Northstar...could it be my headgasket?

[dmk9561]

I'll get some grief for saying this on here, but I use Bosch Platinum plugs, as I have on my last 3 cars, and I've found that they work fine. I also used plug wires from AutoZone. There's nothing wrong with the way my car runs, nor could any of my problems be blamed on these parts. The wires are only a little cheaper but the plugs are a lot cheaper. The plugs are so much cheaper that they'd be worth it if you replaced them twice as often. The plugs and wires would total about $100 instead of $200, and I understand that for some people, including myself, that $100 is a lot of money.

Not to take away from the perfectionists on this site nor their driving style, but not everyone on here is the original owner who paid $50,000 for the car and has $50,000 expectations. For those of us who can appreciate the car as nicer than any other $4,000 car that we could have, some of the advice on this site could be difficult to rationalize. I'm not saying that they're "wrong," only that most owners would not know or need the difference. Reading some of the owner anecdotes on here and tire recommendations lead me to believe that there is a lot of difference in the way their cars are used versus mine. I love the rush of acceleration, the smoothness, the comfortable seats, and features, but it's a tool that takes me to work, too. The maintenance that I do, the tires and parts that I buy, are mostly picked because they are the best parts for the money for my use of the car. My car will never see a dynomometer. The difference between it making 236 wheel hp vs 240 means little to me. My car isn't likely to ever top 85, let alone 100, so my 70,000 mile Michelin Radial X DT are a better choice for me than Pilots. And so on.

I drove my last two cars over 200,000 miles using mostly parts from the regular auto parts stores. Some of those parts were clearly inferior to dealer parts, but that was not common. My '89 Oldsmobile saw no internal engine trouble in 185,000 miles on a steady diet of Mobil 1. Many on this site recommend against that oil, certainly on a car that old, but its dipstick was always clean and a peek into the oil filler always showed clean parts. I changed its plugs twice, and the most recent set was 100,000 miles old. They needed changing, but they weren't starkly worse than the 80,000 mile worn ones that I just took off the Cadillac, and might've been better (the Olds has a similar DIS waste-spark system).

A problem is a problem, and needs to be fixed. I've seen the videos, and your car has problems. Not everyone can afford to (nor should they) use dealer parts for every repair. Your car can be made to run fine on parts from the auto parts stores. If $100 difference in parts is a big deal that's one thing, but it's also a lot of gas, food, and things to do with the kids. I have had good results with these ignition parts before and now. I would guess that you'll end up buying that idle motor before too long, and I'd recommend getting that from rockauto or a dealer. That's the kind of part that I've found inferior from parts houses. Your ABS problems are also unlikely to be repaired as well without dealer parts. Things like brakes and ignition weren't breaking new ground on these cars, so save money there if it helps you.

This is a hugely useful site in troubleshooting, and the thousands of owners here and millions of miles have turned up every problem out there. They'll help you find what's wrong. Don't feel guilty if you can't afford the dealer parts for every repair.

[Ranger]

Ranger, I assume by "Braille" method you mean those pain in the *beep* bolts that you can't quite see, so you just have to feel your way around them? Those are always fun (enter sarcasm here).

Yup, exactly what I meant.

Dave, we recommend A/C Delco because we have seen problems with Bosch or anything from AZ. Many posts from people who have used something else and wound up doing it over again. You are more the exception than the rule, but I understand the price problem. They sure don't give those things away. You should see what the dealer wants for them. Carla could always try cheaper wires and see what happens. I would definitely stick with the Delco 41-950 plugs though over any others (41-900's where their predecessors). Just my $.02

[BodybyFisher]

I will say this, all of my experience from 1964 tells me that ONLY ACDELCO plugs work properly in GM products.

I have seen it over and over where GM engines run poorly with aftermarket plugs. Now we have seen members use Denzo, NGK, Champion etc, but our former resident Northstar Powertrain Engineer used to say.... "When you use OEM parts, GM has done the testing and validation, when you use aftermarket parts YOU do the validation". Personally I dont want to do testing or validation I want to INSTALL a part and I want it to work, PERIOD.

