Now I, too, am a member of the Gasket Club (94 Eldo/128k)...Last Sunday I drove 20 minutes at about 70, then putted around town picking up 3 riders for a church social including a 300 pounder, and on the last 200 yards (up the hill to the church), the car noticeably lost power, the Stop Engine light came on and I made it to the parking lot in limp-home mode.
I let the car cool down, topped off with about 3/4 gal of 50/50 mix, and drove everybody home 3 hours later, watching the temp gauge. It ran about 203 instead of the usual 199, but no probs.
I took it to my gas-pumping mechanic on Fri for a routine LOF, told him the story and asked him to check the water pump tensioner, etc. He called me back to say hydrocarbons in the coolant--you need head gaskets, we're not changing the oil cuz you're gonna drain it anyway and we'll top off the coolant for free...
My local salvage yard owner has given me a good, cheap referral in the past for some frame work I needed done on another car, so I called him to see if he knew of anyone willing to work on N*. The guy he recommended is putting together a quote on an engine transplant because said it wasn't worth doing the gaskets, just get a new motor...The Frost Caddy dealer service guy on the phone said 1500-3000 for gaskets, depending.
I like this car--I (over) paid 6k for it last July (121k), and have about another 2k in rear brakes and new exhaust; most of the toys work, seats are ok, body clean. Should I throw Bars Leaks in it (and oil) and trade it? If I spend 3k with the dealer on gaskets, will I be entering the black hole of car ownership, where good money follows bad? Any advice on any of these issues would be helpful...thanks in advance!