Alright, everyone: if you remember from my other thread, I had plans to buy a 2003 Cadillac Seville as a winter beater. I did end up buying it, and now she's in the garage!
I brought it to work today to assess that craziness I've gotten myself into. I already knew about the massive vacuum leak, the inoperative radio, the check engine light, and a bit of a pull to the left. Here's how it went:
Positives:
NO LEAKS!? HOW?! This is honestly the driest N* I've ever seen. Not one spec of oil, transmission, power steering, ANYTHING underneath. It's obvious that the block halves have been resealed. It's got a reman. alternator and a newer AC Delco A/C compressor (that doesn't work, I have power to it). There's some light rust but nothing major.
It's got a Strutmasters conversion kit in it. Front struts and springs, rear shocks and springs. It rides a little floaty, but hey it's a Cadillac.
It looks like the engine was replaced at some point. I have no idea when, but it was a quality install.
Factory HID's!
Needs improvement:
The aforementioned radio. It's got factory navigation, and it's dead as a doornail. No communication with my Tech 2, although the Amp responds fine. I'll probably toss the outdated 15 year old unit and put in a stock CD/Cassette.
There's an exhaust leak. I couldn't figure out where from at first, but then I found it. There's a broken off O2 sensor in the rear manifold. Like, flush broken. I can see the "cage" of the old sensor still in the manifold. It isn't used on this car, all 3 sensors are accounted for and verified working, so my thought is that this JY engine was from a newer car that used 4 sensors instead of 3. There's very limited access back there, but I think I can reach back and pack the remnants of the old sensor with muffler cement. It's not a very big opening, maybe 1/4 inch.
The auto headlights and dash illumination do not work, nor do the dome lights. Fuses check out, and all the exterior lights work manually. I'm going to throw an ambient light sensor at it based on the symptoms. All these items are controlled by that sensor, and when it goes out nothing works. I tested the sensors while watching the scan data, the 2 HVAC sunload sensors respond immediately to light, the Twilight sensor is flat lined.
I just checked the inventory at my local u-pull, they have 4 of this generation Seville sitting in the yard. I plan on going down and seeing what all I can find for cheap.
Today was a success, however. I replaced the intake coupler, intake gaskets, PCV hose and elbows, throttle body gasket, and injector o-rings. No more vacuum leak! I reset the fuel trims and put about 35 miles on it after work. It runs as smooth as butter. I also threw in a new air filter and did an oil change, it got 7.5 quarts of house-blend semi-syn and an FVP filter. I'm going to monitor oil consumption and see where I stand with plain jane oil first. So far, I'm in it for $100 for today's work.
I did notice that the coolant reservoir was low, so I topped up about a quarter gallon. Afterwards, I had a leak directly under the reservoir. Uh oh, looks like a crack. Since these cars are so picky about cooling, I'll replace it when I do the planned coolant flush. I also plan on doing a drain and fill on the transmission, I just didn't want to get in too deep with the money until I got the engine running right.
I didn't take many photos, but here's a couple. I was amazed at how clean the engine looked through the oil fill, I tried my best to capture a picture. Enjoy!
I brought it to work today to assess that craziness I've gotten myself into. I already knew about the massive vacuum leak, the inoperative radio, the check engine light, and a bit of a pull to the left. Here's how it went:
Positives:
NO LEAKS!? HOW?! This is honestly the driest N* I've ever seen. Not one spec of oil, transmission, power steering, ANYTHING underneath. It's obvious that the block halves have been resealed. It's got a reman. alternator and a newer AC Delco A/C compressor (that doesn't work, I have power to it). There's some light rust but nothing major.
It's got a Strutmasters conversion kit in it. Front struts and springs, rear shocks and springs. It rides a little floaty, but hey it's a Cadillac.
It looks like the engine was replaced at some point. I have no idea when, but it was a quality install.
Factory HID's!
Needs improvement:
The aforementioned radio. It's got factory navigation, and it's dead as a doornail. No communication with my Tech 2, although the Amp responds fine. I'll probably toss the outdated 15 year old unit and put in a stock CD/Cassette.
There's an exhaust leak. I couldn't figure out where from at first, but then I found it. There's a broken off O2 sensor in the rear manifold. Like, flush broken. I can see the "cage" of the old sensor still in the manifold. It isn't used on this car, all 3 sensors are accounted for and verified working, so my thought is that this JY engine was from a newer car that used 4 sensors instead of 3. There's very limited access back there, but I think I can reach back and pack the remnants of the old sensor with muffler cement. It's not a very big opening, maybe 1/4 inch.
The auto headlights and dash illumination do not work, nor do the dome lights. Fuses check out, and all the exterior lights work manually. I'm going to throw an ambient light sensor at it based on the symptoms. All these items are controlled by that sensor, and when it goes out nothing works. I tested the sensors while watching the scan data, the 2 HVAC sunload sensors respond immediately to light, the Twilight sensor is flat lined.
I just checked the inventory at my local u-pull, they have 4 of this generation Seville sitting in the yard. I plan on going down and seeing what all I can find for cheap.
Today was a success, however. I replaced the intake coupler, intake gaskets, PCV hose and elbows, throttle body gasket, and injector o-rings. No more vacuum leak! I reset the fuel trims and put about 35 miles on it after work. It runs as smooth as butter. I also threw in a new air filter and did an oil change, it got 7.5 quarts of house-blend semi-syn and an FVP filter. I'm going to monitor oil consumption and see where I stand with plain jane oil first. So far, I'm in it for $100 for today's work.
I did notice that the coolant reservoir was low, so I topped up about a quarter gallon. Afterwards, I had a leak directly under the reservoir. Uh oh, looks like a crack. Since these cars are so picky about cooling, I'll replace it when I do the planned coolant flush. I also plan on doing a drain and fill on the transmission, I just didn't want to get in too deep with the money until I got the engine running right.
I didn't take many photos, but here's a couple. I was amazed at how clean the engine looked through the oil fill, I tried my best to capture a picture. Enjoy!
