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3K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Elvis 
#1 ·
Alright, just bought a 1985 Fleetwood 2DR RWD. I'm pretty familiar with the setup of GM B-Body cars, owned a few of them, but don't know much about the Caddys. This car has a 4.1L V8 that was fully rebuilt about 7K miles ago, most of the electronics and other goodies work, but there are a few nagging problems that annoy me.

First of all. I'm not towing anything, but this car sees a lot of daily driving in some rough city and country terrain (It's Eastern KY, poor roads and lots of hills). Would a transmission cooler be worth the money for this vehicle?

Next. The fuel gauges and indicators. How well can I trust them? The car says my average MPG is around 13-14. That seems pretty low for this small V8, I had a LeSabre with a 307 that did a good 19MPG. What can I do to increase my MPG?

Moving on. The paint looks spectacular, and the vinyl top is in wonderful shape, but behind the rear bumper, between the rear lights and the body of the car, the fiberglass(?) is corroded and looks overall bad. Any aftermarket companies make some kind of replacement for that?

Finally. A few options don't work the way they should. The Twilight Sentinel for one, I've tried everything but it dosen't work. And the driver's seat does not recline, whatsoever. Was the car designed this way?

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for any responses.
 
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#2 ·
Welcome, KYKaddy.

I'm not the best-qualified person to answer these questions, but I'll give them a shot...

1) I'd recommend a transmission cooler for any car that size and that old. It can't hurt a thing, and it may get you a few extra miles until you need a re-build. Coolers are cheap, and relatively easy to install, too.

2) Low MPG: Buy some injector cleaner, change the air filter, maybe it needs new plugs? Beyond that, I don't know.

3) Track down JerseyGirl on this forum. I think she may be able to hook you up with those fiberglass extension pieces. If not, they're all over the internet, just Google "Cadillac, fender, extension" and you should find them.

4) The twilight sentinel may be a little tough to fix. Remember there's a light sensor mounted somewhere on the car, as well as the switch inside the dash. One or both may have gone bad. Sometimes a good spraying with contact cleaner can revive these kinds of things, but I wouldn't be too optimistic about that. Maybe someone else on here has dealt with this before?

5) If there's not a little switch on the seat to recline it, then no, it probably doesn't recline. IIRC, not all of them did that.
 
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