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I've always had a thing for big old Caddys - my first car was a 1984 Sedan deVille, my second a 1996 Sedan Deville, I've also owned a 1991 Brougham d'Elegance and a '06 CTS. My Dad & Pap always had Cadillac's - Dad with the limo business, and Pap had a garage kept 1974 Sedan deVille that was his Sunday car. My '91 d'Elegance died after a mishap involving the steering column and the wiring harness, and from then I went to a Park Avenue, and then to the CTS. I gave up looking for a 90-92 Brougham or a 93-96 Fleetwood because now I have a 98 Crown Vic LX that is a comfy enough DD for my commute...but I still would look on Craigslist now and again locally for a Fleetwood, Brougham or Fleetwood Brougham. About three weeks ago, I get a Facebook message from a listener of mine in NY - she is selling her husbands 1996 Fleetwood Brougham, and wants to give me first dibs on it since he and & would talk about Cadillacs all the time. The guy selling it sends me pics - it looks a little rough around the edges, but he assures me it is road worthy and will make the trip from Brooklyn to North Carolina where I live. So 4 of my friends and I pile into the Vic and head north to get the car, spend the night on Long Island, then come back down the next day. This is what we found when we got to Brooklyn      Not too bad overall. However, a few hiccups - the car wasn't run since fall, and the inside hood release broke after I checked the fluids and battery connections. Which was kind of a problem since there was a cold snap and the battery had a hard time starting the car in the 18 degree weather. So for the ride back to NC I had it idle whenever we would stop for gas rather than risk it not restarting and the hood unable to be raised for a jump. The other thing was the check engine light came on as soon as we started it - my friend has a code reader and it spit out P0171, P0174, P0303 and P0141. MAF sensor, cyl #3 misfire, bank 1 & 2 lean, and 02 sensor. Yay. Also, the traction control light is on (but not ABS), the passenger seat power recliner is broken, the passenger window regulator needs to be replaced, and the one backup light housing needs to be re-attached. I tried pulling on the cable strands with pliers to open the hood, but it wouldn't budge. The prospect of spending another 9 hours crammed in the Vic with 4 other people wasn't appealing, so I threw some fresh Ultra94 and a can of seafoam in, and it started running better. Here is the Fleetwood next to my CV when we were eating at All American:  Rest of the trip back went well - the Caddy was still backfiring and missing on occasion, but gentle driving kept it to a minimum. It's parked right now waiting for parts from RockAuto, as well as me getting time to work on it. Also awaiting the GM service manuals I purchased off eBay since the Haynes . Things that need to be done: Fix the hood latch, and actually be able to open the hood Plugs, wires, fuel filter, oil change, possibly MAF & O2 sensors Fix passenger seat recliner Re-attache passenger side backup light housing Wait for slightly warmer weather to fix the air conditioning (triple black car in the summer would be death for my fat rear end) My goal is to have the Fleetwood ready for daily driving by May for summer road trips, and for daily driver use to keep the miles off of my CV. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as this is the 1st Caddy I've owned with the LT-1. And if you have any land yachts of your own, would love to see them!
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Mar 16, 2017 23:02
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| # ? May 22, 2024 16:08 |
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Aye, she be a fine vessel my friend.
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Mar 16, 2017 23:10
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Cool Caddy. I didn't know they made them so... big and plush that late. Interior looks like it's in pretty nice shape too. How many miles? Was the vinyl top a factory item? I thought I read somewhere GM stopped offering them after MY1980(?) but Caddy always plays by its own rules anyway.
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Mar 16, 2017 23:32
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Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLifPUIuic
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Mar 16, 2017 23:35
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If there's a stump piece left of the hood release cable just attach it to a bolt and that works like a handle.
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Mar 17, 2017 00:58
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Baller. I want one of these pretty bad and I don't know why.
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Mar 17, 2017 01:37
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pants in my pants posted:Cool Caddy. I didn't know they made them so... big and plush that late. Interior looks like it's in pretty nice shape too. How many miles? Thanks! 156k miles - 1996 was the last year for the body on frame RWD Fleetwood, as well as the Buick Roadmaster & Chevrolet Caprice (all were built at the Arlington TX plant that was converted for Suburban & Tahoe production). Only about 17k of these were built that year vs 100k DeVilles to give you an idea of why they were cancelled - aside from coachbuilders, nobody was buying these cars en mass. The interior is YUUUUGE - 125 cubic feet of space inside, with a 21 cubic foot trunk. The seats are much more comfortable than my Crown Vic, and you just don't feel as cramped. The vinyl top was a factory option on the Fleetwood Brougham ($925), not available on the base Fleetwood model. GM offered vinyl roofs on their full size luxury cars all the way until 1993 on many models, depending on when the refresh happened (Park Ave/98/LeSabre/DeVille especially).
