What have you done with your Cadillac today?

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Well, gave the Eldo a wash, and took her for a drive to blow-dry the roof before putting her back in the garage.   Oh, it was nice.  Love how little time it takes to hand wash such a large car when compared to smaller ones.

One thing that I discovered is that the ignition key has developed arthritis when starting in as much as the key doesn't want to release itself from the start position.

Now I have the job of freeing the ignition switch/rod/lock so I don't have to manually go from Start to run.

It was a bit tight before, but boy, really stiff now.

Bruce.

PS.   There is always something to do when things are not used enough.   First time driven since the 14th February last.

[TJ Hopland]

Today I realized I have driven the 73 enough this summer it actually needs an oil change based on miles rather than time. 

Got kinda depressed while doing the change.  My power steering pump is now leaking and it looks like my steering box is leaking real bad.   Decent leak at between the timing cover and oil pan.   Can't tell what else is leaking since those leaks are up front and its pretty well coating everything else. 

Also noticed I got a CV boot coming apart so guess car is going to stay apart on the lift tonight.  New shaft assembly is in town so it will be at my local store by lunch time.   

[Caddyholic]

Did a car cruise in Friday Night and We went for a 100 mile cruise through Calhoun county IL. Sunday. Here are some pictures.

[Jamurray]

Went to start the LaSalle, and it wouldn't. I try to take it out once a week at least, but leaving the ignition on destroyed my plan. I left it on because I installed LEDs in the front directional signal sockets. The directionals are bright, and I am pleased with the result. The filaments for the parking lights do not work. They did work with the old bulbs, so it's the new bulb and not the circuit.

My only concern was to have bright turn signals, so I'll just live with no parking lights. I never use them anyway.

The LaSalle has a 6V Optima battery. I'm not sure if my 4 amp Harbor Freight Viking charger will charge it, so I've hooked it in parallel with a charged 6V lead-acid battery. That's what Optima suggests if the battery is really dead.

I'm hoping the points are ok, but I may have another set. Somewhere.

It's a good thing it's not my daily driver.

[JerRita]

The Long Island Region hosted a Cars and Coffee event at member Steve Albanese's office. Rita and I took the H and E touring Eldorado convertible there and on the way home stopped for a lobster roll

[Finndorado]

Here`s what I did.
I did not refuel today either..  $5.67
Only in Finland 

[Chris Cummings]

I bought a new battery from Interstate (the previous one gave up after 8 years).  There aren't many places where you can buy the looooong, tall six-volt batteries that the 1930 V-8s and 1930-31 V-16s came with.  Then we went for a nice stroll around the neighborhood and enjoyed the smiles and waves of folks walking their dogs or driving by.

[TJ Hopland]

More depressing news since my oil change/ leak / cv project.   Noticed uneven wear on the front tires but then also looked at the date code...  2011.    Seems like I just bought those yesterday...   well it was in the old house so thats at least 4 years ago, and it was at least 2 diesel cars ago so that must be about 2011.     They were made in fall of 2011 and my guess is I must have bought them summer of 12.   Guess one more thing on the 'next season' to do list.

[chrisntam]

Oil change.  51258 wix filter, 5 quarts Penz 10w40 and a bottle of zddp.

Easy.  No leaks yet...

[Highwayman68]

Started a little cleaning and polishing of the dash components this weekend

.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Took the 1929 Roadster out for an exercise run....

Stopped in Rockwell Park, Bristol Ct.....the leaves are about 50% now....lots of color!

The old boy ran great !!!

Lots of fresh 50 degree air in the roadster !!!....burrrr..

Mike

[Big Fins]

I have a huge list of things that I've done to my car over the past few weeks.

Dash cover off...Replaced the front speakers, (used turnswitch.com for the correct speakers) all of the warning lights and illumination bulbs. The speedometer cable was lubricated, yea, perfectly smooth now. Also the cable from the cruise transducer to the transmission. NOS A/C vents installed with a modern material (fuzzy side of a Velcro strip) adhered to them to stop them from flopping loosely. It applies the perfect pressure. The windshield wiper switch was replaced and the entire area was cleaned out with compressed air. I was even able to reconnect the draw tube that attaches to the Climate Control in car sensor. They could make this just an inch or two longer?

