Yes, teling *fibs* to your Mother really does go against what you've learned all your life. I had so much trouble with feeling bad, that I went to one of Mother's neighbors, a retured nun/school principal, and unburdened myself. Now isn't that a great turn around... remember how we all quaked at the thought of being sent to the principal's office? And to be discussing lying, no less! Anyway, Sister made me feel a lot better, and we agreed that anything that would get my Mother upset (as many things do) was not in her best interests. I felt like I had had a dispensation. So, you may want to run this by someone you are comfortable with having some 'moral authority'. I am not trying to get religious here, because I certainly am not a observant person. But if you can talk to someone who knows you and knows your mother, a minister or doctor, and they will tell you that it's ok. You are doing the right thing. But it's that curious netherworld that we inhabit when dealing with our aged parents. We can recall all the lessons of our childhood, and we have respect and love for our parents, but here we are treating them like they are 3 or 4 yr old children. No one said this was easy.

If you flush out the system, you can use other brands, although Dex Cool is good. I do recommend that you drain out the plain water and refill with a 50-50 mix of anti-freeze and water. Also, before refilling, put in a can of waterpump lubricant/anti-corrosion. [Watch for this: Antifreeze is available in both premix and 100% antifreeze. If you have premix, do not dilute. It is already diluted with water. Sometimes, it is the premix that is on sale. You live in Michigan, therefore go for the lowest temperature protection. For ethylene glycol, that'll be about -35 F at a 50-50 mix. The mix versus freezing point should be printed on the container.] Premix the antifreeze and water before filling. And then refill using the mix - Its much easier this way than trying to mix to desired ratio in the coolant system. I recommend a non-sillcate anti-freeze. Its a little more expensive than the regular stuff, but your water pump seals will last much longer.

This is the essence of most vehicle owner missconceptions. Until an issue is really discovered that makes ownership/use of the vehcile unjustifiable in a "dollars per mile" sense, there isn't a reason to not have this car if you really like it. I have heard the words, "How can it be XXXXX to fix my car when I only paid YYYYY for it?" Simply put, it costs, to fix what it costs to fix. If this engine should need headgaskets, it's quite likely the headbolt holes in the block will need inserts put in. This truly limits the shops that you can go to to have this work done, but performed correctly will last another 100,000 miles +. The deal is, it's an expensive repair rivaling what you are going to pay for the car, if not more. Imagine then turning around and having to replace the transmission, and then some hub bearings, and struts, ect. No matter what you will spend some money, but seriously, lets compare all of this to what a new Scion costs. Buying the Cadillac, and having to do every repair mentioned would cost less than that brand new car! Meanwhile you would have spent the last five years driving in relative luxury. I "aquired" a 1990 Deville that I rebuilt the engine on. it was a 4.5l. I enjoyed driving that around for two years, and then gave it to a nephew and he used it for five more. I think he gave it to someone else when he could finally buy a new car. The funniest stories are about how everyone that knew he filled vending machines for a living wondered how he could afford to drive a Cadillac. BTW, he bought his Ford 500 with cash which he saved up by making monthly "car payments" to a savings account the whole time he drove the Deville.

1929 Model A Ford, 4 dr with window shade, roll-up, style curtains on rear side windows. Color black - was there any other color? 1949 Plymouth, 6cy, 2dr, 3-sp manaul, column shifter, Blue, the last of the fast back designs. (Horrible rear visibility) 1954 Dodge, 4dr, w/ Red Ram V-8, 3-sp stick. This one was not a large displacement engine, rated only at 140 hp, but was the smoothest running engine that I have ever owned. Color: White top over Blue bottom. 1960 Plymouth Valiant, slant six, 100 hp, automatic, 4 dr, blue. Low torque engine - couldn't get out of the way of itself. Good fuel mileage. No power steering - didn't need it - very good handling. The next year, a longer stroke engine was offered with much more torque. This one was very driveable and became the engine of choice. 1964 Dodge Dart, 273 cid V8, 4 dr, automatic, white w/red interior. This one was a good compromise between, power and fuel economy and room. I wish that I had another similar car today. This one was well liked. The engine was a thin wall cast version of the 318, but with a smaller bore. The bore centers were the same as the 318, thus it was manufactured on the same engine line as the 318. Many engine parts were interchangeable with the 318. 1969 Dodge Coronet, 4 dr, 318 cid V8, blue Just an ordinary sedan to hold my growing family. EPA fix-ups began to appear and degraded performance a bit without any fuel mileage increase - lower compression and a low ratio rear end ( 2.71 to 1) Though I put 115,000 miles on it before moving on. 1974 Dodge Sedan, 400 cid V-8. EPA had struck this engine hard. It was based on the admired 383 V8, an engine upgrade option for station wagons and police cars. To meet EPA requirements, Chrysler lowered the compression ratio and installed a very mild cam. The resulting power was so embarrasing that chrysler bumped the displacement up to 400 cu in to gain back a bit of performance. (An earlier 383 in good tune would run cicles around it.) 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass, 4 dr, V8. Bought used for a 2nd car and commuter. Had to put in a valve job after 1 yr ownership. As it neared the end of its life, sold it to a junk yard. I didn't want to see this on the road again as it had become dangerous. The body metal holding the rear body mounts had corroded away. The best part of this car: The radio. 1975 Buick Apollo, 270 cid V-8 (Oldsmoblie engine), 4 dr, Yellow. The smallest V8 made by GM. Not a good car. Was purchased as 2nd car for a winter-beater and comuter. Let my kids learn to drive with this one - they were not going to win any stop light drags with it. In fact, they were lucky go to get across a big intersection before the light changed to red. I bought this car during a period of runaway inflation. It was 3 yrs old and loosing value at a lesser rate than my hard earned cash in the savings account. That became part of my rationale for picking it up for a 2nd car. 1976 Buick Estate Wagon, 4 dr, 455 cid V8, Clam shell rear gate and window; 19 ft long! This one was the family land barge and vacation machine. The family had now grown to 5 and this station wagon held us all in comfort on long trips. This was the first year that GM put catalytic converter on all of the Buick line. (GM had put catalytic converters on a few select models the year before as a field trial.) With the converter, Buick put in a better cam and iginition advance curve and got better power plus 2 more miles per gallon. I garaged this one every winter taking it off the streets just before road salting began and it stayed off until next spring after a rain had washed away the salt. I kept this one 13 yrs and it was in very good condition the day I traded it in. It was showing signs of a catalytic converter plugging up, otherwise, the engine was in fine shape. 1980 Chevrolet Citation, V6, 4dr + hatch back, green, my first front wheel driver. A fair car. Had a very good useable interior layout and driver visibility - wished there was a car with those features today. Had too much braking on rear wheels compared to the front - gave the car a tendency to swap ends while braking on slippery surfaces. Over- sped the engine one time when the tranny failed to catch 2nd gear on a downshift - it went all the way to 1st gear at 45 mph. Loosened a rod bearing. GM got the steering geometry right on this one - no torque steer. The Chrysler K-car was plagued with torque ateer. 1983 Chevrolet Citation, V8, 4dr, white Engine was de-tuned a bit, but otherwise the same as the 1980. 1981 Pontiac Phoenix (twin of the Citation), 4 cy "Iron Duke", 4 dr., Brown. A dog. Served as a commuter. When climbibng a grade, engine vibration could be strongly felt in the steering wheel - each firing of the cyliners were perceptable. No. 2 son, a new driver, burned the engine up while driving home from a days outing with the guys. He had not been watching the oil level - it ran out. 1989 Dodge Dynasty, 4 dr, V6, Light blue 1st yr for Chrysler's new computer controlled transmission. It had issues - shifting algorithm should have been revised. It was programmed to give good results on the EPA fuel mileage test, but otherwise, was bad for commuting traffic. Car was too softly spring - people riding in back tended to get car sick. 1992 Dodge Dynasty, V6, 4dr, White. A much better car. Better handling. Held front alignment very well. Shifting algorithn improved, but still had glitches. I put 90,000 miles on it and sold it (cheaply) to my daughter. She moved out of state and later sold the car to her friend. By then, the rocker panels were holed out. I saw the car two years ago and it was still running with upwards of 140,000 miles on it. 1992 Jeep Cherokee, inline 4.0 L 6CY, 4dr, with part and full time 4-wheel drive, Red. Really liked this one. Gas mileage wasn't great, but it took us all over the lower 48 states and into places where an ordunary car could not go. We photograhed many interesting scenics using this vehicle. This one was my prime winter time driver - great in snow - can't beat it. 1998 Dodge Stratus, 4 cy, dual overhead cams, 4 dr, red. An OK car - not great, but OK. Its gets very good gas mileage on trips and that is what I bought it for. Runs great. I beem garaging this one very winter and there are no rust spots. 1998 Jeep Cherokee, in-line 6 cy, 4 dr, again with part and full time 4 wheel drive, Deep Amethyst Purple (appears black under many lighting conditions). Replaces the red Jeep which was getting body rust, but ran well - had 190,000 miles on it.