How do you Northstar owners like your Northstars? Would you recommend them?

[Ranger]

"oil pan gets clogged"
"leaking coolent due to dex cool"
"needs pellits"
"interaction with coolent"

You buy a 9 yr. old car with 116K on it, no idea of how or if it was maintained, don't check it out and then blame the engine.
You are so badly misinformed that I don't know where to start.

"why wouldn't you buy a 3 yr old lexus in 1st place"
Why didn't you buy a 3 year old Deville?

[dkozloski]

Originally Posted by Ranger

"oil pan gets clogged"
"leaking coolent due to dex cool"
"needs pellits"
"interaction with coolent"

You buy a 9 yr. old car with 116K on it, no idea of how or if it was maintained, don't check it out and then blame the engine.
You are so badly misinformed that I don't know where to start.

"why wouldn't you buy a 3 yr old lexus in 1st place"
Why didn't you buy a 3 year old Deville?

You're wasting your time Ranger. This guy got stung in a horse trade and is looking for someone else to blame for his stupidity. Now he's trolling for an argument.

[Ranger]

Yeah, that's obvious and I feel sorry for him, but there is so much misinformation and venum I just had to add my $0.02. I hear most Lexus dealerships don't even have service bays because they never need repairs. Hope Rugby has better luck with it.

[Murphyg]

Originally Posted by Ranger

Yeah, that's obvious and I feel sorry for him, but there is so much misinformation and venum I just had to add my $0.02. I hear most Lexus dealerships don't even have service bays because they never need repairs. Hope Rugby has better luck with it.

Bought from a dealer and 24 hrs later its his expense.
Must have bought as is.
But even with that, most dealers will give "at least" 3 days warranty. If he didnt even have that in the aggrement then he was askin for it and no sympathy here. Lets be serious here. If they wouldnt even give that, any half inteligent individual would question it.

As to the Lexus service bays.
I do know that there are a few Lexus Body Shops in this area.

Dont need service but they seem to crash alot hmmmmmmmmmmm

Reminds me of a few years back; gettin off the highway behind what looked like a fairly new Lexus, and wonderin what it was that seemed to be hangin from underneath.
Then the whole exhaust system dropped.
Good thing he was goin slow on the ramp. That would have been quite the mangled mess if it happened on the highway.

Maybe thats why all the body shops.
Things keep fallin off ?

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Originally Posted by rugby2

I just bought a 97 deville with 116k 24hrs after leaving lot ck coolent went on. turns out has a head gasket problem. also oil pressure due to gunk in pan,screen pick up line etc. was going to fix, got in dealer said eng was crap(now they tell me) best to buy used eng. they get one for 3.1k do some work on tensioners, and coolent pipes(were rusted) say 4.8k asking me for 2.8k. I call up and find used ones for $800 with 75 k, one for 42100 and $200 to ship with only 19k on it. problem is dealer already used the alleged 3.1k eng. They refuse to refund $$. Will give credit on another car in stock(good luck neg. a price off the asking) they had to know were selling a lemon! after asking various car nuts/mechanics, checking internet I would never buy a northstarr again. how can you spend that kind of $ on a new car, and be lucky to get 100k before oil pan gets clogged. head gaskets go? as I understand it problems with leaking coolent due to dex cool. needs pellits. etc. head gaskets often go around 100k. worse due to layout of eng, cost 3 times as much to work on as normal eng. some blame meterlugical makeup of block, heads, gaskets, interaction with coolent etc. bottom line eng is a piece of crap. pray dealer stands behind you if buy used. best buy new, and dump before warranty expires?why wouldn't you buy a 3 yr old lexus in 1st place, avoid mainence headaches?

Well that makes one bad responce out of 60, I'll still go with a Northstar over ANY Lexus. Oh and have fun with your glorified Toyota.

[AlBundy]

rugby2 needs to read that thread started by Bluemoon and finished by Bbob.

High Oil Consumption, Pulled Headbolts, Blown Head Gaskets, Bars Leak, Unstable Temps ...good read.

[GreenMachine]

Funny thing, I can't recall seeing even half or a quarter as many late 90's Lexus as I do late 90's caddys (or any that look as good)....that should say something about the longitivity of these cars. People dump caddy's over a head gasket problem...people dump the Lexus after the timing belt goes? 100% of the Lexus will need a new timing belt at some point, not even 25% of caddy's have head gasket issues.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Don't even get me started on Toyota/ Lexus. Cars for those who don't care or know about cars...

[blb]

Originally Posted by GreenMachine

People dump caddy's over a head gasket problem...people dump the Lexus after the timing belt goes? 100% of the Lexus will need a new timing belt at some point, not even 25% of caddy's have head gasket issues.

...comparing a scheduled maintenance item on a Lexus to major engine failure on a Caddy which involves dropping the entire front suspension, engine and transmission to repair....now that makes sense! LOL

[GreenMachine]

have you looked up what goes into a timing belt replacement on them? The job at a dealer or side shop is quite expensive. Most people dump them before then. I guess your right though the comparision isn't quite equal, then again the Lexus engines are RWD and don't put out the power that the Northstar does (well when comparing year to year and price range to price range).

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

I drove a L37 Northstar in a '99 ETC today. Wasn't real impressed with it, not enough low end grunt, and you had to practically floor it to get anything out of it. I kind of think of it as Cadillac's VTEC. Looks like an LD8 SLS is my favorite Northstar Cadillac, most specificially, a 94-95 SLS.

[cadillac matt]

I thought I'd chip in here...

Yes - I'd recommend a Northstar engine powered caddy to a friend, though I'd tell them to try to go for at least a 2000 since there were significant engineering improvments implemented from that year onward. I bought mine with 86k on it and it had been meticulously cared for. I did have a bit of an oil consumption problem, but semi-frequent WOTS have greatly improved it.

I did read through this thread and there was some Ford slamming going on. I have returned to the Cadillac fold with this car - but I did drive a 94 thunderbird for 11 years and put 286k miles on it. It was an extreemly faithful car. I sold it for $250 dollars to a friend and he is still driving it. I trust that my Deville with go even farther, but that will only happen - in any car - with faithful maintainence

[Richsap]

I'm new to Cadillac and the N* engine. From an engineering standpoint (I are one) it appears to be a fairly well thought out powerplant. I really like the fact that the crankcase holds 8 quarts but only needs 3 or 4 quarts to run. Combined with an oil level sensor this is ideal.

The power of the engine is pretty good considering that they still had to meet EPA standards as well. Gas mileage is actually not bad when you consider the weight of the car (I have a '95 Deville Concours). So far I've verified about 17.5 mpg combined city/highway, and that was before replacing the FPR yesterday.

I've owned four cylinder driven cars that were harder to work on, and I've driven four cylinder cars that were faster out of the gate (but no guts for the long haul). I've never, in my 30 years of driving, owned a car with a better ride than this '95. Okay, maybe I've been deprived. No, just consistantly broke!

[cadzille99]

I have a 99 seville with a northstar with blown head gaskets, dealer quoted 5300.00 to fix. but when they pulled the motor they found a cracked block also. well now the quote is above 9000.00 for a new motor and labor. You have to ask your self is the car worth it? In my case I found a used motor and it still cost me 5500.00 with labor.

[chazglenn3]

I bought a remanufactured Northstar with a 3yr/unlimited mile warranty for $2700...$6000 installed.