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She's Dead


K2K

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My big ol' red Cadillac is now officially dead. For those of you who have seen her, I've put in tons of work and it's going to be a deep pain to let go, but it's going to cost $10,000 for a new Northstar to fix the gal. You guys think it's worth the new engine, or should I just buy an Eldo and start working on that?

Think there'll be much of a performance boost with the new engine?

It overheated, if anyone was wondering, completely melted as far as I know. I lugged it back to my house and couldn't even get it to move with a mechanical crank, so I took it to the dealership, and, here we are now.

Car2.jpg

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That SUCKS. there were no signs that she was going to go? I would part it out and get an eldo. I dont think it's worth 10000. or you could just do a rebuild? for much less?

Christopher Petro

94 sts

67 coupe de Ville

user posted image

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Well K2K I'm sorry to hear that, it looks nice if the interior is good and you have other forms of transportation, pull the engine find out what is salvageible then wait for a good auction on ebay.

You can save allot if you can do your own work. I took mine to the dealer it was drinking antifreeze like a drunk and beer on payday. they quoted me 12K to replace the head gaskets and LLC seal. I have mine out now and with all the help from the great people on the board and a shop manual I'll probably spend $600 to reseal mine and get it back on the road.

Good luck whatever you decide to do getting an eldorado would diffently be a good option.

Julio

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Overheated - I didn't think that the engine could do that with the limp home feature. I suppose if there was absolutely no coolant or it was run without oil.

I think there was another thread a few days ago where the user had assumed it had siezed but it ended up being a stuck AC compressor. There was a lot of other good suggestions of things to try in this thread as well, for example: pull out all the plugs to check for hydrostatic lock...

If the engine is truly toast, you may want to consider a used engine. They come up all the time on ebay, junkyards may have them too.

Don't expect a performance boost from a new engine, unless yours had some serious problems.

Good luck with your decision.

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Well, I was trying to be sensitive :( about your loss.....but since ScottFountaine and Jinxed have opened up the bidding, I guess I'll chime in...let us know if you plan to part it out :)

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You might find a good independant shop to swap engines for a lot less. Finding a reputable one that works on Northstars is the hard part. Talk to other Caddy owners in your area, maybe a good one will pop up. You might even find a caddy mechanic at the dealer to do it on the side fo a lot less. Good Luck!

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Overheated - I didn't think that the engine could do that with the limp home feature. I suppose if there was absolutely no coolant or it was run without oil.

I think there was another thread a few days ago where the user had assumed it had siezed but it ended up being a stuck AC compressor. There was a lot of other good suggestions of things to try in this thread as well, for example: pull out all the plugs to check for hydrostatic lock...

I agree here... I know the feeling when you think your motor is toast, but this may be something fairly simple you may be able to overcome. I once thought my motor was siezed on my GMC van when my wife was driving it, because it sucked oil like crazy and I had forgotten to add for some time. Turned out it was a siezed alternator. Once I pulled the serpentine belt off I could turn it over! :rolleyes:

Obviously you feel you have overheated it, you must have had some symtoms and codes. Let us know what happened, I'm just curious. Good luck!

'09 Cadillac CTS-4 3.6 direct injection, 128 K mi.
'15 Chevy Tahoe LTZ, 5.3i V8, 125 K mi
'70 Firebird Formula 400, Bored+.04, RAIII heads, M21 4spd., in-process restoration!

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I think if you check around you can find a good independent mechanic who will R&R the engine for $1000 to $1500.

There are several options on the engine. Consider a used engine or a quality rebuilt engine. You should be able to get some prices pretty easily. It is also possible that your engine can be rebuilt or repaired. The answer could be to get a rebuilt short block and re-use your heads, manifolds, etc.

Your course of action depends on what exactly went wrong when you get into it. My guess is that you could probably get the car back on the road for $6000 give or take (and maybe as little as $3000 or $4000 with a little luck and some sharp wheeling and dealing).

