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Comments
The 2004 is also a very attractive car so may just be a matter of personal preference.
MY QUESTION IS: How can I get tough and get results? I will get in touch with my state attorney generals office, consumer protection unit, GM corporate, and perhaps the owner of the dealership who tends not to like getting involved with customers. Do any of you other owners have suggestions as to how to get maximum results in a minimum of time spent? All responses appreciated.
Your oil leak might be elsewhere, I don't know. My Aurora had an oil leak on a valve cover.
As long as your car is under warranty, the Cadillac division of GM is required to provide service; however, the dealer that sold the car new, or used, is the one who should provide the service. That does not mean however, that other dealers can't provide service.
The lemon law varies from state to state and you will probably need a lawyer if you want a refund. A "lemon law" search on the internet will provide some information.
but will spend what ever time I need to resolve the repair.
:confuse:
and in my opinion counter productive. I will also monitor my posts to practice what I preach.
Let's just talk about the cars and not keep on about what others should have done or what anyone meant. If we are talking about the cars, there won't be any reason for anyone to take anything personally, after all.
Bikes, babes, booze everywhere !
BREM......My cruise has worked great ! Either it healed
itself or I am getting better at pushing the buttons !
Averaged 25 mpg or better (rough estimate...don't care
anyhoo)!
Keep on them about your oil leak but don't fret over
it! Just drive and enjoy...........
I could NEVER imagine my everyday car being anything
but a CADILLAC !
But I still enjoy my truck, Z-28, GTO, & Triumph too!
Yes its a sickness................ :shades:
This involves keeping the car in the shop for at least three days. I have put an oil pan in the garage and white paper towels over it. So far not a drop of oil has leaked in a weeks time. If there is a leak it is a very small and slow one. Previously the dealership had replaced the oil filter adapter gasket, perhaps the moisture most recently observed is a residue of the last leak and not a new one. In that the car is fully warranted until summer of 2007 I am in no rush to have such extensive work done. May have independent but highly respected mechanic in the area do a visual inspection to decide how serious the leak is and how soon I need to have it repaired. Your up beat post came at just the right time as I have been pondering my next step to resolve this issue.
Call the service mgr. at the dealer and tell
him so and suggest that another dye test be
done in the future.
Heck its already documented anyhoo and you have
plenty of warranty left..............
I note on other Caddy forums about the Northstar
oil leaks and/or usage.............
Mine use oil????? Not a clue...Don't care as long
as I get my 5-6 years of hard troublefree service!
Life is too short !!!! :shades:
The independent dealership I bought the car from said he would not penalize for the leak if traded and still under the original warranty. If I were to trade elsewhere am wondering how best to deal with the issue. This assumes that there is no more visible leaking on the garage floor.
I would assume it is the responsibility of any dealership to assess a trade before they take the car in but any input and advice appreciated. Like yourself I don't check oil levels very often between changes. This generation of Northstar doesn't seem to burn oil as my 98 Deville. Would add 1 quart for every 1500 miles driven on the 98.
you trade it to the dealer. Chances are they will
lowball you anyhoo and send it off to auction.....
Private sale would be different.............
I don't need the private sale hassle. The dealer
is gonna make alll the money, so let them have the
hassle.................
close. The "refresh" looks pretty good.......
Weather here in central NY has been miserable for
looking or test driving a new DTS up close !
I HATE to bug a poor sales person for a test ride
if I am not interested in buying soon.
I am drooling for the new GM 07 2500 pickup to roll
out tho.! But will have to wait till next spring
when GM rolls them out. But with their money troubles
I am sure they will push them out sooner than that !
I WILL have one ASAP !
My poor truck takes a whippin' heavy towing, snowplowing,
and hauling so I dump them every 3 years !!!!!!!!
My 03 Caddy will be around till 08 at least.
Get your oil leak issue settled yet?
I generally trade up every three years so will be following the new DTS to see how it compares in various aspects with the Deville.
Realized that the back left speakers are not working. Assume it's a stock Delco CD/Cassette AM FM radio (doesn't say Bose on the face)-- don't know if it's a connection problem, an amp problem in the radio . . . or ? nor how much that might cost.
It does have a factory sunroof, which I'd just as soon not have (I'm 6'2" and hit my head on the headliner in most cars, but is room in this one with seat down) -- are their sunroofs reliable and leak free over the long haul?
I AM concerned about reliability of the Northstar over the long haul -- I keep cars for a very long time -- do all my own work, but have no experience on Northstars. Was talking with a very well know engine rebuilder here in Dayton OH that cautioned me about their tendency to lose threads (head bolts) -- have to drill out and put in helix to repair . . . with possible ongoing problems. (Said to set aside $3-4K if I ever had them pull it to redo the heads) But then again I hear overall they're a decent engine . . . ?
