I HAVE a 96 cadillac deville sedan it has 82k miles on it and it was owned by a senator from stubenville, OHIO and was very well taken care of and my questions are what can i do to make it last a long time while driving it with care?

Next question I,ve been told devilles overheat around 100,000 is this true?

 

Have a mechanic you trust look it over ever oil change.
They can help you fix things that need attention before it becomes a problem.
If you could get the service history, that would let you know if the fluids and filters have been serviced.

No. Like any automobile, they can have a problem at any time and even without warning. I see many +150k mile Northstars that have never been opened up.

 

some guy from another forum said this
AND I QUOTE

'Buying that caddy was probebly one of the dumbest things you have ever done.

The overheating issue is due to bad intake gaskets.

Here are a list of problems that you will run into (sorry).

-Northstar = Bad Rings in the higher milage era.
-Bad intake gaskets.
-Wheel bearings/hubs
-air ride system (service stability system will appear on message screen).
-catalyatic converters
-oil consumption (the northstars take 8 fuggin quarts)
-rust on c-pillar and on trunk lid
-i just see a tranny re-build soon. we've had countless in the shop.
-coolant consumption which leads getting into the oil and well say hi to a new motor.


theres more, but there more minor. The northstar was probably one of the worse engines Gm ever made. aside from the 3400 (also **** intake gaskets).

My uncle has a monte with 60k on it with the 3400 and he just had his intake gaskets replaced. losing coolant.

Stay away from GM these GM cars

-Anything with a 3400.
-Anything with a northstar.
-The CTS aka Catera. Eats tires like a ****, ****ty non-caddy ride.
-XLR, wtf buy a vette.

Only good caddys are the V-series. LS series motors with a vette suspension FTW.

Also GM makes awesome trucks. Except the T-case love to *** up. Ugh.

Buy a ford .'

 

Sounds to me like the person you are quoting had one bad experience and is making broad generalizations. While some of those things may be true (the coolant leakage is one ive heard many times), the majority of the problems can be avoided with careful maitenance and good driving habits (dont floor it at every read light, dont run it constantly in stop-go traffic, etc.). Those things are mandatory for every car if you want it to last. Rust on the C pillar and trunk? sounds nit picky to me. Just keep the car clean. Plus he goes on to bash the CTS for eating up tires. A lot of that is due to the fact the stock run flats are junk, especially if abused. Do avoid the Catera though. Its a trouble car. Caddytech was right, if you are unsure, have a mechanic look it over. They have diagnostic tools that can identify many problems (the air ride and catalytic converter for example). I know what its like to have a coolant abuser (ht4100, yuck), you can avoid problems by just peakin under the hood every so often. check your fluids every day for a week. If you see no change, check once a week. still no change, once every 2 and so on. Also, 2 of the v series caddys have supercharged northstars, and those are the only caddillacs he recommends. I dont know who this other guy is, but he doesnt sound like he knows his facts. Dont trust him. He's just a caddy hater.

 

thank you

 

Never had to replace a set or a motor due to ring failure, There is a TSB for newer Northstars having stuck rings, but an inexpensive chemical cleaning frees them up
NO. They are reusable and we don't even stock them. BTW coolant does not even go through the intake on a Northstar.
No more than most FWD cars
He is confused, air ride and stability control are seperate systems. Late models had a run of bad steering wheel pos sensors.
Again, a late model issue that is almost always repaired under the 8/80 emissions warranty
Same as above for sticking rings
???
The 4t80e trans is very stout. They have had issues with sensors and solenoids but very rarely do they need an overhaul.

Few and far between.


If you work in the repair buisness you always see the bad side of the cars. Is Ford any better? IMO, H3ll no.

If you like the car and you feel it has been well maintained, go for it.
Any used high milage car will need repairs from time to time.
Caddys are very high tech and this means more potential problems then say a cavalier or mustang.
But now you didn't want a ford, did you

 

thank you once again that quote came from a guy on another website

 

FLCaddyTech,

You know, I was thinking about 2 or 3 months ago, that we needed a person who knew the technical aspects of Caddys and was an actual mechanic on this forum. There are so many problem questions on this forum, and they weren't being answered, due to lack of expertise. I've been reading your posts, and your help seems to solve a lot of problems. Thanks for your input!!

 

My pleasure.

I linked over here from my GTP site and saw tons of questions, but alot were unanswered.
I'm usually a reader and not a poster, but since this is my craft i figured i can try and help people enjoy there cars more.