95 Deville - Just Bought

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I bought a 1995 Cadillac Sedan Deville. It has 132K miles on it but I THINK that I still got a really good deal on it. The car is in gorgeous condition with very few signs of wear (just a couple of minor scrapes here and there) on the exterior and essentially NO wear to speak of on the interior. The car is big and comfortable and I love it so far. Oh, by the way, I got it for $2200. I don't know a ton about cars but mechanically I know the Serpintine belt needs to be replaced and the car is saying Service Ride Control.

1) The car has just a little front end shake to it at highway speeds. Could it be that the car needs a front-end alignment and that's why the "Service Ride control" message is showing or is that usually reffering to some other compnent?

2) I'm considering reselling the vehicle only because I'm use to the gas mileage that I get out of my little Nissan 200SX for traveling. I don't know if I can justify the luxury versus the degredation in gas mileage. Nissan gets 23/31 Cadillac says 17/26. Plus, the Cadillac says to only use premium gasoline so I have to figure the difference there as well. Based on current gas prices in my area, the difference in price between regular unleaded and preimuim unleaded gas, and my average driving habits it would cost me like $40 more a month to drive this car. What makes it necessary to run Preium Gas in the car? Will it mess up the injectors or soemthing if I don't? Could I put regular gas in it and run an octane booster through it every once in a while or something? I'd love to keep it for the sheer fact that it's comfortable but i'm 23 and trying to make really smart financial decisions so that I can start investing for the future etc.

Any input/opinion on the two issues presented would be great. Also, if there is anything in these cars that you know of that commonly starts to go wrong when you start getting into higher mileage that you think I should have checked out I'd appreciate that information as well.

Thank you all so much,

-=-=Joel=-=-

Does the service ride control light stay on? It's possible that you just need an allignment or tire balancing, but it's possible that the two are seperate problems. Ride control would relate more to driver assists like traction control and abs. A shake at high speeds might indicate an engine or transmission problem. How does the car shift, is it smooth or abrupt? (it's sometimes hard to tell what is abnormal in a cadillac, because they are very smooth in general.) If so, it might be time for a trans rebuild, considering the high millage. My advice would be to get the cheap things like tire rotation and trans fluid change done so you can rule out the more expensive fixes. Also before you do anything go to an auto parts store and have the codes read and reset, they do it for free. Be sure to write them down. I'm guessing you might not want to go to a cadillac dealer, they are pretty expensive and charge a couple hundred just for diagnosing your car, not to mention parts and labor. As far as fuel millage goes, it's crappy. My 04 gets around 15mpg on a good day, but it's only city and I drive it pretty hard. As far as octane boosters go, you will spend less if you just use premium gas, besides you might damage your engine from knocking. As far as overall costs of owning a cadillac are concerned, of course it's expensive. You can't expect a 4000+ pound v8 car to get nissan like fuel consumption and you can't expect it to not have some problems with such high miles. People buy used cadillacs who can't afford to maintain them, and those people then think that they are unreliable. A mercedes driver will service his car regularly and that's mainly why they are so reliable. Cadillacs are great cars, but you have to understand that the purchase price is not the only investment, and that applies to any high end car. If fuel consumption is such a huge issue, then you might be a little taken back at repair costs, which will easilly be more then what you paid. The way I see it is you can either not touch this car and run it into the ground, or just resell it considering you got a fairly good price for it. I can see where your're comng from as my first car was a old benz Sel560 that burned through gas like a tank. It was the best car at my school lot though. You have to make some sacrifices if you want to ride in style.

Hi. The shake could be a tire that has a small lump or shifted belt, or badly balanced. Alignment will usually cause pulling to one side, and slight steering issues. a more dramatic pull will indicate a tire. if the front tires are swapped side to side then it's the tire of the direction of the pulling. As far as gas? Can't afford it, don't buy it. That's the first rule in cars and trucks. The service ride light indicates a faulty strut. If you think gas prices are high you'll love this. For mechanics like myself, it's a great job. For paying customers, you'd probably rather spend money somewhere else. The sensor in the strut sends a message to that computer and says I'm not working. Fix me. ask for an estimate before repairs and then compare shop prices for your own benifit. Don't go with the first offer.





Hi everyone,

Yesterday I bought a 1995 Cadillac Sedan Deville. It has 132K miles on it but I THINK that I still got a really good deal on it. The car is in gorgeous condition with very few signs of wear (just a couple of minor scrapes here and there) on the exterior and essentially NO wear to speak of on the interior. The car is big and comfortable and I love it so far. Oh, by the way, I got it for $2200. I don't know a ton about cars but mechanically I know the Serpintine belt needs to be replaced and the car is saying Service Ride Control.

1) The car has just a little front end shake to it at highway speeds. Could it be that the car needs a front-end alignment and that's why the "Service Ride control" message is showing or is that usually reffering to some other compnent?

2) I'm considering reselling the vehicle only because I'm use to the gas mileage that I get out of my little Nissan 200SX for traveling. I don't know if I can justify the luxury versus the degredation in gas mileage. Nissan gets 23/31 Cadillac says 17/26. Plus, the Cadillac says to only use premium gasoline so I have to figure the difference there as well. Based on current gas prices in my area, the difference in price between regular unleaded and preimuim unleaded gas, and my average driving habits it would cost me like $40 more a month to drive this car. What makes it necessary to run Preium Gas in the car? Will it mess up the injectors or soemthing if I don't? Could I put regular gas in it and run an octane booster through it every once in a while or something? I'd love to keep it for the sheer fact that it's comfortable but i'm 23 and trying to make really smart financial decisions so that I can start investing for the future etc.

Any input/opinion on the two issues presented would be great. Also, if there is anything in these cars that you know of that commonly starts to go wrong when you start getting into higher mileage that you think I should have checked out I'd appreciate that information as well.

Thank you all so much,

-=-=Joel=-=-