make him stand behind his work? Maybe he is a better litigator than you? ... j/k

[Mr. Cutter]

Originally Posted by acbareford

Hello, 93 ETC, some of you have been helpful with this car so far, thanks. Latest is that the car is still running hot. I had a thermostat replaced, even though the water was flowing through the overflow tank. It will run fine for 20 or 30 miles and then run hot. As I add more water it spills out bright green and eventually cools down. I brought it back to the shop, which did the thermostat because they had also said that it needed a radiator. They said that their inferred device had shown a difference in the radiator temps. I passed on the radiator replacement at that time. I figure that if the water is flowing and that could be seen, then it isn't the rad. The car ran hot once more after that so I returned the car to the mechanic. They called the next morning and said that the head gasket was blown. 20 hours to replace it and they couldn't do the work. 24 hours to replace the engine. They said that they could replace the engine for around $6500.

I am looking for a second opinion. Is there a way that I could easily tell if the head gasket is actually blown? It isn't the end of the world one way or another. It just seems strange to me that the car drives and runs great at all speeds and has power.

Any insights or suggestions are appreciated. Rad

I have the same problem but my coolent is a brown color is that rust or emissions? if it is the radiator can you have it flushed or am i better off replaceing it. The cadi also over heats with in 10 mins. and with the heater on the temp is around 210 to 220 Another problem i am having is that the sterring wheel has no friction when moving the wheel.. what could that be?

[Ranger]

It is not rust. The Northstar is aluminum. The brown color you see is most likely from the cooling system suppliment (sealant tabs). 210-220 is the normal operating tempurature.

Your power steering is variable ratio so it is pretty effortless at low speeds. It takes progressivly more effort to turn the wheel as speed increases.