For my Review I will write about the 1994 Sedan Deville.
http://www.cadillacforums.com/photopost/data/1/959frontview-med.jpg

As some of you know the Deville was redesigned in 1994. For this year we gained one new model and bid farewell for another. The Coupe DeVille did not make it to the 1994 Model year. The new model to the DeVille Stable was the executive’s racecar known as Deville Concourse. Styling was kept inline with the new for 1993 Rear Drive Fleetwood.


Power train
These cars were powered by the reliable pushrod PFI 4.9 v8. Making 200 hp and 275 lb feet of torque. These are not racecars by any means whatsoever. For a transmission the cars featured the 4t60e Transaxle. 4t60e standing for 4 speed “T”ransverse mounted 60 series “E”lectronicly controlled. All of this was in charge of moving the cars 3900lbs to 60mph in around 7-8 seconds and giving great passing power. The combo yields impressive fuel economy for a luxury car. With a light foot you can pry over 25 mpg on the highway. Expect 13-17 in town, stoplights turn this car into a gas sucking beast. The DeVille REQUIRES 20 gallons of PREMIUM fuel.

Suspension
The 1994 Deville got the Speed Sensing Suspension system. This system adjusted the dampening rate over 3 levels as your speed changes, full firm mode coming in at highway speeds, while the full soft mode came into play on city streets. Out back also features the automatic leveling system. A stiffer body this year made the Deville much quieter over the outgoing 1993 DeVille. This was the beginning of GM attempting to create very high torsionally rigid bodies. By the 1995 Aurora they would lead the world in this area. Handling is good for such a big car, but attempt to run it to hard and it will under steer. When grip is found the car will darn near lay on the door handles in a turn. Like I said this isn’t a racecar.

Interior
The Sedan Deville’s interior is tame and comfortable. All Sedans had a column mounted shifter, bench seat and tons of room for 6. Trimmed in zebrano wood the interior is quite handsome. The typical mafia spec trunk measures 20 cubic feet. Small when compared the Lincoln Town Cars more useable 23 cubic feet. Then there is all the power goodies to make your trip comfortable. The Instrument cluster displays “oil life”, “timer”,”avg speed”,”avg mpg”, among a host of other messages and displays. There is a separate area to let you know how you’re doing as far a fuel mileage goes, showing average mpg and miles to empty, along with instant mpg. Instant mpg makes a handy tool to see how well the car is running. The stock stereo system has to be one of the best offered in 1994. Of coarse the Cadillac automatic parking brake relese is back ! Your first drive with one will have you looking for the relese , only to find as soon as the transmission is put into "reverse" it automaticaly pops back up. Manual relese is found underneath the dashboard in the event of vaccum failure.

Safety

This is the first year of the Cadillac “AirBank System”. Cadillac claims that this system yields airbag protection or all THREE front passengers. This was accomplished with an enlarged passenger side airbag. This airbag type is also one of the safest in the early 90s, instead of the passenger bag coming straight at you it actually goes up into the windshield and out, defecting some of the force into the windshield instead of your neck. ABS and child proof rear doors came standard along with a host of other safety feature outside traction control, which would arrive on the 95 Sedan Deville.

Trouble Spots:

First is a key when your looking at just about any Cadillac, push “off” and “warmer”, this will yield any trouble codes for the car, if your looking at a Deville, write any codes down and come back and see us.

Codes you can expect to see on higher mileage 1994 DeVilles:
I039: Speed sensitive suspension issue, were all working on this one
P039: This shows the torque converter isn’t locking up to the computers satisfaction , the car will run like this for thousands more miles.

Other Trouble Spots:

Most Deville’s will end up with a lazy door lock on one door; you’ll have to unlock it manually at times. What goes wrong is a little rubber cup that actuates the door lock rod off the solenoid. If you have the problem feel free to contact me and I will show you how to fix it, it’ll only cost you a tube of superglue and a little of your time.

Another Trouble Spot is a clunk coming out of the front end going down the road. Most of the time this is the sway bar end links, they have gone sour. Replacements will cost around 80 bucks.

Transmissions: These are hit and miss, best advice here is the change the tranny filter out and replace the fluid when your supposed to. NEVER HAVE THE UNIT FLUSHED!

Cooling system. Coolant is to be replaced every year with fresh coolant, distilled water, and the GM coolant suppliment pellets. Failure to do so will cause engine damage in the form of leaky head gaskets.

Front Main “Thump”. When the engine is hot and in gear at parking lot speeds you’ll hear a “thump thump thump” in tune with engine RPM. Don’t worry too much about this; perfectly normal and it’ll go another 100k like this. If it bugs you enough go to your Cadillac dealer and order up a new main bearing, there is an upgraded thicker bearing out ask for it only!!!

EGR: If you experience a “ping” on acceleration and your using premium fuel you may be suffering from the EGR tubes being plugged up. Have a helper hold the throttle plates wide open with the engine off. Get a wire coat hangar stretch it out and rod the 2 tubes out till there clean. Get a small wire brush and clean up the throttle plates while you’re in there.

Water pump: we will all go blow a water pump on the 4.9, only use new GM units …nuff said.

Some of you may note hearing 4.9s having a growl to them. If yours growls, check out the power steering pump and ac compressor. Its pretty normal to replace everything the belt touches at around 130k

Idler Pulley: more than a few of us here have had the idler pulley seize on us on the highway shredding the belt and leaving us stranded looking for parts. Spend the 14 bucks and get a new one on it.

Rocker Arm Pivot Bolts (added 1/18/2004) : There have been a few cases reported here on 4100 , 4.5 and 4.9 cars . 2 of which occured on the 1994 4.9 cars on our board. The cause is unknown and we are not sure if it is a pattern or just poor quailty work when a mechanic worked on the valvetrain over the cars life. While troubleshooting a missfire and all other normal causes have been covered with no remedy it may be nessesary to pull the valve covers to inspect the valvetrain's operation. Apperently the bolts fracture allowing the intake and exaust valve to stay closed. If this happens to you do a search on "Rocker Arm Supports" you will find a host of posts on how to remedy the problem by our resiedent expert Bbob.

Nice job.

Good job, Stoney, very good. :thumbsup:

nice, wish I could write something like that:thumbsup:

if I had to write about my truck it would be really easy,

Great review!! :2thumbs:

Thankx guys , means alot to me that you enjoyed it ....going to school for journalisim , want to end up working for the automagazines , this was my first dive into something like the magazines would do ....

I just bought my first Caddy, a 1994 Deville to boot! Nice write up. Makes me feel even better about my purchase. :)

Roman

Most Deville’s will end up with a lazy door lock on one door; .
If you have the problem feel free to contact me and I will show you how to fix it, it’ll only cost you a tube of superglue and a little of your time.


I have this problem in the drivers door. Please tell me how to fix this problem. Also, is there a fuse panel under the glove box in the 1994 Cad. Deville. I'm having an air conditioning problem and gas gauge problem and the AC man said there is a fuse under the panel which controls the AC and other things.
Thanks,
BobC

Hey ,sorry it took me so long to find this...

on the door lock , first you need to remove the door panel , there are 2 screwes behind the door grab strap covers there ...get those out ...then pull the cover off the door opening handle and lock area...there seems like there is ascrew there if i remeber right ....

at this point make sure the window is down once you get the panel off (there are several little plastic clips that hold it on) then remove the three bolts that hold the door latch to the door (i think these needed torx bits ) then carefully remove the metal locks rods from the latch then pull the plugs off the latch and get it out of the car set it on a workbench and looks for the part i posted a pic of in the threaed below:
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31213&highlight=door+lock
http://www.cadillacforums.com/photopost/data/503/959DSC00605-med.JPG

mark how that little cup is installed

supergule the split in that part , be sure when reintalling that little rubber cup that you put it in backawards of how it was in there...yes i said put it in backwards ...trust me ....

once you do that she will be good for another 10 years ...

Stoneage: I know that it's a little late but, I just had to say that your write-up was damn good.

Hey stoneage you dont HAVE to use the premium fuel. Gm made a deal with with gas companies and told people to use it. Only use premium if you hear knocking, and only if the knocking bothers you, because the knocking wont hurt your car. My grandmother does taxes for a guy who helped design the early 90's cadillacs, and I talked to him because I have a 93 sedan deville, and told me you can use low grade if you want to and it wont hurt your car. I personally use medium just in case.

Merl , i dont understand , why is it everyone is out to prove me wrong lately???...and why is it that it always someone with 10 or less posts thats never bothered to read the other threads on the subject?

here is the deal , bbobynski here on the forums is the guy that desgined the ht4100, 4.5 and 4.9 V8 engines found in front wheel drive cadillacs he also did the work on the northstar ....what he says is gospel for the 4.9 , he says to use premium ....the engine has no knock sensors and a couple other issues that require the use of premium fuel unless none is availbe then run enough of a low grade to get you where you can get premuim .....the ignition timing is set soft from the factory to allow the use of lower grade fuels in a pinch....an engine needs those knock sensors to dertimine the proper ammount of timing needed for optimum performace , the cadillac from the factory is set on a program ....it has no clue that the engine might be knocking (predetonation) or that anything less than premium is being used , thus it wont make the adjustments needed in that area , it can only guess whats going on thru the IAT sensor , engine load coolant temp and other sensors to determine current engine conditions

just because your grandmother does taxes for some guy that probably works ata dealer doesnt mean his word is the end all be all ...for god sake he lets you belive that knocking over a long perioid of time is a minor irritatation LOL.....

No he worked for GM, on cadillacs, dont remember his name. Yes I may be wrong about the knocking thing. It was a while ago that I talked to him. I do not know every thing about cadillacs. And i wasnt sayin over a long period of time on the knocking thing, I ment only for a few thousand miles until your next tune-up then switch to premium. I use medium, and occasionally premium and have never heard knocking, and my granddad used low-grade for 11 years.

ok , no offense but i post this stuff so everyone does whats best for these cars ...i just hate to see someone hurting these cars ....

bbob is brutal sometimes ,becuse he makes sure the correct info is out there..... belive me most of what i say nowadays is quotes from him , i had to throw away alot fo my experence to learn the proper way to care for these cars ,,,everything has a reason with them ....

on a side note i hope you stay around with us and cruise the sections , you wouldnt belive all the info we have ...im very pround of our knollege base ....

youll just have to excuse my snippyness lately , had a few go after me and i still dont understand it ...

i thorugly enjoy seeing thse cars come into the dealer looking and running great after 100,000+ miles and 10+ years on the road , it breaks up my day full of 1 and 2 year old cars coming in for oil changes

Thanks thats alright, and im here for the database. And my car has 283,000+ miles on it and its 12 years old, and the only thing wrong is the ac isnt cold and the sss light wont go out, and the power trunk closer broke and i had them put in a manual becaues it was cheap and didnt have enough money to fix it. Hey were did you get those glowing crests?

How do I repair the door lock?

info gets buried around here sometimes:
Hey ,sorry it took me so long to find this...

on the door lock , first you need to remove the door panel , there are 2 screwes behind the door grab strap covers there ...get those out ...then pull the cover off the door opening handle and lock area...there seems like there is ascrew there if i remeber right ....

at this point make sure the window is down once you get the panel off (there are several little plastic clips that hold it on) then remove the three bolts that hold the door latch to the door (i think these needed torx bits ) then carefully remove the metal locks rods from the latch then pull the plugs off the latch and get it out of the car set it on a workbench and looks for the part i posted a pic of in the threaed below:
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31213&highlight=door+lock
http://www.cadillacforums.com/photopost/data/503/959DSC00605-med.JPG

mark how that little cup is installed

supergule the split in that part , be sure when reintalling that little rubber cup that you put it in backawards of how it was in there...yes i said put it in backwards ...trust me ....

once you do that she will be good for another 10 years ...

How does one get to the 1994 Cadillac Deville webpage on the Cadillac forums? I can't find the message I left. Any help would be good.
Thanks.

when i held off and warmer at the same time it said.p021history, p067history, p071history, and i039 history...no acp codes, no sir codes, no tcp codes...pcm?
what does all this mean?

po21= Open TPS Signal
po67= Cruise Switch shorted at Enable
po71=Intermittent MAP Signal
io39 is a suspension issue (communitcation)

since these are all "history" i would worry about them , the moment there "current" is when we need to work with it ....

how do i get these promblems fixed??

i've had my idler pulley seize up on me just where you said it would, in the middle of no where.
92 eldorado 151,xxx. same engine, maybe less problems than the devilles.
can still relate to a few issues you listed.
good job

how do i get these promblems fixed??
well since each code had history next to it the problem is solved , when the codes have "current" next to them is when you have a problem ....no worries blu ...

well theres sumthing wrong with my car and i keep going to mechanics and they tell me that the computer they put it on is saying faulty of cruise control and i dont understand.. my car starts up and drives but afta i shut it off it doesnt start back up and when im driving it, it takes alot of time to go past a certain speed limit..i bought a new cruise control, a pick up and distributer cap and rotor...do u have ne idea wat the promblem is...thank u very much..

Not at the moment , i have to think about this one ...

ok thank u very much..i wud very much appriciate it if u cud help me out even more...thank u

Nice write up stoneage. Gives me great pride in my new purchase too.

How is the journalism going?

Meh ....Its kinda at a standstill ....New job , moving , and possibly another job workin on old firetrucks ....Just not ready to get back to school and chase down that degree , got the first one ....i want the second one ...but the timing right now isnt good ....I want to get everything settled again so i can focus on my studys ...Takes alot of effort for someone like me to maintain a 3.0 avg ...

Hello, I have a 4.9 deville. I've been given different answers about how much oil it needs. 5 or 7 quarts. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Jamen Brooks
jamenb@gmail.com

5.5 quarts , a northstar deville takes 7

Thanksso much for the reply. Much appreciated (the guys at jiffylube still don't believe me). Also, another question if you have the time:
The fan in the car (defrost and vent) only works periodically, do you think i might need a new blower motor or could it be a wire (does the blower motor either work or not work/ or could it work periodically)? Also, could electrical problems cause the car to lose power or be chuggy in acceleration?

Jamen

thats easy , dont ever take the car to jiffy lube .....i lost a transmission to those bastards ....there clueless ...

i would check the connector at the blower motor , they come loose from time to time and simply need shoved back in after a little cleaning

as for the chug and loss of power it could be a host of things , do you have a "check engine" light?

thanks again for the reply. you're my new hero. I don't have a check engine light.

For my Review I will write about the 1994 Sedan Deville.

First is a key when your looking at just about any Cadillac, push “off” and “warmer”, this will yield any trouble codes for the car, if your looking at a Deville, write any codes down and come back and see us.
.

Stoneage: I tried this on my 94 Deville and could not get it to work.

First I assume when you say push "off" your are talking about on the climate control area. Thats the only area I see an off button. And "warmer" is the red button that raises the temp.

Does the engine need to be running or just the ignition. Do both of the buttons have to be pushed at the same time? I tried several combinations and could not see any codes come up. Where do they come up at?

Thanks!

EDIT: Oops, never mind. I got it to work!

I remember the first time I put it in diagnostic mode, I was amazed!

Me too, leanred a lot was wrong with the car! :p

HELP!
I am needing to know about the "codes" you mentioned.....I do not understand..."OFF" and "WARMER"??? I am lost... do you mean the A/C off ??? and the red bar for "warmer" at the same time or what??? I tried this with no luck...sorry...

I have a continous "Service Ride Control" message, that has been on for YEARS now, Cadillac says it's no problem and I could come by and have it disabled.

Also, where can you, inexpensively, purchase parts for this vehicle, since most are not being made anymore.

Can you get these coolant pellets somewhere else, besides the Cadillac dealership...which is $100. for anything!!!...

It gets VERY HOT here and since I have had more than one Caddy, I've had to have the rear view mirrors replaced a number of times...any TIPS for avoiding this happening yet again? That glue just doesn't do for the life of the car and the dealerships are fairly nice about it, but it is a hassle to go in to have 'em glue it back up.

HELP!
I am needing to know about the "codes" you mentioned.....I do not understand..."OFF" and "WARMER"??? I am lost... do you mean the A/C off ??? and the red bar for "warmer" at the same time or what??? I tried this with no luck...sorry...

I have a continous "Service Ride Control" message, that has been on for YEARS now, Cadillac says it's no problem and I could come by and have it disabled.

Also, where can you, inexpensively, purchase parts for this vehicle, since most are not being made anymore.

Can you get these coolant pellets somewhere else, besides the Cadillac dealership...which is $100. for anything!!!...

It gets VERY HOT here and since I have had more than one Caddy, I've had to have the rear view mirrors replaced a number of times...any TIPS for avoiding this happening yet again? That glue just doesn't do for the life of the car and the dealerships are fairly nice about it, but it is a hassle to go in to have 'em glue it back up.

push and hold boath of those button you mentioned at the same time , itll go into diagnostics after a second ....

as for parts , youd be surpised how reasonable most parts are outside the stealership ....but some parts , like the waterpump are worth every penny at the stealership

i remeber only paying 10 bucks for the pellets at the dealer ill check tomorrow when im there workin and make sure they still run that price and if they can still be bought

the rear view mirror issue is classic GM ....it happens , not much you can do but autozone and other parts stores carry kits to glue them back in place ...

cadillac will tell you its no problem with the service suspension light , and there right it really isnt , but it will cost you to have them bypass the system not only for the kit , but they wont touch it unless you go ahead and buy new struts thru them too ...plan on close to a grand to have them do it for you ....

also , be sure to not be a stranger around here , esp when you go to the dealer , dont be afird when they recomend various services to say "let me think about it tonight" and stop by and ask us if it is something you should do ....were here to help and have a good time ....

enjoy your 94 !

Thanks for the info Stoneage. Very informative. Here are a few problems that need addressing.

1. My 94 Deville (250 G miles) failed the emissions test. I have changed the (egr) valve, (cool ante temp. sensor), (throttle positioning sensor), (cat. converter), and am waiting for the (intake manifold temp. sensor). What else should I be looking at? Also when I had the throttle body off to change the sensor I noticed a build up of carbon in the manifold. I runs rich on start up.

2. The shocks are bad I think, but it could be a sensor of some kind that is not recognizing low speed from high speed, and the top plate is making a rattling noise on the drivers side when I hit a bump. I am unsure what to do about that. Shocks don't come cheap, although I do most of the work myself and that save a few dollars.

3. The drivers side will not unlock when shifting to park but I now know how to fix that. Thanks for that info.

4. When I shift from drive to reverse there is a definite clunk which could be the motor rocking on the mounts or something like that.

5. When I did the code test (55 says current)? And after I start the car (46) keeps flashing after the apply brake to shift message appears? The rest of the codes say (history).

Well, that's enough for you to chew on for now. I would certainly appreciate any comments you may have.

Thanks in advance,

Mazman

Looked into a bad o2 sensor for your failed emissions and rich running?

:confused: I dunno if you're still checking this thread, but i need to know if you'd recommend a northstar engine over the base or not. i've heard mixed reviews of the northstar, but have yet to hear anything definitive about the base. can you help?

thanks, forgive my newbie-ness

Looked into a bad o2 sensor for your failed emissions and rich running?

Thanks Behind bars, I will replace the 02 and see what happens. This may be whats causing a hesitation when accelerating from stop to go.

Thanks Behind bars, I will replace the 02 and see what happens. This may be whats causing a hesitation when accelerating from stop to go.


Not sure if it would cause hesitation or not, but it could definately contriburte to rich running, I was getting 9mpg and replacing it kicked it up to about 14 in very shirt city trips, I assume my emmisions were high, but we dont have testing here.

City driving is a killer on gas. I'm checking on an o2 this morning. But I still need the manifold intake sensor. I also have a 92 caddy that my wife drives and it drives like a charm.

Does your 94 bob in the frount end when you hit little valleys in the road? My 92 is more stiff in the frount end. Maybe just the ride control system it the 94 but I thought they were suppose to stiffen up when you hit higher speeds. Any thoughts on that?

City driving is a killer on gas. I'm checking on an o2 this morning. But I still need the manifold intake sensor. I also have a 92 caddy that my wife drives and it drives like a charm.

Does your 94 bob in the frount end when you hit little valleys in the road? My 92 is more stiff in the frount end. Maybe just the ride control system it the 94 but I thought they were suppose to stiffen up when you hit higher speeds. Any thoughts on that?

They will only stiffen if it has the origional shocks or OEM replacements, if the mileage is high then they may have been replaced with passives which will not adjust like that

Thanks BB

Today i replaced the (O2) and the (manifold air intake sensors). The hesitation is gone, on the other hand the engine now surges. Remember I mentioned that I have already changed the (TPS) trottle positioning sensor and the service engine light come on now and again. I scaned the codes once more and PO55 current shows up and that is a (closed throttle angle out of range]). Any idea what that means?

As far as the shocks go, I believe they are orriginal and still have wires coming out of the top of the strut. Do you know where the sensor is located for the ride control? I believe the noise I hear is coming from the top bearing, so I am looking at replacing that.

Thaks for your input,

Maz

Not sure where its at, I actually have a 93 which is the same engine but probably a bit different suspension.

Not sure on the surge, you may have better luck starting a new thread or searching through the deville or 4.9 forums

May just check that nothing got knocked lose and no vacuum lines broke. Every time I work on my 93 some stupid plastic line snaps on me and I have to repair it lol

Thank you so much for all of the detailed information. I couldn't have found this forum at a better time. I'm currently considering buying a 1994 Cadillac Sedan Deville and I had so many questions. Most of them were answered in your post, but I was wondering if I could ask you one more.

What kind of mileage can be expected from this car? I've seen a few with 125,000 miles. Is this the end of the car's life or is it common to get 185-200k miles?

Thanks again! Cheers!

94 deville base or concourse? The base comes with the 4.9 and the concourse with the northstar. Both engines seem to last along time, the 4.9 however is the more simple of the 2 and can be cheaper to repair.

Browsing around here on the forums you will seee many approach and break 200k , maybe some work done to them though.

I cant really answer that since mine isnt to 100k yet, about 97k here without major issue.

125k is high for me personally, but if you can get the price down enough I would consider it.

94 deville base or concourse? The base comes with the 4.9 and the concourse with the northstar. Both engines seem to last along time, the 4.9 however is the more simple of the 2 and can be cheaper to repair.

Browsing around here on the forums you will seee many approach and break 200k , maybe some work done to them though.

I cant really answer that since mine isnt to 100k yet, about 97k here without major issue.

125k is high for me personally, but if you can get the price down enough I would consider it.

My 1994 has 200,000 miles and going strong. Very good motors although small solenoids or sensors may have to be changed from time to time. The biggest cost is replacing the electronic shocks. Expect to pay around $1000.00

Good luck,

Mazman

You guys are great! The cadi was not originally on my list for my next used car, but once I test drove I was in love.

Unfortunately that '94 got sold out from under me. Sigh! But I'm going to check out a '95 tonight. Lower mileage! Only 100K! So, it may have been a blessing in disguise missing out on the '94. Also, I've heard that the drift on the highway was reduced in the '95. Is that true?

If you can think of anything else I should be weary of, please let me know. Because I'm new to the Cadillac, I'm trying to educate myself as much and as quickly as possible. What people will do for love...of a car!

If you dont know already you can check these cars for any error codes. Thier are stickies in the forums with some more indepth info. I imagine that pressing and holding "off" and "warmer" on the climate control will work on the 95.

Here is a good link to see some changes made year to year
http://100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1990/1995/CAD95D.HTM

Thanks for the info. We have a '94 DeVille and haven't had a single problem with it in 50k miles. I doubt I'll be able to say that about our '01 once it gets up there. ;)

WOW! what an indepth survey of the 94 D.
Well I have the problem with p039 it states history but light has been on for 7 years. 147000mi. no problem but I would sure like to get light to go out

Well Thank you for the Information, I live about 7 miles from where I work and their is only 1 stop light in the county! basically I drive many miles in town, this car will suck the gas i guess, but at least i will do it in style! At least i know why the head gaskets are leaking, somyone didn't change the collant fluid every year!

hi:
i am a newbie here having just bought a 1994 Cadillac Deville from a friend.
it has 72,000 miles and is in great shape. my only problems are a fuel gauge stuck on F and the service ride warning is always on.
i like would like to fix both if not too expensive. from what i have read here it sounds as if the fuel gauge problem is the sender unit. do i have to drop the tank to fix this? i have seen posts saying there is a $25.- part on ebay that can fix this while other's seem to indicate a new sender unit can cost anywhere from $89.- to $300 depending on where and what you buy. recommendations?
as for the service ride warning is there a way to shut it off? does it really mean anything or a way to get you to take it to the dealer to shut it off?
thanks,
frank