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124K views 82 replies 28 participants last post by  Submariner409 
#1 ·
Hey,
I am looking for some information on the oil usage of the northstar engine. I am looking at a 2000 STS. If I purchase it, it will be my second Caddy. I have heard that the northstar engine requires a quart of oil every 1400 miles. For the past six years, I have driven my 94 Caddy with the 4.9L from Arizona to Florida with no loss of oil. Does anyone out there have a northstar engine? If so, can you share some information on this topic?

Buddy94
 
#35 ·
:yawn: If good ol' Destroyer is lurking, he can take my quote from Post #32 and slide it up here, 8.3 months later. To date, in order to maintain the oil level at halfway up the hashmark, I have added 12 oz. of Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30, and this covers a round trip to CT and another to OH, all highway. No coolant. 3 runs to 132 mph (GPS).
 
#39 ·
ehanso, All your codes are benign. Clear them and drive the car. Establish a code history, then begin a new code thread. Remember that when you clear codes the system needs 2 weeks of normal driving to settle out in order to pass an OBD emissions test.
 
#41 ·
:bump:

Took a bit of digging, but this is the perfect thread to share this tidbit............

GM TSB #02-06-01-009C of Oct. 23, 2003 gives quite a rundown on Northstar oil consumption, reasons, fixes, and combustion chamber cleaning. Well worth the read.......maybe one of our techs can post the entire thing....it isn't too long, BUT there are two points that bear repeating and which will raise a lot of eyebrows:

1. The current GM accepted oil consumption figure for a maintained moderate-mileage Northstar engine from the 1996 - 2003 year group is 2000 miles per quart.
2. If the oil level is at the MAX mark, or close, on the dipstick, then the engine is a half quart overfilled and the PCV system will rapidly scavenge the excess oil by sending it to the intake manifold to be burned. (This alone may lead to perceived high oil consumption.)

If you can't wait, subscribe your car to www.alldatadiy.com and read the TSB section. Eye-opener. Actually, anyone who has arrived since mid-2007 should read this entire thread - both pages.
 
#48 ·
My N* powered Cadillac has been very reliable in the year+ that i've owned it ...

i've been on two long trips ... alternator is the only major repair that i've done

and i would hate* to have a 4.9 powered vehicle

IMHO the N* is by far the superior engine ... and then on top of that there is all the other technology in my car that is superior to the tech in the 4.9 powered vehicles

* - hate is the wrong word here but is quick and easy so i'll use it even though it might be inflammatory
 
#49 · (Edited)
We lose sight that every Northstar failure or shortcoming in these Forums represents a tiny fraction of total FWD Northstar production.

Let's guess, for openers, that over the 8 years of CF there have been 8,000 FWD Northstar threads of problems from 8,000 different posters. That's 1,000/year, a bit high in my estimation.

Quick - as of December, 2003 (the last of the predominantly problematic FWD Northstar production) how many engines were built - TOTAL ???

(Northstar production by year is now posted in a sticky in Engines; Northstar main threads page.)
 
#52 · (Edited)
Sometimes a reputation earned can't be explained - it is what it is. I can't give scientific evidence as to why, but what Destroyer said about John Doe taking the time to advertise that "this is the better 4.9, not the Northstar" certainly occurs on a semi-frequent basis - and that has nothing to do with reported failures or perception on cadillacforums.com .

EDIT: Hell, 10 seconds after opening a craigslist tab I find this, posted today. Perfect example.

http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto/2429066862.html

Whatever the reasons, the N*'s reliability reputation, whether it's accurate or not, appears to be lower than average. It's not because "no other vehicle engine has problems".
 
#57 ·
Hmmm.....
If I'm out shopping for a 15 YO car, I'm doing so to have a nice car that hopefully won't be expensive to keep on the road. If I was shopping for a high performance luxury sedan, I'd be down at the dealer picking up a new CTS-V. Given my "needs", a 4.9 with it's MUCH easier/cheaper rebuild makes MUCH more sense.
 
#53 ·
That CL ad doesn't mention anything about one motor being better than the other. It just clearly states which engine the vehicle in the ad has. Since 1994 was a year where there might be confusion on that point it makes sense that they would state clearly which engine is in the car. "4.9L NOT the Northstar" does not sound like an endorsement of one or the other to me
 
#55 ·
This week it's Northstars and 4.9 GM engines; next week it will be 4.6 Ford OHC's and turbo v-6's. The week after that it will be Mercedes something-or-anothers. My reliability opinion goes to the Olds 455 RWD engine series, but then, engine opinions are like buttholes: everybody has one.

This thread is doing pretty well for 7.5 years old !
 
#65 ·
Tough question. Hard to answer the question "what would you pay for something you don't want". That said, I wouldn't give a nickel for it. It's worth nothing to me -how do I put a price on a car I don't want to own? A car's value is not what KBB says, it's not what the average on the market is, it's not even what you think it's worth: it's what you can sell it to the projected buyer for. The buyer controls the price.

In this case, me being the projected buyer, it's worthless.
 
#69 ·
For better or for worse, the "worth" (and cost) of an object - cars be damned - is what the market says it is. Personal opinion has absolutely no say in the matter. Someone pooh-poohs your wares and tells you that whatever you're selling is worthless, you look them in the eye, ask them to FO, and look elsewhere.

People like that know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

I'm trying to sell a condominium boat slip in a depressed boating market. The brokers and tax assessors say it's "worth" $55,500. I'll be lucky to get $45k, tops.
 
#70 ·
I'm surprised no one has brought this up in this thread yet; and its a question I've had for a while: if my car is burning a quart every 1000 to 1500 miles, then can I extend my oil change intervals? Right now I'm doing Rotella 10W-30 and PF61 filter every 4000 and the car is at the 4k mark. So at this point, half the oil is "fresher" than whats left from the original 7qts. This car is my freeway-commuter for my 75 mile r/t country-to-the-city ride (95% expressway).


For all of those potential Northstar Performance customers, I had jake stud the engine and I think I have put on about 9000 miles and its been running perfect. Last week it was in the 90's and it never went above 222 degrees (95MPH on a 95 degree freeway for 15 minutes). If i'm driving like I normally do, it is at 200-208 when I'm 65MPH and cruisin. I have done MANY WOT's in this beast too.
 
#71 ·
If this is the '99, you can easily go by the Oil Life Monitor. Even with NO oil usage, 4,000 miles, particularly 4,000 miles of suburban/highway driving, is WAY too early to change the oil & filter.

You are getting less engine wear in a year of freeway driving than in a month of city driving. The Shell oil is just perfect for the '99.

Highway driving: Different car entirely, but my one of my daughters drives over 35,000 miles a year, all highway and Interstate. She just traded a Honda Civic in on a Hyundai Sonata. The Civic had 276,000 miles on it, was quiet as a mouse, and used not a drop of oil. Normal maintenance only - the head had never been off. My 1995 F-150 I-6 had 140,000 on it when traded. Perfect condition, all highway.
 
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