Cadillac Repair: High Idle on 93 Sedan DeVille, vacuum leak, foot on the gas

Question
I bought '93 Sedan DeVille from my husbands cousin, who happens to own an auto shop. When I got it, the engine light would come on after about 5-10 miles of driving and stay on. He told us what the problem was, but said it wasn't anything serious. Now, for about the last month or so, the darn thing idles so high it's scares me!! I was driving the other day and was keeping a steady speed of 55mph going uphill with my foot off of the gas. Also, I noticed a smell of hot metal. At first I thought it was just my brake pads, as I just had them replaced last weekend. But after letting it idle this morning for about 15 minutes (we had a snow storm last night) I smelled the hot metal again. Any ideas?

Answer
Hi Angie, Your husband needs to talk to his cousin and get this at least looked at because if you can go 55mph without your foot on the gas there is a serious problem. The reason for the smell might be the catalytic converter is getting hot due to all the raw gas that it has to burn due to the high idle speed. That could be due to a vacuum leak, idle speed control motor gears binding or the battery was disconnected and the idle needs to get relearned to name a few things. I agree that there are a few codes that can be ignored but this might be a case that the mechanic doesn't know how to repair it or it would cost him too much so he might be trying to blow you off. If I knew the code I could be in a better position to advise you. Try to get it looked in the next couple of days by a qualified tech. before you get into an accedent. Bill