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New (to me) 2006 XLR-V and (re) introduction

Playdrv4me

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
12
Location
Deep South Texas
Hello everyone.

First off, please forgive the length of this post, it's been several days in the making...

Been a while since I've been over here. I originally joined this forum in 2011 when I was looking at a 2006 XLR-V at Motorwerks Cadillac in Chicago.. Thread here: https://www.xlr-net.com/forums/cadi...g-at-a-v-need-advice-post33199.html#post33199

Well, after ANOTHER three years, I am happy to say, or should I say cautiously optimistic to say that I am finally an XLR owner. I had to get it out of my system once and for all!

I obtained the car I currently have from Autonation in TX who had the car shipped from Mini of Las Vegas. With as few of these cars as are floating around at all, I have no doubt some of you from the west coast may have even known of this car at this point (and if the previous owner is around here, that would be pretty awesome).

Unlike most cars where I do fastidious research and go to the ends of the earth for just the right car, in this case I know there are not a ton of these out there, and we had limitations to our low interest rate credit union financing which indicated that the auto had to come from a TX dealer or private owner because it had to have a Texas registration. This is how the Autonation loophole worked out. The next best car in Texas was a 2007 with identical mileage for nearly 35000.00 in San Antonio (pretty sure they'll have that one for a while).

Because of our price and finance considerations, we ended up with this one for roughly 27500, 28 including shipping. I thought I did OK until I dug up my three year old thread and found that I was looking at one of these for 33 THREE years ago! So I guess its safe to say the precipitous drop in price has settled down a bit. Two owner, 65k mile car with an all west coast history (so no rusty bits underneath), originally sold and serviced for the first owner at Ed Bozarth in NV. The second owner I believe had the car for about 15k and doesn't appear to have done much to it but drive it. Moral of the story is that I didn't go quite as anal on this car as I typically do with most of my cars. As such, it wasn't quite as perfect as I would have liked, but that's the price of falling in love. GizmoQ is a personal friend and advised on some things to look out for, one of which was the fuel sending unit which the first owner DID have done and it works fine. So far I've had a hell of a good time driving this car for the past three or four days but here are a few of the things I'd like some info on and greatly appreciate the input of the community...

1. Initially I almost refused the car due to noise in the front suspension and a minor bit of rattle in the supercharger only audible with the hood open. It turned out to be swaybar end links and not shocks as I was sure it had to be. The noise has drastically reduced but I still hear a tiny bit of that "crunchiness" up there at low speeds over uneven pavement. Don't know if they did both sides or just one and maybe that is why I still hear a little of it. It's certainly nothing to the extent of before. As for the supercharger, I came to learn that apparently there will always be some noise to it and not to be worry about it. Functionally I haven't noticed any issue, nor does it appear that it's even serviceable. Better yet, I see there are brand new ones on Ebay for about 800 bucks.

2. Tonight I was driving around and the butterfly in my exhaust appears to have gotten stuck in the "open" position. I love driving my new '69 Camaro, but the drone at highway speeds is well... a bit much. I really don't care much if this whole system works as designed. The XLR-V to me is more about power when I need it than being a track day monster. So if I can just close those valves/valve somehow and keep it closed, or at least reset it, I'd be perfectly satisfied. I enjoy the Vs other improvements as much as the speed and intoxicating noise (which frankly is nothing to sneeze at even when the valves are closed).

3. I get the stupid "close cargo divider" error ALL THE TIME and from the best I can tell, the peg just comes loose from its slot. I don't know if the plastic has just worn down on the peg or the slot or what but am I correct in assuming I can just shove a little piece of cardboard in here or something to keep the peg from popping loose while driving?

4. I'm planning to change the transmission fluid, rear end fluid and coolant as preventative maintenance. Even though I've already bought this car. Is there any other things I should check? I've learned that I need to open that compartment and check for water in the back corner where the modules are, but really not much else. I thought I heard stories of those little rear quarter windows "falling off" at one point because they were just adhered with glue. Didn't know if there's things like that I should look at and make sure they're not about to fail or break.

