Greetings Ajxtcman,
Have spent the majority of the evening reading through the posts on the Northstar forum in hopes of putting together a plan of action on my 97 STS...have read several excellent posts from you and just decided I'd see if you would be willing to give me your opinion
My 97 has appx. 140,000 miles on it....I inherited it from my folks who religiously took it into the dealership for service, but decided to purchase a new Toyota after discovering they had the dreaded "blown head gasket"...give the car was always garaged and mint inside and out, I decided to go the time-sert route and had the work done at a Denver dealership to the tune of about $3,900....that was 10 months ago. I have now relocated the car to Kansas, and over the last several months it has been losing coolant....I took it to a reliant and honest mechanic last week and was told it has a cracked block....it is now burning coolant directly.
I get the impression from the forum that GM didn't really address the N* headgasket problem until maybe around 2000....I love driving the car but am a bit hesitant to take the leap again...I'd be more likely to take another leap of faith if there was a more reliable alternative....is an engine swap viable, and if so what? Obviously, sending it to the boneyard is an option, but I do have some reliable mechanics to do the install, if indeed, I can find an engine that seemingly doesn't have such a flaggrant "factory installed" problem.
Your consideration is greatly appreciated.
All the best to you and yours,
John B.