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1998 Cadillac Deville Overheating
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natefish
New User
Jun 29, 2011, 9:23 PM
Post #1 of 2
(5698 views)
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1998 Cadillac Deville Overheating
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Hello everyone, first time poster here. I apologize if this runs long. Been having some issues for several months and want ot make sure everyone understands the issue.
About 2 months ago, I started getting warnings that I was low on coolant on the dash. I filled it up, and about 3 weeks later I'd get the same warning. I couldn't get it into the mechanic for awhile, so I just kept coolant with me. Every time it said I was low, I'd pull over and put some coolant in the engine (about 1/2 a gallon each time). After about 6-8 weeks of this, I was heading home from work, and got the same warning and then instantly "engine overheating, idle engine" came up. So I pulled over. Flipped through the display on the dash and saw the temp was 250 degrees. Not more than 2 seconds later I heard a fairly loud pop, tons of steam came from behind my dash and about a gallon of coolant spilled all over the passenger side floor of my car. I instantly assumed this was my heater core. Luckily I was already in a parking lot, and had an appointment the next morning to get my leak looked at. Just had to have them come tow it instead of me driving it.
After they looked at it, they confirmed what I thought -- I had to have them replace the heater core. But, he said it was still overheating afterwords, and thought I should replace the thermostat as well. So, I OK'd that fix as well. I should also mention here that he explained that both my heater core and thermostat were shattered. He said he had never seen anything like it, but something must have caused a very high amount of pressure to build up and basically crush those 2 components in my car.
He then told me, the overheating has calmed down a bit, but if you drive it for more than 30 minutes at a time, it overheats pretty bad. He said at this point it could either be a water pump or a "cracked header" (I assume he meant head gasket, but I don't know for sure). I'm not a total idiot when it comes to cars, but I certainly don't know everything. I've never heard of a cracked exhaust header causing overheating issues like this (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Anyways, he is right. If I drive it for around 30 minutes, it will go from around 190-200 degrees, and shoot up to 230-240. I'm sure it would keep going up, but I don't want to let it get much hotter than that. I'm just at a point where I have to decide if this car is worth putting more money into or not, and I suppose that has a lot to do with what's wrong with it. Anyone have any ideas about what could be causing this particular issue? Is it worth putting more money into, or could this quickly become a money pit? I've already put around $500 into it, and if it's going to end up costing me what would be equivalent to a down payment on a car, it's probably not worth it.
Thanks!
EDIT: One thing I did forget to mention that I figured I should -- The car dies every now and then. It seems like it normally idles around 625-650 RPM's. But every once in awhile it just falls down to around 550 RPM's and dies a few seconds later. It starts right back up and runs fine, but it does this about once a month or so. It seems to do it, if I don't give the car 3-5 minutes to idle in the morning before I drive off. Also, when it first starts up after sitting for more than a couple hours, it runs very rough for approx. 30 seconds.
(This post was edited by natefish on Jun 29, 2011, 9:27 PM)
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jun 30, 2011, 3:17 AM
Post #2 of 2
(5678 views)
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Re: 1998 Cadillac Deville Overheating
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What he may have been referring to is a possible blown head gasket. This is very possible given the previous overheating prior to repairing the heater code. There are chemical test to test for that.
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