my buddies boss has a 98 caterra with 79k on it that he found out had oil in the coolant, its not coolant in the oil, there is actually oil in the radiator, i'm not sure why im waiting on the caddy forum to see if someone is familiar with this. my thought is a cracked head or bad intake gasket or something. its light metallic tan with tan leather interior, its in really nice condition i can steal it for $400 bucks they just want it gone and dont want to put any money into it. my plan if fix whatever is wrong and give it to my wife. its a nice little car i actually really like it. it looks like this one.

http://z.about.com/d/cars/1/7/l/n/2001_cadillac_catera.jpg

:slam

Did he say Crack Head?

Jamie I saw two of those in the junk yard, hope its reliable. for $400 its a steal.

If its and easy fix good steal but thay are very unreliable cars lots of ploblems
if you think the mark is bad this will bring you to new hights

a blinged-out cavalier!

i knew lincoln guys would have nothing good to say, in the past 9 years of parting out the marks and selling to half the world, i havent come across a reliable mark VIII either so it wont be anything new to me. at least there wont be any problems getting parts for it if i have to, unlike the mark VIII which lincoln doesnt support.

This (http://www.cadillac.com/09ctsv/) is the only Cadillac I am interested in.

a blinged-out cavalier!

No it's actually a blinged out Malibu lol

i knew lincoln guys would have nothing good to say, in the past 9 years of parting out the marks and selling to half the world, i havent come across a reliable mark VIII either so it wont be anything new to me. at least there wont be any problems getting parts for it if i have to, unlike the mark VIII which lincoln doesnt support.

I didn't say the car isnt nice just a pice of crap
and in the past 5 years nothing has gone wrong with my Mark that wasn't caused by me has never left me walking

yeah well technically if you sit down and think about the mark VIII's, for a forty thousand dollar car in its day, its a piece of crap too! lots of short cuts and cheap manafacturing went into the mark VIII.

lots of short cuts and cheap manafacturing went into the mark VIII.

True. The poor build quality is the one thing i dislike about my 93 Mark VIII. You don't realize it until you start pulling things apart and see sharp edges, poorly routed wires, uneven sheet metal placement, uneven and missing welds, cheap, mismatched brittle plastics, hidden unpainted metals etc.

But, for all its faults, i still like it. Has a character which the Japanese cars lack. Has been a good 'bang for the buck' But, like a crack whore, its high maintenance - Lol. I think my wife may be fed up of me and my car troubles... :(

You can buy them for almost nothing sorry too say. Kinda like the old Chevrolet Vega. You will find a few that the owner loves. But very few.

If you buy a Cadillac whatever you do, don't buy a Catera. I can't stress that enough to you. Every mechanic I am friendly with who works for Cadillac or GM says it is the biggest POS to ever come from them.

Buy it and part it out. You know you wanna. :D

yeah well technically if you sit down and think about the mark VIII's, for a forty thousand dollar car in its day, its a piece of crap too! lots of short cuts and cheap manafacturing went into the mark VIII.
I agree with Jamie My 95 Mark VIII is on the bottom of my Lincoln Stable. I would not buy another Mark VIII. Yes To the Town car.
It runs good and drives good just poor quality sorry.

for $400 you cant go wrong,worse come to worse you will make your $s back + a profit selling her in pieces

Saab motor:nos: :yuck: ... parts are expensive...stupid design on the brakes...waste of time...buy a 400 bus ticket...i get calls on motors for these things all the time...and i don't even sell motors...i've heard nothing but bad things...

The Caddy that zigs!
And they were re badged Opel Omegas.

I'd read that they were quite good, particularly the later' models.
GM and Ford need to import or manufacture more of their European models in the States.


EDIT:
Regarding the build quality of the Mark... I actually think they're built quite well. Saying "I'm fixing my car all the time" holds less weight when you realize you're talking about a 15 year old car. Specifically the drivetrain on the Mark VIII is excellent. I've had NO significant engine problems and the only transmission problem I had was the oil pump died at 190k miles. The trim, suspension, and finish of some of the components leave a little to be desired, but.... there's a reason Ford lost a generation of car buyers. GM too.

Yup. Very common in Europe. (they also had more variants) Never heard much about them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Omega

i have to say my mark vii was of a lot better build quality then my viii. I miss my 7, a lot. But it performed nothing like the 8.

well' i dont care what anyone says about the quality of the car or its problems, i'm gonna buy it, find out whats wrong with the motor, if its too costly i will part the car out and make alot more off it than 400. i see the wheels on it are going for 300 alone on ebay so how can i go wrong. my intention is not to part it or sell it, i'm going to fix it and drive it. i'm constantly fixing my mark's and others that come to me so why would this car be any different, fixing is fixing, no matter what kind it is, nothing new to me to have to fix a car. i new this would turn into a cadillac bashing, even if i didnt say it was a catera. if i said i was buying another mark VIII the caddy guys would be bashing it!

Good luck, hope it turns out ok for you.

Sounds like a good plan. Hopefully its something simple like an oil cooler and if not, just run it til it dies, then part out - win - win! :)

well' i dont care what anyone says about the quality of the car or its problems, i'm gonna buy it, find out whats wrong with the motor, if its too costly i will part the car out and make alot more off it than 400. i see the wheels on it are going for 300 alone on ebay so how can i go wrong. my intention is not to part it or sell it, i'm going to fix it and drive it. i'm constantly fixing my mark's and others that come to me so why would this car be any different, fixing is fixing, no matter what kind it is, nothing new to me to have to fix a car. i new this would turn into a cadillac bashing, even if i didnt say it was a catera. if i said i was buying another mark VIII the caddy guys would be bashing it!

Keep us posted .Good Luck

found my answer, oil in the radiator is caused by a defective engine oil cooler thats located under the intake in the valley. happens to all of them from what i have read and costs $220 bucks for the new heavy duty non defective cooler upgrade. looks like i'm gonna snag it, for $620 bucks this is a no brainer. if she doesnt like the car when im said and done i'll sell it for $3,500.

Thats good then. I guessed right! Lol.