Regis Posted April 22, 2006 Report Share Posted April 22, 2006 As some of you may recall I repaired my original strut bar with JB Weld (Strut Bar Repair) and was curious to see if it would hold up under the amount of load it was going to take. It's been about 3 weeks now and all is still well. No more groaning sound while initiating left turns. I still have a squishing (like chewing a rubber band) sound when making slow lefts over uneven surfaces. I think that is from my front strut(s). Over the past year the ride has become noticeably stiffer and she tends to skip if encountering uneven surfaces around bends or turns. Does that sound right? I recall reading a post a long time ago stating that when the struts are worn they default to stiff mode. Can anyone verify that? The over heating issue. The other day I was out doing ten 2nd gear (40-70mph) stomps to clean her out and on the last stomp all hell broke loose. The temp shot up from 213° to 248° and the DIC looked like a lit up Christmas tree. The AC compressor shutting down, check washer fluid, engine hot, coolant low, shut engine off, and a couple of other engine related messages flashed. I pulled her over to the shoulder for about 5 minutes with the hood open. I noticed that coolant had come out the overflow and there was evidence of coolant spraying around near the top of the reservoir tank. Checked the oil and started her back up and drove home during which everything was fine. When I got home I had to add about 2 qrts of coolant. It's been a couple days now and there are no leaks that I can detect but I haven't pushed her like I did that day. Any clues to what might have happened?.......aside from the obvious "Burns" rubber " I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growe3 Posted April 22, 2006 Report Share Posted April 22, 2006 Hopefully you just temporarily over-stressed the engine, and did not damage it. Ten hard, high RPM wind-ups and let-offs are just not necessary, and could cause permanent damage. Occasional full throttle accelerations up to freeway speed +, is all that you need to keep the excess carbon from building up. Keep the oil changed, as per the OLM, and the rings will seal just fine. Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted April 22, 2006 Report Share Posted April 22, 2006 Hmmm, that spontaneous boil over is odd. Have you checked your water pump belt and tensioner? I am sure you had your coolant concentration optimal. A sudden pressure loss from a bad cap, hose or end cap could cause spontaineous boil over. Keep an eye on your temps for awhile, maybe you have a balky thermostat. Take good care of my sons car! Hope all is fine, Mike growe3, what kind of damage could this carbon cleanout cause? I am curious as the guru has sanctioned this routine and I have recommended it for severe oil consumption and monthly maintenance. If there is risk, I would want to know about them. Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted April 22, 2006 Report Share Posted April 22, 2006 As some of you may recall I repaired my original strut bar with JB Weld (Strut Bar Repair) and was curious to see if it would hold up under the amount of load it was going to take. It's been about 3 weeks now and all is still well. No more groaning sound while initiating left turns. I still have a squishing (like chewing a rubber band) sound when making slow lefts over uneven surfaces. I think that is from my front strut(s). Over the past year the ride has become noticeably stiffer and she tends to skip if encountering uneven surfaces around bends or turns. Does that sound right? I recall reading a post a long time ago stating that when the struts are worn they default to stiff mode. Can anyone verify that? The over heating issue. The other day I was out doing ten 2nd gear (40-70mph) stomps to clean her out and on the last stomp all hell broke loose. The temp shot up from 213° to 248° and the DIC looked like a lit up Christmas tree. The AC compressor shutting down, check washer fluid, engine hot, coolant low, shut engine off, and a couple of other engine related messages flashed. I pulled her over to the shoulder for about 5 minutes with the hood open. I noticed that coolant had come out the overflow and there was evidence of coolant spraying around near the top of the reservoir tank. Checked the oil and started her back up and drove home during which everything was fine. When I got home I had to add about 2 qrts of coolant. It's been a couple days now and there are no leaks that I can detect but I haven't pushed her like I did that day. Any clues to what might have happened?.......aside from the obvious Some weak parts of your cooling system (hose connections, head gaskets, water pump gasket, plastic parts etc.) failed at high RPMs and let the coolant out. Remaining coolant got the boiling point because of temporary depressurized system. The loss of 2 qts is not something to ignore. The problem is not going away and will reoccur under similar or even less stressful conditions. Keep an eye on it. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted April 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Thanks for the replies. I'm definitely keeping an eye on the coolant level. I drove it around yesterday (sunny and dry) and parked it a couple of times without leaving any wet spots. I checked under the hood and didn't find any rivers or streams. For the next few days we're expecting rain so I'll just check the coolant level now and then. Any comments on my possible strut issue? Don't worry Mike I'm taking good care of her for your son. [] "Burns" rubber " I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin O'Conor Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Replace your pressure cap. After so long, they can no longer hold 15 psi and the coolant will boil at a lower temp. While I have never actually overheated any of my cars, I have a had a few that after driving up hills in hot weather, you could hear the boiling in the overflow tank. After replacing the pressure cap, the boiling goes away. Just a thought..... K.O.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growe3 Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Hmmm, that spontaneous boil over is odd. Have you checked your water pump belt and tensioner? I am sure you had your coolant concentration optimal. A sudden pressure loss from a bad cap, hose or end cap could cause spontaineous boil over. Keep an eye on your temps for awhile, maybe you have a balky thermostat. Take good care of my sons car! Hope all is fine, Mike growe3, what kind of damage could this carbon cleanout cause? I am curious as the guru has sanctioned this routine and I have recommended it for severe oil consumption and monthly maintenance. If there is risk, I would want to know about them. It is not removing the carbon that is the problem, rather how the excess carbon is removed. The problem, as I see it, is with the way that you tried to get rid of the excess cylinder build up. That you were really over-stressing the whole car, to do a very simple task. The main problem with the Northstar engine is the very aggressive cylinder hone job. While it promotes better oil coverage, and long cylinder life, it also allows more oil to get past the rings under low stress driving conditions. At higher speeds there is more cylinder pressure (gases pushing harder on the rings) and the rings seal much better. That is why occasional full throttle bursts can help keep the deposits from forming. If your routine drive is low speed (intercity or bumper to bumper freeway) than you will tend to build oily deposits in the combustion chamber. A couple of full throttle romps up to freeway speed every week or so, and you will not have any excess buildup to remove. Normal daily driving, with nice acclerations down the freeway on-ramps, keeps excess deposits from even forming. Another thing that is often overlooked is to use the transmission to slow you down when exiting the freeway, and decelerating down hills. Just drop it into third, no need to go any lower, normally. This also helps exercise the rings to keep them free. As for the "guru", he was a great asset to this forum and as you know is sorely missed. -George Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Hmmm, that spontaneous boil over is odd. Have you checked your water pump belt and tensioner? I am sure you had your coolant concentration optimal. A sudden pressure loss from a bad cap, hose or end cap could cause spontaineous boil over. Keep an eye on your temps for awhile, maybe you have a balky thermostat. Take good care of my sons car! Hope all is fine, Mike growe3, what kind of damage could this carbon cleanout cause? I am curious as the guru has sanctioned this routine and I have recommended it for severe oil consumption and monthly maintenance. If there is risk, I would want to know about them. It is not removing the carbon that is the problem, rather how the excess carbon is removed. The problem, as I see it, is with the way that you tried to get rid of the excess cylinder build up. That you were really over-stressing the whole car, to do a very simple task. The main problem with the Northstar engine is the very aggressive cylinder hone job. While it promotes better oil coverage, and long cylinder life, it also allows more oil to get past the rings under low stress driving conditions. At higher speeds there is more cylinder pressure (gases pushing harder on the rings) and the rings seal much better. That is why occasional full throttle bursts can help keep the deposits from forming. If your routine drive is low speed (intercity or bumper to bumper freeway) than you will tend to build oily deposits in the combustion chamber. A couple of full throttle romps up to freeway speed every week or so, and you will not have any excess buildup to remove. Normal daily driving, with nice acclerations down the freeway on-ramps, keeps excess deposits from even forming. Another thing that is often overlooked is to use the transmission to slow you down when exiting the freeway, and decelerating down hills. Just drop it into third, no need to go any lower, normally. This also helps exercise the rings to keep them free. As for the "guru", he was a great asset to this forum and as you know is sorely missed. -George In other words there is no carbon to remove after a couple of WOTs? No need to have ten WOTs in a row with a Northstar? Recently I noticed how good are WOTs for my 4.9. I avoid overstressing 15 years old power train, but it do make a big difference. The engine sounds so smooth! The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted April 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 Took the caddy on the highway today for a 2 hour trip. She ran fine and the mileage is back up to 26mpg. Not bad for rainy conditions, lights on, auto with heat, and 74mph on cruise control. The temp ranged from 199°-205° and did one time spike momentarily to 207°. Tomorrow I'm going to see about getting a new AC Delco radiator cap. I think Mike and Devin might be right about the cap. The cap has had a long faithful run and I have no complaints. I think the cap is still good but starting to go south. The outside temp was about 45° and usually the temps for highway runs, on cooler days, are 187-198° range. Time for a new one before the outside temps soar. Thanks again guys. Oh and I think I have a knuckle or a wheel bearing going but I'll report back when I'm more definite. I think it's the right rear knuckle or bearing and my wife thinks it's the front tire area. Well she did get me thinking. I'll jack it up tomorrow and hopefully have a report. [] "Burns" rubber " I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunted Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 Thats the thing with WOT.. it might be fine to do and wont usually lead to breaking something directly, however due to the age of the car and the parts around it.. u might find urself replacing everything that was on its last leg. Its always good to remember that WOT was vaildated on new powertrains with new parts around it.. after 10-12 years things wear and tear.. and with these cars that doesn't always come cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted May 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Oh and I think I have a knuckle or a wheel bearing going but I'll report back when I'm more definite. I think it's the right rear knuckle or bearing and my wife thinks it's the front tire area. Well she did get me thinking. I'll jack it up tomorrow and hopefully have a report. [] Here's the update. Turns out that we were both right and both wrong. I had a 4 wheel alignment done and a front and rear tire were off but only on the Left side. Interestingly enough there weren't any unusual tire wear. What a difference now! No more 35-45mph onramp turns where the front tires feel like they're fighting each other and no more intermittent wobble at 65-75+mph. However, I will mention that my rack has a little play in it. Just incase I decide to post an update regarding that too. It's a small amount of play and has been present for a long time. Doesn't seem to affect driveability and Ken didn't get "excited" over it either. 2nd best part about the visit to Ken's garage was I drove home with a set of 4 tires (same ones I currently have) that he had sitting around.....for free. I should be able to get 1-2 summer seasons with them. I should go play The Lotto..... "Burns" rubber " I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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