5. What's the best way to clean the shale interior. I don't know why ANYONE would buy this color. It's terrible to keep clean and my carpet and driver's seat and driver's armrest area even after a mild detail just look a little bit dirty. I'm going to hit the seat and the armrest with Lexol and try get them as nice as I can, not that they're bad now. But my driver's footwell carpet I could use some suggestions on.

I haven't detected anything else that alarms me *yet*. But also having a Mercedes G500 and having owned other Euro cars in the past. I can say that a lot of the things that would scare many first time XLR or Cadillac owners aren't quite as much of a shock for me. Magneride shocks for example at 1k a pop are often put up as a warning sign for this car. Well, when the alternative is a Mercedes SL with Active Body Control that costs 14,000.00 to rehab at the dealership, four grand for a round of shocks (and that's if you pay retail) doesn't sting as much.

Sorry for the long post. That's about it for now!
 

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Glad you found your dream car. welcome again to the best XLR site around


3. I get the stupid "close cargo divider" error ALL THE TIME and from the best I can tell, the peg just comes loose from its slot. I don't know if the plastic has just worn down on the peg or the slot or what but am I correct in assuming I can just shove a little piece of cardboard in here or something to keep the peg from popping loose while driving?

I get this too on my base. i just cycle the top or just the trunk. usually the trunk is all i need to do. Then sometime i get the stability on message when i'm going around a corner at slow speeds. But don't worry about the "top not secure" message just recycle when necessary. otherwise yes open the trunk and physically push "in" on the separator in the trunk. those do come loose every once in awhile.
 
5. What's the best way to clean the shale interior. I don't know why ANYONE would buy this color. It's terrible to keep clean and my carpet and driver's seat and driver's armrest area even after a mild detail just look a little bit dirty. I'm going to hit the seat and the armrest with Lexol and try get them as nice as I can, not that they're bad now. But my driver's footwell carpet I could use some suggestions on.

I',m having the same problem with my door panel arm rest. It has been turning a hint of green color. I'm planning on taking it in to my dealer. They have a guy come in on thursdays for interior work. He has worked on my arm rest and i'll just have him work on both arm and door panel that day.

If you know of a good cleaner please let me know
 
I also have the shale interior. For the leather I use Zaino Leather Soft Spray Cleaner (Z9). I'm sure lots of folks have lots of suggestions for a leather cleaner, but it's pretty low risk to use as compared to some others

For carpets, I swear by Tuff Stuff (pictured). Auto store guy recommended it 30 years ago & I haven't found anything it won't get out. Oil, grease, coffee, soda - I've gotten all of that out really easily with this.

Good luck!
 

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So I may have just answered one of my own questions... Went in the trunk to look in the "avionics bay" tonight and check for water intrusion, and came across a MILD2WILD box the PO had installed.

Apparently when I was playing with the weird extra remote keyfob I had on my keychain with the car's remote I must have inadvertently turned the system to "wild" LOL!
 
I also have the shale interior. For the leather I use Zaino Leather Soft Spray Cleaner (Z9). I'm sure lots of folks have lots of suggestions for a leather cleaner, but it's pretty low risk to use as compared to some others

For carpets, I swear by Tuff Stuff (pictured). Auto store guy recommended it 30 years ago & I haven't found anything it won't get out. Oil, grease, coffee, soda - I've gotten all of that out really easily with this.

Good luck!

Here another TIP:
Yes I agree Zaino's is one of the best product out there for leather ( it even contains and new leather smell additive) and their paint protectant and other products are awesome also, another suggestion for getting the seats clean and scuffs off of the plastic and the other materials I use is to try the Magic Erasers with the cleaner then wipe off with another clean rag with clear water this removes all the left dirt and cleaner residue then wipe dry with another clean white rag if it's no dirty looking on the rag it's then clean and ready for this next step! Then put on the conditioner or other protectant that you like to use!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Dan & Wendy
"05 GRAND DADDY"
 

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