Honestly, is a Northstar Cadillac a wise purchase for a ~20 year old?

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Blunted, yours sounds like the nightmare, worst case scenario Northstar Cadillac I was referring to earlier, it seems that everythign that could go did go, plus more. I bet not more than 4% of all Caddies go that bad, but since all that happened, your input is that much more worthy to me.

[blunted]

Originally Posted by bcs296

A&B solenoids are NOT an expensive repair. .

True.. that is IF you actually find a decent shop that wont try to kill you on the price. When mine went everyone wanted $450+.. and the dealership wanted to pull the tranny. I was screwed until a fellow local caddy member on the board saved my ass and did it for me.

[blb]

Originally Posted by blunted

- Entire suspension started going out.. had to replace everything (struts,mounts,linkss,bushings, ball joints)
-Stupid stuff started breaking.. Oil filter adapter, oil switch,sensor
- A&B Solenoids went on the tranny
- Very bad half-case leak.. makes alot of smoke
- Coils/Plugs blowing
- Radiator Went
- Engine/Tranny Mounts have gone bad
- My brake lines now need replacing
-Car squeaks unexplainably
-Panels warping

Been there, done that, with the brake lines. Its interesting that my 16 year old beater import has the brake lines coated in plastic so they won't rust but my babied GM Flagship STS with only 56,000 miles had metal brake line failures. What kind of garbage metal are they made of that they rust so quickly?
Other items that typically need attention around or before 100,000 miles on these are the A/C compressor bearing (most places typically want to replace the entire compressor instead of replacing just the bearing), water pump, alternator, (PITA to replace), power window motors, CD player (if equipped), serpentine belt idler pulley, tensioner pulley and front hub bearings.

If you can do the work on these items yourself and you have the time, go for it. If you have to pay someone else to do it, it can get prohibitively expensive very quickly. These cars just won't go 200,000 miles with most of the original parts like many of the imports will.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Originally Posted by blb

These cars just won't go 200,000 miles with most of the original parts like many of the imports will.

Or anything with a 350 or 3800

[blb]

Originally Posted by I~LUV~Caddys8792

Or anything with a 350 or 3800

Actually, I've had pretty good service out of Camaros with the 350 and Bonnevilles and Park Avenues with the 3800. Generally speaking, there was more room to work under the hood with the 350's and 3800's vs. the Northstar Caddy's. And the low end torque on both the LT1 350 and 3800 are great. True, there is the occasional alternator or water pump to replace, and in the case of the 3800's, the plastic intake manifolds tend to warp and leak coolant into the cylinder, but I never had near the multitude of problems with the Chevy's, Buicks or Pontiacs than I did with the Caddy. Keeping the Caddy on the road sometimes is like a second job....and until I see several of the latest model years in succession where the headgasket issues seem to have been resolved, I will not purchase another one. I think it's great that you are taking the time to learn from people that have owned these cars, so whatever you decide, you will be well informed. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Thanks, I've heard all of the above concerning the 350 and 3800. There are two other american engines that I'm looking at..the L67 S/C 3800 in a Park Avenue Ultra, Riv or GTP and the LT1 350 in a Fleetwood Brougham The L67 Supercharged 3800 doesn't have the intake manifold problem the N/A L36's do because the supercharged ones have an aluminium intake manifold. And the LT1 is pretty much bullet proof, except for an issue with exhaust manifold bolts.

[Dooman]

Check out the Black one in the Classifieds.. Benjamon Simon.. Right price range

[chuckdobbins]

chad ive had my 97 deville for about a year and a half. bought it with 117 and its got 135 now.

i absolutely love this car.

best part...it was dirt cheap.

age dont mean a thing my friend.

test drive, test drive, and test drive...then buy....and enjoy.

ps: you can get a good one for less than 7k

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

I want something newer than 2000, or I'd really prefer it that way. Also, I want something with less than 100k miles, but more like 60-70k, and the only 2000+ Northstar Cadillac I like is the Eldorado, it's very hard to find one that meet those criteria, with the options and colors I like, for less than $10,000.

I've been searching around here a lot lately, and on autotrader.com I found a number of Eldorados from 93-02. 14 matches were found, one met my criteria for years, price and mileage. It was a white '01 ESC for $9,900 with 84k miles and it looks mint, otherwise everything else was too old, too high of miles or too much money. These Eldorados are quite expensive too, some of them are still going for 12-16k!

[TripleblackETC]

Just curious, but any particular reason why you want a 2000 or newer N*?

You could probably find a MINT 1993-1995 with really low miles for the kind of money you're willing to spend.