Northstar Headgasket/Bolt Failure? Please let us know

[CoupeDeBlanc]

Originally Posted by N0DIH

So for those of you who have sold or bought a 97-99 Deville with a blown gasket, what is the market bearing?...

Not much around here. Seen newer ones asking $3500 or less and had a friend offer me a mint '98 with only 30k miles on the clock for $1500. They had advertised it on Craigslist for awhile at $3000 with no takers.

Paul

[97BOBSTS]

'97 @ 126k, '99 @ 131k. GM should be ashamed of themselves for the CRAP they have put on the market. On the '99, the dealer told me, and this is a quote, that the head gasket problem was "a non-repairable engine failure", so I had to put a reman engine in it that cost around $5k (parts & labor). I'm PISSED!!!!!!! Maybe I should be ashamed of myself for EVER buying another GM product after the fiasco with the '97. I sincerely doubt that I ever will. HELLO JAPAN, WANT TO SELL ME A REAL AUTOMOBILE?

[N0DIH]

You do need to sort out the dealer garbage with the GM manufacture issues. If you put $5k into a 97 car, that is your own fault, you should have sold it for a grand or so and bought something else. Those cars in new shape don't go for $5K. If a dealer quoted you $5K, I would have gone to someone else for a second opinion. Sorry to say it, but you got ripped, you should rip the dealer's owner first.

I will NOT buy a Japanese car, period. I am sorry for your problem, but this crap attitude that US car manf are inferior to Japan is idiotic and honestly WHY we are in such economic straights today. Yes, GM missed testing for this particular situation, no one, no car company is perfect. In most cases much of the problem is the owner of the car who didn't pay attention to maint and following the GM maint schedules. And then they wanna blame GM for them not opening the hood for months on end. How many people have let the coolant run low for whatever reason, even once, is one of the chief reasons for this problem. GM says to check the oil and do a visual inspection every time you fill up with gas, rarely does anyone. Who's fault is it?

Remember the old bumper stickers? Hungry, Eat your Import....

Check the quality of GM and Ford for the cars in 2000-up, they are much better than the Japanese cars. And you put $ in the US, not
Japan. People have this attitude of me me me, and send our USD outside the US and wonder why our economy is in the garbage can.
Yes, GM had some dark periods on the late 80's and early 90's, but honestly, the Japanese cars were not much if any better. When was the last time you saw a 1990 Toyota, or Infinity or Nissan or Lexus or Subaru driving around? Heck, even a 1997? Not near as often as you see a GM car of the same year. Most ricer burners of those years are in the junkyards now.

Get on with it, you dropped a nice chunk of change on it, now, take care of it like GM says to, enjoy driving a Cadillac for the next 10+ years. There is still no equal.

[jimzilla]

Yes have seen a few...just worked on a 95 that happened at 165K...

[97BOBSTS]

Originally Posted by N0DIH

You do need to sort out the dealer garbage with the GM manufacture issues. If you put $5k into a 97 car, that is your own fault, you should have sold it for a grand or so and bought something else. Those cars in new shape don't go for $5K. If a dealer quoted you $5K, I would have gone to someone else for a second opinion. Sorry to say it, but you got ripped, you should rip the dealer's owner first.

I will NOT buy a Japanese car, period. I am sorry for your problem, but this crap attitude that US car manf are inferior to Japan is idiotic and honestly WHY we are in such economic straights today. Yes, GM missed testing for this particular situation, no one, no car company is perfect. In most cases much of the problem is the owner of the car who didn't pay attention to maint and following the GM maint schedules. And then they wanna blame GM for them not opening the hood for months on end. How many people have let the coolant run low for whatever reason, even once, is one of the chief reasons for this problem. GM says to check the oil and do a visual inspection every time you fill up with gas, rarely does anyone. Who's fault is it?

Remember the old bumper stickers? Hungry, Eat your Import....

Check the quality of GM and Ford for the cars in 2000-up, they are much better than the Japanese cars. And you put $ in the US, not
Japan. People have this attitude of me me me, and send our USD outside the US and wonder why our economy is in the garbage can.
Yes, GM had some dark periods on the late 80's and early 90's, but honestly, the Japanese cars were not much if any better. When was the last time you saw a 1990 Toyota, or Infinity or Nissan or Lexus or Subaru driving around? Heck, even a 1997? Not near as often as you see a GM car of the same year. Most ricer burners of those years are in the junkyards now.

