Hot Hot Hot Is Gone - Finally

[MUGSANDLUKE]

RERFERS TO THREAD "HOT HOT HOT" ON 09 06 06 - THE HEAD GASKETS HAVE BEEN REPLACED AND IT SEEMS TO HAVE SOLVED THE PROBLEM, FINALLY. FORTUNATELY I HAD EXTENDED INSURANCE COVERAGE SINCE THIS JOB WOULD HAVE COST A SMALL FORTUNE. THE GASKETS SHOULD HAVE BEEN REPLACED FIRST AND ALL THE CRAP COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. WHY DOESN'T CADDY COVER THIS PROBLEM? IT IS OBVIOUSLY A DESIGN FLAW AND THERE ARE THOUSANDS, MAYBE TENS OF THOUSANDS, OF NORTHSTARS OUT THERE WITH THE SAME PROBLEM. WELL NOW I HAVE A NEW WATER PUMP, NEW RADIATOR, NEW THERMOSTAT AND HOUSING, NEW BELT AND ALL SORTS OF OTHER NEW STUFF THAT PROBABLY WASN'T NEEDED AT ALL. IF ANYONE ELSE HAS A SIMILAR PROBLEM, REFER TO ORIGINAL THREAD, AND HAVE THE HEAD GASKETS REPLACED TO SAVE YOURSELF A GREAT DEAL OF TIME AND AGRIVATION.

[eldorado1]

I Think Your Capslock Is Stuck On, But Okay... And Congratulations On Getting It Cool Again

hey... Why did it uncapitalize my sentence, but not yours?

[MUGSANDLUKE]

My fault on the caps lock. OOPS! Sorry. I went through three months of grief trying to get the overheating under control. This is a lousy situation since Caddy knows about and acknowledges the problem, hence the design of Timeserts, but they won't pony up to the bar and replace the headgaskets on their defective N*'s. They are playing the odds that by the time the head gaskets go bad, the vehicle will be out of waranty and been sold as used maybe 2 or three times. They are winning this one by not paying for their own mistakes. Not nice! That's big business. If some people with a few bucks decided to move ahead with a classs action suit, Caddy would be backed into a corner that they would have to buy their way out of.

So be it. I've vented enough. Hope you never have this problem.

[AlBundy]

Sorry about your gaskets. I like many here pray it does'nt happen to us that's why we try to maintain our vehicle superbly. I always try to tell any Caddy owners who don't know about this site to check it out and try to tell them about the coolant and the sealent tabs so this kind of thread can be avoided but if it happens to me I'm sure you will still read a similar thread posted by me.

[MUGSANDLUKE]

I hope it doesn'e happen to anyone else as well. I bought this Deville DHS used with only 47000 miles on it. It was completely serviced when I bought it including brakes, rotors, belts, oil, filter, cabin air filter, all other conceivbable items including the anti freeze. Unfortunately the Caddy poltergeist had already invaded the N* and it wasn't very long before the overheating problem began. Just a warning to all N* owners for engines built from 1998 - 2002 - Change the anti freeze and flush out the cooling system every year or every 25000 miles without fail! It's all you can do to help prevent the gasket gremlin from attacking, and even then there is no guarantee this won't happen to you too. Caddy should definitely step up and take care of their manufacturing defect for all of those suffering with it. How can they admit there is a problem and then not take care of it? These are not cheap cars. When they run, they run great, and this is probably one of the best riding and handling luxury cars I have ever owned. Just kill the gremlin before it gets you!

[blb]

You won't see the problem disappear until GM installs Timeserts from the factory. You won't see that happen because GM still has the "short term, penny wise/dollar foolish, mindset" that they can save a few cents per car by not doing it when the engine is built. Meanwhile, GM's market share continues to decline, and more and more people will never go back to GM after experiences with Northstar headgasket issues, V-6 intake gasket problems, the list goes on and on. The junkyards around here are full of Northstar equipped Cadillacs that look like new, but are junked because the cost to fix them is more than the vehicle is worth. If you can turn a wrench, aren't afraid of hard work, and have some time on your hands, you can pick these cars up cheap, put some time into them, and you will have a decent vehicle when you are done. Otherwise, stay away from them. The used car lots are full of these vehicles that have been traded in because the owners have seen the typical early warning signs of impending headgasket failures, and have unloaded them in time.

