I don’t think I’m offering any illuminating wisdom when I say that, according to everything I’ve read and heard, buying any Cadillac with a 4100 V8 is a dicey proposition. Cadillac first offered the engine in 1982, which just happens to be the model year of this Eldorado. Although the aluminum-block Cadillac was improved over the course of the 1980s and early ’90s, this particular Eldorado’s low miles might give you a fighting chance at successful motoring with the earlier version of that infamous engine.
This one has 30,118 miles to be exact, and the owner says that the mileage is correct because the car belonged to his/her grandfather. The seller didn’t include any pictures of the engine compartment, but the 4100 produced 125 horsepower, the same figure as the optional Buick-designed 4.1 liter V6. And before you ask, the V6 had 15 extra lb./ft. if torque – dark times in motoring for sure.
It’s too bad that the engine was so problematic, because the 1979-1985 Eldorado (and its platform mates, the Toronado and Riviera) were otherwise fine examples of everything GM did so well. The Eldorado and Riviera were both especially handsome, and the interior is just as luxurious as one would expect from a Cadillac. Tell me that you wouldn’t want to drive this car based on this picture alone; you just know that it rides better than just about anything on the road today. I especially like the creamy yellow exterior color and coordinating vinyl top.
The seller says that this Eldorado has recently had a tune up and an oil change, and that the air conditioning and cruise control still work. The only flaw mentioned in the ad is that the headliner is starting to sag, which is apparent in this picture; anybody who has owned or worked on a General Motors product from the ’70s or ’80s knows that this is standard equipment on a car of this vintage. Not mentioned in the ad is the cracked bumper filler noticeable in the first photograph; unfortunately, that too comes practically standard with a 1982 GM product. Those are available, but you will have to add installation and paint as an expense.
I like this picture of the Eldorado; it makes a nice counterpoint to the even-more-square-rigged Cybertruck behind it. I like most GM products, but Buicks are my favorite, so my ’79-’85 E-Body shopping list would have a Riviera at the top. The Eldorado is perhaps equally good-looking, but it may require someone who knows the ins and outs of its controversial engine to really appreciate it.
This one is currently for sale for $9500 on the San Francisco Bay area Craigslist. Are you willing to take a chance on the engine? Thanks to numskal for the tip on this handsome Eldorado.
Longtime Cadillac fan and Co Founder of the GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT SOCIETY, unfortunately I have to say this is an EL DO OH NO! Several issues warn ⚠️ CAUTION. The biggest is the engine which like other Cadillac mistakes (mainly various engines, diesel, V6, V 8 6 4 👎) , marked the beginning of Cadillacs long slide from The Standard of the WORLD. Still, it’s far better than what currently wears the Cadillac name. Angel, Frog, and others, What say you?
Many people constantly put down those specific engines and most have never owned one. Again I will repeat this.
I am 66, bought my first Cadillac at age 16(a 1965). Never bought any other make car. Never had anyone repair any of my vehicles. I far prefer the sixties and early seventies but I had 3 Seville’s 81 to 85. 2 were HT 4100 and one was the 368cid(684). I think the HT4100 required some of copper additive but I never did that. All had over 140,000 mi when I bought them. I never had any major problems with any of them in the 12 years plus that I owned them. They were much smaller and yes, underpowered but the flat digital dashes were beautiful and futuristic.
Makes one wonder.
Grandpa sold my daughter an ’85 Eldo for a $1 for her first car. The 4100 broke two valve spring retainers at different times allowing the lifter to land in the area under the intake manifold, four v- belts required so when the air conditioning compressor failed I had to convert to a new freon ( and expense) so she had power steering. Great slow cruiser but underpowered and always had a dead battery if not started for two weeks…but it made it over 150,000 miles.
I have the first version of the Northstar, in my ’93 Allante, and contrary to most of what I read, it has been just fine – 31 years and 140,000 miles. The base computer has been the culprit of many problens, getting stuck in limp home, rough shifting, stumbling, but Rock Auto has rebuilt ones, reasonably inexpensive and off it goes (again – replaced twice in the past few years). This is after a rebuilt transmission did not solve the problem. $2,000 down the drain. Great GM mechanic in my corner, using built in diagnoistics, figured it out.
A Mark or an Imperial would have been a much better buy than this mechanical monstrosity. These were not reliable at the time. This was absolutely not part of the luxury definition. The Cadillac label sold it in pretty good numbers though. Cars like these toppled Cadillac as the Standard of the World and allowed the foreign brands to come in. This was not GM at its finest, but some hare brained idea to get better MPG’s. Another BAD MANAGEMENT DECISION!
Yes a Mark or Imperial would have been an ok choice if you wanted to drive second class vehicles. That’s ok for second class people, I have heard.
Maybe this Cadillac has low miles for the same reason 81-83 Imperials with fuel injection did; they weren’t dependable. One converted to a carb was great, I had well over 200,000 miles on my carb equipped Imperial and substantially less on my other fuel injected Imperial. And, no, they weren’t second class cars for second class people. As a side note, I had no problems with either my 79 or 85 Olds Toronados.
You need more facts. Fuel injection was not a problem with Caddys but it was with Chryslers, especially the lean burn system that was almost worthless and very I reliable, again, lower class cars.
I never mentioned that Cadillacs had an issue with fuel injection, but specifically stated the Chryslers did. Your opinion that Lincolns and Imperials are second class is just that; your opinion.
Perfect example of the absolute junk that Cadillac was putting out at this time. Car collector friend of mine had these when they were new. It took him three different 4.1 V-8s to get 150,000 miles out of one of these awful monstrosities. Yes, they were nicely styled and good looking cars, but when a used one was offered to him, he had me drive it to get my opinion. Under-powered engine, sun visors coming apart and would not stay in place, bumper fillers disintegrating, headliner falling down, power seat motor’s plastic housing was stripped and stuck, driver’s door window loose and flopping around when door was closed, and this was a well-cared for, 60K mile car. Absolute piece of junk.
The headliner and plastic fillers were common with many cars. As far as everything else, again, I never had any trouble and all of my 81 to 85 Seville’s
had over 150,000 when I bought them.
People can certainly abuse even a great car make and Cadillac did not get that popular and shoot above all others for no reason.
i worked on these motors and they were junk. rather have the olds motor. asking almost 10k and buy has to fix headliner. for that price you shouldn’t have to.
Hello Rick W, TCK, Frog and all members of the GALYS.
I’m going to chime in with MY opinion, and it’s just that, an opinion.
Personally I don’t care for most GM products after 1976 to around 2002. There are exceptions of course. But my question is who the hell was running GM in the 80s & 90s? Who was making the final decisions at Cadillac division? Bean counters?
The designs were horrible. The shrinkage was horrible. Yes, the damn Federal government can’t mind its own business and had the audacity to tell car makers how to build cars adding hundreds to the bottom line. I’m not a FoMoCo or Mopar person, so I can’t compare or judge them. I am experience mainly with GM. You’re right, TCK, I’ve never owned or driven a Cadillac 4100 that I know of, but all I’ve heard from the time they were new was they are junk. You have a favorable story on them which is great, but those stories are far and few.
Specifically Cadillac (my favorite brand of automobile) lost the title of “Standard of the World” in the 1980s. And around the mid 2000s took a different avenue to attract younger buyer who were buying BMW, Mercedes & Audies. The CTS was born and a hit!
Cadillac will never be what it once was. All those designers and engine builders and even the bean counters are either retired or dead. It’s a new generation and Cadillac is still trying, but I still have no clue as to what management is doing at Cadillac or GM in general.
I may be wrong, but I believe Roger Smith was one of the culprits at GM. Having owned almost every Luxury vehicle from FMC, Chrysler and GM, and enjoying most, IMO all. Manufacturers have gone crazy 🤪 trying to attract Soccer Mom’s and Macho Men ? With the disgusting collection of Glorified trucks masquerading as Luxury vehicles! As God is my witness, I shall NEVER drive one of those POS. Tear down the drapes! I’m going to my Town Car! The LAND YACHTS shall rise again! NOT! 😔 BTW, while often regarded as a genius, Iacoca went loca with Kcars. 🤮
Get in your Town car. I will wave bye bye to you from my Escalade, especially in the winter.
Iacocca saved Chrysler Corporations butt back in the early 80s with the introduction of the “K’ cars and the minivans, not long after. It would be interesting to know what he would do now considering the current mess Chrysler and Dodge badge cars are in.
I like your opinions and I do agree with you. When I went to the new car show in 77(I have my super 8 movies I shot)I could not believe the Seville and the small engine. Really, a 350 instead of a 500 CID and to make things worse, Stinkin Lincoln held out one more year and finally, had an engine bigger than a Cadillac. What was this world coming too? I too feel GM had no real guidance and the bean counters ruled.
But after each yearly show, I walked out, got into my 1965 Sedan that I paid $200.00 for, passed all the new $10,000.00 puddle jumpers on the way home at 12 MPG. And I could buy a lot of gas for $10,000.00!
I have an 84 Seville with the 4.1 and have had no problems. GM does make a special pellet to put in the radiator but I think it’s the same pellet that’s used on some Corvette engines too.
Around 1990, had bought my late GF Karen a beautiful 85 Seville from the orig. owner. They had a receipt from the dealer who was paid over 3,000.00 by GM to correct the defect in the engine( heads not mating correctly with the block). I often wonder what they actually did.She had the car 1 week and ran a stop sign into 40mpg traffic. She was T boned from both directions just behind the front doors. One was a big van, the other a large p/u truck. All were totaled but amazingly, she had no injuries.
My parents tried to buy a yellow ’82 Eldorado late in the model year but had to settle for a medium blue. They kept it until’89 when my father had enough of its ” check engine” light. Comfortable, but they went back to a Sedan de Ville de Elegance for the smoother ride and bigger trunk!😂🤣
It did not have a check engine light.
One was service engine soon.
The other was service engine now.
A person could also get the service codes out of the dash display with no test eq. Let’s see your Lincoln’s, Chryslers or other cars do that!
The Buick 4.1 V6 had it’s own share of problems with blown head gaskets due to lack of cooling between the cylinders. The Oldsmobile V8 used in the Rivieras and Tornados had issues with leaking intake manifolds around the coolant passages. These cars are very interesting and nice driving vehicles but none of them were immune to drive line issues
Yes DAN it’s just my opinion. That’s why Cadillacs is always above everything else.
I hav had many people tell my their Chryslers, Buicks, Lincoln’s etc are just as good as a Cadillac. I have never heard a Cadillac owner claim the reverse.