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Select one if you have had a problem with the headgasket the Northstar V8:

Northstar Headgasket/Cracked Block/Bolt Failure? Please let us know

294K views 546 replies 243 participants last post by  ihc70 
#1 ·
Here is the Definitive Northstar Headgasket Thread. Please choose your year of Cadillac and state if you have had a headgasket problem with your Seville or Eldorado and what mileage it occured at. If you have never had a problem please do not participate in the poll!
 
#88 ·
But is better gasket material gonna fix anything? Or prolong the inevitable?

Makes me wanna avoid any alum block cars out of fear of headaches.

Are the LS1's, LS2's, LQ9's, LS7's and the like having any issues? They make a lot more power in many cases, did they fix it with them?
 
#89 ·
Well, the new Vette ZR-1 has a 4-layer gasket rather than a 2-layer gasket, so I suspect a mfg can spring for extra $$ and prolong engine life. Don't forget that for decades GM used rubber o-rings as valve seals on the small block chev. The General is not above scrimping on key engine parts.

As for all-aluminum designs, I'll just say there's a reason that my other car is a Buick with the good 'ole cast iron 12v V6. Simple and near indestructable.
 
#90 ·
And don't hesitate to post even if you got rid of the car. I wish I could post for my 94 but I sold it without diagnosis so it may have just been a coolant leak. In my opinion dex cool is the culprit behind the issue. If you kept the coolant clean in pre dex cool as my 94 was it ran forever. I got rid of mine at 187k and running like new minus the coolant leak. I also plan to drain and refresh my coolant every spring to make sure my coolant is always fresh and not harmful. That and it only takes a bottle to fill it and costs 8 bucks from wal mart.
 
#94 ·
What sort of quality problems? Minor stuff or major stuff? Or do they list severity of the problems?
 
#98 ·
Ahh yes, the old engineering tosses it over the wall to manufacturing bit......eng is on to newer better things, forget the old stuff....
 
#100 · (Edited)
As my company, your bonus is tied to quality, if quality is down, it hits the bonus paycheck, IF you get one. Quality can drown you.

They need to be held accountable for quality. If poor design nab Eng, if poor manufacturing, nab them, but if a design that isn't manufacturable, nab ? They need to learn best practices and CHANGE. CHANGE is a GOOD thing. LEARN from mistakes!!! We do, we have rules that are held over our heads that we have to design to, if we don't design TO them we do not get ship acceptance!!

Sometimes called Lessons Learned, every program should do a Post Mortem review after ship to review how itis working in the market.

Look at the iPhone. Sure, market sensation, quality? crap. 120K returns to Apple for issues that could not be resolved at ATT. Hmmm..... Good? Bad? You decide, people keep buying them, and DON'T drop them!!
 
#101 ·
Look at the iPhone. Sure, market sensation, quality? crap. 120K returns to Apple for issues that could not be resolved at ATT. Hmmm..... Good? Bad? You decide, people keep buying them, and DON'T drop them!!
Haha! That's a pretty bad example to use considering that a VERY large chunk of those issues were bricked by the user, trying to update to non-approved firmware. It's hardly the same thing.
 
#102 ·
GM could say the same thing, people "abused" their cars by not changing coolant or flooring it, or something I am SURE they could come up with to.

Yes, I know what you mean, flashing IS a major source of headaches, but they should be screening those out too. But 100's of thousands in the return bin??

Shame you can't bring your car back to GM, make them take it back and get a new one!
 
#106 ·
GM could say the same thing, people "abused" their cars by not changing coolant or flooring it, or something I am SURE they could come up with to.
Regarding "flooring it" You need to floor Northstars on a regular (at least once a week) basis....

The other common thing that many North* head gasket failures seem to have in common is the owner says "But I babied it since day one"

I never heard a head gasket victim say "It was only a matter of time... I drover her HARD"

It is generally accepted that "blowing out the carbon" once a week or so while keep these engines running good to 200,000 miles and beyond.
 
#104 · (Edited)
Here is the Definitive Northstar Headgasket Thread. Please choose your year of Cadillac and state if you have had a headgasket problem with your Seville or Eldorado and what mileage it occured at. If you have never had a problem please do not participate in the poll!
I am on my second engine for a 1998 STS. It is a frustrating problem to say the least. I am currently in the process of timeserting the second engine. First engine 134,000 miles, engine two 96,000 miles.
 