I realize, alot depends on the driver. My 73 Toronado was written up by CU (way back then) as a car to stay away from. Still have mine (but as a station wagon now) and have had no significant problems! . . . but then again, do all my own maintenance, repairs and rebuilds.
Sooo would like to hear from those of you that have first hand experience with the Concours (or Northstar engine)-- please let me know the level of maintenance -- self, dealer or independent -- and what problems you've had OR not had.
Also, I'm get conflicting comments as to using regular or premium . . . or plus fuel. One very well respected business operator said that running it on regular would not harm the engine . . . BUT, most realized enough mileage incease using the plus to justified the increase cost. How about it? What's your experience? What about the computer(s), ABS, suspension, cooling, AC, electrical, etc. Thanks!!!
Now all that said, a neighbor has a 94 Cadillac Deville (not Concours) 106K miles but without the Northstar engine . . . (she's asking $5000 . . . which tho always garaged and taken care of . . . I think is too much. AND, the lady with the 95 Concours wants $6000, which here again, b/c of the soft car market I think is too much as well.)
Again, Thanks!
First generation northstars (built from 1993-1999) were designed for premium, but may get by ok on lower octane fuel. Second generation northstars will run on regular, but produce maximum performance on premium. Difference in price is 20 cents per gallon here, and that is two hundred dollars on 1000 gallons, which should give you about 20,000 miles of travel. I average about 23 to 24 MPG running about, so for me, 1000 gallons is about two years of driving.
This car, especially for such a low milage car, had lots of problems. Because of the certified warranty, it never cost me a dime. My wife loved it, and the second one I bought, but they scare me to death.
The 95:
Traction Control error light, dealer said it was a 'loose connection'.
It ate batterys, dead if car not driven daily. Dealer fixed by replacing the radio(???), but this stopped dead battery.
Interior lights stayed on. Dealer replaced 2 or 3 relays or whatever. When I got it home and got out of it, the lights stayed on. Dealer replaced some other relays or something. These repairs took 3 or 4 days each.
When I got it home, it leaked a puddle of antifreeze before I moved it into the garage. Took it back, they replaced water pump in about 45 minutes. Pump in stock and done quick, because they fail a lot I figgered.
Windshield was not sealed for about 8 inches across the bottom, cold air blew in on my hands while driving it. Glass place said it was a replacement glass, asked if it was a lease car, said they have glass places replace broken glass while they are sitting in the big auction lots, right out in the open. He got the glass out without breaking and resealed it.
Door lock switch on drive door just 'pushed into the door panel'. I looked at this when they were fixing, the plastic clips on the inside had broken and it had been repaired by duct taping the switch to the panel.
Motor made what I surely though was 'stuck lifter click'. I've since found out that it was probably a carbon buildup on a piston. Dealer repaired, probably by driving the heck out of it and busting the carbon loose. The noise came back just as I was selling it. Using premimum gas causes this buildup, (the carbon knock), and excessive use of oil (caused by carbon stuck oil rings). Aggessive acceleration, often, will keep the carbon buildup on the cylinder top and rings reduced and help both these problems. Oh, yes, the 95 also developed high oil use (1 quart in about 600 miles), but this dropped off when the dealer worked on the carbon knock.
There seems to have been more problems, but I don't remember them just now.
The Northstar head gaskets leaks are not caused by failing water pumps. Some just pull threads or whatever on the head bolts. And yes, the motors must be pulled, the 20 head bolts drilled out (for heaven sakes do both heads if you have the motor out) threads tapped and inserts called Timeserts installed. This should permanently cure the gasket problem because the inserts will hold. And this costs big money 3/4,000 dollars.
Another big dollar problem can be a relay deep in the transmission which requires a motor and tranny pull and significant disassembly to get to the switch. If this fails, the lockup overdrive on the tranny is gone.
The Concours will have the electronic variable struts. About $750 plus labor each for factory replacement. There is not an aftermarket electronic replacement. There are companys that sell modified Monroe shocks (have to add Caddy mounting) and an electric resistor to plug into the wiring for each wheel that supposed to work and keep the error message from appearing. Some people have good luck with these, some never get the error message to stop.
And, with the other electronics, there can be problems.
And yes, I think the prices on both the cars you described are high. I think the 94 would be a $2,500 car, the 95 Concours a $3,500 car.
Caddys are great in many ways. The Northstar, even the smaller 275hp one, is very strong and sounds great and runs and accelerates great. It cruises great. Great air conditioners.
Many people drive for 200,000 miles with little problems. Others have lots and lots of problems. I feel that overall, they are high-maintenance cars.
without a whimper and 100k plus miles..........
The only major repair was a fuel pump and it needed
those $pendy ($2500 installed...not done) front struts.
So I traded it in for my 03.
Don't let the "timesert" issue scare you. These are
only done if/when the heads are pulled.
A check over by a good mechanic and a cooling system
pressure check (which should be done on ANY used car!)
It will prob. give you some good service down the road!
has 0 problems and another has many !
I guess its the luck of the draw eh?
My 98 Aurora (which had a small northstar) did have a water pump rebuild. I noticed that there was coolant leaking and brought it in saying that the water pump was failing. They replaced the bearing and perhaps other parts.
Someone I know with a 1999 DeVille had a water pump failure, with the engine getting hot, his first clue that the water pump was broken. They fixed it, after he had the car towed in rather than drive it the few miles to the dealership. However, sometime after that the computer notified him that the coolant level was low. The dealership filled it up. A while later (perhaps months) the computer said I'm low on coolant again. This time the dealership did some checking and determined that the head gaskets were leaking coolant. They took it apart, but were not able to put the engine back together, I think because there was too much corrosion. The car was covered by an after market warranty that would only cover the gaskets, not the engine. Cadillac covered part of the engine replacement - the old engine had about 70,000 miles on it. The though was that the engine getting hot when the water pump failed probably caused the head gasket to fail. However, the gasket was probably faulty for some reason in the first place.
From the stand point of cost, the cast iron 3800 is probably the best choice for a used engine in an aging car for upkeep.
The local Ford dealership had a 2005 Mercury Sable LS with only a little over 1600
miles on it and nicely equipped with CD changer, wood and leather steering wheel, Silver mettalic paint, chrome wheels, upgraded stereo system, leather seats and a few other options. The car had been bought by someone who after driving it a very short time decided they wanted a Lincoln Town Car. I test drove the car along with a Mercury Grand Marque 2005 LS with 17,000 miles on it. The Grand Marque while having less power drove a lot like my Cadillac. I choose the Mercury for the very low miles and many nice options,
nice Duratec V6 engine and the fact that while a little bit of a squeeze fits in my two car garage with the Deville. The Grand Marque would have really been a squeeze for garage space. Price for The Sable was around half of the original selling price.
The Mercury has the cruise buttons on the steering wheel
just as the Deville, the BIG difference is they work as I expect they should!
So far am enjoying both cars, will probably use the Mercury in rainy weather as it is a smaller car and easier to wash than the larger Deville. Many thanks to all at this conference that gave their opinions when I was considering this second car purchase.
vehicle to play with ! I love choices !!!!!!!!!!!!
I am hoping for the weather to break here in NY so I
can get the GTO and Triumph outta the barn and into
rotation !!!!!!
Oh yea......the lawn tractor too.........ugh!
I have a 97 Devale Cadillac.
It has been stopped for no reason when I was driving normally. One time it was even on the high way. I had restart the engine.
I took it to the dealer and they could not find anything recorded in the computer. So they could not find anything wrong.
It had happend 4 to 5 times recently.
Does anyone know what could be the reason?
Thanks a lot!
If your Deville's cruise control really is not working right, you should be able to demonstrate this to your service manager. Both of you need to take whatever time is needed to prove that there really is a malfunction. As I have stated before, my Cadillac's cruise control works perfectly.
The engine will still crank?
If no codes then my guess would be the crankshaft
position sensor(s). Cheap and easy to replace......
One of the senior mechanics took the car out and said it was functioning as it should. While out on my test drives with the two Ford products, Sable (which I bought) and the
Grand Marque I asked the Ford dealership salesman about the difference in cruise response, his reply was that Ford
builds better cruise control systems than GM. That would given the source sound like Ford Company sales talk but given the fact that this particular salesman is highly regarded as honest and has been at the same dealership for close to twenty years, He has his reputation at stake when he makes such a statement even if he is just expressing an opinion. I also think he is speaking from his personal experience and those of his customers.
I suspect that the some of the Devilles have more efficient cruise systems than others (yours being an example). The cruise (my Deville) works well enough that I don't wish to spend any more time on it and the fact that four highly trained mechanics at two dealerships claim the functioning is normal tells me to enjoy it as it is. Probably needs a tweak somewhere in the system, I doubt that leaving it at the dealership would change the outcome.
Since the cruise in every other vehicle has responded as it does in the Mercury I at least feel that the problem is not with me but in the system. You seem to be very knowledgeable about GM, do you now or have you ever worked for them? Just curious, thank you.
I still think our cruise control problem is fumbling
with those tiny buttons at speed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My cruise control on the "stalk" in my other GM cars
work flawlessly. So its gotta be ME !!!!!!!!!!! :sick: