Maintenance

[02Eldorado]

Ok I am new to cadillacs, I previously owned a ford and learned how to do do pretty much anything on it. The Northstar is a whole new beast. I acquired the car from my aunt who passed away recently. She bought it brand new and always took it to the cadillac dealer for any repairs or maintenance it needed and I have the benefit of having the repair receipts of everything that has been done since new. I recently had the engine coolant changed at the dealer because I was afraid to touch it plus it's cold here in Michigan in the winter. I see the transmission fluid was changed at 45,000 miles and it now has 83,000 miles. Should I have the fluid flushed again soon and how hard would it be to do it myself? Is there any other maintenance issues I should look into? Also, when I looked under the hood today I noticed a cracked piece of plastic on the firewall that seems to cover the blower motor or something. Should I be concerned about it? I will have to take a picture of it.

 

[MAC1]

Generally, the transaxle fluid should be flushed when the change fluid message appears. However, some people are changing trans fluid more often than recommended in order to try to avoid future problems. I don't know what the '02 Eldorado looks like, however, if it's still similar to my former '94 Eldorado the radiator will have the trans cooler lines connected to the left side of the radiator--one on the bottom and one on the top. Disconnect the top cooler line from the radiator and screw in an adapter that you can buy at Home Depot plumbing section where the compression fittings are that will allow you to connect plastic tubing which you can then run down into a 4 gallon bucket. You should tape the plastic hose to the bucket to prevent it from popping out once fluid starts to drain. The compression fitting does not have to be screwed in all the way--just enough so that it doesn't pop out under pressure. After connecting the adapter and hose and securing it into a bucket, start the engine and make sure you keep it in Park. The trans fluid will pump out. When you see the fluid beginning to spit out of the hose indicating no more can be pumped out, then shut off engine. Refill and reconnect the trans cooler hose to radiator. You'll probably get about 2 gallons of fluid which is not a complete drain but it's good enough. You can do this once a year which will keep the fluid relatively fresh.

 

[cadillackman]

The biggest issue is the head gaskets. Something happens to the head bolts & the threads end up having to be re-done with a time-sert kit. I think this issue was corrected in 02 but i'm not positive. I had a red 99 that that had a bad gas guage & the drivers lumbar support had fallen out of it's mount inside the seatback. It was an easy fix. The car had 86,000 miles on it & after about 6 months of easy driving, I started to smell antifreeze in the exhaust. I traded it in the next day. I know that the back 4 spark plugs are a bioch & the belt driven accessory placement sucks. On a side note, I also had a 92 of the same body with a 4.9 in it. I liked it better than the northstar. Much easier to work on & nearly equal accelleration. & as I tell everyone here, cadillacforums.com is a good place to be when you need to learn.

 

[ALBUNDY]

Make sure you maintain the cooling system. It is a big part of keeping the N* happy and the forum cadillackman mentions is a very good site for Caddys.

 

[johnnyblazzwa]

Head gasket problems peaked in 1999 for the northstar, most comon 97-99 i believe. after that 2000 + its was tranny solonoid/sensor probles that would cause the torque converter to lock up, though i'm not sure how much this problem effected eldo model's, seemed to be a big problem with the deville/dts models and seville to an extent


your tranny fluid is most likely fine, many people dont have it flushed for the first time until 75k-100k. maybe just check it to make sure its not low or brown haha

Just remember to change your oil and warm that aluminum block up before you drive in the cold minnesota winter's.