bad head gaskets

[BodybyFisher]

That was God forbid...

[mikeal1892]

Well Kidds after considering the time of having the car sit in one of our bays its just going to go to the dealership. 1800 dollars ! Oh, well However, they did tell me that several Devilles were recalled for it. They will look over it more but the coolant does have gases in it and the car barely even runs. But I still love it the same! I even waxed it today So we will see what becomes of it.

I am going to ask them about how many requests they have had to change the coolant. We went from the dexcoolant to the Old Faithful Green on my 1996 Deville and its still running around with green collant in it 3 years running now. I'm not impressed with the dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough. Therers just the of us the love them for what they are. I try to sell everyone I come into contant with thats looking for a car to buy a Cadillac.

Michael-

Ps: I already miss her from the edge of night on.... LOL Its funny how attached to our cars we can become.

[adallak]

Well Kidds after considering the time of having the car sit in one of our bays its just going to go to the dealership. 1800 dollars ! Oh, well However, they did tell me that several Devilles were recalled for it. They will look over it more but the coolant does have gases in it and the car barely even runs. But I still love it the same! I even waxed it today So we will see what becomes of it.

I am going to ask them about how many requests they have had to change the coolant. We went from the dexcoolant to the Old Faithful Green on my 1996 Deville and its still running around with green collant in it 3 years running now. I'm not impressed with the dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough. Therers just the of us the love them for what they are. I try to sell everyone I come into contant with thats looking for a car to buy a Cadillac.

Michael-

Ps: I already miss her from the edge of night on.... LOL Its funny how attached to our cars we can become.

Yeah...Cadillacs are addictive! Hope you'll get your baby back soon in a better shape.

[KHE]

Well Kidds after considering the time of having the car sit in one of our bays its just going to go to the dealership. 1800 dollars ! Oh, well However, they did tell me that several Devilles were recalled for it. They will look over it more but the coolant does have gases in it and the car barely even runs. But I still love it the same! I even waxed it today So we will see what becomes of it.

I am going to ask them about how many requests they have had to change the coolant. We went from the dexcoolant to the Old Faithful Green on my 1996 Deville and its still running around with green collant in it 3 years running now. I'm not impressed with the dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough. Therers just the of us the love them for what they are. I try to sell everyone I come into contant with thats looking for a car to buy a Cadillac.

Michael-

Ps: I already miss her from the edge of night on.... LOL Its funny how attached to our cars we can become.

No Cadillacs were recalled for head gaskets....someone is BS-ing you... The quality of these cars has never been enough??? Pleeeease....there are several members on this board who have well in excess of 200,000 miles on their cars. One poster had 400,000 miles on their car. Get your head gaskets fixed and the car will be fine.

I would never use green coolant in a car that was spec'd for DexCool - especially a Northstar engine. Poor cooling system maintenance - especially with green coolant is the number one cause of head gasket failures. The silicated corrosion inhibitor package in green coolant depletes with use and must be replentished every 2 years/24000 miles or there is no corrosion protection. When that happens, the coolant starts to rot the head gaskets and they fail. Then the owner of the car blames the engine when the real cause is poor maintenance. The silicates are abrasive by nature and are hard on waterpump seals also. In addition, you will never get all the old coolant out unless you drain, refill, drive, and repeat several times.

DexCool has a corrosion package that does not deplete with use and it is not abrasive. The result is improved cooling system component life and head gasket failures due to inadequate cooling system maintenance are reduced. The only difference between DexCool and Green coolant besides the color is the corrosion inhibitor package. I don't know what the buildup in the surge tank you are referring to. Maybe someone put the sealant pellets in the surge tank rather than the lower radiator hose where they are supposed to go. If that's the case, disconnect the surge tank and flush it out with water.

Do yourself a huge favor - do not let someone attempt to re-engineer your car, have it timeserted and stay with DexCool - it will last at least another 200,000 miles.

[BodybyFisher]

Ditto Kevin, you saved me a lot of aggravation with your post. When I hear these types of rants about Dexcool and Cadillac, I just want to stop posting for good. Too many members listen to assholes and draw their opinions from them... Why do they come here at all? Rather than come here and ignore what we say altogether regarding DEXCOOL, etc, its best to stay away and not taint the board. We have a few malcontent members now that insist upon badmouthing. There is NO excuse for it, there are other boards out there that are more oriented toward mud throwing and badmouthing. If members don't take/heed/observe the advice given here that has been passed down DIRECT from the horses mouth, they should stay away, for them this board is not helpful

[JimD]

....

