Cadillac Repair: cadillac eldorado ETC, cadillac eldorado, coolant level

Question
it all started in december with check engine light.. after asking if i could be faulty selanoid (sp?) on my first visit to dealer, as they looked at me like what do you know about repair.. on 12th visit after thousands of dollars dealer changed it. light went off. however alarm started going off as i started the car every morning. and almost stalling as i am driving, not wanting to go above 30 miles.
the other problem was coolant leak. same dealer, they diagnosed it to be "water pump" changed. came home - next morning noticed coolant on driveway, went back couple of days later - after 4 gallons of coolant - they said radiator and upper and lower hoses.. changed - next morning same story the leak is still there.. got another 2 gallons of anti freeze.. fill it up every morning.. or when check coolant level is on.. went back, now that car is driving worse then started, after close to 5000 dollars.. they say oh there is an engine block crack - it will be 5500 dollars.
i couldnt believe the nerve they said oh we have the 2006 ones on year end with .... i drove my car home, at this point i already spent enough money at this dealer in ct.. i am planning to complain to GM as well as better business.
i got my bill for the radiator.. on credit card.. i had asked them page the service manager, "he was in meeting" waiting half hour he never came in.
i love cadillac.. i will never buy from this dealer.
do you think all these badly done repairs killed my car?
i am so unhappy i cant describe.  
if you were me, what would you do?
could i get at least credit back if i fought them?


Answer
Hi Dawn, I'm sitting here trying to decide how to respond to your problem. On one hand it really isn't the typical question about car repair that I would expect to get. It is more of a question like someone would be asking a lawyer about advice. Because you needed to get your car fixed and depending upon the level of competancy and knowledge of an automechanic/ autotechnician not everyone can repair an electronically sofisticated Cadillac. So you did what I would have done and taken it to the dealer because since they work on them all the time and have access to the latest bulletins and service information available then they should be able to fix it right the first time or hopefully after 2-3 visits at the most. So that said here is what I would do.

     I would contact the service manager of the dealer by phone and see what he was willing to do for you. It sounds like if the car was diagnosed correctly in the first place they could have found the cracked engine  and certainly the solinoid problem before all that money was spent. So satisfaction might be for them to pay to have a differant engine installed and refund for the parts and labor that didn't fix the issue that turned out to be a bad solinoid. If you don't get satisfaction then the next call would be to eithor the owner of the dealership or the Cadillac zone office in your area. The zone office phone number should be in your owners manual near the back I believe. After that would be the BBB/better business bureau and finially a lawyer. To go that far you need to have paperwork to show that the dealer service department was unable to diagnose your car in a reasonable number of visits and the fact that the coolant was leaking out the next day seems to indicate that the tech didn't do a propper testdrive to check his work. It could just be that parts in the cooling system just went bad one after the other but it could be that if the block is really cracked and not misdiagnosed again that it is because they didn't fix the leak in the first place.

    As another suggestion it might be good to have a differant shop look the vehicle over and document what they feel is the problem with the cooling system. That way you have a fresh set of eyes and maybe it is a gasket and not a cracked block. If you ask around where your aquaintences get their work done I'm sure there is a good independant shop in your area. I wouldn't tell them about the dealer issues only that you have a coolant leak and need to know what it is going to take to fix it.

    Good luck, I hope that you get satisfaction. Bill