My 1999 cadillac deville is overheating
Question
QUESTION: My 1999 Cadillac deville is overheating when driving for 15 minutes maybe a little longer than that and also if I go over 50mph.I was driving on the highway for about 15 minutes and I was going 75mph when it told me coolant temperature was too high and to turn off the car right away.It tells me to add coolant every month and I don't see any leaks and also after driving when I turn off my car you can hear boiling and steaming.I have a new overflow where you pour the coolant in and it has a new radiator and new hoses and a new tensioner and a new tensioner belt and a new water pump and a new thermostat. My car has 177,565 miles on it and I have to have smoke run through my vacuum hoses to finger a leak.PLEASE HELP ME AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO WHO EVER DOES!
ANSWER: Hello,
I have addressed about 5 of these situations in the last 3 weeks. You simply cannot run this aluminum engine hot without doing damage. I sounds from your description that you have a blown head gasket-a common event as a result of over heating. I can't give you the exact cause of the overheating because I do not know if all the gasket material was removed with the thermostat or water pump. This engine has very small water jackets and something as little as old gasket remains can plug this engine and cause over heating. I have seen this event many times and so you can understand why I am not going to venture to guess.
Take it to a service center and have a cooling system pressure tester installed on cold engine. Have it started after the pressure is pumped up. If the gauge is bouncing all over, you have a blown head gasket. As I said too-this is the result and not the cause.
Have the radiator cap checked too in order to see if it holds pressure.
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---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks for your answer and if it turns out its old gasket pieces clogging the coolant can it be removed and how much do you think something like that could cost to fix and is that the shops fault for not fixinging it right and how much would do think it would cost to fix a blown head gasket?
Answer
Hello,
This is kind of like a pig in a poke. There is no definitive answer for you here with these aluminum answers when you ask about price. Each over heated Cadillac engine is intrinsic as to what can cause over heating and the after affect damage of a blown head gasket.
I have seen these engines in every form and there is no absolutes.
The gasket issue has been quite common on water pumps and thermostats when replaced because one needs to be very vigilant when doing these operations. Even ran into one that the guy could not stop thanking me on this site where he found the remains of silicone gasket in his radiator and once he retrieved it which was restricting coolant going back into the overflow bottle, his overheating issue was solved.
I am not saying gasket material is your problem, but there has been so much changed, who knows what anyone did.
One lady had her new water pump removed and there was the old silicone lying in the water jacket. End of problem.
As for the head gasket, you don't know what you have until the head is removed. Hopefully it is a blown head gasket and you are done. The heads are aluminum as well and can warp and crack. The block can crack with the water jacket dumping coolant into the cylinder. You just do not know what you are getting into.
If it were my car, I would take it to a reputable service center and stay away from the dealer being that Cadillac already ripped people off on the engine in the first place with no warning about over heating issues. Its very sad that even AMC & Renault at least could design an aluminum engine in 1983 one year after Cadillac first introduced the aluminum engine that even if severely over heated, could be repaired if the block was junk. Instead, the engineers deliberately designed this engine to be replaced with a new GM crate engine at over $4k because everything in the junk yards had been over heated. As I have said, plaintiff attorneys really blew a class action law suit here.
I am sure your engine is still repairable and I am just giving worse case scenario. You need to make sure it is a head gasket by getting it diagnosed as I previously described. The whole system must be checked. Are the fans working? Is the radiator cap good etc.
Let me know what you find.
Good luck!!
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