2000 Cadillac Seville STS

[mighty_quad4]

ryan, your headlight can be polished to near new. use the meguire's headlight restorer. its $20 and it DOES work. i recommend useing a power drill as a portable will be eating batteries quickly. you will probably spend about 3-4 hours on it total. mine were pretty bad and ended up looking nearly new. it improved light brightness quite a bit. for application, i just polished the light in 1 hour increments and cleaned it after each session.

[somewhereiniowa]

I just recently bought, Aug 4th to be exact, a 2000 Cadillac STS in forest green color. I had been searching for a DTS but decided to include the STS in my searches. I currently own a 92' Seville. It was time for me to get something newer. A business in the area advertises they will search for the car for you. They go to auctions. He picked up this car for $3495 plus his 10% fee, came to $3850 that I paid him.

I drove it home, which is a 40 minute drive, only to have the Service Engine Soon light come on. Then the car started to get really hot. The message on the dash said Engine Hot-turn AC off. I made it home, holding my breath the whole way. I added some antifreeze and water to it and ran the service codes. It came up with PCM P1133 which is Heated Oxygen Sensor H02S Insufficient Switching Bank 1 Sensor 1. Since adding the coolant, I haven't had any heat issues but I also haven't needed to be on the highway or turn the air on. It goes into the shop Monday with a list for the mechanic to look at and see what all it needs.

I noticed that I there is a lot of rust on both back doors, covered with paint. I put gas in it the other day and also noticed the gas opening, after taking the cap off, is all rusted! I had found some forums on the web talking about this rust issue and the water drainage problem. I am going to have those checked out as well. I printed out all the forums to give to the mechanic.

At least with getting the car as reasonable as I did, I have some cushion to put in a $1000 or more if it needs it. So far I just love this car!!! I am keeping my old one till all the issues are fixed on my new one. It's pretty cool having two Cadillac's in my garage, both paid for...and I'm a single mom.....

[ryannel2003]

I've enjoyed my Seville very much, even though it's showing it's age in certain areas. I've got a loaner '08 CTS weekend (damn tire is leaking air and my dealer isn't open for service on Saturday) and I still don't like it as much as my 'ol Seville.

I would be EXTREMELY weary about the motor running hot though. That sounds just like the beginning of the common Northstar headgasket problem. Make sure to ask your mechanic to do a block test to check, and if it comes up positive be prepared to spend alot more than $1000 to get it fixed. However if you live near or close to Ontario, you can take the car up to Jake (look up 97EldoCoupe on the forums) and get it fixed for around $2000. That is quite a bit cheaper than paying $4000 to get it done at a dealership. That could explain why you got the car for so cheap, because I still 2000 STS's with 100k +/- going for around $5-6k in good shape.

Good luck and hopefully it's something alot less expensive than a HG repair. If it turns out to be, I'd fix it and you should be able to get another 100k+ out of your motor.

[smith2650]

Hi all...This is my first time here at this forum. I currently have 2 Cadillacs in my stable, one 1972 Eldorado Conv and a 2000 STS. I purchased my STS 4.5 years ago with 25K on it. It's original sticker was $55.1, and I paid $18,000 for it. Today it's about 10 years old with 87k on it. It's a real beauty in Crimson Red with factory chrome wheels. Frankly, it's been a dream car, one owner, 5 yrs old at purchase with only 25K. I really fell into this one and I've truely enjoyed almost 5 years of happy driving. Car has every option but backing sensors and Nav.

Problems...many seem to be ones you all have found, and I wince everytime I go near the dealer. Other than oil changes, I never get out of there for under $500.00. Major problems...Driver seat heater element been replaced 3 times, crank shaft sensor...only major problems. Current problem is rear leveling system. Warning came on last year for suspension system. Turned out to be leveling valve. Had it replaced, but since then rear of car is jacked up like hot rod. Dealer says system is operating correctly, but even my headlights are pointed down in front of the car... Any Suggestions???

[somewhereiniowa]

Update on my 2000 STS. It still overheats ONLY when the AC or the heater is on. I have had two block tests done, flushed the radiator and added the sealant tabs, the fans are all working like they are supposed to. Had the purge valve checked to see it if it was blocked and it's not. I never have a problem with overheat as long as I don't turn on the heat or the AC. It goes in to a different mechanic on Tuesday to be looked at. I have searched and searched the internet for this problem and can't find anything. Thoughts or suggestions? Besides trade it in...

[ted tcb]

Just a suggestion, because you sound frustrated and ready to dump your car.
Not may people read this subforum ... why not post your query in the Northstar technical forum, where the experts will chime in?
Even the Seville forum is visited far more frequently than this area.

Best of luck, I hope its a simple fix.

[ryannel2003]

You'll have much, much better luck posting in the Seville forum where the Seville experts (mainly Sub and Ranger) will be there to help you out as much as they possibly can.

It's been awhile since i've updated anything here, so I'll just do a quick one. The car now had 78k miles and it's been doing great lately. A couple of months ago my best friend's sister backed into the car and cracked the headlight and scuffed up the bumper but a call to her insurance company and a week in the body shop has her looking like new! I've also re-dyed my seats (I don't know if I mentioned this in here before) where the dye was coming off and they look great! The only issue I continue to deal with is the "Service Theft" message. I recently tried taking some rubbing alcohol and putting it on the key and seeing if that cleans up the contacts inside the switch. It helped, but it still randomly shows up. I did notice alot of black gunk on the key so I'm thinking a few more passes and it should clear the message for good. I'm going to finally get around to fixing my dented roof one day, along with putting in a new passenger tailight and trunk panel. Tint and a strut tower brace will follow along soon as well.