Cadillac Repair: 1993 Cadillac Querks, alternator pulley, cadillac eldorado

Question
Hi, I have recently purchased a 93' 4.6 Sport Coupe Cadillac Eldorado from a police auction for $1500. And of coarse it has it's querks. First of all I started hearing a clunking and squeeling sound from the front left corner of the motor. So I asked some questions and watched it closely, and every time I heard the clunk I noticed that the alternator pulley wheel would move. So do you think that is the problem? Do I need to replace it or can the alternator be repaired? And if it is that how hard is it to replace the alternator? Can you let me know step by step? Second,         after I've been driving it, I'll turn off the car, come back to it while it is still hot, I'll start it and it will try and try but wont turn over. If I put the gas to the floor while I try to start it, it will turn over but then the motor will keep accellerating as if someone has their foot pumping on the pedal to the floor! I checked the cable and it does not get stuck. Now I wont dare put it into gear while it is doing this, Because I don't want to wreck the tranny. But I found the only way to stop this REVING is to turn of the car for a few minutes then try starting it again. Can you help? Thanx

Answer
Hi Jason, Getting the Eldo at that price seems like a good deal even if you have to take it to the shop for diagnosis and repairs of those 2 issues.

      If you see the alternator pulley move then the bearing has likely been worn out. I suppose you could rebuilt it but when I was with Caddy in '00 they didn't offer bearings so we replaced the complete alternator. If the a/c compressor bearing was starting to go then it could sound like the alternator. To verify that the bearing is worn remove the serpentine belt and then move and spin the pulley by hand. It should be obvious. I haven't had to replace that type alternator while on jackstands and from my experriance it is kind of a character builder job because of the swivel sockets and the confined space to work in. You need to get a shop manual for the steps because it would take too much time to type it out and I might not give a step that is needed because of the way I do them. The time is 2.1 hours but you can expect to be at it longer than that, maybe 4 hours or more depending on your abilities.

         With your second problem you could have a leaking fuel injector or leaking fuel pressure regulator that is allowing gas to flood the engine. What happens when you put your foot to the floor is put the computor in clear flood mode and it shuts off the injectors so they don't spray. When the engine starts you obviously remove your foot from the accellerator pedal but maybe the gears in the idle speed control motor are binding and that is what is keeping the speed up. You would have to install a fuel pressure gage and see if the pressure holds with the engine off. And then output cycle the ISC motor to  test it for smooth operation.

        With your problems you really need the GM shop manual 2 book set that can be gotten from ebay in their ebay motors section or maybe your public library has a copy because the chilton or haynes just doesn't go into the kind of detail that you will need to fix these problems. You could subscribe to all data.com and get the same info that the independant repair shops use which is really quite good.


       Good luck with your repairs and hope you enjoy driveing your Eldo. Bill