New Cad owner

[Wbreaka]

Wassup everybody,

I'm new here, because I'm in the market for a cadillac, either a seville or new body deville, I perform minor regular maintenance on my current car, and I've been told by many people that the Northstar engine is one of the hardest engines to work on, and from reading many discussions here, burning oil is to be expected. I LOVE this car though power and looks, but I've also been told that upkeep is expensive. I'm currently looking at a 97 seville with 75k, with a coolant burning problem, they want $6900 minus fixing cost. do you guys think that it's worth it?

Thank you very much for any and all help

[Lac_Cruising]

It all depends on what they mean by coolant problem

[Cadillacboy]

Coolant burning ? I think if they mean by coolant is it is coming out of the exhaust pipes ,I'd stay away from it .
Otherwise, it sounds a headgasket problem to me

[Playdrv4me]

Run away. Anytime you see a Northstar car for sale and the words COOLANT are anywhere near, on, in, or around the listing run far far away.

Your looking at either replacing the motor entirely, or R&Ring the headgaskets. The engine is around 2800.00 shipped for a new rebuilt unit off ebay, plus 1500-2000 to have it installed... the headgasket job is a minimum of 18 labor hours in the book and usually runs about 3000.00.

So unless they plan to sell you the car for 3000.00, THANKS BUT NO THANKS.

[Ranger]

I sold my '97 Deville with NO problems 2 years ago for $6000. $7000 minus the cost of repair (approx $3000) is way to high. Negotiate a MUCH better price if you are willing to do the repair.

[Wbreaka]

Thank You to all for your input, there are no external leaks, and no mixing of oil and coolant, the current owner has no clue what it is, and his mechanic doesn't work on Northstars. I think I'll follow either follow playdrv's advice and not get it, or follow ranger's advice and try to get it for dirt cheap...

[misfit6794]

No external leaks means that there is an internal leak, and its most likely the head gasket. I paid 2200 for a 96 with 82,000 miles and a bad headgasket, and the car was in pristine condition. Personally I would buy one that has a bad headgasket, and replace the motor, not repair it. That way you don't need to worry about it.

[Wbreaka]

wouldn't replacing the motor cost more than the car?

[misfit6794]

It really depends on where you buy the engine. It usually ends up costing about 1000-1500 dollars more than repairing the headgasket and timeserting the block (i paid 3500). I really think engine replacement is the way to go, alot of people consider the northstar a disposable engine. Just remember that you could have a warped/cracked head from overheating, or other damage that you won't know about until you get it apart. The threads for the headbolts (20 of them) will need to be retapped in the block with timeserts to prevent the hg's from failing again. A northstar is an completely different beast than a 5.0, easier to break too.

[lbwd]

... And I bought my 1996 Seville STS last April for $3,750 in Kansas City, MO.

158K, PERFECT shape, No Problems, Show Car. Patience is a major key in being successful in getting a good car.