Wanted to start this new thread about the companies 2000 Cadillac DTS that we purchased from a customer who was staring down the barrel of over $5,000 in minimum needed repairs. Having a soft spot for this particular year of Cadillac I purchased the vehicle from the customer and pretty much everything I said that would need attention has needed attention. Honestly if it weren't for my personal affection for the vehicle many would argue these fine automobiles are much like older Mercedes Benz in that they will NOT be worth what you have into them but at the same time will save you the $40,000 needed when entering into newer Cadillac sedan territory - but even then these newer Cadillacs do not ride and feel like the 2000's...
Driving a well taken care of DTS - SLS - STS or DHS is literally like sitting in a lazy-boy... The almost 300 HP Northstar transverse mounted front wheel drive powertrain is great in all weather for normal cruising but really nice in the winter.
Upon purchasing the vehicle, a repair to the transmission housing was required to get the car to quit leaking oil. This was done with a heli-coil and would prove to be a permeant fix, however the fate of the transmission is such that it was run dry for so long that it eventually gave up the ghost.
After a little cleaning I ended up doing the following -
11/20/2017 - New lower control arms - Front + Rear Wheel bearings + New Rack and Pinion with inner and outer tie rod ends.
10/24/2017 - New Delphi complete fuel pump with sender installed due to inaccurate sender.
6/24/2017 - Purchased and installed all missing center caps (missing none now) ironically I purchased the entire parts car just for the three hub caps I was missing... LOL!
5/11/2017 - New radiator, front struts and rear air shocks
4/28/2017 - Front and Rear Brake Pads and Rotors
4/26/2017 - Tune up with new coil packs and spark plug boots
1/20/2017 - New Front and Rear tires, brake booster, passengers side axle shaft
And of course, as of this writing (December 2017) the transmission has given up the ghost due to the torque converter seal leaking very badly. It's also very interesting to note the design of these oil pan makes for leaks with the age. Obviously I am currently mulling re-sealing the lower end, or just doing what I can with it while it's out, install the new trans and rebuild the engine out of the donor vehicle I took apart. Yes, I purchased another donor vehicle that was the same year and it's been a great help in getting this one back in order. Keep in mind these engines are also known for popped head gaskets so I am thinking of just changing out the transmission and doing a proper re-build on the engine from the donor. I got removal of these engines down to 4 hours with help from the kid.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
So, having replaced pretty much everything else, obviously I am going to swap out these transmissions for now and research the cost involved in re-sealing (at minimum) the old engine with the new stud kits they sell.
So far,
Although who knows.. I may decide to re-seal the problematic 3 piece oil pan / bedplate before I re-install the unit... decisions decisions... Starting to feel like I am going thru PowerStrokers Saturn fetish, only with a Cadillac...
I am going to be making a new thread about the problematic oil leaks associated with the Northstar Cadillac engine as it does need special attention.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Some folks might say that you've opened-up a can-of-worms here LOL !
I'm impressed with how you go-about getting your work done, & even more impressed with what you manage to get done from home home.
Cool thread for anyone that owns one of these babies, as it at least shows the amount of work, time & effort needed to get everything up-to-scratch again.
It should give you a great run once it's up & running again.
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"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
I finally caught a break on the Cadillac, come to find out most of my oil leaks were coming from the front transmission seal and from a small hole in the rear main seal. Apparently whoever changed the transmission last poked a hole it in! You could tell it was a junkyard trans from all the markings on the old unit. Anyway, re-sealed the crossover as I was getting a small leak from the back side that was also making a little mess.
With any luck the Cadillac will be back on the road tomorrow night!
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
That's a big project, but it should be a really nice car when it's done. Nice job!
Thanks, and yes it was a pretty big job... nothing compared to this 75 Stingray project, but a project none the less. And to think, it all went down hill for this car while I was away on my out west vacation. Get home to a broken rack, leaking / slipping transmission, oh and the computer locked speed governed at 90 MPH! LOL.. I guess it might be funny except for the fact that the kid has managed to wear out the Silverado, which is next up this week. Got all new front and rear slotted rotors and such for that one, new wheel bearings, new axle seals and backing plates for the back... Diff cover seemed to develop a leak and may have run dry for a moment so I am going to have to check that and possibly put new bearings in the rear end. *sigh*
But at least I'll be driving my Cadillac! LOL, it's about 4:20am and I have about 2-3 more hours to go before I should be able to take her on the road. Hopefully all goes well! I am having to wait on the rear wheel bearings as the place I got them from sent me two sets of fronts! May just go ahead and get some drilled and slotted rotors for the Cadillac at the same time and paint the calipers with some of that enamel brake caliper paint so it really pops with them open chrome wheels. What's another fucking $150!? I swear, a Cadillac is worse than a boat!
Should be nice when it's done PowerStroker, but you know these Cadillacs! Always good for something! They are known to pop head gaskets too, but we will see. The fact a 16 year old driver will be driving this is also playing against any idea I might have about smooth sailing. I'm sure it will need something, heck even now I still need new rear wheel bearings... But man, I am excited to get back out there... Had to do the last minute Meijer run to get oils and stuff... might as well carry thru until it's done because the kid is going to have to man up and fix his own damn Silverado because I'll be cruising in the Cadillac! LOL
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Always good to see a project car get a little TLC & some money spent, to give it a second lease at life.
Revisiting these earlier photos, I never took notice of the transmissions interesting lay-out. I haven't seen anything that looks quite like that down here, but I don't think we actually have a FWD V-8 powered car on the market.
It's good to see a Cadillac that's built for a little speed, not just comfort !
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"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
Well I ended up getting it finished a few hours ago! Ended up having a bad coolant heater pipe coupler that was dripping and I had to wait until 4PM for them to get it from the warehouse.
The part number of the coupler is 800-431 and it connects to the pipe as shown in the photo above. Apparently the seals like to go in them as it had a slow drip once I got the coolant system topped off.. Now all is good.
Still have to have the tires balanced, install a new cat converter (it was missing when I bought it), and of course them rear wheel bearings. I plan on doing that today at a friends garage and maybe even give it an alignment. Probably won't be able to do the wheel bearings until they get delivered but I am for sure going with the drilled and slotted rotors and painting the calipers red. Runs and drives good and everything is dry as a bone under there after a punishing test drive!
After finishing up on the Cadillac we got my kids Silverado on the hoist and come to find out the diff cover leaking was not a result of rusted pin-holes... The little shit busted up some gears, probably when off-roading in this deep snow. I'd post a photo but it would just end this thread on a depressing note, but just incase you want to see what getting kicked in the nuts looks like, follow this link to the new thread about the kids Silverado.
Well, it was pretty quick shipping on the drilled / slotted rotors and rear wheel bearings!
So I got them all installed and I even painted the caliper bracket and calipers red. Figured why not...
Currently installing a 12 inch Kenwood subwoofer box with Power Acoustics Gothic series AMP to complement the Bose stereo. Trying to run a PL2-3-4 connector off either the speakers or the factory Bose subwoofer so that I can maintain all the factory stuff with a little extra kick in the bass department.
Turns out I have to order some heavy duty 3 ohm resistors for the front magnetic ride control shocks to trick the computer as the smaller ones I originally used burnt up already and the light is kicking for the stability control without seeing that 3 ohm resistance... Always something! LOL, pretty fancy stuff! I mean they use this metal filled oil and an electronic current to change the viscosity of the oil in the struts / shocks and for example could go from 30 weight to 70 weight with just the change of voltage! For this reason heavy duty resistors are needed.
I also find interesting that this thing has a water cooled alternator! I mean I ain't never seen no fancy $hit like that on a car yet!
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Well, in the tradition of getting kicked in the nuts I have some unfortunate news to share on the Cadillac...
1st one is rather interesting and maybe help someone else, but that used transmission I installed.. yeah, it's not the exact one for the DTS... Apparently the DTS and STS vehicles with the 8th digit vin code of "9" are different than the DHS and SLS transmissions with the "Y" for the 8th digit. Here are the differences,
The "9" vin code is the 300 HP version with 3:71 final ratio gear
The "Y" vin code is the 275 HP version with 3:11 final ratio gear
Since mine is the DTS I have the 300 horsepower engine, but it's calibrated differently due to the ratios and thus will throw 4th gear and other correlation codes... The transmission shifts fine, and the speedo works - although it could be a little off. Apparently the calibration between the DTS/STS models and the more luxury SLS/DHS models is such that the computer can't understand WTF is going on in the final gear (4th). Not a big problem, frustrating however as it will flash a digital message to service transmission due to these transmission codes but the way I look at it is this, all I had was the "Y" DHS/SLS transmission and there was no way I was buying a DTS/STS "9" transmission, so I would have rolled the dice either way. The gamble paid off as you just touch a reset button on the dash to clear the warning message once you hit 4th gear for more than a few minutes and then it's off until the next time you start the car. There is no real way to trick this out that I am aware of, unless of course someone could re-calibrarte the computer, then of course the message would go away as I have been finding myself quite OCD about fixing every little problem. LOL
But, as if this wasn't enough...
My kids buddy clipped the Caddy backing out of our driveway... I have full coverage and car was parked but I can't even file a claim because it was my kids buddy and it happened at my moms house... So I'm just fucked... lol, anyway, I still have the bumper off that DHS but it's white, so maybe I'll see what it cost to have it sprayed cashmere and live with the scratch in the quarter panel.
One step forward, two steps back...
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
I'd see if you could source a computer from the other model car, to hopefully fix your glitch, & any speedo-error. It would seem that the computers parameters aren't in accord, & your RPM's in 4th-gear clash with the speedo-reading, hence the code. Generally, 4th-gear is 1:0 to 1:0, direct drive, with no gears working, only your clutch-packs engaged.
Bummer about the dents & scratches...Better the Caddy than Goldilox...
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"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
Yeah I guess you're right.. I sent the bumper out with a friend and soon it will be just that scratch.
The weather should be turning around here in another month or so, and that will see a serious focus on that Stingray you love so much... to be honest them aggressive fender flares are already starting to grow on me.
That means it must be getting into the fall season for you over there? Somewhere between now and spring I'll be bringing that black 420 SEL in the garage for a serious weekend of parts installation. That should
end up being pretty interesting along with net some cool photos... maybe not 75 Stingray cool, but pretty f'n cool! lol
-- Edited by SELLC on Saturday 10th of March 2018 11:09:38 PM
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
I'd see if you could source a computer from the other model car, to hopefully fix your glitch, & any speedo-error. It would seem that the computers parameters aren't in accord, & your RPM's in 4th-gear clash with the speedo-reading, hence the code. Generally, 4th-gear is 1:0 to 1:0, direct drive, with no gears working, only your clutch-packs engaged.
Bummer about the dents & scratches...Better the Caddy than Goldilox...
Thinking about sending the computer to the place that unlocked that PT Cruisers PCM. I'll have to give them a ring to see if they can delete the suspension portion of the programing and also if they can recalibrate the settings for the 3.11 final output. That would be totally awesome if they could and it would pretty much be all good at that point.
I already sold the old harness and ECM from the donor car, lol, just my luck too! But I'd rather have the 300 HP computer anyway and been working around the issue by pressing a button on the dash to make it go away until the next re-start of the vehicle. It does not seem to make any difference in the performance and it runs out very nice with LOTS of power... quite frankly the thing hauls ass! The kid won't even drive it anymore because he is too afraid something will break and he will get blamed for it! LOL, that and the fact it's speed limited to 90 MPH currently due to the suspension getting swapped to aftermarket.
I even got the resistors in the mail but I guess either 2 ohms is not enough or they are faulty. I didn't check them with a meter before installing because they were new, but now I'll have to do that. Some were saying 4.7 ohms to trick the suspension computer when you change out to the non-magnaride (read that as not the $1000 factory strut/shock). Be nice if I could just have that entire system deleted from the PCM, as not all Cadillacs had it.
Also got a quote from my body guy to fix that damage, almost $1,000! And that's "friends prices"... Prolly three times that at a body shop! Just can't figure out if I want to spend that on the car though... It's almost Corvette and Mercedes weather!
I been driving it every day, love the car... brings back memories and it feels good. Of course I have it listed for sale too, you know how I roll... but I'd miss it... should just plan on keeping it for another 5 years - but then the engine would blow or something! LOL
-- Edited by SELLC on Sunday 8th of April 2018 10:54:45 PM
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
I been driving it every day, love the car... brings back memories and it feels good.
-- Edited by SELLC on Sunday 8th of April 2018 10:54:45 PM
This is all that matters !!!
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"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
I just want to add that this particular Cadillac DTS of the 2000 era has been treating me quite well! Just got me to Detorit and back!
I can't stress enough how blessed I feel to re-live this era of my life because back in the 2000's when Cadillac was paying for me to Don 3 of these chassis per night...
OMG!!!
If you can afford it, don't deny it!
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
