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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!
 
#131 ·
1997 SLS Seville... Replaced water pump, crossover gaskets, drinks Dexcool like a phucking pig. 140k miles..Not sure what Im gonna do. May just run the phucker over double ditch into the missouri river. What a complete pile of shit

Cadillacs..what a story. They hold NO VALUE at all. Its no wonder you can buy the shit piles for 2 or 3 k. There a dime a dozen, and for a very good reason. there complete pieces of shit.

If you dont mind paying 5ok+ for a car thats gong to lose 75% of its value at 50,000 miles it may be just the car for you. As long as people bend over and let GM stick it in deep, nothing will change. GM is a horrible company and there STOCK tells the whole story. Wont be surprised if they no long exist in a couple of years...there getting butchered by Toyota.

So you can add me to the list of customers that have been bent over by GM. Its just a shame that they stick it in so deep. Complete piles of shit. NEVER TOUCH the shit piles again.
 
#132 ·
98 deville at 91K. yeah yeah shoulda coulda woulda got something else but anyway i still owe almost 6grand on this thing. not sure what to do. i'd like to try to take this on myself. im a pretty good wrench but i dont have a garage or a lift. anyway welcome to the club
 
G
#134 ·
Well I sure am glad I'm not the only one that feels the N* Caddy's are pure evil shit bombs. I mean, those who haven't experienced their wrath praise them to high holy hell....................until IT happens and then they wind up here bitching about it.
 
#135 ·
I hate to say it, I am just soooo glad I bought a Fleetwood with a LT1...... 248K and counting..... Original engine/trans, never opened up.....
 
G
#136 ·
Now THAT is the kind of reliability that Cadillac should have been building into their cars. In other words, Cadillac should never have their own line of engines ever built again. The cars are much better with Chevy motors. Remember the 4100 and even all that 4-6-8 crap of years gone by?
 
#137 ·
It is my opinion, that Cadillac Motor Division should be the standard of quality at GM, setting the entire Quality methology there.

With the prices on those cars, you are getting an optioned out chevy these days. Nothing more. GM should make a point of buying a Cadillac is a way of life, and for life. This is the car that you can drive confidently for 400K miles. Set the standard. Failures and defects are not optional, nor accepted. The parts need to be tighter quality, and GM can't tell me they don't know how to do it (we got a "polite" butt chewing from a GM Quality exec some years ago, they can talk the talk, but they can't seem to walk the walk at all) GM needs to APPLY what they have learned. 6Sigma needs to be a way of life, not just some program that they use now and then. When a failure occurs, a 5 Phase is done. Ok, cool. NOW APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM IT. It does NOT go into the file cabinet with all the rest of them. They need to go back and apply every single thing they have learned from a 5 phase. And if a supplier is a repeat problem, they are gone. Find another. GM knows how to play hardball. (if you have ever been in cost negotiations, you will walk funny afterwards....)

Cadillac needs to set the quality barometer for GM. And it needs to proliferate to the rest of GM. But failures at Cadillac with that hefty premium on parts costs, should NEVER be option. It is slap in the face to the customer, ESPECIALLY the loyal ones who keep coming back.... Eventually GM, they won't come back, they will take business elsewhere. and unfortunately, they are taking it overseas.... Which if frigging wrong, just plain wrong. And honestly, it is the STUPID things that GM is having problems with not the big things. But that is what people see and remember..... Customers rarely if ever forget poor quality that they had to deal with.

And GM wonders why Toyota is knocking on the door. It should be pretty embarassing to Cadillac that the most reliable Cadillacs have been powered by a 350 Chevy and not a Cadillac V8. And the worst quality Cadillacs are powered by Cadillac engines. That should have everyone who approved those engines fired. Crap guys, I could do a better job running a quality organization than that.
 
