1958 cadillac fleetwood sedan

[Guest mickthered]

Hi all just joined the forum,very good! A friend of mine has recently purchased the above model,however there are a few problems with it. Initial starting(from cold) is ok but when the motor reaches operating temperature it refuses to start again 'til cold? Also the fuel consumption is horrendous,5 miles to a uk gallon when it should be averaging around 15 mpg at least? I havent seen the car or checked it out yet as he only just bought it but i,m going next week to see if i can remedy any of the problems mentioned above so any tips or advice would be welcome. Now this may sound stupid:) but he tells me the windshield wipers are constantly on and he cant find the switch!!!

Regards, Mick.

[sambarn]

The switch for my 61 is on the dash, to the left of the steering column, chrome lever that moves left/right. On is is left off is right. As far as the running goes, check plugs, wires, listen for misses, smell exhaust for gas - sounds like its not releasing the choke so maybe physically moving the butterfly valve to free crud. There are a million things that could be wrong but most should be pretty apparent if you look hard enough. Good Luck. - sam

[Guest mickthered]

Thanks sam will check all that next week when i get over to look at the car.Is the '61 dash the same as a '58? Its an extended deck sedan if that makes any difference!?!?

[61polara]

In '58 this was still vaccum wipers. I belive the switch is mounted on the left below the end of the windshield wrap around like on '57 and '58 Buicks.

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

Hi all just joined the forum,very good! A friend of mine has recently purchased the above model,however there are a few problems with it. Initial starting(from cold) is ok but when the motor reaches operating temperature it refuses to start again 'til cold? Also the fuel consumption is horrendous,5 miles to a uk gallon when it should be averaging around 15 mpg at least? I havent seen the car or checked it out yet as he only just bought it but i,m going next week to see if i can remedy any of the problems mentioned above so any tips or advice would be welcome. Now this may sound stupid:) but he tells me the windshield wipers are constantly on and he cant find the switch!!!

Regards, Mick.

Having both a '56 and a '57 Cadillac having the same basic 365 engine as a '58, 15 mpg may be a bit optimistic if the majority of the driving is other than open road. Around town even 12 mpg can be optimistic, a 9 mpg average would not be uncommon in mostly city driving. Too much dead weight and too much slop in the transmissions. Keep in mind these cars were designed during a period of time when gasoline in the U.S. was less than $0.23 a gallon and fuel economy was just not an issue.

As someone pointed out the wipers in a '58 are vacuum and only have direct design identical to the '57 model Cadillacs. Now the good news is the electric wiper motor for the '57 chevy will actually be a drop in replacement for the '57-'58 Caddy wiper motor and even the switch will fit the dash with a swap of the Caddy bezel to the Chevy switch. Of course a little wiring has to be done to make it all work. However if the only problem is constant running of the wipers the problem is in the vacuum control and may be as simple as replacing the wiper control, maybe even as simple as taking it out of the dash and cleaning it up and lubricating.

Good luck, the wiper issue should be an easy fix, but chances are little can be done to improve fuel economy short of eliminating all potential vacuum leaks around the carburetor and intake manifold and rebuilding the carburetor. Carter WCFB carburetors are potentially subject to being real leakers when it's past time for a rebuild.

Jim