The 84 Cadillac Chronicles..

[Ritalin Kid]

I have to say for the past couple of months well almost a year I have been posting about my beautiful 1984 Cadillac Coupe DeVille..

First I had to dish out $1000 to fix a cracked head.. and after that I have been battling a rich idle problem of which it was at a friend's shop for 6 months with some progress..

Well... after driving up to Jamestown TN (45mins away) after work yesterday I was so excited to get my car back.. just hearing my tunes and the rumble of the engine made me happy to drive her again..

Just to be sure I checked the fluids to make sure everything was ready for the trip back up and down the mountain.. but here is were the fun begins..

I gleefully drive me Caddy back home no problems running so smooth like only a Cadillac can 40 mins into the drive coming straight down the last part of the mountain to a straight strech which goes for 1-2 miles straight to my home town the Temp Warning Light Pops on as I think to myself "NOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Wellat this point I was coasting down the last bit of the mountain and following my roomate (jigga_man) who was driving my White 87 Coupe.. well I flash my lights at him to pull over BUT then decide since the light has just come on that I can maybe make it home no problem so I wave for him to keep going cause home was only 3-4 miles away and light was just flashing on and off like was maybe barely hot..

Well he continues to slow down and pulls into some old man's driveway as I rll down the window and tell him don't worry about it he satops me and says, Man when you flashed me the car engine just turned off and I started coasting so I had to pull over anyway to restart the car" (which is weird cause my 87 has never done that but was very low on gas at the time)..

Well after he starts the car back up I tell him that I'm just gonna try to make it to the house as I put her in reverse my car dies.. again I thnk to myself "NNNNOOOOOO!!!!"

We pop the hood WATER IS EVERYWHERE!!! Jigga_man replies "you've got a busted house b*#ch" pointing at the water.. I reply, "NO!, There's no F!@#$%^ RADIATOR CAP!!!"

One of the guys working on the car didn't put the radiator cap back on tight and it just popped off and started spewing.. I freaked!

Well I consider myself very lucky as the car is just fine we put water and antifreeze back in her and she fired right up runs exactly the way she did when I picked her up that day..

The one thing I do feel very lucky about is the sequence of events.. If Jigga_man's car had not died then I would have never pulled over thinking it was a minor overheating problem and I would have tried to make it home with no water in the radiator and with an aluminum block that's a no no..

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just that lucky and sometimes I wonder if I am meant to have that car.

[Ritalin Kid]

Does nobody feel my pain?? j/k

[caddmannq]

I do, a bit. Those were probably the worst engines (for reliability) that Cadillac ever made. But also, I don't care for cars with aluminum engines too much.

My cast iron Caddy blew a freeze plug at 185,000 miles, and I just drove it home with no water period. It was about 35 miles, but the weather was cool (~65F) that day, and I drove it gently.

The next day I changed the oil & the bad freeze plug, filled 'er up, and drove it another 21,000 miles with no problems.

Cadd likes cast iron

[Ritalin Kid]

Mee too I was told that a Chevy 350 would bolt right up to it and I wouldn't have to worry bout any silly computer fuel injection problems

[skuz]

I'm currently building my project car with a friend. I have absolutely no idea how it will run, the engine already has 266 000 KMs. It can move on its own power, but I'm not sure what it will do in the long run.

[KAknight]

I would call up the shop that worked on your car and pitch a fit. You can probably get your money back or free service or something like that.

[Gomer]

LOL, they call them idiot lights for a reason j/k =) All the money invested, you really oughta get a small set of gauges installed for $50 or so. That way you KNOW if it is overheating.

[Richard Cranium]

www.paceparts.com "had" some Caddy 4100 engines NEW for $495.00 a few months ago.

On the Chevy, the same company has some "Painless" brand wiring harnesses for TBI Chevy V-8 engines so that you can enjoy good fuel economy as well as performance. These were cheaper than most at sub $300

[Ed_S]

Errr.. RK, I can't help noticing something about the story...

Well... after driving up to Jamestown TN (45mins away) after work yesterday I was so excited to get my car back.. just hearing my tunes and the rumble of the engine made me happy to drive her again..
Just to be sure I checked the fluids to make sure everything was ready for the trip back up and down the mountain.. but here is were the fun begins..
(emphasis added)

No offense intended, but is it possible that the haste to get going caused you to overlook the cap?
Regardless, hopefully no damage was done!

[Ritalin Kid]

No damage was done I just got through driving her 120 miles doing 80 all the way to Knoxville... but that's a different story..