I have installed BOSCH plugs in an 86 Corvette and would NOT idle, I put back the old plugs and bam, it idled fine.

The ACDELCO plugs are the correct heat range, reach, etc, why start experimenting...

We are talking about an engine that puts out 1 HP per cubic inch, how much more performance do you think you are going to get?

I would NEVER use any plug in a GM engine but AC Delco, especially this engine (NS)

[CarlaValentine]

Davek, I think you're right. In my case I think I will go with a cheaper alternative. Not the cheapest, but cheaper. When I called earlier there were 3 different brands / price ranges so I will go with the middle one, which was Bosch for the plugs and I can't remember the name for the wires... but it will save me about 80$. Given the fact that I don't know for sure if changing out the plugs and wires is going to solve my problem, I would rather go with the cheaper route and save some money in case I end up having to buy something else. My biggest issue right now is that my boyfriend has to work tomorrow afternoon, and I thought he would have another way, but he doesn't. I really, really, (I can't emphasize that enough) really don't want the car driven with the way it's acting right now, but the only time it acts like this is when it is first started... I know I should go with my gut and use my better judgement (which is no), but I figure asking for opinions doesn't hurt either....does anyone have an opinion on whether I should let the car be driven? Or should I just leave it alone until I figure out the problem and get it fixed? His drive to work is about 40-45 minutes, all 65mph highway.

~Footnote~after reading what BBF had to say, I think I will go with the AC Delco plugs, and the cheaper wires, as it's the wires that are the real money suckers. There's only a 1$ difference per plug between the AC and the Bosch, and for the 8$, I'll suck it up and not take the chance. Thanks.

[BodybyFisher]

Dave makes the statement, the tires and parts that I buy, are mostly picked because they are the best parts for the money for my use of the car.

Which is fine for him, he insults us by referring to us as perfectionists and talks down to us by making statements like this

For those of us who can appreciate the car as nicer than any other $4,000 car that we could have, some of the advice on this site could be difficult to rationalize. I'm not saying that they're "wrong," only that most owners would not know or need the difference. Reading some of the owner anecdotes on here

Quite frankly, if you look at my profile, you will see a statement, EITHER DO IT RIGHT, OR DONT DO IT AT ALL... I live by that, I am NOT cheap, I dont look to do it cheap, I am NOT rich, but if I am going to replace a part, I am going to do it right, and quite frankly, given all of the help that we have given DAVE, I am getting SICK of him slapping us in the face and could care less if you left this site, people like him are a cancer. No one told DAVE to use Michelin PILOTS, I have used Michelin X myself, he is obviously in a crappy mood tonight, and so am I

I do not put others down or criticize others to make a point, and I dislike people who do. There are other Cadillac sites out there for people who want to badmouth the good members and contradict the long term advice of this site that has been passed down by Northstar Powertrain Engineers and long time Cadillac owners and mechanics.

[BodybyFisher]

It is not necessary to go to the dealer to get parts, you can get better prices by going to

www.rockauto.com

www.gmotors.com

and others that other members can post.

We are driving Cadillacs here, we are not paying $50K for our cars but we are benefitting from terrific engineering at a fraction of the cost, because I do my own work and I am not paying $100 an hour, I can afford to put the BEST parts in my car.

[BodybyFisher]

Also be very careful with cheaper wires, cheaper wires can have inferior shielding. Inferior shielding can interfer with the injector pulses, the HVAC control board by allowing EMF to leak.

I would be careful

Keep in mind that the plugs and wires last for 100,000 miles, not the 15,000 miles from the old days, so WHY NOT do it right?

[BodybyFisher]

Here is an example of what I was talking about with Bosch plugs

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/613...park-plugs.html

and this

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cadillac-Repair...ark-plugs-1.htm

and this

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...02194818AA3Ch56

The other problem is that the OEM AC Delco plugs are coated to stop them from seizing in the head, are aftermarket plugs coated?

[CarlaValentine]

Also be very careful with cheaper wires, cheaper wires can have inferior shielding. Inferior shielding can interfer with the injector pulses, the HVAC control board by allowing EMF to leak.