If the car's interior, body, suspension, brakes, and transmission are in as good condition as the photo suggests (and if you still like the car and don't just have a yen for an Eldorado) I wouldn't toss in the towel too quickly.

Don't overlook the fact that any used car over a few years old will probably need some work to get it sorted out the way you want (and this will almost always be a bigger expense than you anticipate).

What ever you decide to do, I know you can count on plenty of help from the guys on this board.

Good luck!

photo-36.jpg

Happiness is owning a Cadillac with no codes.

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My big ol' red Cadillac is now officially dead. For those of you who have seen her, I've put in tons of work and it's going to be a deep pain to let go, but it's going to cost $10,000 for a new Northstar to fix the gal. You guys think it's worth the new engine, or should I just buy an Eldo and start working on that?

Think there'll be much of a performance boost with the new engine?

It overheated, if anyone was wondering, completely melted as far as I know. I lugged it back to my house and couldn't even get it to move with a mechanical crank, so I took it to the dealership, and, here we are now.

Car2.jpg

There's something missing in this story....overheating the engine should not destroy it - the Northstar can run 50 miles without coolant and sustain no damage. What do you mean "completely melted"???

Did the engine go into limp-home mode when overheated? Did you change the oil asap after it went in to limp-home mode?

Maydog had some good suggestions on removing the serpentine belt and plugs to see if the engine would turn over. Don't write off the car yet...

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

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Pick up a new engine and have fun with it. I would kind of like to be in your position right now. (yeh I'm twisted like that) I always wanted o pull out my NS, I've done a 4.9 before, but not a NS. Check E-Bay, not the best examples, But...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...2478592420&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...2478246007&rd=1

They can be had for a good price. I used to have a link to a place that sells NS closeout/discontinued complete crate engines for like 3 or 4k, but I can't find it again for nothing. I look occasionally for it, so if I come across it I'll post it.

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Overheated - I didn't think that the engine could do that with the limp home feature. I suppose if there was absolutely no coolant or it was run without oil.

Of course the engine can overheat, any engine can overheat. My 94 has a problem with the engine (headgasket) and sucks down all kinds of coolant, kinda like

a drunk and beer on payday
. Anyways, If I fill my car to the top with coolant, I can overheat it ( around 260F) in just a few minutes of hard highway driving. BTW, a new (used) engine is being prepared and getting dropped in shortly. My Dad is a mechanic and we have all the stuff so this helps alot, without labor, ( we have an engine) it is going to cost roughly 500$

I think if you like the car enough and the interior is prestine you can get the job done for <<10000. But I do like those eldos...

Christopher Petro

94 sts

67 coupe de Ville

user posted image

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I do a lot of mechanics, and let me tell you, the engine quite literally "melted." I haven't had time to look that close, but I'm having trouble even moving many of the parts. And this wasn't a first time thing, the previous owner had tons of problems with this, so the engine may have been pretty damaged before.

Oh, and I bought an Eldo, '97 I believe, Polo green or something. I'll get pictures up as soon as I can :)

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Post some pictures of the "melted" engine. I still can't imagine what/how the engine could get THAT hot.....

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

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Don't even have the car any more, it's at the dealership. The metal wasn't dripping off and splashing onto the ground, I'm just saying that it's melted enough that it'll be a miracle to get the parts moving again.

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"The metal wasn't dripping off and splashing on the ground.."

Like I said, the engine didn't literally melt, it just got hot enough that a component piece is now destroyed due to heat, the engine cannot me rotated with a mechanical arm, let alone on its own and it's no longer useable. Good enough?

