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I own a '97 Deville with 95,000 miles on it. I had problems with it until I found a competent dealer/mechanic that has saved me time and trouble. The stalling you may get after someone replaces plug wires is due to them not following the original wire guides. Other routes take the wires too close to a sensor affected by induction. Proper diagnositics are vital. My car uses a quart between oil changes, and I change the oil about every 7500 miles. Everything works well and it averages 25 mpg. The first dealer I went to wanted $4000 for a steering rack and oil pump. The dealer I used fixed my oil light problem with a new oil filter adapter and my steering rack was a bad tire. The oil filter adapter was $35. Get a good mechanic!
May 20, 2006
I also purchased a 97 deville with 66000 miles. Have been driving 8 months now. Current mileage is 95000. Same oil consumption problem you all are having. Don't feel it's a serious one though. Add oil as necessary, and change when the dash readout says to. Lets face it, two quarts between oil changes only amounts to about 4 bucks. A hair over a gallon of gas. But you all need to find a decent mechanic.
Do not take to the local Caddy Dealer. The rip off is obvious. Luckily, I have a son in law who owns a repair shop. New water pump installed 65 dollars. New rack and pinion 285 dollars. Keep in mind also, that the North Star engine was designed to take 7.5 quarts of oil with a filter change.
Standard V8's only hold a little over 5 quarts. Does that engineering info tell you anything? Beautiful car to drive. Made several trips from California to Virginia and back moving along 85 to 90 where ever I could. 25.2 miles per gallon, big car, extremely comfortable ride. I love mine.
But do find a good independent mechanic.
I've owned a 1998 Deville since 2000. I bought the car with 26,000 miles, and now it has 130,000.
If you are not mechanically inclined, or you do not have a mechanic competent to work on Cadillacs DO NOT BUY ONE.
In my experience, the dealer techs are not competent to work on these cars. The car was consuming coolant, and I supposedly suffered from the infamous "head bolt failure" at 83,000 miles. The dealer charged me $2000 after getting them to knock off $1000 and GM to kick in another $1000. I now believe I only needed to add the coolant system sealing tablets into the radiator hose to fix the leak. That would have been a $5 fix.
I've replaced the shocks ($1000), strut links ($250), headlight ($150), and other parts. These are expensive cars to own and maintain, but they are cheaper than BMW and Mercedes. What's nice about Cadillac is they depreciate so rapidly, you can buy a lot of car for very little money. The parts are cheaper than luxury imports. www.rockauto.com is a good place for parts.
Make sure you have a competent mechanic your you can do the work yourself. If you don't/aren't, YOU'LL BE VERY SORRY.
For all that is concerned about oil consumption, please read this:
It is not unusual for a Northstar to use more oil than some other engines. It is a high performance engine and has to allow a little more oil to the top rings for lube as as well as down the 32 valve guides.
Design intent for oil consumption would put the engine at about 4000 miles per quart consumption, but due to the variables in production parameters there are engines that will use 1 quart per 1000-1500 miles... perfectly normal and acceptable... but more oil consumption than "intended". Nothing will be wrong with the engine, but the continuous oil adds are aggravating. If this is the case then understand that the engine is probably going to run a long long time like that as the cylinder walls, rings, valve guides, etc. like all that oil that you are putting in and the continuous oil adds fortify the used oil in the sump and replenish the additive package in the oil that is slowly depleted under normal usage.
Comparing the 4.9 to the Northstar is an apples to oranges deal. The 4.9 is an excellent engine for it's purpose, but does not offer nearly the performance, durability, fuel economy and emission control capability of the Northstar. The Northstar is a high output engine and likes to be "used".
The best way to minimize oil consumption in a Northstar is to keep the sump filled slightly low (many are continuously overfilled) by only checking the oil level when hot and only filling the sump with 7 quarts of oil (7.5 with a dry filter at a change.) A typical 8 quart fill at a change is "required" to put the oil level on the full mark when cold, but is actually overfilling the crankcase promoting oil consumption.
Use conventional mineral oil (synthetic is not required at all) as it tends to provide better oil consumption.
An last, but not least, air the engine out frequently. It likes to be used and red-line upshifts at WOT help promote clean combustion chambers, exercise the piston rings to keep them free of carbon buildup and keep them mobile and to ensure the engine is broken in and maximum sealing is obtained. The Northstar does not like to be babied around. It likes to be run hard frequently with a WOT blast in merging or whatever... Even engines reported to use 1 quart per 1500 miles tend to improve to 2500 miles per quart or better when subjected to a regular schedule of use and "abuse"...