I would be careful

Keep in mind that the plugs and wires last for 100,000 miles, not the 15,000 miles from the old days, so WHY NOT do it right?

I completely understand your "do it right or don't do it at all" philosophy. I want to do things right, which is why I have decided to go with the AC Delco plugs as recommended. I'm not going to go with the cheapest wire set available, which were 65$, but I also can't really afford to pay the 140$ for the AC Delco wires either. Well, I could but it would leave me tight and I want to try and save a little money like I said just in case there is something else wrong, and I do end up having to pay out more money. The wires I am getting are 90$, and I can't remember the brand off hand. I just remember that they have to be ordered factory direct, and they have a 5 year unlimited warranty on them so if nothing else I can return them and get the AC Delco ones later on and pay the difference. My father has a business account at the place I'm getting them from, so he can do part exchanges on anything with a warranty. So I'm trying to do things right, but I can only do things within my means, you know? I'm not poor by any means, but I'm not rich either. I knew when I bought the car that Caddy's are expensive to replace parts on. I just didn't foresee having to replace anything quite so soon.

[dmk9561]

Dave makes the statement, the tires and parts that I buy, are mostly picked because they are the best parts for the money for my use of the car.

Which is fine for him, he insults us by referring to us as perfectionists and talks down to us by making statements like this

For those of us who can appreciate the car as nicer than any other $4,000 car that we could have, some of the advice on this site could be difficult to rationalize. I'm not saying that they're "wrong," only that most owners would not know or need the difference. Reading some of the owner anecdotes on here

Quite frankly, if you look at my profile, you will see a statement, EITHER DO IT RIGHT, OR DONT DO IT AT ALL... I live by that, I am NOT cheap, I dont look to do it cheap, I am NOT rich, but if I am going to replace a part, I am going to do it right, and quite frankly, given all of the help that we have given DAVE, I am getting SICK of him slapping us in the face and could care less if you left this site, people like him are a cancer. No one told DAVE to use Michelin PILOTS, I have used Michelin X myself, he is obviously in a crappy mood tonight, and so am I

I do not put others down or criticize others to make a point, and I dislike people who do. There are other Cadillac sites out there for people who want to badmouth the good members and contradict the long term advice of this site that has been passed down by Northstar Powertrain Engineers and long time Cadillac owners and mechanics.

Hey, I didn't call anybody out by name, and I have not habitually swooped into topics on here and told people to go cheap on repairs. I don't come here to slap people in the face, and I don't consider perfectionism to be an insult. In this topic, though, it sounded like the prudent thing to do. I'm trying to help another member who doesn't have another car to fall back on, and who can't afford to take the car to a mechanic and ask them to just fix it. These cars can be frustrating to work on. As sophisticated as the computer appears to be, my bad coil pack didn't throw a code. Neither did the vacuum leak that my ham-handed repair attempts briefly added, even though the combination made it run really badly. I simply don't think that it's always necessary to buy the GM repair parts to get a good repair, especially in light of the cost. For engine and chassis electronics, sensors and so on, I'm pretty sure that they are necessary. For many other parts, most users are not likely to notice any difference.

It's clear to me that many of the people on here drive a lot faster and harder than I do. They're much more likely to see some benefit from the very small differences there. I didn't make this an insult, so please don't treat me like I did. I was just trying to help someone save $100.

[KHE]

It is hard to tell from the photo of the plug but it may be missing the platinum pad on the ground electrode? If so, the gap will be much greater than the spec. and the car will run rough.

When you replace the plug wires, make sure to maintain the factory routing (take pictures of the routing) and keep the plug wires at least 1 inch away from the blower motor or you run the risk of damaging the blower motor.

[winterset]

Also be very careful with cheaper wires, cheaper wires can have inferior shielding. Inferior shielding can interfer with the injector pulses, the HVAC control board by allowing EMF to leak.

I would be careful

Keep in mind that the plugs and wires last for 100,000 miles, not the 15,000 miles from the old days, so WHY NOT do it right?

