First off, I'm not new here. Been here for years but forgot my username and password. Anyway, here's the situation:

I'm in the market for a '98-'99 Seville STS with less than 100k. It can have 99k, but not 100k lol. I've had too many STSs with over 100k miles on them when I bought them and for once in my lifetime I want to see an STS turn 100k lol. Anyway. I have four candidates:

1st one: 1998 Seville STS. Sable Black on Black, aftermarket moonroof that closes itself once the key is removed from the ignition. 6 Disc CD changer under armrest. Billet grille. 3-piece rear deck lid spoiler. Wood shift knob and non-matching wood pieces on the radio and climate controls. Non-wood steering wheel (but I can get one for $150, including parts and labor to install). Deep illegal tint all the way around (except front windshield). Brand new Vogue premium tires all the way around (same tread pattern as Wide Trac II, but premium tires only have the thin whitewall and no gold stripe). Brakes on front don't need replacement for a while, but the rear ones need immediate replacement. The driver heated seat doesn't work and the rear ones I haven't checked. The front passenger side does work. There's a DIC message saying 'Low Range,' but the fuel gage is showing 1/2 full. The car doesn't come with any manuals, but I have a 1998 manual. As a matter of fact, I have all 1998-2004 Seville owners manuals, but that's another story. Anyway, it comes with one Cadillac master key, one Pontiac Master key (It has the Pontiac logo, but works in the Cadi ignition), 1 keyfob, the trunk or spare tire doesn't show any indications of a water leak in the trunk. The deck lid stop lamp works (all leds light up). It has the old fashioned oil pan leaks that most Northstars have. The power steering side of the engine is whistling loud. When the a/c compressor is turned on, you hear bearing noise from one of the pulleys. I'm guessing, the a/c pulley. It's missing the knob on the rear climate controls. There is no rust underneath the car except for where the previous owner scarped some of the metal parts underneath it (I guess they were speeding over a dip or something). I went into diagnostics and the codes that keep coming up as history (even after I reset them) are: b1343, b1344. b1310 showed up before I test drove the car and reset the codes, but it never showed up again. Also, the engine temp needle was between the middle and one to the left, so it was going towards the first line towards the left of the middle line. Does that mean the engine was running too hot??? I have included pics of the car.
The car has exactly 91717 miles on it. The carfax is clean and show that it was owned by two owners. The 1st owner owned it almost 6 years and put about 45 miles daily on it. The 2nd owner owned it for only 9 months and put only 6575 miles on it. The price was $9450. Now, since I showed the car lot the problems, the price for me is now $7740. Is this a good deal, considering the problems?

2nd one: 1999 Seville STS. It is Moonstone on Pewter (Gray). It is fully loaded with all factory features that the 1999 STS could come with except onstar, adaptive seats, and engine block heater. It's all factory and it comes with every thing that a 1999 Seville STS came with brand new: owner's manual with leather case, both master keys, both valet keys, both key fob remotes, cargo net, trunk tie down (still in plastic), coin holder, trunk mat, trash can receptacle, every thing. It has absolutely no oil leaks (I couldn't believe this so I jacked the vehicle up before and after the test drive. Still, no oil leaks). The trunk or spare tire doesn't show any indications of a water leak in the trunk. The problems that it has are a rough idle when in drive and an even rougher idle once you turn on the a/c. Once you turn the a/c on, it felt like the engine was about to die on me right in traffic at the red light. The idle was that bad. The deck lid LED stop lamp doesn't work at all. All the heated seats don't work. The trunk release from inside the car and the keyfob emotes don't work as well. It's not missing the knob on the rear climate controls. This car had some life in Detroit, so there is some rust underneath the car. It has 83000 miles on it. The carfax is clean and show that it was owned by two owners. The 1st owner was in Detroit and it was a fleet-owned vehicle by a corporation for 26 months, 35,446 miles and the rest of the miles were in Los Angeles by the 2nd owner, who had a lien on the car. The car is priced at $10000

3rd one: 1999 Seville STS. It is Cashmere on Neutral Shale. It has all the 1999 features except onstar, adaptive seats, engine block heater, and moonroof. It comes with 1 key, 1 remote, the owner's manual, trunk tie down, trunk, mat, and floor mats. It's missing the knob on the rear climate controls. The trunk or spare tire doesn't show any indications of a water leak in the trunk. It has 104k miles on it. The carfax is clean. It had two owners. I lost the codes but there are some current ones. The car is priced at about $9500.


4th one: 1999 Seville STS. It is White Diamond on Neutral Shale. It has everything except onstar, adaptive seats, and engine block heater. It has an ugly dent in the nose of the hood and some minor marking lot rubs on the bumpers. No codes. It's the only Seville STS on my list that was owned by a smoker and boy does it smel like a smoker's car. It has the burns on the seats and what have you. The trunk or spare tire doesn't show any indications of a water leak in the trunk. It has 55k miles. It was owned by to people. Carfax is clean. The price of this car is $11000.

Which on should I get????

Of all those you mentioned the only that seems worth its salt is the first one for the money. My car had 8000 more miles and was LISTED at 7995 wholesale in a little better condition.

I do NOT like the aftermarket sunroof on that car, nor the chin spoiler or billet grille, but the last two are personal preference issues. Aftermarket sunroofs are notorious for problems even in the best of installations, and lessen the value of the car as a whole.

The idling problem on the second car could be a variety of things from manifold leaks to a bad MAF Sensor to just plain needing plugs and wires replaced.

The other two are overpriced. Less miles is NOT an indication of longevity on these cars at this age. Weve had cars with 40 or 50k around here that develop headgasket leaks, and others running to 200k (about the maximum useful life of the n* in my opinion) without a major issue. All potential Northstar purchases need to be examined for overheating issues because if the cooling system has not been maintained with regular changes at the very least, and more importantly with the coolant supplement tabs preferrably, odds are that vehicle will develop headgasket leaks at some point and time. This is probably the single most important thing to check for. Make sure there is no excess steam, overheating on hills or in traffic, or excessive smell of coolant.

I've got an aftermarket sunroof on mine, and it has never had a single problem. One button, with one touch operation in both sliding and vent mode, and closes with ignition off. It's nicer than the factory roof, which has one button for vent, and one for sliding. I've heard of more problems from factory sunroofs on these cars than from aftermarket ones anyway.

Im sure there are good experiences like anything else, but on the balance I have seen some really bad aftermarket roof horror stories. One of my friends had to epoxy the one on his Accord closed because it was simply letting in too much rain and wind, and also parts for aftermarket roofs are not as readily available unless they are produced by a major manufacturer like ASC. This was the problem he had, a small gear broke and he was not able to replace it.

Also, there are different levels of aftermarket roofs of course. There are alot of dealer installed jobs out there that are usually OK, which would be the best, and then you have the custom backyard hack jobs that usually end in disaster eventually. All of them tend to be seen as detrimental to the value of the vehicle. Of course, as these cars get older it doesnt tend to matter much anyway as they arent worth much to begin with.

One final consideration alot of people dont even take into account, is structural rigidity. A vehicle with a factory sunroof is *usually* designed with some sort of additional support in the roof structure to accomodate the sunroof assembly since its basically a giant hole in the roof. Aftermarket roofs simply assume the assembly itself will absorb the body stresses on that part of the car.

1st one

First one does sound like the best option.

And danbuc I'm sure the reason you hear about more factory moonroofs having problems is because there are probably 5000 factory ones for every aftermarket one in these cars.

As a point of reference for anyone considering one of these cars... I dug up the dealer ad for the 2001 SLS I drove down from Kansas that originally had an intake manifold problem and non-working AC. Apparently they must have gotten the stuff fixed cheap because I gave them this car and 2k for my 98 which had no issues and the same mileage. I originally traded a 1500.00 elantra and 4k in cash for this green car so I got the 98 for roughly 7500.00 all told.

Anyway... this car is 9500.00 and Id say that is very fair for the year and condition of the car now that its fixed. Seeing 98 and 99 STSs for 10 and 11k makes me shudder.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=196122582&dealer_id=55389528&car_year=2001&search_type=both&make=CAD&distance=25&model=SEV&address=33611&certified=&advanced=&max_price=&bkms=1139213975897&min_price=&end_year=2001&start_year=2001&isp=y&lang=en&cardist=15

I like the first option, but not very much. I am not sure on what kind of money you want to pay, but I would look for a 2000+ because of the head gasket problem being bigger in the pre 2000s. In oklahoma, they are going for just around 13 K and I bet 10 or would do the trick. I paid 9500 for my STS in may of 2004.

http://autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=186085927&dealer_id=1359393&car_year=2000&search_type=both&make=CAD&distance=100&model=SEV&address=73160&certified=&advanced=&max_price=&bkms=1139222100062&min_price=&end_year=2001&start_year=1998&isp=y&lang=en&cardist=19

I have a 99 STS and I the head gaskets go... Not to say you will have a problem with any of them, but I do what I could to decrease the risk.

Here are pics of the 2nd one. Remember:

2nd one: 1999 Seville STS. It is Moonstone on Pewter (Gray). It is fully loaded with all factory features that the 1999 STS could come with except onstar, adaptive seats, and engine block heater. It's all factory and it comes with every thing that a 1999 Seville STS came with brand new: owner's manual with leather case, both master keys, both valet keys, both key fob remotes, cargo net, trunk tie down (still in plastic), coin holder, trunk mat, trash can receptacle, every thing. It has absolutely no oil leaks (I couldn't believe this so I jacked the vehicle up before and after the test drive. Still, no oil leaks). The trunk or spare tire doesn't show any indications of a water leak in the trunk. The problems that it has are a rough idle when in drive and an even rougher idle once you turn on the a/c. Once you turn the a/c on, it felt like the engine was about to die on me right in traffic at the red light. The idle was that bad. The deck lid LED stop lamp doesn't work at all. All the heated seats don't work. The trunk release from inside the car and the keyfob emotes don't work as well. It's not missing the knob on the rear climate controls. This car had some life in Detroit, so there is some rust underneath the car. It has 83000 miles on it. The carfax is clean and show that it was owned by two owners. The 1st owner was in Detroit and it was a fleet-owned vehicle by a corporation for 26 months, 35,446 miles and the rest of the miles were in Los Angeles by the 2nd owner, who had a lien on the car. The car is priced at $10000


I'll try to get pics of the 4th one. I think the third one has been sold because when I passed by the lot, I didn't see it. My girl really liked the 3rd one becase of the color and the fact that the color was somwhat the same as my '99 STS. However, I didn't like the 3rd one because it costed $10000, but didn't have a moonroof and it had 104k miles on it. I gotta have the moonroof this time around and I want one under 100k miles. 99k is cool lol.

I like the first option, but not very much. I am not sure on what kind of money you want to pay, but I would look for a 2000+ because of the head gasket problem being bigger in the pre 2000s. In oklahoma, they are going for just around 13 K and I bet 10 or would do the trick. I paid 9500 for my STS in may of 2004.

http://autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=186085927&dealer_id=1359393&car_year=2000&search_type=both&make=CAD&distance=100&model=SEV&address=73160&certified=&advanced=&max_price=&bkms=1139222100062&min_price=&end_year=2001&start_year=1998&isp=y&lang=en&cardist=19

I have a 99 STS and I the head gaskets go... Not to say you will have a problem with any of them, but I do what I could to decrease the risk.


I had a 1999 STS that I bought in 2004 with 153k miles on it for about $6300 off ebay from a PA car lot and had it shipped to me in Los Angeles for about $1000 and I had no head gasket problems whatsoever. The only issues that I had was the rust under the car, the engine mount went out on me a year later, the hub and bearing went out on me 8 months later and that's it. I was the 2nd owner of the car and the 1st owner was a corporation and boy did they take great care of the car. It looked like it had 30k miles on it, both interior and exterior. The only reason why I don't have it now is that some idiot drunk driver hit me and totaled it. Insurance company gave me 10k for it out the gate. They felt that a 1999 STS with 163k miles with no moonroof was worth 10k. I didn't argue with them, I just took the check.

As a point of reference for anyone considering one of these cars... I dug up the dealer ad for the 2001 SLS I drove down from Kansas that originally had an intake manifold problem and non-working AC. Apparently they must have gotten the stuff fixed cheap because I gave them this car and 2k for my 98 which had no issues and the same mileage. I originally traded a 1500.00 elantra and 4k in cash for this green car so I got the 98 for roughly 7500.00 all told.

Anyway... this car is 9500.00 and Id say that is very fair for the year and condition of the car now that its fixed. Seeing 98 and 99 STSs for 10 and 11k makes me shudder.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=196122582&dealer_id=55389528&car_year=2001&search_type=both&make=CAD&distance=25&model=SEV&address=33611&certified=&advanced=&max_price=&bkms=1139213975897&min_price=&end_year=2001&start_year=2001&isp=y&lang=en&cardist=15

I'm a 1998-1999 STS person because you get more options for your money and they came with the most color options, both interior and exterior. 2000-2003 costs a lot more in California and the rear bumper sensors, tire pressure sensors, redesigned engine manifold covers, lack of use of spark plug wires, redesigned steering wheels, HIDs, three interior options (black, gray, and neutral shale) don't justify their 16-25k prices, when I can get a car that looks the same, no matter how low the miles are, for under 11k.

I don't like 1998-early 2002 SLSs because the ride is too soft, the grilles are not body colored, they have gray trim on the bottom of the bumpers and sides, the seats aren't perforated, and they don't have fog lamps. The only SLSs that I like are late 2002-2004 SLSs because they look like 1998-2003 STSs, but I wouldn't buy them because 1998s and 1999s give you more options for your money.

I've got an aftermarket sunroof on mine, and it has never had a single problem. One button, with one touch operation in both sliding and vent mode, and closes with ignition off. It's nicer than the factory roof, which has one button for vent, and one for sliding. I've heard of more problems from factory sunroofs on these cars than from aftermarket ones anyway.
Sounds like yours is the same moonroof as the one that's on the 1st car that I'm looking to buy.
I'm 100% sure that the sunroof on the 1st car is done by Cadillac dealers because I've seen this same aftermarket dealership sunroof with the single button on quite few 1998-2003 STSs on their lots when I had my 1999 Seville STS serviced. One thing I don't like about the sunroof on the 1st car is that the vinyl surrounding the sunroof is peeling off and showing the chrome. Here's a pic of the 1st car's moonroof. But that's just a cosmetic issue and not a mechanical issue.

I'm a 1998-1999 STS person because you get more options for your money and they came with the most color options, both interior and exterior. 2000-2003 costs a lot more in California and the rear bumper sensors, tire pressure sensors, redesigned engine manifold covers, lack of use of spark plug wires, redesigned steering wheels, HIDs, three interior options (black, gray, and neutral shale) don't justify their 16-25k prices, when I can get a car that looks the same, no matter how low the miles are, for under 11k.

I don't like 1998-early 2002 SLSs because the ride is too soft, the grilles are not body colored, they have gray trim on the bottom of the bumpers and sides, the seats aren't perforated, and they don't have fog lamps. The only SLSs that I like are late 2002-2004 SLSs because they look like 1998-2003 STSs, but I wouldn't buy them because 1998s and 1999s give you more options for your money.

Look closely at that SLS... Its an 01 and has the STS appearance package with the matching body moulding and STS wheels. It also had backup sensors and Bose audio among other things. It was basically all the car the 98 and 99 STS was plus a little more.

here is my ad/ It is a month old. I am asking $10,800 now.
GMPP warranty good till December 2006 or until 91,740 miles. It currently has about 88,000 miles. Let me know if youre interested. Oh by the way the Northstar has been replaced at Gooley Cadillac of St. Clair Shores, MI. $7800 of work done under warranty. Car runs beautifully.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=191522756&dealer_id=57111682&car_year=1999&model=SEV&bkms=1139283244302&lang=en&isp=y&start_year=1998&certified=&search_type=both&distance=25&make=CAD&min_price=10490&address=48088&advanced=&end_year=1999&max_price=11999&cardist=0

here is my ad/ It is a month old. I am asking $10,800 now.
GMPP warranty good till December 2006 or until 91,740 miles. It currently has about 88,000 miles. Let me know if youre interested. Oh by the way the Northstar has been replaced at Gooley Cadillac of St. Clair Shores, MI. $7800 of work done under warranty. Car runs beautifully.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=191522756&dealer_id=57111682&car_year=1999&model=SEV&bkms=1139283244302&lang=en&isp=y&start_year=1998&certified=&search_type=both&distance=25&make=CAD&min_price=10490&address=48088&advanced=&end_year=1999&max_price=11999&cardist=0

Why was your engine replaced and at what mileage? Seems like a decent deal with the new engine and little bit of warranty left.

detroit99sts

looks like the one to look at!!!!
Warranty

I bought the car at 60,500. It hada shaky idle. I thought it was going to be a minor problem to fix. Mind you I had bought the car without GM Warranty. So, I took the car to get diagnosed, and it turned out to be blown head gaskets. I did some searching and found only one dealership that would sell me a GM warranty while my car had over 60,000 miles. No one else would sell me the GMPP. So, I gave the dealership $1,985, after they inspected the car and found nothing extraordinarily wrong (this was at 61,740 miles). About a month later,(at 62,xxx miles) I took the STS to Gooley Cadillac, where they diagnosed it with blown head gaskets and warped pistons, etc... They said it is not worth it for them to take it apart and repair the engine internally. So, they had the GMPP adjuster look at the car, and he confirmed that it would need a new Northstar. So,....18 days later, I have a basically brand new STS. Thats the story.

:yeah: