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

[blb]

Anyone who is not mechanically inclined or without deep pockets should think twice about a used Northstar. I visit many other automotive boards daily, and the Northstar boards, by far, have the most incidents of 5 and 6 year old cars needing expensive head gasket jobs or new engines.....and these are cars that are generally not beat on. Go to the GM F body forums or Corvette forums and you don't see near the number of catastrophic engine failures on cars that are generally run much harder. On a positive note, used Northstar Caddys are a dime a dozen around here and the ones for sale with major engine problems can be bought for next to nothing, so if you don't mind turning a wrench, you can pick up a cheap, fun, quick, comfortable, fuel efficient car great for local driving. Hopefully the design changes made to address the Northstar headgasket issues in model year 2004 will bring these engines up to the quality and reliability levels more consistent with some of the competitor's high end offerings.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Here's a question for you Northstar buffs...

Why the split block design? Why is it a three piece block? Is it an idea they got from GM's experience on the race circuits?

[Ranger]

Not positive, but I believe I recall the Guru mention something about being a one piece main bearing it is stronger and better suited for a high performance engine that the Northstar was designed as.

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by blb

Anyone who is not mechanically inclined or without deep pockets should think twice about a used Northstar. I visit many other automotive boards daily, and the Northstar boards, by far, have the most incidents of 5 and 6 year old cars needing expensive head gasket jobs or new engines.....and these are cars that are generally not beat on. Go to the GM F body forums or Corvette forums and you don't see near the number of catastrophic engine failures on cars that are generally run much harder. On a positive note, used Northstar Caddys are a dime a dozen around here and the ones for sale with major engine problems can be bought for next to nothing, so if you don't mind turning a wrench, you can pick up a cheap, fun, quick, comfortable, fuel efficient car great for local driving. Hopefully the design changes made to address the Northstar headgasket issues in model year 2004 will bring these engines up to the quality and reliability levels more consistent with some of the competitor's high end offerings.

I think the main thing is along with the cars being not driven hard, people don't bother to do maintance, its easy for a car that comeing of a lease, and sent to the used section, to miss that lucky number for coolant changes and slip threw the cracks of maintance.

IN all honesty in my area I see alot more pre-2000 (and them 2000-2005 deville body styles seem to be everywhere too) than I see F-body vehichles on the road.

[Murphyg]

Love my N#
Guy in the unit beside my work.......Says his moms is a piece of crap. Both 01s.
Was just askin him about it 2 days ago.
Told him they are perticular on general maintanance. Really have to do what the book says.
Told me that his brother is driving it now, and that his brothers friend is a mechanic, and hes been the one taking care of it, and he knows how to take care of cars.

So guess nuff said there

[davesdeville]

Originally Posted by Ranger

Not positive, but I believe I recall the Guru mention something about being a one piece main bearing it is stronger and better suited for a high performance engine that the Northstar was designed as.

Yep, it's like a factory main girdle, but better.

[digitalcaddie]

I'll chip in here for Lexus vs. Cadillac. I've got a '97SLS...the previous owner left some cigarette burns in the interior as well as some other stains...didn't really maintain the passenger cabin at all. However, through some good tips from the forum here and some elbow grease, I've got the thing running pretty well.

I got married to a little lady 2 months ago who has driven a '96 Lexus ES300 for 6 years. She's very picky about being clean/neat and her car is no exception. The body/paint of the Lexus looks brand new while the interior is flawless. That being said, she prefers to drive my dirty Cadillac (pisses me off how badly the previous owner treated his car) more than her spotless Lexus due to the way it drives, handles and rides. She's got a little bit of a lead foot and said she likes how the Caddy easily accelerates to 80 and feels very stable and safe.

As for my opinion, I'm 6-6 and can't fit in her car...case closed.