G
#138 ·
And GM wonders why Toyota is knocking on the door. It should be pretty embarassing to Cadillac that the most reliable Cadillacs have been powered by a 350 Chevy and not a Cadillac V8. And the worst quality Cadillacs are powered by Cadillac engines. That should have everyone who approved those engines fired. Crap guys, I could do a better job running a quality organization than that.
Or Cadillac should just stick a Chevy motor in EVERYTHING they build. Would it have been objectionable to anyone if instead of a Northstar Cadillacs came with LS-X motors?. Even a 5.3 is a damn good motor. The Chevy motors are more reliable, easier to work on and just as smooth. Not only that but think about all the initial development costs and upgrades done to the Northstar, that money saved would also have made Cadillacs more affordable to the customer OR used to upgrade the quality and components used inside/outside the car. GM really could have made these Cadillacs something that people could keep for a lifetime like they used to with the older Cadillacs instead of the fast depreciating disposable shit piles they have become.
 
#139 ·
That's not exactly true.. and yes it would have been objectionable... GM has been sued (and lost) for doing just this in the past. Some would argue that sticking Chevy engines into Oldsmobiles was the begining of the end for that make.

For the record:
1) The 5.3 in a FWD car is just as tight and just as much of a PIA to work on as the Northstar.
2) The 2000 - 2003 Northstar's are much better (as this poll nicely documents) and the 2004 to present have almost zero issues
3) The LSx motors were designed with the knowledge that >90% of their use will be in Trucks... These are truck motors and aren't as smooth or as quiet as a North*. They are great truck motors, best in the world... They are NOT luxury car motors.

Yes the 97/98/99 motors have issues.. the rest of them will last forever, and even in those dark years the vast majority will not suffer head gasket problems.

The day that GM says sticks a chevy motor into everything is the day that the Caddy division dies.
 
G
#140 ·
I had a N* and I've driven trucks with the 5.3 and the 5.3 is a smooth motor. Lets not get to excited about the '04-up Northstars. I'm willing to bet that in '98 there weren't all that many '94's with issues either. Your'e right though, the 5.3 or other LSX motor would have been a tight fit as well but they dont blow head gaskets like the Northstar and they dont have the huge DOHC heads the N*'s have so maybe even if they did blow a gasket the swap may have been able to be done without all the trouble involved with a Northstar. I will agree that the car as whole is a POS and its not just the Northstar..............if thats what you were inferring by "The 5.3 in a FWD car is just as tight and just as much of a PIA to work on as the Northstar", if not, sorry but after owning one and hanging here awhile, nothing will change my mind.
 
#144 · (Edited)
Coarser (LS1 like) bolts didn't get there until MY 2004

As far as I can tell there are several different Northstars
1) 1993-1995 Short Fine threaded head bolts with Green coolant (few problems)
2) 1996-1999 Short fine threaded head bolts with Dexcool (LOTS, ~70% of the problems, not counting the 1996??? Odd! )
3) 2000-2003 Long fine threaded head bolts with Dexcool (few problems)
4) 2004-present Long coarse threaded head bolts with Dexcool (almost none...fixed?)

and there is a
5) RWD "V" motors have long coarse threads and a closed water jacket and MLS head gaskets
all of the others have open water jackets.
 
#149 ·
1996 SLS. 170,000 miles. Three stripped bolts by cylinders 3,5 and 2,4. I used Time-sert inserts. Head gasket looked good, but I replaced it at first sign of smoke in exhaust. I wonder how goop in a can fix the problem permanately when the root cause is headbolt failure and the symptom is the head gasket. The goop might temporarily fix the symptom but the problem is that the threads are stripped out of the block.
 
#150 ·
I wonder how goop in a can fix the problem permanately when the root cause is headbolt failure and the symptom is the head gasket. The goop might temporarily fix the symptom but the problem is that the threads are stripped out of the block.
The problem is a combo of "bunched up" gaskets and bolts that have failed in the block causing the head to lift...

ALL "goop in a can" options have been basically PROVEN NOT TO WORK on this problem.
 