Replacement door lock actuators installed and because I cleaned and lubed the window tracks a while back, I just looked to be sure everything was proper.

Under the car, the final drive lube was replaced as was the cover gasket and the cover cleaned out. Then I pulled the transmission pan, replacing the filter, o-ring, gasket and cleaned out the pan. It look real good inside.

I pulled and resealed the power steering pump, changed out the return lines and replaced the filter used on the Hydro-Boost applications, flushed out the whole system and renewed the fluid. It's nice that GM placed a small magnet on the P/S pump body. It collected a lot of gunk in 44 years. The new filter also has a magnetic ring inside of it.

Once all that was completed, I totally cleaned the underside of the car, engine, transmission and front end. It looks brand new under there now. I made sure my floor drip pans were cleaned and put them back. Four days and a few miles later, still not a drop of anything in the pans. It's nice to have a clean garage floor and I can park the car in the driveway without worries of drips on the concrete.

Now...If it would just stop raining. 

[JohnnyRockit]

I just finished rebuilding the front suspension on my 1962 Coupe Deville...never done one before so it was a slow process. I also made a video series of the whole process and posted it to Youtube. You can search for "1962 Cadillac Suspension" if you need to see how things came apart and went back together.

I replaced front springs, all 4 ball-joints as well as upper and lower control arm bushings. I ended up buying a 20-ton shop press because, well, now I had an excuse. Unfortunately, both lower control arms had splits in them and I had to source a new pair of those as well.

Also replaced the sway bar bushings and end links. The toughest parts to find were the strut rod bushings. I ordered from a seller on Amazon at first...never delivered. Then ordered directly from Rare Parts...after 3 weeks nothing, I finally called them and they informed me they would be out of stock for at least the rest of the year. Finally ordered them from Caddy Daddy and got them a few days later...Thank You Caddy Daddy!

In the spirit of DIY I also ordered a camber/caster tool from FasTrax and learned to align the front end...pretty simple. I finished up by giving her a quick detail and a trip around the neighborhood.

Ready for Autumn cruising now!

Johnny

[Roger Zimmermann]

The last few days, I took the front seat out of the '72 coupe. The foam between the cloth and the remaining seat foundation got destroyed with the time; I had the impression I was sitting on nuts. Depending how the seat bottom is manipulated, a dark powder is coming out!
Before that, when I drove the car, sometimes I heard a strange noise coming between the seat and the door, but I saw nothing obvious. With the seat out, I noticed that a pedestal (or vertical gearnut), attached to the sliding rail, was loose. By moving it by hand, I could reproduce the noise I heard before. Obviously an assembly failure!
During the part's removal, I found another bit of assembly paper, as well at the label under the front carpet, plus one quarter under the guide tube for the belts!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Last Autumn/winter, when I exchanged the speedometer in miles for another in km, I noticed that the blower for the rear window defogger was not functioning. I had current at the outlet at the switch, but I could not check if the current was at the motor's connector: it was hidden behind the motor and the wire was too short to get at it.
Today, I removed the rear seat; I could check the connector: there is current. The motor assembly was quickly removed; I had to separate the plastic duct to get at the blower. No wonder that it was not functioning: I hardly could turn it by hand!
Took it home, opened the motor to lube the bearings. I have the impression that the blower was never used. Quite understandable that after 40 years, the lubricant (if there was some) was no more good. Now the motor is assembled again and turning easily by hand; next time I'm in the garage I can install it.

[Jamurray]

It wasn't today, but yesterday was a dark day for two of my Cadillacs. After my yard work became too boring, I found a Walgreen's with flu shot in stock for a senior citizen. That would be me. Forgot to lock the front door, ( a good move) hit unlock on the DTS's key fob - and - nothing happened. Fob battery must be dead, so I unlocked the door with the key, and no cheerful chime greeted me, no lights came on, and turning the key in the ignition had no effect at all. Wow! Battery is dead? It's not that old. Popped the hood and tried to remove the key. Went as far as off, but not to "lock" and could not be removed. Had I locked the front door, I'd have been stranded in my driveway with my dead DTS.

I opened my garage and was able to release my trusty '40-5067 from its storage. I decided I would drive it to East Hartford to get my flu shot. It's about a 12 mile drive with mostly on a limited access divided highway. Ever since I tuned it up, cleaned the plugs, new points, condenser, cap and rotor, it's run like bag of poo. I've had a devil of a time getting the plug wires seated all the way into the cap towers. I'm also not sure I have the right point gap. Hills were no problem - going down. Going up was troublesome. I was able to start it when I left Walgreen's -thanks to a shot of either.

I got back on Connecticut Route 2 east to NAPA in Colchester thirty miles away. Somehow, the LaSalle made it. I backed into a spot that allowed me to jump it in second gear if I had to, and I got a new battery to replace the dead one in DTS in my driveway.

The LaSalle wouldn't start.

There was enough of hill that I could roll it, pop the clutch in second and hear the 322 roar to life.

Got home, put the new battery in the DTS, and started it up. Life was good again.

Now I've really got to check out that point gap again.

[Cadillac Fleetwood]

Well, it wasn't today, but two weekends ago.

I undertook the project of replacing the power window, power seat, and courtesy wiring in the driver's door of a friend's 1964 DeVille convertible. All of the wiring in the conduit between the door and cowl had been severed, and badly repaired, many times. This project necessitated removal of the top of the dash, kick panels, lower dash, and driver's door panel. I did the work outside. Saturday was 102 degrees. Sunday was 100 degrees.

In between the two days of work on the '64, the plastic-tanked radiator in my 1989 Fleetwood sprung a pinhole leak - shooting coolant 3 to 4 feet in the air. So, Saturday night, I replaced the radiator, hoses, and coolant in the '89. Complete success.

In wrapping up the '64 on Sunday, I was in a contorted position with my right hand and arm high up under the dash, when the sloppy shift collar moved from P to R and the car began rolling. With my arm stuck under the dash, unable to be extracted, I worked yet another contortion and managed to stop the car. It rolled approximately 3 feet. The twisting , and my reaction to the rolling, with even more twisting,  caused me to injure my right arm and hand. Intense pain in the upper right arm, numbness/paralysis in the thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and intense muscle spasms in the forearm. Not to mention drawing blood.  Now all appears resolved.  That'll teach me to ALWAYS block the wheels, even on level ground.

Charles Fares

[Soulless007]

I brought some presents (parts) to it.

Ron

[Roger Zimmermann]

It wasn't today, but yesterday was a dark day for two of my Cadillacs. After my yard work became too boring, I found a Walgreen's with flu shot in stock for a senior citizen. That would be me. Forgot to lock the front door, ( a good move) hit unlock on the DTS's key fob - and - nothing happened. Fob battery must be dead, so I unlocked the door with the key, and no cheerful chime greeted me, no lights came on, and turning the key in the ignition had no effect at all. Wow! Battery is dead? It's not that old. Popped the hood and tried to remove the key. Went as far as off, but not to "lock" and could not be removed. Had I locked the front door, I'd have been stranded in my driveway with my dead DTS.

I got the same miss-happen when I still had my 2000 DTS: I went to town to buy something; went back to the car, could electrically open the door. When I inserted the key in the steering lock, the car began to do strange noises! Like you, I could not turn the key back to take it out. To me, it was not obvious that the battery was dead as I could start the cold engine half an hour before. Called the road assistance from the store I bought some paint (I have no cell phone) and the man who came did not find the battery under the hood. I told him where it is and I understood: the positive pole had a leak; a great quantity of the battery gel came out and the internal connection to the pole was like a tiny wire.
With a booster attached to the battery's cables, I could get home (I had indeed other projects...), followed by the man. Then, the hard work began, cleaning the mess under the back seat. I even had a hole into the floor!
A new battery, ordered at the local GM dealer did wonders. Later, I traded that DTS for a new 2011 DTS (not very common in Switzerland!). Yes, I'm checking the battery on this car as I still have the original one which came with the car!

[goob]

It's a beautiful day in East Syracuse, NY today...79 and sunny right now...I'm sure it won't last long! I took the 41 to lunch today...she wasn't too hungry so we drove a little bit more...and back in the garage she goes.