I recall about 6 years ago and 20k , I replaced my wires & plugs. I used Bosch triple tip plugs, and Bosch wires. I think the plugs were about $7 each, and the wire set was about $60. neither was GM. Do I regreat using this Yes. do I have issues - No.

you ask why do you regret it? - because if there is a problem, I don't know it. can the car be getting better mileage? - possibly

are the plugs seizing on the block? - unknown.

it's on my list to replace with GM plugs & wires.

I didn't know any better back then. Unfortunately now I cannot do this work myself anymore.

[CarlaValentine]

It is hard to tell from the photo of the plug but it may be missing the platinum pad on the ground electrode? If so, the gap will be much greater than the spec. and the car will run rough.

When you replace the plug wires, make sure to maintain the factory routing (take pictures of the routing) and keep the plug wires at least 1 inch away from the blower motor or you run the risk of damaging the blower motor.

I think taking pictures sounds like a good idea, as this doesn't seem to be a case where you can use the "change them one at a time" method that has worked on any other old GM I have owned. It may work as far as the caps on the plugs go, but not when reconnecting them to the coil pack and re routing them through the holding brackets. It seems like a simple job though, just maybe a little time consuming.

Well, I found the how-to on the Fuel Injector Coil Test, so I think I am going to go give that a shot and see how that turns out. I'll post back here when I'm done.

[CarlaValentine]

Ok so I just ran the Fuel Injector Coil Test and here's how it came out. I ran through it twice just to see if the results changed as each one was disabled, but they were exactly the same both times. The idle was steady at about 600 before I started this. When I entered the override, it went up to 1,000, but I think it did that on purpose because after I exited the override it went back down to 600.

Cylinder 1: Idle dropped slightly (by slightly I mean enough to hear, but not really see on the tac)

Cylinder 2: Idle dropped slightly, slight chugging

Cylinder 3: Idle dropped slightly, slight chugging

Cylinder 4: Idle dropped to 900

Cylinder 5: No change

Cylinder 6: Idle dropped to less than 500, nearly stalled (i released the button so it wouldn't)

Cylinder 7: No change

Cylinder 8: No change

I'm not sure exactly how to interpret all of this. All I do know is that there being no change at all in cylinders 5, 7 and 8 probably isn't a good thing. And why would disabling #6 cause my car to nearly stall when none of the others did?

After I was done with this, I took the car out for a short drive. (it wasn't intended to be short) I guess I shouldn't have taken it out of my driveway, but it was idling so well when I was doing the fuel injector test, I thought I would take it out and see how it would act while driving. I wanted to take it out on the highway and open it up a bit, cuz to be honest, I have babied this car a bit since I got it, and figured maybe a good "carbon cleanout" might help it out a little, but I didn't even get to the highway ramp before it died. It stalled while I was accelerating at 45 mph, so I put it in neutral and let it roll to a stop. It took a LOT to get it started again, and it acted as if it were starved of fuel. Luckily I wasn't far from my house, but it did stall one more time before I got her home. Both times it stalled I smelled sulfur VERY strong. I'm wondering if maybe a clogged fuel filter could have anything to do with this?

[BodybyFisher]

You need to put a fuel pressure gage on it and see what your pressure is, maybe you can borrow one. If you were starving for gas you would get a lean code

It is very odd that you are getting no change on 5, 6, 7 and 8, are you sure that those numbers represent the cylinders?, I will look at the coil arrangement to see how cylinders are paired.

I do not believe that the OBD1 system will report misfires, it would be interesting to see if you are misfiring

Check your codes again and report them.

[PAUL T]

Ok so I just ran the Fuel Injector Coil Test and here's how it came out. I ran through it twice just to see if the results changed as each one was disabled, but they were exactly the same both times. The idle was steady at about 600 before I started this. When I entered the override, it went up to 1,000, but I think it did that on purpose because after I exited the override it went back down to 600.

Cylinder 1: Idle dropped slightly (by slightly I mean enough to hear, but not really see on the tac)

Cylinder 2: Idle dropped slightly, slight chugging

Cylinder 3: Idle dropped slightly, slight chugging

Cylinder 4: Idle dropped to 900

Cylinder 5: No change

Cylinder 6: Idle dropped to less than 500, nearly stalled (i released the button so it wouldn't)

Cylinder 7: No change

Cylinder 8: No change

I'm not sure exactly how to interpret all of this. All I do know is that there being no change at all in cylinders 5, 7 and 8 probably isn't a good thing. And why would disabling #6 cause my car to nearly stall when none of the others did?

After I was done with this, I took the car out for a short drive. (it wasn't intended to be short) I guess I shouldn't have taken it out of my driveway, but it was idling so well when I was doing the fuel injector test, I thought I would take it out and see how it would act while driving. I wanted to take it out on the highway and open it up a bit, cuz to be honest, I have babied this car a bit since I got it, and figured maybe a good "carbon cleanout" might help it out a little, but I didn't even get to the highway ramp before it died. It stalled while I was accelerating at 45 mph, so I put it in neutral and let it roll to a stop. It took a LOT to get it started again, and it acted as if it were starved of fuel. Luckily I wasn't far from my house, but it did stall one more time before I got her home. Both times it stalled I smelled sulfur VERY strong. I'm wondering if maybe a clogged fuel filter could have anything to do with this?

When you cut the fuel from an injector it should drop or chug because you are robbing that cylinder of its fuel. Knowing that, if you have a cylinder that did not drop or chug then that is bad. It tells you a few things. If you had a bad coil the both cylinders on that coil would have no change. According to my 94 Manual the cylinder/coil are 1-4, 2-5, 6-7, & 3-8. Since you do not have any corresponding cylinders with no change then your coils are fine. That leaves you with either a bad plug, bad wire, or bad injector. Since all your trouble is on the rear cylinders I would look at the plugs and wires for them first. Check the wire routing, make sure they are not touching any metal or within 1" of the fan motor. I put wire looms on mine. Do not grab a wire while the car is running especially around the coils, they will light you up. Take my word for it. I would run the balance test a few times until you get consistant results. According to these results you are only running on 4 or 5 cylinders. I would check the FPR. To do this take the cover off and find the little cylinder shaped object with the nipple on it. Have someone turn the key on (engine off) and see if gas spews out the nipple, if it does replace the FPR. DO NOT START THE ENGINE WITH THE COVER OFF. The cover is part of the manifold on the 94's and the car will run at full throttle with the cover off.

As far as OEM plugs & wires, I checked rockauto.com and for OEM plugs & wires your cost would be $137.00+shipping. My shipping was $16. If you get a new FPR get an OEM one because an aftermarket one from Advance or NAPA would not fit in the bracket that holds it in. This is from experience on my 94 Concours.

With all my experience on my 94 Concours and on this website OEM is the way to go. The only time I did not go OEM is when I bought an Airtex waterpump only after the Guru told us that Airtex made the OEM's. I usually do not buy new cars My 94 Concours had 64,000 miles and I bought it for $6000 in 99, it finally let me down with 166000 miles with pulled headbolts. The 97 had 89000 miles, I bought it in 2007 for $4000 with most of the maintenance records. I has around 134,000 miles now and running better than ever with no oil leaks and minimun oil usage, 2 quarts between changes.

[CarlaValentine]

I just went out and ran the codes. I feel it's worth mentioning that I did clear them before I did the fuel injector coil test. I haven't ever had this many codes show up on one car at the same time. Most show up as history, but keep in mind the car did stall twice during the one time I drove it today, and if I am not mistaken history simply means it wasn't present the last time the car was running?

I052 H: Keep alive memory error (i'm sure this is no big deal)

T027 H: LF Wheel speed sensor continuity fault (i already know what this is..bad connector at the hub)

P032 C: Open MAP sensor signal (checked for vacuum leaks. didn't find any, though that doesn't mean there aren't any)

P039 H: Torque / Viscous converter clutch engagement problem (saw this once before)

P071 H: Intermittent MAP signal (MAP sensor was changed less than a month ago)

P095 H: Engine Stall Detected (duh..sorry, my sarcasm seems to overwhelm me on this one)

P105 H: Brake Booster Vacuum too low (clueless on this one)

It would seem I have a vacuum leak somewhere, or that my new MAP sensor has taken a turn for the worse already...which I guess wouldn't really surprise me with the way it has been running lately.

Where exactly will I find the FPR to check it for leaks? and to check the pressure for that matter if I am able to get a fuel pressure gauge. I wasn't going to ask because I figured I could find something that would tell me where it was, but I haven't been able to find anything, and I don't want to go tearing anything apart and not know what I am looking for. I figure it best to ask than to be stupid and mess something up trying to do it myself. Excuse me if I seem a little naive, but this engine is still pretty alien to me, lol.

[PAUL T]

P105 H: Brake Booster Vacuum too low (clueless on this one)

It would seem I have a vacuum leak somewhere, or that my new MAP sensor has taken a turn for the worse already...which I guess wouldn't really surprise me with the way it has been running lately.

Where exactly will I find the FPR to check it for leaks? and to check the pressure for that matter if I am able to get a fuel pressure gauge. I wasn't going to ask because I figured I could find something that would tell me where it was, but I haven't been able to find anything, and I don't want to go tearing anything apart and not know what I am looking for. I figure it best to ask than to be stupid and mess something up trying to do it myself. Excuse me if I seem a little naive, but this engine is still pretty alien to me, lol.

Check the vacuum line to the brake booster.

Under the manifold cover, take out the 12 or so bolts holding it on, you will see a plastic retainer that holds the injectors. On that retainer on the drivers side there is a silver round cylindrical part with a nipple on it. That is the FPR, it just clips in the retainer and has a gas line connected to the bottom. Turn the key on, engine off, and check for gas spewing out of the FPR, there should not be any sign of gas. Read the warning in my last post about starting the engine with the cover off. With the cover off the fuel pressure valve is on the fuel rail. It looks like a large tire valve. Check it with the key on engine off.

[Ranger]

Yup, start with the basics and check the fuel pressure and the FPR. If you don't have a fuel pressure gauge, I'm sure your dad or brother do. If they are not available, Autozone has a free rental. You want about 45 psi at the fuel rail.

[MAC]

Do not try to start a '94 Eldorado with the cover off since it is necessary to maintain proper vacuum. If you're going to check the FPR, which is at the left rear corner under the cover, you will need to put the cover back on before starting. On the later models the FPR was mounted on the exterior with a vacuum line which makes it possible to take the beauty cover off and start, but the '94 Northstar is different.

[CarlaValentine]

Ive been trying to track down a fuel pressure gauge. My brother has one at his shop where he works, but that would require me to get the car there (no can do). Haven't been able to reach my father yet, so I am just going to go bug him personally tomorrow, hehehe. If all else fails, I will borrow one from a local auto store. I will hopefully have a loaner car for the day tomorrow so travel won't be an issue anyway.

Now I may be wrong here, so correct me if I am (still learning here after all) but bad plugs / wires seem a more likely culprit to me than a fuel issue. It seems to me that if the fuel pressure was the issue, then the fuel injector coil test would have shown problems on all cylinders, not just 3 of them. Also, the car does have a lot of miles on it, and I am quite sure the plugs and wires have never been changed. I just think that it's more likely for spark plugs or wires to be the cause of a problem that is confined to only (i say that like it's a good thing) 3 cylinders. That's just my thought.

I'm not trying to say I think anyone is wrong, and I am definitely going to check the fuel issue anyway. You all have more experience with this than I do, and it is better to be safe than sorry.

And I promise I will not start the car with the cover off. Really. I won't.

And if anyone else tries to, I will kick them. =)

[Texas Jim]

Ive been trying to track down a fuel pressure gauge. My brother has one at his shop where he works, but that would require me to get the car there (no can do). Haven't been able to reach my father yet, so I am just going to go bug him personally tomorrow, hehehe. If all else fails, I will borrow one from a local auto store. I will hopefully have a loaner car for the day tomorrow so travel won't be an issue anyway.

Now I may be wrong here, so correct me if I am (still learning here after all) but bad plugs / wires seem a more likely culprit to me than a fuel issue. It seems to me that if the fuel pressure was the issue, then the fuel injector coil test would have shown problems on all cylinders, not just 3 of them. Also, the car does have a lot of miles on it, and I am quite sure the plugs and wires have never been changed. I just think that it's more likely for spark plugs or wires to be the cause of a problem that is confined to only (i say that like it's a good thing) 3 cylinders. That's just my thought.

I'm not trying to say I think anyone is wrong, and I am definitely going to check the fuel issue anyway. You all have more experience with this than I do, and it is better to be safe than sorry.

And I promise I will not start the car with the cover off. Really. I won't.

And if anyone else tries to, I will kick them. =)

Since no one else answered this post yet....I will.

Changing the plugs and wires is an excellent idea.

That may be a large part of the problem.

The fuel pressure still needs to be checked, but you said you were going to do that.

Keep us in the loop.

[BodybyFisher]

Dave makes the statement, the tires and parts that I buy, are mostly picked because they are the best parts for the money for my use of the car.

Which is fine for him, he insults us by referring to us as perfectionists and talks down to us by making statements like this

For those of us who can appreciate the car as nicer than any other $4,000 car that we could have, some of the advice on this site could be difficult to rationalize. I'm not saying that they're "wrong," only that most owners would not know or need the difference. Reading some of the owner anecdotes on here

Quite frankly, if you look at my profile, you will see a statement, EITHER DO IT RIGHT, OR DONT DO IT AT ALL... I live by that, I am NOT cheap, I dont look to do it cheap, I am NOT rich, but if I am going to replace a part, I am going to do it right, and quite frankly, given all of the help that we have given DAVE, I am getting SICK of him slapping us in the face and could care less if you left this site, people like him are a cancer. No one told DAVE to use Michelin PILOTS, I have used Michelin X myself, he is obviously in a crappy mood tonight, and so am I

I do not put others down or criticize others to make a point, and I dislike people who do. There are other Cadillac sites out there for people who want to badmouth the good members and contradict the long term advice of this site that has been passed down by Northstar Powertrain Engineers and long time Cadillac owners and mechanics.

Hey, I didn't call anybody out by name, and I have not habitually swooped into topics on here and told people to go cheap on repairs. I don't come here to slap people in the face, and I don't consider perfectionism to be an insult. In this topic, though, it sounded like the prudent thing to do. I'm trying to help another member who doesn't have another car to fall back on, and who can't afford to take the car to a mechanic and ask them to just fix it. These cars can be frustrating to work on. As sophisticated as the computer appears to be, my bad coil pack didn't throw a code. Neither did the vacuum leak that my ham-handed repair attempts briefly added, even though the combination made it run really badly. I simply don't think that it's always necessary to buy the GM repair parts to get a good repair, especially in light of the cost. For engine and chassis electronics, sensors and so on, I'm pretty sure that they are necessary. For many other parts, most users are not likely to notice any difference.

It's clear to me that many of the people on here drive a lot faster and harder than I do. They're much more likely to see some benefit from the very small differences there. I didn't make this an insult, so please don't treat me like I did. I was just trying to help someone save $100.

Your opinion is your opinion. I just dont like the way you presented your opinion, putting down our opinion in the process. No you didnt call out anyone by name here but you continually spoke negatively about advice given on this board from your perspective framing it as 'the cheap way is the best way to go' because it does not matter. nor would any of us know the difference.

Carla is doing the right thing, she is learning about the car, and you are poisoning her to the advice given on this site and I took offense to it. I didnt like the negative tone of your post #51, please dont act like it was OK. All you needed to say was I have used the less expensive Bosch with good results, without putting us or the dealer down in the process

[BSchlossmann]

P039

I have been setting this code for several years. It clears every time that the car is restarted.

Initially the code would set when shifting into torque converter lockup at 43 / 45 mph. This would typically occur under light acceleration on a slight incline. When the problem occurs the vehicle still runs fine, with the only draw back is that you lose about 10% of your MPG at highway speeds. My 93 Eldo typically gets between 25 / 27 mpg and 23 / 25 when the P039 occurs. To minimize the setting of the code I stay n 3rd gear until reaching highing speed.

