Jim's 1997 ETC

[Cadillac Jim]

I bought my ETC in October 1997. I was trying to work with a Chevy-Cadillac dealer for a new 1998 Corvette. I wanted to look at the options sheet, mark it up, negotiate a price, and order a car. But all I could get the Chevy side to do was show me the two cars on hand that a couple of younger sales guys were driving around as their own cars demos. For three days, I tried to get them to show me an option sheet. In the meantime, the Caddy people were answering my questions about the Northstar. The ETC was about 225 pounds lighter than the STS that year and a couple of tenths quicker 0-60, so that was my focus. The Caddy people found my threshold before the Chevy people ever showed me an option sheet. I've been glad ever since. I love Corvettes but I doubt that I would be driving one every day and loving it at 100K+ miles, with no plans for changing cars.

The main "mod" is the tires, Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. The original Goodyear Eagle RS-A's were very good. Two other tires I tried after those were fair. But I find the Pilot Sport A/S tires the next best thing to 18 inch wheels with low-profile tires, and they retain the stock look. I've seen inquiries about strut performance upgrades and such – you don't need them. Be warned, though, that you do give up some ride smoothness on rough roads if you get tires that will provide all the handling performance that your car is capable of. The current tires are W-rated but I don't feel a strong need to take off the 130 mph speed limiter.

One other thing that I learned from CaddyInfo.com forums is that you must change the coolant occasionally. My head bolts started pulling out at 116,000 miles because I hadn't changed it in seven years – see the timesert topic in CaddyInfo Polls for more information. I'm replacing my coolant every three years or sooner from now on.

Click on my forum name, Jims_97_ETC, and see a nice picture in my profile.

I've got eight and a half years experience with the 300 HP Northstar. I'll entertain questions and comments on just about anything, and trust Bruce to move stuff that is too off-topic. One thing that you may find interesting is that I'm on track for about 165,000 miles for my first brake job.

[Cadillac Jim]

I had the car detailed in September 2006 because it was rear-ended by a Honda Civic, badly scratcing the rear bumper cover and compressing the left shock absorbing mount on the bumber, and taking out the mufflers. The body shop sent the car, with Borla 40357's, to Meineke along with some used mufflers with tips from another Cadillac. I didn't get the year of the tips but I believe that they are from a 1994 STS.

The exhaust note is subdued and low in pitch. In normal driving in traffic, they don't stand out at all, and with the windows closed you can't hear them over the radio. On moderate throttle they issue an authoritative low-pitched mutter -- a classic Borla statement of authority. I did this once on the way home to handle a horsy V8 pickup truck that was going to inadvertently cut me off from making my exit, a thoughtless lack of respect that evaporated when the exhaust tone announced politely that I was at quarter throttle in 4th while handling the situation adroitly.

In the garage, I opened the window and revved the car gently to 3,000 RPM several times. Nothing. These are Borla XS Turbo mufflers, but I believe that the basic Northstar exhaust design -- double 4 to 1, then 2 to1, then a catalytic converter about 18 inches down, then a 2.25" pipe to the rear, then a Y to two 2" pipes to twin mufflers, then 2.25" to inverted Y's to cooled tips -- is inherently quiet, while giving maximum power by providing a resonator in the catalytic converter exactly where it needs to be for an exhaust resonance at the proper RPM. Meineke says that the Northstar doesn't need a low-restriction catalytic converter, and I agree. All the Borlas are going to do is eliminate the back pressure of the Cadillac whisper-quiet mufflers and give you a dignified but authoritative exhaust note. My plan was to set up my digital camera on MOVIE with sound on a tripod, then get in and rev it a few times. I need to develop a Plan B with an assistant doing the recording while I take off from a stop, or I won't have any sound bytes of interest to post here.

One thing that I did notice is that the instantaneous gas mileage at cruise at any speed above 30 mph is noticeably higher, and the effect increases with speed. In a couple of days I will know whether I am getting my target of 1 MPG improvement in each tank of gas. It does look very much like I will. This doesn't count the gas mileage hit I had while driving with a damaged exhaust system.

There were a lot of history codes:

# P0121 - TP Sensor Circuit Insufficient Activity

# P0204 - Injector 4 Control Circuit

# P0206 - Injector 6 Control Circuit

# P0603 - Control Module Long Term Memory Reset

# P0758 - 2-3 Shift Solenoid Circuit Electrical

# P1645 - Evaporative Emission (EVAP) Vent Solenoid Control Circuit

# B1552 - Keep Alive Memory (KAM) Error

# B1740 - Driver Seat Front Down Switch Circuit Malfunction

# B1983 - Device Power Circuit Low

# C1255 - EBCM Internal Malfunction

The P0603 and B1740 were there when it went into the shop. What all this tells me is that, probably at Meineke, they probably disconnected the transmission connection at one time, they let it sit and idle a very long time probably to get the engine hot to check for rattles and leaks, and the battery was low, probably because of the move-it-here, move-it-there at the body shop for a week before Meineke got it. I'm going to drive it to work and home tomorrow, which should charge the battery to max and clear out the cobwebs, then clear the codes and don't expect to see any after that except P0603 and perhaps B1740, and will track down anything else I see.

I haven't tried WOT to a redline shift yet. I generally don't do those except when necessary to deal with merging traffic involving on-ramps or some such traffic non-engineering. So, watch this space for further developments. When I have a sound byte, I will post it here.

[Cadillac Jim]

The Borlas

On September 5, 2006, I was rear-ended with a glancing blow that wiped out the tips on my left muffler and bent the Y in front of the right muffler. GM was out of stock with 1997 ETC mufflers with tips so I went with used 1994 STS tips (I think) and Borla XS (performance line) mufflers. Photos:

A wider view shows the tips a bit, from the inside:

You can see me holding the camera in the reflection in the bumper.

The exhaust note is amazingly muted. My wife likes it. The main effect it has had on me is that I no longer listen for the pipe organ under the hood, I listen for the pipe organ on the other end of the engine. It has a nice dignified muted V8 mutter that, with WOT and RPMs, develops with higher RPM that free-breathing howl that us performance motorcylcle people have known for many years. I've overheard people in parking lots saying things like "Now, THAT's a Cadillac!"

I'll post an audio clip when I have one.

[Cadillac Jim]

The air conditioner compressor quit in 2003. I got a message "Very low Freon, A/C Off" and it turned out that the reed valves in the compressor had given up. I think this was at about 80,000 miles. I bought a new one from the dealer for about $650.

It never seemed to be consistent about startup of cooling, but nothing was really noticeable at first. Last year the lack of cooling after a stop at a traffic light, particularly the first stop after a few miles on a freeway, became more of a nuisance. This year it became something that I figured out workarounds, such as nailing it for a second, or turning the A/C off for a few minutes and then turning it back on. The killer was last week, when I took a friend to lunch and, when driving back, the A/C flatly refused to come on for about 10 minutes in sweltering heat. When it came on it was OK, as usual.

I verified that the clutch on the compressor was not pulling in, as a mechanic had told me last year. I put the system voltage on the driver display and discovered that if the voltage was below about 13.4 Volts there was no chance that the compressor was turning, which I verified by looking at the compressor when it was supposed to be running. If the voltage was 13.7 Volts or above, the compressor might pull in, but if the voltage dropped below 13.4 it would drop out and not pull back in until the voltage was 13.7 Volts or more. If it was really hot it took more than 13.7 Volts to pull in.

Since the battery voltage isn't as high as 13.7 Volts when the battery is at full charge, you can count on no A/C when you pull of the freeway. And, if you nail it to pass a car, it will drop out and not come back.

Last year the dealer told me that the compressor was under lifetime warranty, parts and labor, and I finally gave up and took it in on July 3. A few hours later, I had a new compressor (and my transmission serviced, an unrelated it's-due thing). No charge for the compressor diagnosis or parts or labor, and the tech was impressed with my new engine, which he hadn't seen. He didn't like my Borla ProXS mufflers and their throaty tone, though.