#151 ·
1999 DeVille Concours in excellent condition with 133K miles...gaskets blown...never overheated to date...exhaust in the coolant resevoir noticed after having to add one gallon twice in 230 miles...after sat a week now observe white billowing 'smoke' and smell out of both exhausts...the car doesn't have a scratch or ding...never wrecked...shines like the day she was new...driver's seat leather a bit worn and the headlight covers are sandblasted and need replaced, also the gas gauge quit (tank unit) but nothing else until the headgaskets...still doesn't overheat. Owned since new and serviced better than scheduled. I wouldn't complain if it was a 'normal' head gasket job as in $500-$1000 but between $4K and $8K+ dependent on route taken? Unbelievable. The northstar and the Seville STS brought back Cadillac and now leaves me and others stranded and frustrated...Nearly $50K new and 133K miles later essentially junk? What gives???
 
#152 ·
Junk to others maybe but junk to you ? A head gasket job should cost between 2-3000 at 4-8000 I am thinking they are wanting to replace the motor ? Did you continue to drive it after you noticed the white smoke ? If so that would definetely kill the motor at least it did on my 99.
 
#154 ·
Sorry about your HGs. Has anyone posted any info on the CTS/CTS-V lounges to let them know about this poll? I'm sure alot of them have upgraded and have not visited the older Caddy lounges. Most of you know that once someone upgrades why would they visite the Seville/Eldo/Deville lounges. We got good information going on about the HG problems so I see no way why it shouldn't flow thoughout the entire forum. Imput please. Thank you.
 
#155 ·
96 Eldorado cream puff 72,000 miles. I drove this car for 5 years with very few minor repairs. I had no problems with loosing coolant or over heating. Then one day on my way home from work it it was running just fine until it started blowing white smoke, the temp shot off the scale and the diagnostics went Krazy so I pulled over immediately and called for a hook to haul it home. I haven't done anything with it yet because I've been having some health issues but plan on fixing it after I retire the end of June. Actually, the engine still runs smooth as silk but after a few minutes it starts blowing white smoke (still runs smooth) and there is coolant coming out the tail pipes so I'm sure it has blown a head gasket or maybe even two. :hmm:
 
#157 ·
Well folks, I'm #36 on the '99 poll.

99 Deville, 96k miles. Blown HG. Replaced with Prestone Dexcool every 3 yrs to try to avoid this fate...

Currently using it as a local car. To reduce overflow from surge pipe, I rigged an empty antifreeze 1 gal container to catch it and recycle it back in when the engine is cold. Works well to buy me some time to figure out what my options are. It has a 15 mile highway range with no traffic. Or 5-8 miles with traffic.

I'm tempted to fix my baby. Done 90% of the work and maintenance myself. Still looks and runs like a 3yr old car. The only thing wrong with it is just the HG and my front right brake caliper (no sense replacing if I'm gonna junk the car). Don't have the skills, time, and equipment to timesert and fix the block myself.

Anyone know any good mechanics willing do to timesert/norms my baby in NYC/LI area for a good price? Otherwise I'll keep using for local till I'm ready for a trade-in.
 
#160 · (Edited)
94 pearl Concours. Wifes well maintained car started having heating problems 3 years ago at 90,000 miles and HG let go at 101,000. Bought wife MB and no more problems. Started into N engine this week to see if could salvage something from this mess. Have been driving GM cars for 40 years and Cads for 20 years. GM should be very ashamed, I have learned my lesson. One question I haven't seen answered is why is there no class action on this? Thanks for all the good info everyone.
 
#161 ·
1999 Deville blew a headgasket about 350 miles from home after almost 1500 miles of a 1850 mile trip done. Drove it home at about 63 MPH and it did not overheat at that speed. Had it into the dealer the next day and three days later it's home again. extensive work done as well as the HG's and time serts. New hoses, heater hoses and bypass hose, new plugs and wires, new belts and maintenance on water pump belt idler, new oil pump (so much sludge in pan that the tech wouldn't trust the old one) new water pump lots of new gaskets and seals. And they did a four wheel alignment since the engine cradle had to be dropped to work on the engine. All this and it only had 92,626 miles on it. At first I was going to trade it ASAP, but decided to keep it now. After looking at how far I drove it in the condition it was in and it never failed, well, that's one really tough engine in my book.

Richard in eastern North Carolina.
 
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