There was a EPROM computer chip change which some members have installed which has helped in preventing the p039 code from being set. More info in the archive.

I recently purchased a second Cadillac, 2004 DeVille DHS, with 34k, in show room condition, a really nice vehicle, this purchased has cause me not to sink a lot of funds into my 17 year old Eldo, which is approaching the end of it's usefulness. At this point I'm planning to perform only the required maintenance and repiars to keep it road worthy. The Eldo has been a very good car wth the only maintenance being a new battery, water pump, front wheel bearings, calipers, rotors and brakes all the way arround. Never had an over heating problem. I have been mostly monitoring this board for several years and have received excellent advise from the members on a variety of different subjects.

Changing gears...

I have 214k miles on my vehicle, and at each 100k interval, I had to de-carbon the EGR system b cleaning out the phanolic spacers, including the mouse holes. Doing this improved gas mileage by about 10%. This job takes a couple of hours and their is plenty of information in the archive.

[CarlaValentine]

P039

I have been setting this code for several years. It clears every time that the car is restarted.

Initially the code would set when shifting into torque converter lockup at 43 / 45 mph. This would typically occur under light acceleration on a slight incline. When the problem occurs the vehicle still runs fine, with the only draw back is that you lose about 10% of your MPG at highway speeds. My 93 Eldo typically gets between 25 / 27 mpg and 23 / 25 when the P039 occurs. To minimize the setting of the code I stay n 3rd gear until reaching highing speed.

There was a EPROM computer chip change which some members have installed which has helped in preventing the p039 code from being set. More info in the archive.

I recently purchased a second Cadillac, 2004 DeVille DHS, with 34k, in show room condition, a really nice vehicle, this purchased has cause me not to sink a lot of funds into my 17 year old Eldo, which is approaching the end of it's usefulness. At this point I'm planning to perform only the required maintenance and repiars to keep it road worthy. The Eldo has been a very good car wth the only maintenance being a new battery, water pump, front wheel bearings, calipers, rotors and brakes all the way arround. Never had an over heating problem. I have been mostly monitoring this board for several years and have received excellent advise from the members on a variety of different subjects.

Changing gears...

I have 214k miles on my vehicle, and at each 100k interval, I had to de-carbon the EGR system b cleaning out the phanolic spacers, including the mouse holes. Doing this improved gas mileage by about 10%. This job takes a couple of hours and their is plenty of information in the archive.

I do want to clean out the entire EGR system, as the car does have over 150k miles on it...I believe it's about 154k now actually. (First things first though, I need to figure out what is causing my dead cylinders and take care of that, as that's the bigger problem on the table right now) I have looked a little bit into how to clean the EGR system, and I will admit it's a little scary to me.

I do have a couple people that I could hand my car to and say "here, fix this" and my car would already be all taken care of (so long as I bought the required parts) but I really don't want to do that. I really love this car, and I take pride in it, and I would prefer to do as much as I can on it myself. I may need advice as far as what to do and what to look for, but when it comes down to doing the work on it, I would rather try my own hand at it before I ask someone else to do it for me. That is why I am trying my best to learn as much as I can about it before I go out there tearing things apart and wind up breaking something. I'm smarter than that. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Plain and simple. But I have learned a lot already, and am quickly learning more. I am extremely grateful for this forum and everyone on it because I know good and well I wouldn't have been able to figure all of this out on my own.

I'll have new plugs and wires, and a fuel gauge on Thursday morning, so I will be changing out plugs and wires and checking for fuel leaks and fuel pressure on Thursday (weather permitting, don't want to do this in the pouring rain since I am confined to my driveway) I figure I may as well do it all at once. Seems easier to me that way. I'm also going to check again for vacuum leaks (assuming I get it running) to see what's throwing the MAP sensor and brake booster codes. Maybe I need a new MAP sensor again. Hopefully the fuel system checks out alright, and the new plugs and wires do the trick. If not, then I guess I start looking elsewhere for possible causes of this problem. For now I am keeping my fingers crossed!