[Murphyg]

Ive been hearing that more and more. And its usually from die hard import drivers.
I remember the first time I heard it. Was just after I got my 01. This guy is import all the way. For the life of me I didnt expect anything near a compliment from him. But he was going on about the technology and what not, but what really impressed him with Cadillac is how spacious they are. Kept bugging me to take him for a ride.
I hear it from others as well after they take a look at it. "Wow look at all the room!" My guess is that many dont even look at Cadillac till "after" they buy there imports.
As far as Im concerned a luxury car should be comfortable. But how can you be comfortable, no matter what other luxury items are included, if it feels like your crammed into bread box.

[kelownacaddy97]

I had never owned a Cadillac N* before and recently bought one (1997 SLS) at the auction for $2,500 and then found out it hadheadgasket problems and slowly the overheating got worse and worse. That being said, I absolutely love the car and it is in very nice shape for having 273,000kms on it. An elderly couple had it and drove it to California lots and towed it behind their motorhome.

It handles and drives far better than my other car with 103,000kms on it and there is nothing like it on a big highway cruise and for power and acceleration.

Now, the HG finally went and is in the shop right now being repaired at a cost of $2,500 by a good local mechanic. Local GM dealer wanted $4,000 and decided against them because no doubt they would find another $1,000 in repairs to do. In the end, I figure I will be into the car for $5,000 which I would put anyone to the test to find another car/make for that type of money that would be comparable.

Oh yeah, I did have to oput a new alternator in as well!

[josh42892]

Well being that I have only owned one car since I started driving. It being my 93 STS. I have to say I like and dislike the N*. The previous owners took very good care of this car. It is starting to show signs of aging now though being I have to leave it outside of our garage since we have too many vehicles. I love driving this car and I love the power. I do not love the maintenance costs. Don't really mind the fuel economy. It gets around 19MPG average, mostly city driving through "tourist filled retard I cant pay attention to the road or the speed limit because I am too busy reading my map land" known as Central Florida. The average mpg is about the same as my parents 99 v6 Grand Caravan but personally I would rather have a car with power than spend less money on gas and drive a Prius.

I have no idea if the head gaskets have ever been replaced but people are pointing the problems I have had to them however I disagree. I had recently had overheating issues up the ass with this car. I left it home with my dad one day when I couldn't drive it when I went to work due to it overheating a mile from my house. He pulled the thermostat and drilled holes in it and put it back in filled it with regular water from the garden hose and no real problems since even when driving it hard. We had overheating problems with our old 91 Sedan DeVille so I just thought Cadillacs in general overheat but that car had serious issues with the owner not taking care of it changed my mind a bit. Apparently he thought it was ok to drive it without the proper amount of oil. Next thing we know we hear a sound... turns out to be a very loud rod knock. Needless to say we sold it back to him after his wife creamed it with a dodge van the size of a bus and it was rear ended by a jeep as well. But that was a 4.9l. Anyway back on track. I constantly put gumout in...not the cheap crap either that high mileage stuff, every 3 tanks usually. I check the constantly changing oil level every few days and top off and change it every 2600 miles. The car has 245,584 miles on it as of 10/19/2007 with no real big problems except one. The car shakes like it is constantly trying to down shift and up shift when in fourth gear at about 55 to 80mph don't know about higher but heh... don't feel like getting a ticket, but with this many miles on it a major problem should be expected right? A lot of the cooling components on this car have been replaced some due to age one due to the radiator fan putting a hole in the radiator somehow. The only thing to replace now is the water pump. Yes for me maintenance is the biggest turn off to the car but I like it and can't afford a newer car which would more than likely be another N* Cadillac. I really don't care what anybody says about N* and if they are junk or what not. It is my first car I love it, it drives smooth except for the shaking bs, handles like a dream, cheap insurance rates,decent gas mileage(19 city 28 highway) in this day and age of suv gas guzzling behemoths. They are a bit temperamental in my opinion though. But I still love it with all the bs included.

[limoguy]

Well..if you like power, comfort & good looks. I would say northstar is the way to go. I have owned a ford crown vic police package. My cady blows the doors off it!..buy a northstar!