koushka Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Is pulling a radiator and installing a new one on a 2000 DTS a difficult job? I ask because I went to my local radiator shop to get a quote ($212 for labor, 178 for new radiator) and said it was a 3.5 hour job per his estimator. That seems daunting to me if its going to take the pros 3.5 hours or maybe they are just not used to caddy's? I have a leak that is there and then isn't there. Its really odd but I isolated it to the passenger side of radiator above the upper hose. It was spurting with lots of steam from a tiny hole. I have been driving this way for a few weeks, checking the coolant/topping off before I drive the car. I drive 30 miles to and from work and thats about it. I tried some epoxy over the hole just to get me by for now. Hopefully will hold for awhile. Also, with checking the coolant level everyday, I have noticed an exhaust smell in the surge tank when I pop the cap off, its pretty strong too. Do you think with a leaky radiator I am pulling exhaust from somewhere? Thanks again for all the help everyone has given me here, what an amazing resource this place is! koushka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 An exhaust smell from the surge tank usually means that you have a head gasket leak. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koushka Posted May 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 Well, the new radiator and thermostat are in! It took my brother-in-law and I an hour or two more than the estimate but we got it in and its running well. I also cleaned the bolt with the hole in the middle which was pretty stopped up. The thermostat was trashed too. I was going to wait a while and then get the test from Napa for exhaust in the coolant to be sure about the head gasket before I start thinking about that problem. Thanks for the help, koushka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted May 14, 2013 Report Share Posted May 14, 2013 You'll have to run the car for a day or two before you can test the coolant for exhaust by-products. If you want to know now, you can have your cooling system pressure tested, which is a good way to check your radiator installation and other work too. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.