I'm planing on buying a 1998 Cadilac Devile wit 50k miles on it. Is it reliable or will I pay a lot ot fix it?

Question

I read on a lot of reviews that people ended up paying crazy money all the time just to fix this and that. The reviews gave it 7/10 expert and 8.5/10 user. Is this still a safe buy or will I end up paying crazy amounts of money all the time just for repairs.

Answer 1

I am a former caddie tech and can tell you that it is not the best buy as far as maintenance and repairs go. here is a list of common problems that come with the NORTHSTAR engine.

1. crank sensor problem (had 3 differant manufacturers tring to fix a design defect.) about $300-$400

2. repeated coolant leaks(water pump cover, water pump & water crossover are usual problems) about $200-$800

3. casehalf seals leaking oil about $2500

4. blown headgaskets (as early as 80,000 miles or as late as 130,000 miles due to block threads stripping) about $3300

for these reasons I say if you want a low repair vehicle, go with ASIAN vehicles (i.e. Lexus), but if you can afford these repairs, the Deville and Sevilles are excellent rides.

Answer 2

Caddy's last a very long time if you stay on top of the scheduled maintenance and don't use them for towing boats and heavy trailers around.

They have an oil cooler, transmssion fluid cooler (some have an additional external tranny fluid cooler if set up for towing) and a powersteering fluid cooler. The aluminum block (better cooling) is sleeved with steel sleeves (better than a cast iron block with no sleeves) and the horsepower to weight ratio is very good (easy on the engine) and they hold about six quarts of oil with a filter change. The tranny fluid has always been the Dexron III which has more antiwear additives than the old barely pink crap (hydraulic fluid) they used years ago with the RWD's.

Things I would stay away from. The models with the suspension control hydraulic struts and you can tell this by looking at the front struts and there will be a tube going into the strut. You want the air shocks (self leveling) on the back and two regular struts on the front but not the four hydraulic strut models. Each one of those struts is like $600.

50K miles is low mileage for any car especially a Caddy.

Otherwise, rock on my brother, rock on.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

If it's been taken care of you shouldn't have any problems. However if you do run into any mechanical problems it will be costly. Cadillac's are nice vehicles, but it seems like if something fails it's expensive. They make them hard to work on that most people cannot do the work themselves.

Answer 4

Gary G hit the nail on the head. I wouldn't buy it if it only had !0k on it. Caddy's are GM's experimental cars.