Cadillac Repair: seville cadillac headgasket., time serts, aluminium block

Question
purchased a 1999 seville cadillac in december 2005 with 33,000 actual miles.one owner immaculate.have had to add coolant weekly. would run rough when first started. then clear up. now showing service engine soon {showed #1cylinder misfiring) carried to cadillac dealer today and they ran compression test, they said i needed a new engine. bad headgasket. they dont want to replace gasket because of head bolts will pull threads out of block when removing. what do you think.does this seem legitimate. they are talking about $7000.00 plus. thanks

Answer
Hi Maury

Yes this sounds about right,though i question the engine replacement,we do headgaskets and install what is known as time serts,they are basically thread inserts that replace the current threads with new steel ones for the head bolts,this makes the current engine headbolt threads stronger as the originals are threaded into the aluminium block of the Northstar,the new gaskets that are availible from GM are redesigned and will elliminate further headgasket failures.it is up to you on how you should proceed but maybe try another cadillac dealer for a second opinion,engine replacment for headgaskets sounds a bit extreme.my opinion only.

ED