Hello fellow Cadillac owners,
I have a 1999 Deville Concours with the 300hp Northstar engine. I must add coolant almost every time I drive it. I put in Bars Leak sealant, K&W Block sealer and next I will try the Pellets. No puddles on the ground. You cannot see the rear side of the engine from underneath. I believe after researching I must have a head bolt failure. Coolant is possibly leaking between head and block on the outside of the engine. It must evaporate before it hits the ground.
Oil consumtion is on the low side of everyone else's. I did the acceleration and deceleration driving method to keep the rings free.
I have only put 7000 miles on it since purchasing it. It has 76000 miles on it to date. Are ther any alternative ways to get the manufacturer to repair these problems? We should not have to have such high out of pocket expenses to repair a poorly designed product. I should know this being a Mechanical Engineer. Designers and manufacturers should be held responsible for their products.
I just bought a 1997 contours, beautiful car, but... thank God that I bought an extended warranty, climate control sensor, over $1000.00 needed replaced, blower motor over $500.00 and stabilizer bar and bushings over $500.00 all covered by warranty with $100.00 deductible. What was not covered was fuel gauge sensor $250.00, now the leveler compressor isn't working and the air conditioning compressor just shut down as being low on refrigerant. What next!
The car has only 63,000 miles on it less than 9,000 miles per year driven. The defrost vents on the dash board keep popping up and I'm told that the dash padding needs replaced to fix, so I just glued the thing down. Now at times in daylight when the day time running lights are on the entire headlight system turns on.
I'm using over 3 quarts of oil for each 1,000 miles.
It's a beauty to drive, but with so many sensors etc too many problems. Quality is not Job one here.
I recently purchased a ’97 De Ville Concours with 72,000 miles from a small family owned car lot. The car is in good shape and apparently well-maintained. I have no oil burning problems to report and the car rides fantastic with no little road noise and no rattles. With all of the negative comments regarding the reliability of the De Ville, I’m wondering if there are more success stories that haven’t been shared. Or perhaps the previous owners coughed up the repair bills?
I have a 1997 deville since new, Air compresser was only problem. Out side of that, it runs like a watch. The car only has 51,000 and I keep it garaged. Just love the car.
I owned a 96 DeVille Concours about 4 years ago and put about 20000 miles on it after buying it with 60,000 miles on it. The only thing that had to be done during that time was the air compressor.
Following the 96, I bought a 2002 DTS and it has been great, although it does use about 1 quart of oil inbetween 3,000 mile oil changes. The dealer did check for oil consumption and did a 'cleaning'. Since then, the check oil level light no longer comes on inbetween oil changes.
I also just purchased another 96 DeVille Concours with 47,000 miles and so far have not had any oil consumption issues. I did however have to change the oil pressure sensor because the oil light blinked at idle once it warmed up to operating temperature.
Overall, I would and will continue to purchase the full size Caddy with the Northstar engine. Anyone who does have one definitely needs to have a reliable mechanic/dealer that you can trust. I personally take mine to a local dealer in NJ and they have been honest and my out of pocket costs have not exceeded 1,500 dollars over the past 6 years with 3 Cadillacs.
Good luck to you all and don't give up hope, they are great cars!!!
Dfabbo@comcast.net - New Jersey.
We've had our '97 Deville for a couple years now. Bought it in 2005 for 7k with 98k miles on it. She's now a seasoned 130k mile pearl white beauty with MOON roof. In town MPG is 23.5 to 24. Our oil consumption is 1-2 quart (Valvoline 10-30 mineral) for every 3-5k oil change. I believe what others say about regularly "airing out" the Northstar and it helping oil consumption. We only use Valvoline. No leaks. We get into the Northstar frequently with rude drivers and on ramps. Many times we dog young punks with their rice burners just to put them in their place! As a youngster, you haven't really been dogged until grandma makes you eat dust in her caddy!
Maintenance is my job and I've been able to do it all so far with no service manuals and just the Hayes (Chilton) manual.
Biggest job to date has been to install both front wheel bearing/hub assemblies. Not a hard job if you have a fair assortment of tools. This was at around 125k after having to listening to a growling noise coming from the front end for say 500 miles. My time (2.5 hours / side) and $300 later it was finished. I put new ceramic pads up front at this time.
Just recently (125k) put in a new radiator and now she holds coolant at a rock solid level. This has also helped with coolant temps and has helped with gas mileage. Go figure. The computer must like the lower temps and is rewarding us with higher MPG :)
At around 115k, one of the electronic air box mixing units went bad (plastic parts inside) driving us crazy with it's click click click noise. Each unit was $65 from rockauto. com - I knew the other box was going to go soon so I changed both.
