2000 Red Eldorado For Sale

[BodybyFisher]

I am working on a 95 Eldorado due to a miss and no power and it looks like a bad fuel pump.

In the meantime the owner finds a 2000 Eldorado for sale and while it is in beautiful physical condition, it is losing coolant and a local mechanic said it needs a head gasket. The seller has gotten prices from 2500 to 4000 to do the head gasket. Besides that, the brakes went to the floor, the driver side window does not work, it needs tires and front struts.

Being a skeptic, I told my friend, we should confirm that the head gasket is in fact bad. I had him buy the NAPA block tester and we went over to check out the head gasket in front of the seller.

First I checked the purge line, it flowed.

Secondly, I read the directions on the NAPA block tester, filled it with BLUE fluid and within 15 seconds the fluid went from BLUE to bright YELLOW indicating combustion gases in the coolant.. WOW... everyone was shocked at how easy it was to determine that there was a bad head gasket and the 'magic' of the test.

Now the question is, can my friend get the seller low enough to make the purchase make sense, I advised him to stay away from it regardless of how great the car looks. He is pushing me to do the head gasket and that is out of the question.

The NAPA head gasket / block tester works GREAT folks!

[Texas Jim]

It's a 12 year old car that needs lots of work done to it...

Let's assume he can get the head gasket done "RIGHT" for 3k...

Another $700 to 1K for tires...

If it has the Road Sensing Electronic suspension... another $1,000 for struts...

No telling what kind of brake work it needs..

That around $5,000 of work it needs.. AT LEAST...

Unless I could get it for almost nothing... I think I would pass...

[Cadillac Jim]

I logged on to make a post very much like Texas Jim's. All I have to add is that struts are higher - but, referring to Rock Auto, AC/Delco is $1289.58 plus tax and shipping for the pair and Monroe is $705.58 plus tax and shipping. KBB.com calls out a private party price of $4650 for an ESC (VIN "Y") in Excellent condition, and $4200 in Good condition - and only $3500 in Fair condition. We haven't addressed the bad electric window, or other things that would need work that aren't evident until you drive the car.

I will go one step farther than Texas Jim and say that this is a project car or a parts car.

[BodybyFisher]

This IS an ESC model. Does that imply its a road sensing suspension? Currently the car has no codes at all.

It only has 65000 miles on it, as I said the body and interior are beautiful.

I dont know anyone here locally that can do the head gasket job and i would need to research that issue. The brakes when to the floor on the test drive, imagine that?

As you all have, I have recommended he not go after this car, but he is hot to trot as its in so much better condition physically than his 95 Eldo of the same color... thanks guys

[Cadillac Jim]

My sale pricing was based on it being an ESC. You can tell whether it has the electronic suspension by running the codes and seeing if it has an RSS module.

[adallak]

If the brake lines failed, the undebody may be not as good as the rest of the car.

[KHE]

What is the asking price of the 2000 Eldorado? I'll bet the seller thinks it is worth big dollars and is not deducting the cost if the head gasket job from the asking price. That seems to be typical.

I couldn't justify spending $1300 for OEM struts on a 12 year old car. I would convert the car to a passive system and install resistors to defeat the SERVICE RIDE CONTROL message.

Parts for the head gasket job will run $800 or so. The rest is all labor. Brake lines are not that expensive to replace. The power window is nothing serious either but all of this adds up.

[Cadillac Jim]

There are many ways to think about repairs to an old car. The one that I find the most prevalent is to run the numbers as if it was going up for sale or trade Monday morning. If you plan to drive the car and have no plans to sell it for a year or more, it may be more to the point to think about what you want to drive, and possibly your wife and others to drive.

[BodybyFisher]

The owner was going to accept $3000 from my friend and then got an offer for $3500, now he will only accept $3500

KBB's value in POOR condition is $3500, this car is in LESS than poor condition if you ask me. In excellent condition its worth $4500. I don't think its appropriate to use my own sweat labor for a negotiation price, I think that the true cost of repairing the car needs to be considered. To get the window fixed will be $500, Head Gasket $4000, etc Those two repairs render this car valueless, given the body and interior are excellent, but then the brakes and struts come into play needing repair or replacement. That is why I told my friend to forget the car at $3500, its throwing good money away.

[airmike]

I agree with both Jim and Mike, the price gets past the stated value of these cars and that is why they are for sale, even cheap many times. Having said that I love my sts and will continue to repair and spend whatever it needs because that will not even equal the sales tax on a new one and I enjoy driving it. Of course I have a newer car also if I need it. I suspect keeping mine running is not actually the prudent thing to do, but you can't buy these cars anymore just like you cant buy a 69 camaro any more. I don't think the smart thing is always the way to go

[KHE]

The owner was going to accept $3000 from my friend and then got an offer for $3500, now he will only accept $3500

KBB's value in POOR condition is $3500, this car is in LESS than poor condition if you ask me. In excellent condition its worth $4500. I don't think its appropriate to use my own sweat labor for a negotiation price, I think that the true cost of repairing the car needs to be considered. To get the window fixed will be $500, Head Gasket $4000, etc Those two repairs render this car valueless, given the body and interior are excellent, but then the brakes and struts come into play needing repair or replacement. That is why I told my friend to forget the car at $3500, its throwing good money away.

I agree! If the seller got an offer for $3500 or he is saying he got an offer for $3500, let him sell it to the guy who offered $3500.... Your friend would have much more invested in the car that what it is worth. I would only pay $1500 tops for that car. It makes me wonder if the guy who offered $3500 knew the headgaskets were shot...

[Cadillac Jim]

IMHO, the only way that this car could be worth $100 is as a project car. It's worth $500 to $1000 to a recycling yard, less for scrap.

As a $100 project car, the plan would include spending $5K+ to restore the car. To make this worthwhile as an investment, one would want to drive the car daily for four or five years or more. This competes with a little patience to find a really nice car of the same year and type for $4.5K and putting $500 in maintenance in it instead, and having the car in two or three days after the service station finished changing all the fluids, belts, etc., and possibly putting on brake pads and such, checking for rusted brake lines and such, and checking it out with a pro mechanic's engine analyzer, a jobber's alignment rack, etc.

Watch out for the tires and wheels. You want OEM wheels and good quality tires with some tread on them, or discount the price by the amount you will need to spend on good tires. A car's ride, handling, and safety are only as good as its tires. Mismatched tires are a no-no, and mismatched tires on the front axle are a deal breaker, as are mismatched wheels.

Don't use a dealer unless you get an estimate first and you can live with the cost. You don't need ~$100/hr Goodwrench training for fluid changes and clean-up work. I use Goodwrench for electrical problems because I haven't been able to find a good mechanic for that type of problem, or when I want the Goodwrench warranty, as for an A/C compressor or alternator; I always consider Goodwrench when I need more than routine maintenance but I also always consider my trusted, competent local mechanic, who takes parts from me that I buy online.

[Cadillac Jim]

The owner was going to accept $3000 from my friend and then got an offer for $3500, now he will only accept $3500

KBB's value in POOR condition is $3500, this car is in LESS than poor condition if you ask me. In excellent condition its worth $4500. I don't think its appropriate to use my own sweat labor for a negotiation price, I think that the true cost of repairing the car needs to be considered. To get the window fixed will be $500, Head Gasket $4000, etc Those two repairs render this car valueless, given the body and interior are excellent, but then the brakes and struts come into play needing repair or replacement. That is why I told my friend to forget the car at $3500, its throwing good money away.

I agree! If the seller got an offer for $3500 or he is saying he got an offer for $3500, let him sell it to the guy who offered $3500.... Your friend would have much more invested in the car that what it is worth. I would only pay $1500 tops for that car. It makes me wonder if the guy who offered $3500 knew the head gaskets were shot...

This come-back "competing offer" sounds like a phantom shill to me. KHE's very, very correct, it seems like someone is being subjected to a classic hustle for $3500 to buy a car worth little or nothing. I suggest that your friend make a counter-offer for $50 if you want a project car; don't settle for higher than $100. Or, go on Cars.com or use the search for used cars on kbb.com and find an honest deal at an honest price.

[Texas Jim]

From what I have read here...

"IF" I wanted it "REALLY BAD" I would offer a couple of hundred.... that's it.... take it or leave it.

The car already need more work than KBB says it is worth in good shape.

It just don't make sense to have 10 grand in a 4 grand car.

[BodybyFisher]

Believe it or not guys, I know the seller, I almost brought his prior Seville 5 years ago, he is a very nice gentleman and this is his wife's car she passed away 18 months ago. He is broken up over it. He has been very honest to us, telling us that the head gasket was blow right from the beginning, I confirmed that it was blown with the test.

Where he has the car sitting about 50,000 cars go by every day, its an amazing place to have a car seen to sell it, its RED and the for sale signs stick out like a sore thumb. He showed me a list of 15 people who called about it. He is reluctant to sell it, he probably has seen the POOR KBB price of $3500 and feels he should get it. It REALLY is a beautiful car, you can not believe how nice it is.

[Cadillac Jim]

I can't look...

[BodybyFisher]

My friend made the correct decision and decided not to buy it. Mike, I felt the same way with my Deville, I put more money into it than what it was worth but it was a great car and you could not replace it

[airmike]

Glad for your friend Mike and hope he finds one that doesn't require so much money after purchase, It is really hard to give up on one once you own it for a while.

[BodybyFisher]

Glad for your friend Mike and hope he finds one that doesn't require so much money after purchase, It is really hard to give up on one once you own it for a while.

It sure is, these are terrific cars. It was hard for my friend to let this one go, it was physically perfect. I actually came close to committing myself to doing a time-sert job on this if we could have found a bay that I could use. But when you consider, the cost of the timesert tool ($500 or so), KHE's estimate of $800 for parts and say $2000 to do this job (I wouldnt take less) plus the cost of the bay rental, it would have been expensive.

The scary thing however is doing a job like this and then finding the block material to be degraded, what do you do then...

[Texas Jim]

Glad for your friend Mike and hope he finds one that doesn't require so much money after purchase, It is really hard to give up on one once you own it for a while.

It sure is, these are terrific cars. It was hard for my friend to let this one go, it was physically perfect. I actually came close to committing myself to doing a time-sert job on this if we could have found a bay that I could use. But when you consider, the cost of the timesert tool ($500 or so), KHE's estimate of $800 for parts and say $2000 to do this job (I wouldnt take less) plus the cost of the bay rental, it would have been expensive.

The scary thing however is doing a job like this and then finding the block material to be degraded, what do you do then...

Cry... a lot...

[KHE]

I actually came close to committing myself to doing a time-sert job on this if we could have found a bay that I could use. But when you consider, the cost of the timesert tool ($500 or so), KHE's estimate of $800 for parts and say $2000 to do this job (I wouldnt take less) plus the cost of the bay rental, it would have been expensive.

The scary thing however is doing a job like this and then finding the block material to be degraded, what do you do then...

I don't think the degraded blocks are as common as some of the posts on the internet make them out to be. If you drill into one and powder comes out, there are plenty of used blocks in the junkyard. With a junkyard engine, I would replace the piston rings, rod bearings, main bearings, Crankshaft seals, and re-seal the crankcase so the cost of parts would go up.

I agree with you in turning your friend away from that car. If you could have picked it up for $500, that would be a different story altogether. In reality, $500 is all that car is worth with a bad engine. My take on the 2000 Eldorado is this: If your friend purchased it for $3500 and then sunk another $4500 into i for parts, your labor, garage rental, engine hoist rental, and misc. expenses that came up, he'd have around $8000 into the car. Have him shop used Cadillacs and see what he can get for $8000 - my bet is a LOT newer car and no engine issues.

[Cadillac Jim]

I did a quick check on cars.com and it found 32 used Cadillac CTS's under $8K within 100 miles of my town in South Jersey near Philly. That radius would include metro Philadelphia. I didn't look at other types, such as DTS, SRX and such.

I found a 1999 ETC for $4895 at a Hyundai dealer nearby. Also, a 1996 ETC at a used car dealer for $4995 asking. An individual in Philly wants $5990 asking price for a bright red 2002 ETC.

Do something like that every day for a week or two and make inquiries about cars that interest you, and you will end up with a selection of several cars at the top of the list to go and see, drive, have inspected, and, ideally, one buy and drive.

[BodybyFisher]

This one just hit us both in the face, its on a main highway here and very obvious, he currently has a 95 that I am diagnosing for low fuel pressure, we will see how that goes. thanks guys

[BodybyFisher]

Jim, where did you get the prices above for this 2000 Eldorado they are much lower that I found. I just put in 2000 Eldorado at 65000 miles in and got In fair condition, an ESC is worth$6284 and an ETC is worth $7721

After deducting $4000 for the head gasket job, $700 for tires and say $250 for the window or $4950 in repairs and replacements. I am not sure if this is an ETC or ESC

Deducting the $4950 repair cost from the ESC FAIR value of $6284 means the car is worth $1334. If this is an ETC, deducting the $4950 repair cost from the ETC FAIR value of $7721 means the car is worth $2771.

The owner wants $3500, I am going to send him and email explaining my logic in determining value. One of the sticking points is that the owner got a quote of $2500 to do the head gaskets, I dont know what the mechanic intended to do (timesert or not), but based on our experience, that price is low, we see $4000 all the time. Parts alone are $800 and given that this is a 2000 other items should be replaced along the way. The timesert kit with inserts is about $550, granted if the mechanic has the kit all he needs are the certs.

I have had heated discussions with a couple of mechanics who insist that you can get buy without timeserting, but we wont go there. The purchaser has asked me to do the head gaskets and he has access to a bay. It will be a cool experience, and I would document it here. Anyone venture a guess as to how much time this job would take?, I am very slow and methodical but the lift and garage area will be a big help

[KHE]

Jim, where did you get the prices above for this 2000 Eldorado they are much lower that I found. I just put in 2000 Eldorado at 65000 miles in and got In fair condition, an ESC is worth$6284 and an ETC is worth $7721

After deducting $4000 for the head gasket job, $700 for tires and say $250 for the window or $4950 in repairs and replacements. I am not sure if this is an ETC or ESC

Deducting the $4950 repair cost from the ESC FAIR value of $6284 means the car is worth $1334. If this is an ETC, deducting the $4950 repair cost from the ETC FAIR value of $7721 means the car is worth $2771.

The owner wants $3500, I am going to send him and email explaining my logic in determining value. One of the sticking points is that the owner got a quote of $2500 to do the head gaskets, I dont know what the mechanic intended to do (timesert or not), but based on our experience, that price is low, we see $4000 all the time. Parts alone are $800 and given that this is a 2000 other items should be replaced along the way. The timesert kit with inserts is about $550, granted if the mechanic has the kit all he needs are the certs.

I have had heated discussions with a couple of mechanics who insist that you can get buy without timeserting, but we wont go there. The purchaser has asked me to do the head gaskets and he has access to a bay. It will be a cool experience, and I would document it here. Anyone venture a guess as to how much time this job would take?, I am very slow and methodical but the lift and garage area will be a big help

Your friend with the '95 Eldorado is still considering the car?

$800 for parts assumes you are just replacing the headgaskets and installing Timeserts. If the engine uses oil (more than 1 qt per 1000 miles), I would replace the rings, have the cylinders honed, replace the rod bearings, rear and front main seals, oil manifold plate, re-seal crankcase, etc. The parts cost would then be pushing $1500.

If you can find out the oil usage on the car, that would be a big help in determining the course of action.