[dkozloski]

Originally Posted by blb

You won't see the problem disappear until GM installs Timeserts from the factory. You won't see that happen because GM still has the "short term, penny wise/dollar foolish, mindset" that they can save a few cents per car by not doing it when the engine is built. Meanwhile, GM's market share continues to decline, and more and more people will never go back to GM after experiences with Northstar headgasket issues, V-6 intake gasket problems, the list goes on and on. The junkyards around here are full of Northstar equipped Cadillacs that look like new, but are junked because the cost to fix them is more than the vehicle is worth. If you can turn a wrench, aren't afraid of hard work, and have some time on your hands, you can pick these cars up cheap, put some time into them, and you will have a decent vehicle when you are done. Otherwise, stay away from them. The used car lots are full of these vehicles that have been traded in because the owners have seen the typical early warning signs of impending headgasket failures, and have unloaded them in time.

Which V6 are you talking about? 3.2L, 2.8L, or 3.6L? This is a new one on me and I'm familiar with a whole herd of these things.

[blb]

DKOZ, You're kidding right? Do a Google search for the full story , but here's part of it:

The intake manifold gasket issues are a huge problem on the 3.4 V-6s. In the minivan applications, they are very expensive to fix because they are very difficult to work on because of space constraints. Complete failure of the gasket will allow oil and coolant to mix, and could cause complete engine failure. Fortunately, the gaskets tend to fail slowly, so most of the time, the problem can usually be caught and repaired before catastrophic engine failure.

On the 3.8 V-6s, the plastic intake manifolds (no gaskets are used on these) warp after repeated thermal cycling allowing coolant into the intake causing, at first, intermittant misfires, and in more extreme cases hydrolocking the engine.

[Ranger]

Originally Posted by blb

DKOZ, You're kidding right? Do a Google search for the full story , but here's part of it:

The intake manifold gasket issues are a huge problem on the 3.4 V-6s. In the minivan applications, they are very expensive to fix because they are very difficult to work on because of space constraints. Complete failure of the gasket will allow oil and coolant to mix, and could cause complete engine failure. Fortunately, the gaskets tend to fail slowly, so most of the time, the problem can usually be caught and repaired before catastrophic engine failure.

On the 3.8 V-6s, the plastic intake manifolds (no gaskets are used on these) warp after repeated thermal cycling allowing coolant into the intake causing, at first, intermittant misfires, and in more extreme cases hydrolocking the engine.

That's not true. The problem is the EGR "Stove Pipe" that comes up through the manifold just behind the TB. Hot exhaust gasses eventually cause it to get brittle and deteriorate it. Coolant flows through that portion of the manifold and the TB. That is where coolant intrusion comes from. I R & R'd one on my wifes '96 Bonnevile a couple of years ago and I machined a necked down "Stove Pipe" so as to have an air space between the pipe and the manifold to prevent it from happening again.

[MUGSANDLUKE]

In view of tghe original discussion regarding the head gasket problems on N*'s, Cadillac is hell bent on destroying their own image by not addressing the design problems they know exist in large numbers. As was stated above, the American car makers are being beaten up by the Japanese manufacturers because the Japanese guys back evgerything up with a great product and a great service with a very high level of customer support. Quite a few friends of mine have switched tio Japanese products, although built oin the U.S., and have nothing but praise for service, product quality, product longevity, and finally lasting value. We, the U.S. manufacturers are their own worst enemy as is evident by the head gasket problems that Caddy won't back up for their customer base. Another slap in the face to the guys in Detroit. They are circling the drain and have to address their quality and service issues before they get flushed all the way down. The Caddy is a great car, when it runs, and a bear to fix when it doesn't. Especially with little or no financial support for design defects. I'm sure their are many of us out their that feel the same way.