Cadillac Owners Forum banner

Concerns with my 1997 Northstar Engine

14K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  Ranger 
#1 ·
I just picked up a beautiful 1997 Eldorado. It was owned by a 91 year old man who unfortunately can not drive any longer. The car is absolutely beautiful! It looks like it just came out of the show room. The car has 85K on it right now. My concern in reading this forum is; Do I get rid of it while I have the chance and while its in pristine condition. I am concerned from the forum that no matter what you do eventually the Head Gaskets will blow and if that's true. While hasn't Cadilliac standed by their products and have a recall?
 
#4 ·
Change the oil, flush the coolant, change plugs and cables (ac delco 41-950 plugs ONLY) do a block test

Struts and shocks are roughly $800 a wheel for this car. Check for oil leaks at the case halves, if weeping let it do so, if its leaking pretty bad youre looking an extremely costly repair


Oh and welcome to the Eldo section :)
 
#5 ·
Head Gaskets are "relatively" Minor. This means that for the production numbers the cars have experienced, the number of HG failures are somewhat insignificant.

Not all Northstar V8s will blow their head gaskets. You have to keep in mind that a vast majority of people come to the forums to complain or seek help for a problem. There are few that praise their cars. THer is, however, one dude over in the Northstar forum with 540,000 miles on his BONE STOCK Northstar.

It's up to you on whether to ditch the Eldo or not. Would you consider a $3,000 repair on a car worth roughly that much worthwhile?

How much do you like this car?

Has the car ever been overheated?

What are the service records?

It seems, to me, that repeated overheating of the Northstar is a BIG part of the failure. Head gaskets almost never fail on these cars, it seems that the headbolts lose their clamping force, and BOOM. HG "failure". It's a bit of the 'Chicken or the egg' with HG failure, though, as general consensus is.

If it's never been overheated, and serviced regularly, that VASTLY improves your chances. If you plan on keeping the car, change the coolant yesterday, read up on the technical archive, keep it from overheating, and ENJOY!

Oh, and if you decide to sell it, post a listing on the classifieds. I'm sure there are some members :D that would LOVE a crack at this car.
 
#6 ·
Thanks everyone for their Input. The replies have put my mind at ease. Since I absolutely love this car. I'm going to take a pro-active approach and put in a new water pump, Radiator and thermostat. This will absolutely ensure I never ( or lessen) my chances of overheating. Maybe I'll get to the 540,000 mile mark like the guy mentioned above.:)
 
#11 ·
I guess everyone's right. I'll change the oil (synthetic) Flush the cooling system and pray. :) Speaking of cooling system. I hear that you need to drop some special tablets into the radiator? is that true? Or can I just take to any mechanic shop to do a flush of the system?
 
#12 ·
DO NOT use the sealant tablets. GM at first recommended them as a way to seal any small holes. The only thing they tend to seal is the heater core. GM no longer recommends them. They are a waste of your time, money, effort...

Not trying to be rude, just trying to be direct. :D Good luck! Sounds like you got an excellent automobile :thumbsup:
 
#14 ·
What I did to aid reliability on the 3 early 2000's Devilles that we owned was to change both belts, tensioners and idler pulley. Also I changed all the radiator and heater hoses. Years ago I used to be cheap but after I felt like an idiot once on the side of the road with a 15 year old car with a blown hose, I change all the above. Rubber does not last forever.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Thank you for the answers to his questions. I am configuring a recently acquired '95 STS (67k miles)and also interested in freshening the cooling system. I intend to change all the hoses and belts along with a hard look at the idlers per the advice above.
Outside of steps previously mentioned, does anyone see the value in a re-torque of the heads? It is done with other aluminum head applications, so is that something commonly done to this engine?
Thanks :thumbsup:

After reading the thread about repairing head bolt threads, I'm thinking I don't want to ask much more from those block threads and I should be greatful that the gaskets are still holding.
 
#18 ·
There is no final torque spec on these head bolts, so don't even remotely consider thinking about or even performing a "re-torque".

These head bolts are torqued to 37 lb/ft and then further tightened a specific number of degrees in 3 successive steps.
 
#21 ·
I myself recently bought a 97 eldo from an older lady i'm Phoenix. I absolutely love my car. Yet I do have some issues. Struts are.completely shot, passenger windows doesn't roll down and my instrument panel.lights keep going.off and on hen headlights are on.. Found a huge hole in the air.conditioner plastic piece that's bolted to the firewall. Any recommendations on what I should.do? I wanna keep it only has 121k miles on it.. And its the etc model..
 
#23 ·
I myself recently bought a 97 eldo from an older lady i'm Phoenix. I absolutely love my car. Yet I do have some issues. Struts are.completely shot, passenger windows doesn't roll down and my instrument panel.lights keep going.off and on hen headlights are on.. Found a huge hole in the air.conditioner plastic piece that's bolted to the firewall. Any recommendations on what I should.do? I wanna keep it only has 121k miles on it.. And its the etc model..
Pretty common. The plastic gets brittle overtime. Replacement part is all but impossible to fine, not to mention that you have to drop the drivetrain to replace it. You may have to get innovative and patch it a gently and as best as you can. Emphasis on gently as it will crumble in your hand.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top