I'm not impressed with the dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough.

What you are seeing in the reservoir is the recommended cooling system supplement that drops out of solution due to lack of circulation in that part of the cooling system. Perfectly normal. Not the fault of Dex-Cool or the supplement.

My '98 has that "nasty build up" and it has been there for more than 145,000 miles. I take that as an indication that the coolant contains at least enough supplement to provide the intended nuisance leak insurance.

If your cooling system has been serviced according to the Engine Coolant section of the Owner's Manual, whatever engine problems you might have are not related to Dex-Cool.

[keith_99_sts]

I don't know what the buildup in the surge tank you are referring to.

So it's not normal to get a brown sludge buildup in the surge tank? My Cadillac dealer told me it's normal. My '99 STS maintains coolant level, no leaks anywhere, but the tank has brown slime inside. Don't recall why, but do seem to remember that it is very important to keep the tank at the full mark when running DexCool (radiator cap rust on some GM cars when they started using DexCool?).

I fitted a Tefba filter to see if anything large was circulating in the coolant, but that collected nothing.

[BodybyFisher]

Keith read JimD's post about the buildup, Mike

[keith_99_sts]

Keith read JimD's post about the buildup, Mike

Thanks. I feel better now I had typed my entry before JimD had replied, but he must have hit the final Enter before me and I hadn't read his post.

It does look like the usual stop leak (crushed walnut shells) kind of stuff, but I had visions of it clogging the system

[JimD]

Keith read JimD's post about the buildup, Mike

Thanks. I feel better now I had typed my entry before JimD had replied, but he must have hit the final Enter before me and I hadn't read his post.

It does look like the usual stop leak (crushed walnut shells) kind of stuff, but I had visions of it clogging the system

We have it on good authority the basic ingredient is ginger root; and the rest of the story involves a byproduct from the production of ginger ale. But I am hijacking a thread....

[mikeal1892]

Well Kidds after considering the time of having the car sit in one of our bays its just going to go to the dealership. 1800 dollars ! Oh, well However, they did tell me that several Devilles were recalled for it. They will look over it more but the coolant does have gases in it and the car barely even runs. But I still love it the same! I even waxed it today So we will see what becomes of it.

I am going to ask them about how many requests they have had to change the coolant. We went from the dexcoolant to the Old Faithful Green on my 1996 Deville and its still running around with green collant in it 3 years running now. I'm not impressed with the dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough. Therers just the of us the love them for what they are. I try to sell everyone I come into contant with thats looking for a car to buy a Cadillac.

Michael-

Ps: I already miss her from the edge of night on.... LOL Its funny how attached to our cars we can become.

No Cadillacs were recalled for head gaskets....someone is BS-ing you... The quality of these cars has never been enough??? Pleeeease....there are several members on this board who have well in excess of 200,000 miles on their cars. One poster had 400,000 miles on their car. Get your head gaskets fixed and the car will be fine.

I would never use green coolant in a car that was spec'd for DexCool - especially a Northstar engine. Poor cooling system maintenance - especially with green coolant is the number one cause of head gasket failures. The silicated corrosion inhibitor package in green coolant depletes with use and must be replentished every 2 years/24000 miles or there is no corrosion protection. When that happens, the coolant starts to rot the head gaskets and they fail. Then the owner of the car blames the engine when the real cause is poor maintenance. The silicates are abrasive by nature and are hard on waterpump seals also. In addition, you will never get all the old coolant out unless you drain, refill, drive, and repeat several times.

DexCool has a corrosion package that does not deplete with use and it is not abrasive. The result is improved cooling system component life and head gasket failures due to inadequate cooling system maintenance are reduced. The only difference between DexCool and Green coolant besides the color is the corrosion inhibitor package. I don't know what the buildup in the surge tank you are referring to. Maybe someone put the sealant pellets in the surge tank rather than the lower radiator hose where they are supposed to go. If that's the case, disconnect the surge tank and flush it out with water.

Do yourself a huge favor - do not let someone attempt to re-engineer your car, have it timeserted and stay with DexCool - it will last at least another 200,000 miles.