[Cadillac Jim]

It's been a while since I posted here. I have recently increased my photographic activities and am refreshing my Cadillac's finish over the 2008 detailing shown in the nice photos in my avatar and signature. These will be upgraded in the next few days with other postings in the Photography board. These photos will proudly and prominently include my CaddyInfo hat.

In the past, I've been posting to the Owner's Blogs which isn't available now, so I'm posting my car blog here. The main thing that has happened since the exhaust system replacement, the topic of my last post here, is the end of analog cell phone services in February 2008, and a 2010 improvement of my body finish. My response to the end of analog cell phone service has been a Garmin with bluetooth on a dash mount, and transfer of my car phone number to a cell phone that I carry on my belt.

Let's start with my OnStar service. I have a 1997 ETC with a Gen I OnStar. There is a domino-chain set of reasons why, at this late date, I have a Garmin with bluetooth, a cell phone on my belt, and NO SERVICE displayed when I turn on my cell phone. If you are looking at the current BlueTooth and voice interface competition (circa May 2010), watch for deja vu here:

• In 1997 and for some years thereafter, analog phone service was the only one that had both ubiquitous nationwide coverage and excellent resistance to "picket fencing" (choppy reception for moving cell phones, particularly between cells) and thus was acceptable for car phones. All the car phones from all makes used analog cell phones for many years during and after the 1997 model year for these reasons.
• Already, by 1997, the digital IS-95 (called "CDMA One") cell phone standard was pre-eminent and GSM was already in place as its successor, thus the end of analog phone service was in sight, albeit several years in the future.

The fact was that cell phones with digital waveforms used far less battery power than analog phones for the same service quickly made hand-carried analog cell phones obsolete, and car phones were a small minority. The cell carriers started pressuring the FCC to drop analog service because it didn't bring in the money to cover its costs anymore. The FTC resisted because of all the legacy analog cell phones out there until they caved in 2006, and analog cell phone coverage was no longer mandatory for the carriers after February, 2008. By June, I couldn't shake the NO SERVICE message. But, I made the move by cutting off my OnStar service and switching the phone number in February 2008. For a good time, see the Wikipedia article section on analog phone service:

http://en.wikipedia....i/OnStar#Analog

The other things in the daisy chain are the security issues inherent in the networked modules in your Cadillac. Consider that OnStar can unlock your car, flash your headlights, turn on and off your cell phone, and read your OnStar GPS and report your car's position to emergency medical personnel in case of an accident, or to the police in case your car is broken into or stolen -- and much, much more in newer cars. Thus Cadillac cannot release the details of how to gain control of your car's network to anyone. So, they can't allow third-party vendors to make cell phones compatible with OnStar. They can make information available to BlueTooth vendors that can integrate with your audio system; scroll down to the end of this post to see the BlueStar link.

Now consider that GM is a very early pioneer in On-Board Diagnostics, with the first standardized, public access system in the 1982 model year, and predecessors (remember the Morse-code-like blinks of the "check engine" light when you shorted terminals in the "dealer interface?") dating back many years more. In 1997 and until they were required to move to the CAN (Controller Area Network) bus in the 2008 model year, they used a Class 2 bus (SAE J1850). At present (May 2010) GM is deploying Gen 8 systems. Thus, by the time GM was forced to look at supporting Gen 1 with retrofits, the capability for supporting the Class 2 bus was... uh, not available. For a really good time for the geeks out there, browse these links:

http://en.wikipedia....ard_diagnostics

http://www.interface..._J1850_Bus.html

http://developer.int...rs/j1850_wp.htm

http://www.sae.org/t...l/papers/930437

Thus, GM is unable to retrofit us old car people profitably, which means that doing it pro bono is a no-no under reasonable business decision criteria, even in the best of times.

My imminent photos will include interior images of my dash-mounted GPS as well as my renovated exterior. I haven't gone to a BlueStar system yet but I am considering it. The BueStar web site:

http://www.costartec...s/bluestar.html