Cadillac Repair: Cadillac over heating, cadillac sls, class action case

Question
1998 Cadillac SLS w/northstar; What can cause the engine to overheat?  I have replace the water pump, termostat and radiator.

Answer
Hello,

Once overheated, these fine Cadillac aluminum engines self destruct and as for the over heating problem, it is the chicken/egg theory.

Overheating (even for a little while) will cost you blown head gaskets, cracked or warped heads, possible cracked engine block. I am not trying to scare you here, I am just telling you how it is. Cadillac has been making these poorly designed engines since 1982. To name them-4.1. 4.5, 4.9 and the northstar. These engines are notorious for overheating issues and that is why you would never attempt to replace the engine with a used engine. (frying pan into the fire scenario).

You asked me what your overheating problem is and I cannot tell you without a physical examination of the car. There are so many different things that can cause these to overheat and if it hit or came close to hitting the red on the gauge, you automatically could be potentially be looking at thousands to repair it.

The best answer I could give you is have a qualified technician look at it and don't go to the dealer.

I could give you a shopping list of things that could be wrong, but I don't want you wasting money chasing ghosts like it appears you have already done with no resolution,

At one time, because of the absolute huge volume of Cadillac engine had failed with their overheating and ultimate destruction of the engine, this would have been a great class action case, however the government now owns them, and guess what? They still use aluminum engines that are doomed for failure. 28 years to rectify it.

Its my opinion that they were not as concerned about repeat buyers and were more concerned about the money made on replacement parts here. If you need a new engine, there is only one place you can get it!

I owned over 20 Cadillacs and did not have the experiences others did with problems, but I also knew this was not like a cast iron Chevy engine in which you could get away with running hot and at worse, blow the head gaskets. If you go past the 3/4 mark on the temp gauge on Cadillac's fine engines, you are destroying more and more components until it costs over four thousand bucks to fix it and then find out you need more parts like blower fans and more.

The only other suggestion I have is, that if you get the overheating problem diagnosed and repaired reasonably, dump the car, because you are looking at continuous headaches. They are fun to drive, they look great, but in my opinion ( a person that has worked on and owned thirty years worth of Cadillacs, there engines have serious issues. Not all, but a large majority.)

Good Luck