Ditto Kevin, you saved me a lot of aggravation with your post. When I hear these types of rants about Dexcool and Cadillac, I just want to stop posting for good. Too many members listen to assholes and draw their opinions from them... Why do they come here at all? Rather than come here and ignore what we say altogether regarding DEXCOOL, etc, its best to stay away and not taint the board. We have a few malcontent members now that insist upon badmouthing. There is NO excuse for it, there are other boards out there that are more oriented toward mud throwing and badmouthing. If members don't take/heed/observe the advice given here that has been passed down DIRECT from the horses mouth, they should stay away, for them this board is not helpful

I have no thoughts that my car will not run forever. I had a 90 Deville wehn I sold the car it had 190k miles on it and still ran like a top..These are just things I question. If I dont ask how will I ever learn ? Do you tell your childern or friends asking questions is stuiped ? Oh, its only a car and some money. No big deal. Its gonna be timeserted! But sometime after I sell my house and have a place to do it myself I'm gonna buy one. Ive been wanting to do this job for about 2 years I guess.

Thank-you all so much,

Michael-

[BodybyFisher]

You have tanked Dexcool twice now, you did not pose your statement regarding Dexcool as a question.

This is hardly a question regarding DEXCOOL and Dependability its a STATEMENT that implies that something is wrong with Dexcool and that you know something better, which you don't:

I am going to ask them (who is THEM the dealer?) about how many requests they have had to change the coolant. We went from the dexcoolant to the Old Faithful Green on my 1996 Deville and its still running around with green collant in it 3 years running now. I'm not impressed with the dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough

[mikeal1892]

Well This will be my last post on here. Have a good one !

Michael -

[BodybyFisher]

Good Luck to you

[Bueno]

Bless me members for I have sinned.... Before I took my trip the other day, I accidently poured about 1 ounce of green coolant in my tank and immediately stopped. Have I caused any problem? About a cap full..

I never had GREEN.... I bought it last month for my sons 93 Taurus...

It's antifreeze, not anthrax. The long life properties of a system full of Dexcool are not compromised by that minuscule amount. Dexcool and green are far more similar that dissimilar. Genuflect, say three "Hail Caddys", anoint yourself with several Budweisers, then forget about it.

[BodybyFisher]

I agree with you in terms of the small amount that I used. However use a gallon? and the silicates will damage the water pump seal faster. As you can see, I am a Dexcool believer due to its long life, corrosion protection. I would not want to hamper that at all. I was sure that an ounce was not a problem (my statement above was more tongue in cheek), I just wanted other members to quench my worry... As you can see KHE stated, After the drain/refill (that I know he will do, ) all should be fine with 5-year drain intervals (knowing my attention to details)

[KHE]

Well Kidds after considering the time of having the car sit in one of our bays its just going to go to the dealership. 1800 dollars ! Oh, well However, they did tell me that several Devilles were recalled for it. They will look over it more but the coolant does have gases in it and the car barely even runs. But I still love it the same! I even waxed it today So we will see what becomes of it.

I am going to ask them about how many requests they have had to change the coolant. We went from the dexcoolant to the Old Faithful Green on my 1996 Deville and its still running around with green collant in it 3 years running now. I'm not impressed with the dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough. Therers just the of us the love them for what they are. I try to sell everyone I come into contant with thats looking for a car to buy a Cadillac.

Michael-

Ps: I already miss her from the edge of night on.... LOL Its funny how attached to our cars we can become.

No Cadillacs were recalled for head gaskets....someone is BS-ing you... The quality of these cars has never been enough??? Pleeeease....there are several members on this board who have well in excess of 200,000 miles on their cars. One poster had 400,000 miles on their car. Get your head gaskets fixed and the car will be fine.

I would never use green coolant in a car that was spec'd for DexCool - especially a Northstar engine. Poor cooling system maintenance - especially with green coolant is the number one cause of head gasket failures. The silicated corrosion inhibitor package in green coolant depletes with use and must be replentished every 2 years/24000 miles or there is no corrosion protection. When that happens, the coolant starts to rot the head gaskets and they fail. Then the owner of the car blames the engine when the real cause is poor maintenance. The silicates are abrasive by nature and are hard on waterpump seals also. In addition, you will never get all the old coolant out unless you drain, refill, drive, and repeat several times.

DexCool has a corrosion package that does not deplete with use and it is not abrasive. The result is improved cooling system component life and head gasket failures due to inadequate cooling system maintenance are reduced. The only difference between DexCool and Green coolant besides the color is the corrosion inhibitor package. I don't know what the buildup in the surge tank you are referring to. Maybe someone put the sealant pellets in the surge tank rather than the lower radiator hose where they are supposed to go. If that's the case, disconnect the surge tank and flush it out with water.

Do yourself a huge favor - do not let someone attempt to re-engineer your car, have it timeserted and stay with DexCool - it will last at least another 200,000 miles.

Ditto Kevin, you saved me a lot of aggravation with your post. When I hear these types of rants about Dexcool and Cadillac, I just want to stop posting for good. Too many members listen to assholes and draw their opinions from them... Why do they come here at all? Rather than come here and ignore what we say altogether regarding DEXCOOL, etc, its best to stay away and not taint the board. We have a few malcontent members now that insist upon badmouthing. There is NO excuse for it, there are other boards out there that are more oriented toward mud throwing and badmouthing. If members don't take/heed/observe the advice given here that has been passed down DIRECT from the horses mouth, they should stay away, for them this board is not helpful

I have no thoughts that my car will not run forever. I had a 90 Deville wehn I sold the car it had 190k miles on it and still ran like a top..These are just things I question. If I dont ask how will I ever learn ? Do you tell your childern or friends asking questions is stuiped ? Oh, its only a car and some money. No big deal. Its gonna be timeserted! But sometime after I sell my house and have a place to do it myself I'm gonna buy one. Ive been wanting to do this job for about 2 years I guess.

Thank-you all so much,

Michael-

No one called you stupid. Understand when you post misinformation, people are going to call you on the carpet.

[Ranger]

No one called you stupid.

I think the term was "asshole".

[epricedright]

I didn't say it.

[ted tcb]

Well This will be my last post on here. Have a good one !

Michael -

Michael: You're having a tough time with your car right now ... I suspect most of us would be

pissed at the sudden financial drain of a head gasket repair. I understand your frustration, but

take the weekend, reflect, and come revisit this thread.

You've received solid advice from BBF, KHE, JHall,aklac, J.Olsson, and others.

Just keep in mind that on an enthusiast board, you're gonna get flamed if you take shots

at GM without really solid, factual, substantiated evidence. Re quality of these cars, I visited

about a dozen dealers today, checking out their used cars. There wasn't a single car that could

touch my 99 STS in terms of the body ... I saw 02 Maximas, Accords, Acura RL's, Camrys, all

with thin, chipped paint, corroded rims, rusted trim pieces.

I visited the dealers,thinking about your head gasket issue. I left, vowing to hold onto my STS

for many, many years to come. My STS has 171klm, and looks incredible. I've come to the realization

that the only way I can go to another car is to buy brand new, or a used caddy. The import I saw

today haven't held up to 4 Canadian winters. My car never sees my garage, yet the finish is

showroom fresh after 7 Canadian winters.

Good luck with the repair, and let us know how it goes. I, for one, enjoy the enthusiasm you've

exhibited with your previous responses to other posts.

I think you're allowed a little emotion considering the major headache of an engine repair.

[BodybyFisher]

No one called you stupid.

I think the term was "asshole".

Allow me to clarify, maybe my statement was not clear. I said this "Too many members listen to assholes and draw their opinions from them..."

By listening to assholes I mean, they listen to mechanics (who are assholes) who are NOT knowledgeable about the Northstar, Dexcool, etc. And that mechanic regurgitates, BS, POP CULTURE, and unsupported OPINIONS that our members THINK is correct. We have seen the result mechanics making uneducated narrow minded statements, improper repairs, and giving wrong information. We recently had a GOOD mechanic NOT KNOW that the tranny side pan had to be drained! To post unsupported statements up on this board creates confusion, controversy and uncertainty for future members when they do a SIMPLE search and find unsupported statements. I meet unsupported erroneous statements HEAD ON every time. I give MY FULL allegiance to the GURU's opinion, who I trust explicitly. So when someone says "I'm not impressed with the Dexcool. Ugh looking in the serg tank you can see all that nasty build up.. The quailty of these cars has never been enough", YOU BETTER PROVIDE AND KNOW FACTS.

So NO I was not calling Michael (who I like, and who I was a strong supporter of until the negative statements) any names that is really not my style. I even said earlier in the thread this showing that as these engines reach 100,000 miles, even I worry:

Make sure you consult with the guys here who are time-sert veterans. I am hoping NOT to become a time-sert veteran, but I have 82K miles, can you hear it > tick, tick, tick, tick, tick

For the record, and I have said it before, when I buy an STS newer than 96, if it has ever had GREEN, I would not buy it.

[epricedright]

Mike,

What I don't get is he was asked what did he use to flush his system with and if the coolant supplements were used with no reply. He also hasn't clarified if he used green coolant in his last coolant change, like he did in his '96 Deville three years ago. Given his feelings about Dexcool, and the fact that three years ago he switched from Dexcool to green in another Caddy, it would be easy to presume there was green in the SLS when the head gasket failed. He also didn't take Kevin's advice to pressure test his engine before jumping to the conclusion there was indeed a head gasket failure. The evasiveness is deja-vu of you know who.

Michael,

I sympathize with your situation. It would help though if you could answer questions posed to you and be more specific as to what all has beeen done, so the board could help you better and maybe even learn from your situation. I wish you luck with your Caddy.

[mikeal1892]

Mike,

What I don't get is he was asked what did he use to flush his system with and if the coolant supplements were used with no reply. He also hasn't clarified if he used green coolant in his last coolant change, like he did in his '96 Deville three years ago. Given his feelings about Dexcool, and the fact that three years ago he switched from Dexcool to green in another Caddy, it would be easy to presume there was green in the SLS when the head gasket failed. He also didn't take Kevin's advice to pressure test his engine before jumping to the conclusion there was indeed a head gasket failure. The evasiveness is deja-vu of you know who.

Michael,

I sympathize with your situation. It would help though if you could answer questions posed to you and be more specific as to what all has beeen done, so the board could help you better and maybe even learn from your situation. I wish you luck with your Caddy.

Hello,

I have done everything by the book. Yes , I have always used the supplements in the coolant. I flushed it the old fashion way about a month ago it seems the car had 99 k miles on it and now has 101k . In fact I just learned the coolant was never flushed before. I dont know how questioning something got blown into something it should not have in the post before last. I do have respect for others advice and I like considering everything. Its been a week I want to forget not just with the car but with selling my house and my in laws we all had it out the day the car blew up should I call it ? For the in laws they just need to learn to mind there own business they love a drama and we have to get the good book throw at us over evertyhing. Fact is we're not doing anything wrong to begin with.

Heres a question though. They were worked on a 1999 STS a few weeks ago the service manager at Curry Cadillac here in Bloomington said that for some reason Gm paid for part of the repair. So he first quoted me was 1,800 but now its 2,580 but that was with the parts at list so it will be lower. They have put back together this STS with out time serting it he said. ??? hmmm I said. He said that in some cases it torques down without having to do the timesert ? I wanted to run this by some of you.. And now I'm somewhat worried after remembering how the dealership did KHE's car. However we have been buying our parts from them (Curry's) for 11 years. So, they know I wont be going away. They are going to replace the gasket on the oil pan and replace the filter inside the transmission while the engine is already out. I thought this would be good. If theres anything else anyone thinks I should have them do as well let me know, please.

I had to make sure they understand she was not to sit out side for any reason or I would come get her when I was over there to get a few things. You know walking away from that car I was ready to cry. I just cant believe its happened its been a fear though. Its always something !

I'm also thinking of after I get over this mess getting a STS 2005 with the v6 I have heard great things from a buddy in Florida about them. Anyone heard anything to that effect on those ? I'm just going to cut a check on my old one pay it off maybe just put it on jack stands...lol I dont know.

Thank-you all for putting up with me, and thanks for the kind words Epricedright !

A week I dont care to remember !

Michael Southward

[BodybyFisher]

Michael, you see, you badmouthed Dexcool and you ripped Cadillac's dependability and you just exposed the REAL REASON your HEAD GASKETS BLEW, POOR MAINTENANCE!!! Plain and Simple!

You said this above:

In fact I just learned the coolant was never flushed before.

FACT 1) Dexcool needs to be changed every 100,000 miles

OR

FACT 2) Dexcool needs to be changed every 5 YEARS!

OR IF YOU DON'T

Dexcools ability to prevent CORROSION is GONE!

You have a 1998, that is now at LEAST 8 years! THERE is your problem! POOR MAINTENANCE! Nothing to do with Dexcool or Cadillac's dependability! And THAT is why I took offense to your negative statements.

[mikeal1892]

Things happen I have to many other things going on anymore.