At around 120k I was getting a trouble code for the temp sensor so I changed that. *Be sure* to fully engage the plug clip back on or it will pop back off on your first pothole and give you 3-4 less MPG. I ended up having to fenangle a zip tie around the clip to keep the tab down. Wife's idea... smart gal :) Note: this temp sensor is a b*tch to get to - patience is a MUST!
Shocks need replaced in the worst way. I'm not going to give in to the high replacement cost for OEM though. Have read about others going *passive* and am going to do the same. From what I understand, it's just removing the old shocks and saving out the electronic sensor. Past that it's installing standard shocks and you save a bundle with very little ride difference. New coils will go in at that time.
Other than that, we are quite pleased with this car. Getting it for 7k was a steal with less than 100k on it. I will be getting a set of service manuals soon so as more in depth problems arise, I can take care of them and not have to rely on those 70/hr shop fees to keep her rolling. The manuals are expensive, but think of it this way, 1 fix and those books are paid for.
Anyhow, I give these cars a thumbs up. I do work on my own vehicles so that's a plus. Airing out your Northstar frequently IMHO is the key to low oil consumption. And it's FUN!
Happy Cadillac trails to you all :)
Gary cadillac@affordablekeepsakes.com.
PS - I also subscribe to rockauto. com being one of the best (if not the best) outlets for caddy parts on the internet - check them out... no I don't work for them.
I Just Purchased a 97 Deville from a friend for $4000. with only 70k.
Dark green EXCELLENT SHAPE in side and out.
All seems well and drives great.. the only problem I have is when cruzin at around 35-50 I get a light sputter in the engine... i already replaced spark plugs and wires with AC DELCO Parts, Changed all fluids... but the problem is still there. Any Ideas??
Apart from that AWESOME RIDE... VERY FAST...Nothing but Love for My deville.
Hi, I have a 1997 Sedan De Ville. I was told by a Caddy dealership I had a blown head gasket. It was a hole in the heater core. I was told I needed a new oil pump. "Turn off engine now", the computer said. It was an oil sensor, fixed for 39.99. So now it does not use that quart of oil anymore!I love my car and I just keep repairing it as needed.
Merci.
Well I do have to say that I have enjoyed all of the comments on the cadillac deville and I agree with everyone.
About five months ago I purchased a 97 Deville with 106+ thousand miles on it, drove it for about a week and it has sat in my drive way until two weeks ago. I have heard everybody talk about either taking it to a dealer or doing it themselves, but no one has stressed how much of a pain it is to work on this car. To get the oil pan off you have to completely remove the motor from the car and the past three days have been nothing, but a headache.
But it is still a cadillac and no other car compairs to one so all I really have to say is that this has been a wonderful journey and I will def be glad when its over because we all love to drive them. 8)
I own a 97 Deville with 201k - It finally stopped running; I believe blown head gaskets.
Advice to anyone buying a used Cadillac - I advise not to buy anything older than a 2001 as that is when they changed their heads from aluminum to ceramic.
The resale value on Cadillac’s is so low for a reason - Used car dealers stay away from them at auctions because they don’t want to deal with the headaches from the complaining customer that bought them.
The replacement shocks (passive) are not nearly the same ride - I changed mine out for $450 total as opposed to the $2200.00 the caddy dealer wanted for the rear shocks.
The lesson is that this is a fantastic car from 0 miles to around 90,000 miles - that’s when the problems start from the ABS, speed sensors, vacuum sensors, leaking coolant, excessive oil consumption, blown air shocks.
If you don’t mind a consistent pattern of mechanical problems and the bills that come along - then don’t buy a used caddy. Why should you have this wonderful looking car that you spend half your time trying to figure out what is wrong, and then attempting to fix it as the dealer is overcharging you. Not worth the headache.
First off. I would like to know if anyone knows any good mechanics in West Palm Beach Florida. I haven't had too many problmes with my cadillac. I bought it for 5gs with 80k miles from a good friend.. THE ONLY serious problem that I've had is the engine collant. I have 101k miles. Just today while I was driving the message came up saying "idle engine" "turn off engine" engine overheated" stop engine" and smoke started to come from my hood. I have a leak.. both from the reservouir and the hose. and it is not leaking small drops. its actually leaking hard nonstop. Can someone please help me. what shuold I do. p;lease contact me at kjokergt@yahoo.com I would greatly appreciate it... I LOVE MYCADILLAC... Great Car... oo and I also have a oil leak. Sweats nottinbad... BUt I just need to know of any good mechanics in west palm beach florida.. Thank you very much.