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Mar 17, 2017 03:52
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bigtom posted:with a 21 cubic foot trunk. How many bodies is that?
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Mar 17, 2017 09:54
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Fermented Tinal posted:How many bodies is that? one american or 6 japanese
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Mar 17, 2017 15:46
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Fermented Tinal posted:How many bodies is that? As we say in Jersey, a 6 body trunk. Cinderblocks not included
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Mar 17, 2017 17:16
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One of these came up for sale near me a while back for like $5k or so. I thought about it pretty hard but I just don't have the space. drat shame. Looking forward to your progress.
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Mar 17, 2017 18:17
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Work has been slow on the SS Fleetwood, mostly due to lack of time with my boss leaving and being shorthanded around the station...and having to buy a new washing machine sucking up spare money. But I did manage to grab the service manuals off of eBay! First things first, replacing the fuel filter - the car has had a hard time starting, so I thought it would be a good place to begin. I was right  The filter wasn't even attached to the body by this point - it was just suspended by the fuel lines, swaying away. The car starts and drives much better now - the CEL isn't flashing anymore, but it's still backfiring. Plugs and wires are next, but to do that, I need to get the hood up - and after about a half hour fighting gravity and cursing at the fact I lost my wobble joint, success!  The cable itself had water in it (the puddle on the mat you see), so for now I just left a short piece of the cable out in the open until I can fashion a permanent fix. Re greased the release, and it works perfectly now.  Heading to the DMV tomorrow to take care of registration and plates - then awaiting payday to order plugs, wires, and an OBD2 reader. Any recommendations on a decent reader?
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Mar 24, 2017 05:53
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bigtom posted:Any recommendations on a decent reader? http://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Autel-M...7172072&vxp=mtr It has the ability to read freeze frame data and gives you code descriptions, but no real time monitoring or other cool features. If you want something more baller, you can't beat an android phone and whatever bluetooth obd2 adapter is available cheapest. Additionally, if you get the appropriate cable off eBay (depending on the car, the cable pinout is different. It'll usually be a USB to serial chip connected to specific pins in the OBD2 connector), you'll be able to download a variety of different software packages for your car, probably including pirated versions of the dealer software; GM has a lot of support on the internet. RIP Paul Walker fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Mar 25, 2017 |
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Mar 25, 2017 03:57
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RIP Paul Walker posted:GM has a lot of support on the internet. This is partially true. The pre-LS1 systems were a bit of a dead end. At least this one is OBDII, instead of the wonky 1.5 the 1994-1995 LT1 had. If I had this car, this would probably be on repeat 90% of the time.
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Mar 25, 2017 05:28
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Just chiming in if you have an iPhone like me make your life a million times easier and get the Android compatible obdII connector and a cheap Android from Walgreens or whatever. So much easier.
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Mar 25, 2017 05:42
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Heh. That would have been built around the time my mom married one of the plant engineers/managers for the arlington plant. Feel free to blame him for anything that was wrong with it from the factory. Also a fun fact, that plant was almost shut down when those stopped being produced. Like my family was planning a move to either japan or detroit depending on what plant he transfered to. At least until gm decided on moving suv production there.
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Mar 25, 2017 08:55
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everdave posted:Just chiming in if you have an iPhone like me make your life a million times easier and get the Android compatible obdII connector and a cheap Android from Walgreens or whatever. So much easier. Ayup. I spent $55 on a cheapass tablet, Torque, and this and I have yet to find a car I couldn't talk to with it.
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Mar 25, 2017 17:01
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IOwnCalculus posted:This is partially true. The pre-LS1 systems were a bit of a dead end. At least this one is OBDII, instead of the wonky 1.5 the 1994-1995 LT1 had. Do the 1996 cars still have an ALDC connector? There were a shocking number of tools (many of them free!) available for ALDC stuff when I was researching for my 1991 Lumina APV a few weeks ago. I can totally see GM loving over Year1 of OBD2 tho, that seems like something they would do.
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Mar 25, 2017 17:45
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Nice car. Hope you can get the running issues straightened out. My grandfather owned a Cadillac dealership, so it was expected, at least while we lived in my home town, that my mother would always drive a Cadillac (that she had to pay for, of course... gramps was loaded, but didn't give anything away). Let me tell you how much fun it is driving a 1994 Deville (in 1994, mind you) when you're 16. As terrible as they wound up being for longevity, the Northstars put out some nice power. That thing spent a lot of time in the shop though, and my grandfather would usually have the dealer give her another Caddy as a loaner (and on a couple of occasions, the loaner would break down too... including grandpa's personal car with <1k miles once, that one was before I was driving). I know some of the loaners were Fleetwoods (and those taught 16 year old me real quick about FWD vs RWD). I'd love to get one myself, they're comfortable as hell. I can't say I've seen many Fleetwood Broughams even when they were still being made. Cop Porn Popper posted:Heh. That would have been built around the time my mom married one of the plant engineers/managers for the arlington plant. Feel free to blame him for anything that was wrong with it from the factory. Also a fun fact, that plant was almost shut down when those stopped being produced. Like my family was planning a move to either japan or detroit depending on what plant he transfered to. At least until gm decided on moving suv production there. Has that plant ever been idled for a significant amount of time? I remember when they talked about shutting it down, but I can't find anything about it actually getting shut down for much beyond retooling.
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Mar 30, 2017 18:23
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Not really, maybe 6 months while they decided what to do with it, but not that I can recall other than that.
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Apr 2, 2017 18:27
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Is it just the camera angle or is there not that much rear legroom?
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Apr 3, 2017 00:47
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Mister Kingdom posted:Is it just the camera angle or is there not that much rear legroom? The seat is actually long enough to support most of your legs, so while there doesn't look like much, you sink back into the seat and the edge tickles the inside of your knees. It looks like less until you realize most back seats in modern cars are about 6 inches shorter. At some point some accountant somewhere realized the people who sit in the back seat are rarely making the purchasing decision and said gently caress em.
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Apr 3, 2017 01:01
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Sorry for the delay in updates - but I ran low on funds to work on the car with having to outlay money for storage units in Texas, as well as some expenses with my Crown Vic. With that out of the way, a few weeks ago I was able to dig into the car - and I found some really nasty spark plugs and wires as the first stage of repairs began. Also replaced the battery & alternator, as well as the high side AC line to get the system working again. Here's one of the plugs, with a broken plug wire in the background: Plugs and wires still didn't help my misfire completely go away - and for that, the dreaded OptiSpark distributor needed to be replaced. With the water pump coming off, the coolant was changed as well for good measure. And I finally got my OBD2 reader in the mail - it doesn't want connect to my Crown Vic, but it works perfectly with the Fleetwood. It's pulling these codes - P0171 (System too lean), P0174 (System Too Lean), and P0441 Evap Emissions System Incorrect Purge Flow. If I reset the codes they usually come back within a few restarts of the car - Googling tells me I most likely have an intake manifold leak causing the first two, the EVAP code might be the gas cap...but since I smell fuel vapors I'm sure it isn't that easy of a fix. Here's the car on Taco Tuesday making a lunch run:  And the front plate I purchased - my Pap had one exactly like it on the front of his 74 Sedan deVille, and I think it fits this car too: 
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Jun 8, 2017 20:34
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Yeah P0171 combined with P0174 means air is getting sucked in somewhere. Before tearing into the intake manifold, check for broken vacuum lines/elbows/etc.
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Jun 8, 2017 21:36
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C-Bangin' it 
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The OBDII reader not connecting to the Ferd is a somewhat common thing. Some of the cheap clones don't properly implement Ford's early OBDII protocol.
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Jun 8, 2017 21:44
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Aaaand now the car is at my mechanics with a dead fuel pump. Having him tackle the intake leak and evap purge issue as well since I have 0 time to mess around with it this week before a weekend trip to PA. And I just put this front plate on it last night:
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Jun 12, 2017 03:17
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Car is still in the shop - the EVAP code was caused by a cut hose that has now been spliced, and the O2 sensor has been replaced. But my mechanic is stumped - the car died with 1/2 a tank of gas, and was towed to his shop. The next day, he fired it up without issue. Only issue was some hesitation where he applied throttle and it didn't respond, and that went away after he floored it in neutral. This car is like a bad habit I just can't quit...
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Jun 16, 2017 00:52
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bigtom posted:This car is like a bad habit I just can't quit... Welcome to 90s GM!  I'd still be suspecting the fuel pump, but your mechanic should have a way to verify fuel pressure. It's not entirely unheard of for a fuel pump to work fine when cold, then crap out once it warms up.
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Jun 16, 2017 08:58
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Aw yessss I like what you're doing here! I was recently tasked with buying my sister a car. My specs were under 100k miles, safe, reliable, and cheap insurance. I found a '96 Roadmaster Collectors Edition with 79k on it for $2500. I had no idea I would like the car so much. LT1+4l60E+LSD+couch seating.  
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Jun 16, 2017 13:34
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| # ? May 22, 2024 16:08 |
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Yes! I love the Roadmaster - I had the chance to buy one years ago, but I had to pass on it. Regretted it since...partially why I love the Fleetwood so much. I left the car with my mechanic to troubleshoot some more - thankfully I have the 98 Crown Vic to daily drive while all the kinks are sorted out.
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Jun 17, 2017 08:18
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