thinking of buying a 99 deville. but have been told that the northstars are bad to leak around 80k miles. now that im looking, alot of the cars i see are around 80k miles and it has me wondering. i know the earlier northstars, thru 99 had some problems with overheating and headbolts. is the oil problem they are referring to where the sections of the engine leak where they join?

the expierences ive had with N*'s may be different from others, but ive seen many issues where the oil pan itself warps a little, i hear tel it leaks near the oil filter too, not too sure on that one though, as well as the blown head gaskets from people failing to maintain the coolant properly as well

The headbolt design was changed for 2000 to extend the threads. However, you can find posts of 2000 and 2001s with cooked headgaskets so that is not the only factor. If you can get service records that show the coolant was maintained you are better off, otherwise adjust the price accordingly. The aveage price for HG repair seems to be ~$3500.

as well as the blown head gaskets from people failing to maintain the coolant properly as wellCadillac must love you for shifting the blame of lousy engineering over to the owners of the cars. No vechicle should require the kind of maintenance for the cooling system that the Northstar does. Besides, many "properly maintained" Northstars blow the headgaskets anyway.

Cadillac must love you for shifting the blame of lousy engineering over to the owners of the cars. No vechicle should require the kind of maintenance for the cooling system that the Northstar does. Besides, many "properly maintained" Northstars blow the headgaskets anyway.

my northstar 4.6 has around 135,000 miles on it, my friends has over 200,000
niether have nad blown headgaskets or oil leaks to be seen

yes given the northstar design could have been better, but obviously people who "properly" maintain a system the way ANY car should be maintained, have no problems, the people who do NOT wish to maintain their car properly, or have the oh it can wait attitude have problems, if u have that attitude, buy a honda, you cant treat a caddy like that, or it will bite you in the ass, and it's those people with that attitude who blame it on everyone but themselves, the N* is a work of art that needs to be maintained, take care of it, it takes care of you bottome line.

yes given the northstar design could have been better, but obviously people who "properly" maintain a system the way ANY car should be maintained, have no problems, the people who do NOT wish to maintain their car properly, or have the oh it can wait attitude have problems, if u have that attitude, buy a honda, you cant treat a caddy like that, or it will bite you in the ass, and it's those people with that attitude who blame it on everyone but themselves, the N* is a work of art that needs to be maintained, take care of it, it takes care of you bottome line. WRONG....but obviously people who "properly" maintain a system the way ANY car should be maintained, have no problems. lol

I've owned 2 Northstar powered cars, 94 and 98... BOTH had case half leak repairs before I bought them... My 98 according to GM service records had it's leak repaired just before 28K miles... My 94 had it done pretty early too, I don't have the records anymore for that vehicle...

With the earlier cars, I'm told you need to make sure to change the green coolant every 2 yeras, the dexcool stuff, every 5 to maintain it's anticorosion properties...

Our engines are somewhat delicate when it comes to maintenance... They need regular coolant changes and oil top offs (both my cars burned 2 qt between oil changes)...