MarvMarvs

Frank, your welcome. Thanks for all of the great advice and suggestions. It is a great car despite the problems that have crept up. The brakes truly did need attention, and now we can drive it with a great deal more confidence. My wife and I were out driving it this weekend, and sure enjoyed having it back. Mark

Frank, I just got my Caddy back from having ABS brake & steering in Orange, Ca. completely re-do my brakes. The treadle-vac was completely overhauled(it was shot and full of fluid), they relaced all 4 wheel cylinders & replaced all of the brake lines, and did a complete inspection. They found the previous owner had installed a new set of shoes all around backwards! Also the emergency brake cable was so bad it broke on them and they replaced that as well. The long and the short of it is that my brakes now work beautifully!! Also, no more white smoke coming out of the exhaust, it was drawing brake fluid into the intake and that was what was doing it. I must admit I had so much going on and was a little stumped as to exactly what was what.These guys were recommended to me by more than one classic car guy, they specialize in working on the older cars. Just wanted to update anyone who was following this one, thanks for all of the input from everyone. So far so good for now, you never know when something else might crop up with an older car. Mark

Hey, thanks for the info on a new local parts source! Mark

Great, EBay is wonderful for so many things. I have had great luck there, only one bad experiance with a seller that I don't think realized just how well you need to package what you ship. The item arrived damaged, unfortunately it appeared to have originally been in mint condition. Oh well..I am still in the process of discovering suppliers for the Caddy parts I need. Ed is reasonably close, very helpful and friendly, with pretty decent prices on things mostly. Mark

Wow! I had no idea that the used ones were so expensive. I shouldn't be suprised though, it seems like everything is. I better weld mine to the hood! Sorry the tip didn't pay off. Mark

Hi, Ed Cholakian's "All Cads of the 40's & 50's advertises that he has Cadillac dome light lens. Hes out in California but he has a website,www.allcads.com maybe he can help, I have found lots of good parts through him for my 1956 series 62 coupe. Mark

Randall, glad to be of help. When I read your post, I remembered going through his aisles of parts and seeing that box of crests. And I thought maybe you might be interested in them if your having that much trouble finding one. Some of these parts are getting as scarce as hens teeth, and just as expensive. Especially as a lot of them are not being repro'd. Mark

Randall, I am out in California and there is an outfit called "AllCads of the 40's and 50's" that belongs to one of the officers of the local chapter of the Cadillac/LaSalle club. I was there searching for parts and happen to know that he had a box full of crests for 54-56. They were originals, not new but in decent/serviceable shape. His website is, www.allcads.com and his name is Ed Cholakian. Hope this might help, I have a 1956 series 62 coupe myself. Mark

Frank, thanks for the encouragement. I will definately hang in there!

Hi Frank, thanks for all of the info! My wife grew up with her dads 1955 Coupe DeVille and had wanted one for quite a long time. We had quite a tough time finding anything reasonable in good condition out here in California. So many have already been purchased and shipped out of the state long ago. And, so much of whats left is either fully restored and cost a kings ransom to buy, or are absolute junk. We thought this was a car in reasonable mechanical shape that we could drive a little, and work on restoring it with out it breaking down on us constantly. We had it for about 6 months before things started happening. But we love it and will get it done eventually. Luckily we belong to a local car club thats been around awhile, and a lot of the guys have years of experiance on these old cars that I don't. Mark

Frank, I am going to work on the brakes first and get the booster/treadle-vac fixed. Then I'll see if I still have any smoke once I get the brakes sorted out. The smell does throw me though, and I don't intend on running it much until I can figure it out. There is no water in the oil at this time, but I will keep everyone posted. Thanks, Mark.

Thanks for the knowledge guys! This one had me thrown for a loop. I got a chance to one of the members of my car club who really knows these old cars. I described the problem and right away he told me just what is being said here. And that the white smoke was probably brake fluid being drawn into the intake and turning into white exhaust smoke! A much better situation than a blown head gasket.

Randy, you definately have a point. I have never heard of this sort of thing before. If I hadn't had these 2 things going on simultaneously, and somebody hadn't said anything, I would have never even considered it. I am seriously thinking of pulling the booster/master-cylinder unit and replacing it with a rebuilt unit. I have not done that yet because they're not all that readily available locally, and will probably have to have one shipped or pull this one and have it shipped or taken to be re-built. Mark

Hi, yes the Caddy has both automatic transmission & power brakes. If it was brake fluid would it still have the same "sweet" smell as if it was coolant?

The car was represented as having had the engine and transmission rebuilt. It has always run well, especially after I had it tuned up. I did have the radiator re-done with new hoses and belts. It previously had a leak in the lower tank. I am not aware if it had ever been overheated, at least not by me. We had been driving the car regularly up thru the fall, but this winter have not driven it much. Especially since we started having brake problems and now this potential problem with the white exhaust smoke(coolant probably). At this point I'm not inclined to run it because of doing possible damage to the engine. At this point I don't appear to have any water in the oil, it is dark,clear amber, as it should be. I'm not sure of actual mileage though.