Cadillac Owners Forum banner
10K views 64 replies 11 participants last post by  Submariner409 
#1 · (Edited)
New to the forum but would appreciate your help.

  • antifreeze smell
  • windows fog
  • overheating

    I got the sensor saying the antifreeze level is low. I add antifreeze last night, then drive to work today. I began smelling antifreeze at lunch, then attempted to drive home from work. The smell started faintly, then got stonger. The temperature at first flucuates between 205-217, then about 3 miles later jumped, at last check to 251 and began to smoke inside the cabin, fogging up windows. I pull over (since I can't see) pop the hood, but see no smoke atthe engine, only faintly on the back panel (firewall). All smoke is inside the cabin, witha small fluid drip on the passenger side floor. I was told at first by my brother it is a cracked/blown head or block. I then talked to a friend that works on cars, who says it is a heater core. Please help.
 
#5 ·
You guys are great. Quick responses. Please help with repair price range from private garage, or how easy to work on myself. it is a 1998 Deville, 4.6L Northstar.
It is not a easy thing to repair, try the "search" section and type in heater core for some info, the search feature is just above this reply,
look around for it,there's two lines of topics,it's in there.good luck.
 
#7 ·
Not even remotely linked. Click on the Technical Archives at the top of the page and read up on oil consumption. I doubt you where "extremely" low. You will get a warning message to CHECK OIL LEVEL when you are 2 qts low or just about the time that the level drops off the tip of the dipstick. You still have 5.5 qts in the sump. If you did not get that message you where not even that low.
 
#8 ·
The oil change shop probably only installed 5.5 quarts of oil. The Northstar takes 7.5 quarts to bring it to the middle of the dipstick hashmark, no higher.

There's a GM Technical Service Bulletin concerning oil fill and consumption: If you carry your oil at the top or MAX mark, it's overfilled.

Go up and read the entire Cadillac Technical Archive up ^^^ in the black bar.

(edit .............Oooooopppps......Ranger beat me to it.....
 
#10 ·
Just got it back. Runs fine. no antifreeze smell. Shop told me it still runs hotter than he expected at stops and idle. He suggested I get a dye test at dealership, to see if there is any seepage or engine damage. I have a feeling it has run too hot for too long and has damaged the block. I'm interested to know what temperature range is "O.K." before I need to panic.

Any thoughts?
 
#13 ·
Relax, you did not mess anything up. If your head gaskets go, I guarantee you it is not from running those temps. My '97 ran those temps consistently. The Northstar was designed and tested to run with NO coolant for 50 miles, alternately shutting down each bank of injectors and pumping air through them to cool it WITHOUT doing any damage. That happens when it hits 260 degrees.
 
#15 ·
If you "blow" a head gasket you will not see massive amounts of steam. It will start out very very slow. You won't even see any steam in the early stages. You'll simply be low on coolant or maybe overheat once in a while. It slowly gets worse. You are fine, don't loose any sleep over it. Worst you did was stain the carpet. Clean it up and enjoy the car.
 
#16 ·
Drove it to work this morning. 26 mile trip. highway mile went fine. never went above 205. Once I got off highway for a mile trip through city streets the thing starts to spike incrementally. It gets up to 233, but then goes back down to 210 once I ge to work. I don't remember it doing that previously. Any help? Also, at what temp does the fan kick on?
 
#18 ·
Bad News. Ran hot on way home from work. Got stop engine, engine overheat, coolant too hot and change engine oil messages. Parked, opened hood and heard gurgling in reserve coolant tank. Steam coming from left side of engine, close to the reserve tank. Will let cool down before doing anything else. What to do? What to do?
 
#20 · (Edited)
Ranger, I tested, got negative. I hope I did it correctly. I follow instructions to a tee. I still get boilover in coolant. Should I turn enginne of to make sure I don't get any coolant in the test tube? Also noticed the with A/C on low, bot fans are on. Only 1 should come on on low, correct?

Do you think it may be something else, maybe thermo stuck? (I doubt it , but I pray it is something simple like that)
 
#23 ·
Test fluid turns yellow. Both fans run in slow with an A/C function. Check your surge tank cap. It MUST hold at least 16 psi to keep boilover at ~256 degrees. Fill the surge tank to halfway, COLD, no more.
 
#24 ·
So Sub, if it boils before 256, it could be the rad cap? It started to boildat around 230-235.

Anyone else have their block test turn green, not yellow? I think I will have to take it to a rad shop for a bottom line analysis. Thoughts or suggestions welcome.

Thanks for all of your help so far.
 
#25 ·
Did it actually "boil"? False boiling is when a head gasket fails and exhaust gases are pumped into the cooling system. The gases make their way to the tank and as the pressure builds, they vent through the overflow which appears to be boil over. This can happen even when the engine is cold. If it truly was boiling at 230-235, then the cap is not holding pressure.
 
#26 ·
Thanks again Ranger. So my understanding is, if it is boiling before 259, it may be the pressure cap. It was definately boiling before that. In other post on the forum, I've read the 5 different reasons for boil over of the anti freeze, and that is one of them.

Also, based on what the rad shop is teling me, I may have sucked fluid into the test by mistake, due to the boiling. That is why the dye turned green. Does anyone have an idea temp to begin the block test?

I have it at a rad shop this morning. I shold know something shortly. I will update to keep others informed.
 
#27 ·
well this may or may not help...but I had a roughly same thing on couple of different cars

latest ebing my mazda truck

I had a rad blw BAD on the highway and nowhere to pull off for almost 3 miles...soooo...kept going. Thought for sure I had blown the block or damaged something bad. I replaced the rad, filled with fluid and got home which was the important part...after that I went out the next day and she was low on coolant which I expected and I fill up and sat and waited (I had my fans off..I put in electrics on the truck and a manual controlled switch) and waited and let it get up to temp and had the cap off the rad...had to let it BURP all the air that had gotten in the system...and there apparently was ALOT...cuz it took me 45 minutes of allowing it to burp like that before it calmed down...it would look like it was stopping and such...eventually I shut the truck off, left the cap off and went insude for a bit...came out about 3 hours later and redid it again and it finally started calming down....so 45 mins on a 4 cyclinder with a TINY radiator. And I had the gurgling from the overflow as well

So you may just have lots of air in there and need to let it burp it all out.

dont read too much into it.

I have had a hundred people tell me my block was done for, gasket blown....bla bla bla....and it was simply air left over in the system

may not be in your case but its something to look into before you going throwing $$ at something that you dont necessarily need yet
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top