#105 · (Edited)
Does anyone know if using a JB weld type of hardening adhesive instead of the 277 loctite on first time timeserts be recommended. It was recommended to me by a GM dealer mechanic that has worked on timesert repairs before.He said do my self a favor and put a lite film of JB weld on the timesert before their installed instead of the Loctite. I dont want to doubt his judgment but I don't want to cause any further issues either that he may not know about. Any thoughts?
 
#107 ·
I do it in my car at least DAILY, but try to write that into the owners manual or convince Cadillac owners of it.

I wanted to get a N*, but I knew I would be nailing it often, and don't want it "blowing" the gasket on me. I worry on my mom's 97 Deville, she has probably floored it 2x since 1997.... The first time she had to call me to tell me how fun it was!
 
#110 ·
Look at the results and think about what is going on...If Dexcool was the issue how come (essentially) no headbolt failure in the LS1/2/x camp? They have aluminum blocks and they run Dex too? Also why the sudden drop in head gasket victims after 2000? Those cars have been soaking Dex for about 8 years but there failure rate is fractions of the 97/98/99 cars... less then 1/5th as many or an 80% drop.

What the result show, and something that many of us have suspected for 3 or 4 years now... either GM got some bad gaskets in 97/98/99 or GM cast some bad blocks in 97/98/99 or GM used some bad headbolts or headbolt sealer or headbolt lub in 97/98/99

My opinion, this has little to do with Dex... But I would still change it often. There have been enough gelling "mixed" coolant stories that I would be more afraid to switch to something else then stick with Dex. My 2002 is on its THIRD batch of Dex-cool
 
#109 ·
I am new to this forum and have done quite a bit of reading on the head gasket issues and repairs on these vehicles. I test drove a 99 STS and am considering purchasing. This vehicle has had a head gasket problem in the past and am told the current owner who intended on keeping the car decided to have everything done. He had every intention on keeping the car so while they had the motor out for the head gasket repair he had them rebuild the motor. This was not done by GM. He used a reputable shop in NY.

New rings
New pistons
New gaskets
New suspension
New brakes
New calipers
etc.

The current owner has invested over 9k in making the car perfect but is forced to sell due to hardships. Have not seen the receipts yet but am told they will show me all receipts of work that was done. I talked to the shop that rebuilt the motor. There is a 1 year warranty on the motor which leaves 7 months if I purchase the vehicle.

My question is do you think this is a good deal or do you think I would be better off finding a low mileage STS under 100K. The dealer where the car is located swears the car is perfect. Based on your experience with these motors does this sound like a winner or should I run. HELP???
 
#111 ·
Because its only been 3 months, I would be somewhat concerned that the head gasket job didn't hold and they are looking to unload it. Did they use Timeserts or Norm's inserts for all twenty headbolts? I think I would still do an exhaust gases check on the radiator before deciding to purchase it. If all is ok, it would be a great deal to have one with the problems taken care of already.
 
#112 · (Edited)
I had this vehicle looked at by a local shop today. The mechanic did not find any error codes in the computer but did find small traces of hydrocarbon in the overflow tank. He said this is an indication of seepage from the head gaskets and recommended adding stop leak to the coolant. After we explained to him that the motor had just been rebuilt he said it is possible that the gaskets have not sealed completely because it was just done and had less than 500 miles on it. Does this sound normal to you?? Or is this an indication that the gaskets did not hold??

I thought the new gaskets were supposed to take care of the problem altogether?? Is there a bonding time required for the gasket to completely adhere and stop any seepage???

Was told timeserts were used.
 
#117 ·
Did you buy the car? I don't think head gaskets take time to seal. I think they either seal or leak right from the beginning. From all I've heard, adding sealant doesn't work. If you have to add sealant, I'd be very concerned and would probably not buy the car.

Maybe some other mechanics could comment on this.
 
#113 ·
To Clark71, my personal experiences and what I see on my local area do not support Cadillac as being a well built car. When I buy one Cadillac and it is a piece of crap, which I have spent a third of what it cost me when I bought it to fix a blown head gasket that should have never blown and then I look at not one, but three MB with 90k, 179k, and 220k on the clock and never ( I repeat never) have had a blown headgasket. Then, I say that the odds of getting a cadillac and being able to drive it for many miles without a major dip in the wallet, is very low. MB has their problems like the next brand, but there is one thing that you will not see very often and that is a blown head gasket at 82k. You will never make me believe that Cadillac makes a tight motor that will give many years of performance without the Well Fargo truck following you waiting for the repair.
 
#115 ·
To Clark71, my personal experiences and what I see on my local area do not support Cadillac as being a well built car. When I buy one Cadillac and it is a piece of crap, which I have spent a third of what it cost me when I bought it to fix a blown head gasket that should have never blown and then I look at not one, but three MB with 90k, 179k, and 220k on the clock and never ( I repeat never) have had a blown headgasket. .
What year and models are your MB's? I'll tell you what you have or will have to repair/replace on them.

It's funny, this week we have a C280 with a M104 engine coming in for..........................................,
you guessed it, a HEADGASKET.:2thumbs:. I'll take some pics and post them while it's apart.

It's pissing oil so bad we had to leave off the splash shield.

On the other hand I've had several Northstar Cadillac's and I never (I repeat never) had a blown headgasket.:jerkit:.

As long as people like you have out of warranty Mercedes I'll have a job
as I plan to stay at an independent Mercedes Benz shop rather than go
back to a dealer. 20 years was enough.
 
#121 ·
1997 Eldorado Touring

95,000 miles

Car is presently at Martin Cadillac undergoing headgasket/headbolt repair.

Changed coolant every 3 or 4 years since new, used only distilled water (no tap water) and dexcool, always added tablets to lower hose.

Headgasket failed anyway.
 
#122 ·
now my STS has it :( at 67500 mls... very bad so early! well is there something wrong with the engine? I heard the 99 engine wasn´t build perfect GM made a mistake I heard. is that true? so if I reapair the HG does it come again?? Whats the reason for the broken HG?? What kind of coolant should i use? only the Dexcool or an other one which is also allowed?
How about the waterpump? does it also brake down soon after the HG? are the pellets important to do it into the new coolant??

THX a alot

Olly
 
#124 ·
'97 DeVille - Head gasket failure at 65K miles. RH head, cyl. #7. I time-serted the block and drove it another 20K when a 12" crack appeared along the LH cyl. bank. Full of new Dexcool, good to -45F, it just popped like an egg. I got a used '94 block out of an STS - when torquing the heads down, the head bolts pulled out. Now I am time-serting THAT block. The engineers who designed the Northstar engine (and I know they read these posts) may be brilliant engineers in their own right. But the Northstar engine has to be the greatest folly of their careers. And it will certainly go down as one of the biggest mistakes in automotive history, along with the Corvair. Those guys should all be taken out and shot with slugs melted down from failed Northstar blocks! *lol* I curse the day that I was stupid enough to buy one. Never again! :banghead:
 
#125 ·
The more I read threads like this the more I just LOVE my LT1.... I almost bought a 95 NorthStar Deville.... I am SOOO glad I didn't. And that makes me sad to say, I really was hoping to get one and enjoy it, but the liability of it isn't worth the pain. I guess if I had a ton of cash to throw at it.

A friend of mine has a 99 SLS that his is blown the head gasket now, advice for him? He is wanting to keep the car, but not to thrilled about tossing $4000 on it to fix. Tossing in a LS1 IS an idea.

Has it been done at all yet? Maybe using a Corvette PCM to hook up with the electronics? Vettes typically have FDC and such.
 
#126 ·
#128 ·
Wow, you are right!

Those three year amount to almost 70% of the problem...

Why do I suspect that some lawyer at GM is aware, and worried, about this fact.

Has anyone considered a class action? Didn't something like this happen with intake gaskets on V6 Buicks?
 
#129 ·
I have a 1997 Cadillac Concours. My sister in law overheated 3 mos ago and had a new radiator, water pump and thermostat installed. Car was fine for a month then overheated again. After sitting a bit and pouring in coolant, all the warning lights/messages disappeared. I drove the car for two hours Friday and it overheated again. I read the messages carefully and limped to a service station. They replaced the thermostat saying it did not have a gasket around it. When they test drove car it overheated again. After further testing they said the head gasket was blown and that I should replace the entire engine. Does this sound right?
 
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