Get on with it, you dropped a nice chunk of change on it, now, take care of it like GM says to, enjoy driving a Cadillac for the next 10+ years. There is still no equal.

It wasn't the '97, but the '99 STS that I invested the $5K into. I love both cars, they are pristine and yes, a cut above what I have seen from any other manufacturer of the time. Fit, finish, features, style and power amaze me for the 10+ year old cars, not to mention 28 MPG on interstate cruising at 80 MPH. I'm just VERY disappointed that the engines are not holding up (I've lost one in two consecutive STS's !!!!) I have been a loyal GM man since I was a teenager. Heck, my daughters initials are GM !! For GM to sell a car with a "NON REPAIRABLE" engine is just WRONG !! Also, I DO follow the maintenance schedules on my Cadillacs and I refuse to use anything but AC/Delco parts on them. I am a working man and I can't afford to have expensive repairs like this, and being an engineer, I am a firm believer in preventative maintenance. And I'm one of the few that DOES lift the hood everytime I gas up. Poor engineering is the problem, not my lack of attention.
I've owned several cars in my life (before the STS's) ... Just a few examples....'72 Volvo -750K with no major repairs / '78 Volvo 240 - 525K, no major repairs, just UGLY / (2) '85 Volvo 740's - 340K on #1, 320K on #2 / '78 Toyota Celica - 330,000 miles. All were bought used and I personally put over 150,000 miles on each of them with the most expensive repair on any of them being a trans for the #1 Volvo ($300 dollars) Both of the 740 Volvo's STILL run and are dependable transportation. The Celica was my one and only Japanese car. And no, none of them compare to the STS, that's why I bought another !

[Fat Brian]

I wish I had seen this thread last week. I bought a 2000 STS on Tuesday, its got 96,000 miles and I had hoped it would be fairly trouble free but this thread has got me worried to death. Is there anything I can do to avoid a HG problem ? Should I have a priest or a Rabbi pray over the car or put a Rosary on the rearview mirror ?

[CoupeDeBlanc]

Good question. Not sure I remember seeing anyone address this specifically (though this thread has been going a long time!) and I'd be interested as well in what preventative (or is it preventive?) precautions can be taken.
Can't imagine it would hurt anything to make sure the coolant is new and to put an additive in that is supposed to seal against small leaks.
I would be cautious however, in deciding whether or not to actually flush the system. It's usually a good idea to clean all the old crap out first, but with this issue you might also be eating away at gasket edges and/or any corrosiong that's keeping things together.
Be interested to hear what the others say about that scenario.

Good luck with yours. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones and won't ever have to deal with it. One can hope...

Paul

[MrEldo97]

1997 Eldorado at 91,459 miles. All of the headbolts pulled out of the rear head, center six I pulled out with my fingers. The front head was fine. I made the repair myself and 2-1/2 years and 25,000 miles later the repair is holding.

I agree with BOB97STS that poor engineering is the cause of this problem and not poor maintenance. My other ride is a '95 Jaguar XJS convertible an absolutely lovely car and far, far less trouble than my Eldorado has been.

[Ranger]

For GM to sell a car with a "NON REPAIRABLE" engine is just WRONG !!

That is ridiculous. No such thing as non repairable. http://www.northstarperformance.com

[Ranger]

The only thing you can do to hedge your bets is to change the coolant. Other than that, prey. That said, the 2000+ is much less likely to suffer this failure as GM made some changes in 2000.

[Fat Brian]

The car is a blast to drive but I still have nightmares from time to time. It appears to have been very well cared for, its clean enough to eat off of inside the heads but there is something strange. The front valve cover is painted silver but the rear is black, is this common or does it have a more sinister meaning ?

[brianroark]

Common.

[83CADMAN]

94 Concourse, in mint shape, originally a 1 owner AZ car. HG went @ 114k. Just been sitting. Sooner or later some one will come up with an affordable short block replacement predrilled for oversize head bolts. Better yet a long block. Sounds like plenty of demand based on this poll. Any entrepreneur’s out there?

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by CoupeDeBlanc

Good question. Not sure I remember seeing anyone address this specifically (though this thread has been going a long time!) and I'd be interested as well in what preventative (or is it preventive?) precautions can be taken.

Buy a Lincoln

[AlBundy]

Originally Posted by Destroyer

Buy a Lincoln

couldn't resist eh?