1998 Cadillac Deville at 73,000 miles
You did not give a mileage, so this uses 73,000 — the median reported failure mileage for this model year, which is a rough stand-in for “a typical example of this car”. Put your real reading in the box below for an answer about your car.
At 73,000 miles on this car
At 73,000 miles on a 1998 Cadillac Deville, 14 of the failure modes other owners have reported already have their median report at or below your reading, and 0 more fall inside the window where they are usually reported. The heaviest of the ones already due is headlight failure or clouding.
Already past the median 14
Half of all reports of these failures came in at or below where your car is now.
- Headlight failure or clouding 70k
- Misfire or rough idle 10k
- Other brake problem 54k
- Other suspension problem 130
- Oil leak 47k
- Water pump failure 4
- Other wheel or tire problem 49k
- Other lighting problem 59k
- Wiper or washer failure 31k
- Other powertrain problem 62k
- Excessive oil consumption 69k
- Seat belt or retractor failure 23k
2 more.
You are in the window 0
Your reading falls inside the middle half of reports for these.
Nothing here.
Typically later 14
Reported further down the road than where you are.
- Other fuel system problem 74k
- Tire blowout or tread separation 75k
- Other electrical problem 88k
- Other steering problem 88k
- CV axle or driveshaft failure 90k
- Head gasket failure 92k
- Other engine problem 105k
- Other driver assistance problem 106k
- Cruise control failure 107k
- Fuel leak or fuel odor 111k
- Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault 121k
- Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure 122k
2 more.
Timing unknown 21
Reported, but too few owners gave an odometer reading to place them.
- ABS module or sensor failure 11×
- Premature brake pad or rotor wear 11×
- Other visibility problem 9×
- Other body or interior problem 9×
- Loss of braking 5×
- Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure 4×
- Other speed control problem 4×
- Fuel gauge or level sensor failure 3×
- Air conditioning failure 3×
- Alternator or charging system failure 2×
- Airbag failed to deploy in a crash 2×
- Strut, shock or spring failure 2×
9 more.
Why the list is generic until you type a number
Every figure below is a comparison against your odometer, so with no reading given the page has to pick one: 73,000 miles, roughly what a 1998 car covers at 12,000 miles a year. A reading 30,000 miles either side of that moves failures between the columns, which is the difference between a useful list and a generic one.
Already inside the reported range
14 failure modes on the 1998 Cadillac Deville have a median reported mileage at or below 73,000: headlight failure or clouding (median 70,000 miles, 36 reports), misfire or rough idle (median 10,000 miles, 13 reports), other brake problem (median 55,000 miles, 9 reports), other suspension problem (median 100 miles, 9 reports), oil leak (median 45,000 miles, 8 reports) and water pump failure (median 4 miles, 6 reports).
Half the owners who reported each of these had done so by that mileage, which means half had not. A failure being "due" here is a statement about other people's cars, and the useful response is an inspection rather than a pre-emptive repair.
Still ahead of you
14 further modes sit above your reading, the nearest being other fuel system problem at a median of 75,000 miles. On a car you intend to keep, these are the ones that decide whether it is worth keeping.
What this list is not
It is a reading of what owners of other 1998 Cadillac Devilles reported, and at what odometer reading they reported it. It is not a maintenance schedule, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about this car: two identical cars with different service histories are not the same car.
Complaints are filed voluntarily, mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers, and a failure mode with few reports has a wide window even when the median looks precise. Modes with fewer than 8 dated reports are shown without percentiles for that reason.
Where 73,000 miles falls on the curve
The three columns above sort the failure modes one by one. This is the same evidence in aggregate: every dated report on this model year, stacked up in the order the odometer readings arrived. The dashed line marked you is where your car sits. How much of the line is to the left of that mark is how much of this model year's reported trouble is, on the evidence, already behind you.
About 41% of the dated reports on this model year had already been filed by 73,000 miles. That is the share of the problems that show up in this record, not of the problems this car will have.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the mileages called out above
A steep early climb means a car whose reports cluster young, which is the pattern of a defect rather than of wear. A line that only gets going past six figures is the opposite. Neither shape says anything about the specific car in your driveway, and a curve built from a few dozen readings can be moved by one owner with a talkative afternoon.
Full report for the 1998 Cadillac Deville Compare with another car
Questions this page answers
What should I expect at 73,000 miles on a 1998 Cadillac Deville?
14 of the failure modes owners have reported on the 1998 Cadillac Deville have a median report at or below 73,000 miles, and 0 more fall inside the mileage window where they are usually reported. That is a watch list drawn from other owners, not a prediction about this car.
How to use the three columns. The left column is the list to hand a mechanic before you buy, and to check the service history for if you already own the car. The middle column is what to budget for this year. The right column is not a reprieve — it is a reminder that a used car has a bill schedule, and this is roughly where it falls. All of it is drawn from 310 owner complaints about this exact model year, not from a maintenance manual. How the percentiles are computed.
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed