QuestionQUESTION: 1993 Cadillac DeVille 4 door sedan. air conditioning problems - drat drat drat. Already spent over $900 on this. New compressor. New converter from old chemical to new - freon R12??. Darn thing gets cold but no control of high or low. And now strange bubbling noise from right in front between driver and passenger after car is off and parked. Want to keep going to get fixed at this point. Any ideas. I will respond if you ask me questions. Car does not even have 90,000 miles on it. Older man with many cars in barn died leaving car to daughter and she sold to me. Extensive history of maintenance records in the original owners manual and I know the daughter. Just a shame. Not trying to make a show piece but am trying to keep on road. Dent and rust free. Chrome all gleams. I drive it almost daily, when not riding bicycle. But the drive is under 7 miles to and from. Get it out on the highway weekly but rarely goes over 50 miles at a time.
ANSWER: Hello,
No control from high to low. Do you mean the blower speed fan? I assume (I hope you did for cost) you did the retro kit to 134a (which now is banned as well).
in the 70's freon 12 cost less than $1 per can, but then the feds for their EPA slush fund put a $3 a can tax on it, which eventually went to $30 per can and so on until banned. Same happened with 134A, but its still sold but is being phased out as well. Same thing happened with home air R 22. All because freon purportedly damages the ozone layer , which they had no way to know about the ozone layer until the 60s when they started sending rockets up and then span that over the length of time the world has existed, which is a very short time period that we have known bout the ozone layer in the scheme of things. Cow farts are supposed to do more damage to the ozone layer and if cows, what else? Funny I am talking about this because on the news today, the feds were going to be hiring people in Wyoming to measure cow farts!
That is your history lesson for today-lol In my opinion, all a big world government con!
I learned a lot going through my certification class on A/C which supposedly made me a steward of our environment-lol
As for your sound, I don't know if I can help you without being at the car.
What people don't realize is the worst thing on a car is to put few miles on it. City driving is very brutal on an engine because like in your case of 7 miles, the engine barely has time to warm up. Oil should be changed much more frequently than 3,000 miles.
When is the last time the anti freeze/coolant was changed? It breaks down after 3 years and begins an acidic rot of the cooling system components not to be confused with the A/C. A car this old should also have a brake fluid flush because its 20 years old.
Not trying to be off subject, but these are things people don't think off until they have a problem with an old car.
http://www.autotheftexpert.com
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QUESTION: lol hopefully the new chemical they put in is the correct thing
okay. buttons on dash (digital gas guage but silver buttons and digital temp display in that box ) say low fan high fan. seems to be just on high. coolant flush fill tested for pressure (told me no cracks in heads?), new hose across top of car 10-2011. some thing about cadillac dealers like to hook to a pump system to do flush fill and failed at splice. i just noticed a small amount of what appeared to be smoke or steam coming out of the top of car (right in front of windshield which was location of replaced hose) and mechanic made fun of me because no apparent leak when I stopped after work. then after he adjusted, a bunch of steam came out one block away. so turned car around and left car and biked home from shop.
i think it got a lot of highway miles infrequently b.c the guy had so many cars to choose from. jag.jeep. he lived way out in the country in rural iowa. family members would borrow for vacation. anyway i am changing oil more frequently. had heard what you said previously. also replaced initial fuel injector and fuel filter twice. (once before fuel injector and again after) will just go back to the shop and let them hear the bubbling. maybe water pump ?? looks like on one of the other posts you said something about having water pump belt put on wrong. location of bubbling sound is right behind dash - or at least sounds that way from inside.
will do brake flush but it has new front and rear brakes. front put on by daughter and rear put on by me. all white sidewall new tires. just sayin. so how many miles does it need to be driven and how often. i did know low miles and sitting a lot is part of the problem so figured when i purchased would be a money pit. not paying for college anymore and just like driving it. actually do not even care about air conditioning but am off for a couple months this summer and it is darn hot this year. so decided to do it. we had a hot spell in early june and the service a/c lite came on so I just did not use the a/c or the heat till i got off work for the summer.
oh and the service a/c lite is still on after the work. AND THANKS !!!!
AnswerHi,
Thanks for the rating. Always makes me feel good for volunteering my time and helping people.
These aluminum engines can never be run hot (not even a little bit). They begin to melt. That was what the reference to head gaskets was because they blow when over heated--Notorious!! Does not sound like an issue for you. The dash steam was caused by a loose or broken heater hose at the firewall. No you do not need a water pump. If temp is within operating range (no hotter than 225 at very extreme) you are fine.
NEVER go to the dealer. You will have your eyeballs ripped out and as you know,, there are very competent mechanics out there.
The noise could be coming from vacuum at the mode doors which can be a normal situation. Now that your A/C is working, the mode doors are opening and closing and this could be a normal leak down as heard in some cars and nothing to worry about and I would be willing to bet that is your noise.
The blower--another wonderful Cadillac problem.
The first thing to do is look at the owner's manual for fuse box locations and check the blower fuses. If you don't have a fuse problem, then the blower speed relay module (if equipped) located on the passenger side at the plenium at the fire wall under the hood has to be checked for power at low speeds. If not equipped, you need a new BCM (Body Control Module-computer).
As I suggest to many, since you are going to keep this car, check Ebay or Craigs for a factory service manual and purchase one. This will assist you and your mechanic in diagnoses of any type of problem and will save you headaches in the future.
You beat me to it on the fuel filter. Forgot to add that.
You will find this is a very nice reliable car and the only caveat as I said, if that gauge goes to 230 or the hot light comes on, shut it down immediately! There are no good used engines at the salvage yards because they all suffered the same fate.
There is only one more Common GM problem we did not address that will leave you stranded. That is the so-called; anti theft system. You know, that big black ugly resistor on your key! GM wants $700 to replace the ignition lock and harness. Bypass this junk before you are stranded!
Call around to local alarm stores to see who has a VATS bypass kit. They come free with every alarm with remote start. It will cost you less than $60 to have it bypassed. I can explain how to do it, its just a lot easier to have it done.
Good luck!
http://www.autotheftexpert.com
Don't do anything to your cooling system if working well! No water pump-nothing! Just make sure serpentine belt is good. That is it.