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K2K....a word from the wise (although you have already bought another car) find a dealer that works exclusively on Cadillac’s.....I have had NUMEROUS problems with Cadillac/gm dealers....I will never let another person touch my car after the some of the experiences I went through....To sum things up my car would (slightly) overheat once in a while...(and would shut off the AC compressor...never go into limp mode) I took it in to have it serviced and the service manager told me the bolts had stripped......and guess what he told me next: I had to buy a new/used northstar...."do you want me to find you a new one?..."or I can maybe get a good price on a used one"....keep in mind that at this time I was well aware of the time-cert option...but I played dumb...."isn’t there anything you can do?" I asked....."nope...the engines shot...it needs to be replaced" I then mentioned that I'd sell the car before I put a $6000-$10,000 engine in it....his response "oh no...no..no .no ..dont sell the car.....trade it in on another one"....how shady is that...anyway to sum things up: I told him I didn’t want the work done, I got my car back took it too another gm/Cadillac dealer.....told them what was wrong and what I wanted done ....they said " we dont want anything to do with this car" : :angry: !!!! I then took it back to the shady dealer, who then admitted that they could infact do the time certs....They did the time certs.....And on the way back from picking it up the fuel pump went out.....Moral of the story..... make sure you go to a exclusive Cadillac dealer (Cadillac only) and make sure they are reputable...I found out later that these two dealers had major service problems....And I trash talk them to this day......I know there are good honest Cadillac/gm people out there (bbobb you are a god) and I want to thank them...But for all those who cheat,lie,steal..and sabotoge....(and give Cadillac a bad name) I hope you end up living in a tent on the edge of the river.....

A.J.

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Like I said, the engine didn't literally melt, it just got hot enough that a component piece is now destroyed due to heat, the engine cannot me rotated with a mechanical arm, let alone on its own and it's no longer useable. Good enough?

I'm not doubting what you are saying but based on my experience you might want to make sure and find out exactly what is "destroyed" before you make a hasty decision.

I have been working on cars for 25 years and I have seen many examples of people who thought their engines were destroyed. Only to find out later that it was something much simpler.

You say that it was destroyed due to heat. How do you know that? Have you been driving the car for a period of time with the overheat warning? Did the engine go into the limp home mode?

What, exactly is a "mechanical arm?" Do you mean a breaker bar? On the crankshaft pulley? Did you remove the belts and plugs when you tried that?

Again, I'm not trashing your explanation, I'm really just trying to help and also pretty curious as thse engines do not typically fail in the mode that you describe. It would be worth dissassembling the engine to find out the root cause of your failure.

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I don't know how that's really helping, but I'm glad to answer the questions. I used a crankshaft pulley, and I know the car overheated because the temperature gauge was extremely high and this car has an extremely long history of problems with overheating and issues resulting from that. The previous owner didn't drive it that much, so he wouldn't have had a major problem with overheating, but when it's in the hands of someone like me, a small problem can accelerate. The car had a Salvage Title due to a large accident it had soon after its birth, so that quite obviously screwed up something more than just the repaired damage.

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How do you "bar it over" with the belt off? Mine is at the shop right now, the mechanic has not had a chance to look at it yet, but I did blow the fuel out of the chambers after flooding the manifold. If he keeps dragging his feet, I will have him tow it back or work on it in his yard.

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How do you "bar it over" with the belt off?  Mine is at the shop right now, the mechanic has not had a chance to look at it yet, but I did blow the fuel out of the chambers after flooding the manifold.  If he keeps dragging his feet, I will have him tow it back or work on it in his yard.

Put a breaker bar with a socket on the crankshaft damper nut. With the plugs removed (no compression) you can turn the motor by hand.

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"Nothing can really melt or destroy itself due to heat to cause an engine to lock up.....unless it was run so long with smoking hot oil and then the oil wasnt't replaced and the engine subsequently failed a bearing or something due to the degraded oil....and it would be knocking and making a lot of noise long before then."

Again, it's had a really long history with problems due to heating, so yes, it probably has been driven for a very long time in bad conditions, not neccesarily oil though, I took care of that car in the best way humanly possible.

As for selling it, right now, I am thinking of just donating it to the YMCA and get the $2500 tax savings I'll have in the end. If you have a better proposal though, contact me.

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