[RippyPartsDept]

I received the following PM recently ... I figured that this was probably a good oportunity for us as a community to give our thoughts on this all too common situation so that we could help many other prospective Northstar owners know what they might be getting into

What follows is the new member's message to me and my response. Please add your own, I'm sure there's much more than what I could muster at the time.

hey rippy

im a new member arand i need your advice i across a 2001 deville for 500.00 her in charlotte,Nc and i need advice buy or scrap it and look elsewhere. it 150k and it was female owned car ive been toying with this for about 2 weeks and i want the car but done want it to be a money pitt..

from what she has told me that the car has the following issues

-over heated
-needs a radiator
-fuel pump
-cracked block(idk 100%)
-battery
-front window regualtors

im lost on a gm car i have mainly working on lincolns and i can fix those.. if it need head gaskets il pay to get those done but i wanted a cadillac mans opinion

please be honest and tell me what u think

$500 is a fair price for a car that needs head gaskets (as this one almost certainly does) if it's in otherwise good condition
and it doesn't sound like it's in very good condition... those other items could add up to a thousand dollars in parts
and if the block is cracked you might as well sell the car for parts

my best suggestion would be to post your own thread in the deville ('85-'05) forum and get the feedback of the full membership
there's lots of people with a lot of good opinions ... you know, the old "two heads are better than one" axiom

my final opinion would be to walk away unless you really want this car ... it will definitely be a learning experience (or money pit/project/hobby car)

cheers,
chris

 

[MoistCabbage]

:yeah:

A clean, maintained, low mileage car with HG issues, is a great deal if the selling price is cheap. After repair, you can end up with a real nice car for ~$4K-$5K. Start adding pre existing problems and damage, and the value can diminish QUICKLY.

IMHO, a car similar to the one you're describing, could be bought, WITHOUT HG ISSUES, for less than the cost of proper HG repair.

 

[rodnok01]

Sounds like you hit the nail on the head to me Chris. Unless the poster has some skills to fix the car they should walk or be prepared to shell out some big money possibly. For that money and mileage putting much into it will be throwing money down a pit. If it had less than 100k it would be a different story.

 

[RippyPartsDept]

i'm pretty sure that most of the members here will come to the same final conclusion so lets open up the discussion with the kinds of things to know before you even can begin to think about going and looking at one of these cars

stuff like the 8th digit of the VIN tells you if you have the highway cruiser or the performance engine
active/electronic suspensions are much more expensive to replace than passive
stuff like that

then other things to do when you decide that a car is worthy of a test drive
like checking the purge line and doing a block test if it's clear

let's get links together to point these new members in the right direction

----------

I think a sort-of-FAQ like this would be really valuable to us all... help givers and help receivers
mainly on our (my) side it would help save a lot of time retyping stuff over and over again

instead we could just link to the 'before you buy FAQ' or whatever it would be called

 

[01whtdeville79]

chris

i really want this car and i want it do to the price and the experience as a entry level gm student at cpcc here in charlotte, nc starting march 2013. the car does not cranck do to the dead battery. im in the process of trying to jump start it and go from there. I found a replacement motor for the deville but i want to get the heads done on that one and swap the motor over is that possible or could u even drop a 4.9 in the car? lol just thinking off all the ideas and so forth

 

[MoistCabbage]

Don't plan on a 4.9 swap unless you're willing to spend lots of time and money on mods and custom work, and don't mind ending up with a car in which half if the electrical systems are non functional.

DEFINITELY stud the replacement engine before you install it. And remember, you need one from a VIN Y car.

 

[RippyPartsDept]

4.9L will not work in this car ... NorthStar 4.6L only ... preferably a matching 8th VIN digit ... Y or 9, which ever one comes out should go in

studding or inserting the block of whichever motor is going to be used is a great idea and would be a good project for a student like yourself
there's a lot to it though... definitely do your homework first to make sure you know what you're getting into

 

[01whtdeville79]

good new chris the car has 120k miles and so on that not its a kepper? what do u think and the replacement motor is from a 99 deville or would i be betteroff fix the one thats already in there? im trying to get all the answers as much as possible.

 

[MoistCabbage]

Pre '00 Northstars are not compatible. There's a "sticky" thread at the top of the Nortstar forum page on interchangeability.

 

[RippyPartsDept]

99 and prior had a different ignition system so you'll have to go with 2000-2005 ... maybe someone else can give you the ins and outs of the differences between the compatible '00-'05 engines but as far as i remember all the differences are minor (if any) except for the head bolt thread coarseness differences in the 2005 engines (and maybe some 2004s)

...

if you weren't an auto tech student i would say walk but since you are i'd say realize that it's gonna cost you but you'll learn a lot

all the help you need is here on this board already been posted (asked by others in your same position) ... very unlikely that anything you run into won't have already been brought up (many) times already

...

probably best to start a thread when you are about to start the work and keep all the discussion about the job in there to keep it organized and easy to find

continue to use this thread as a pre-purchase sounding board for any questions or concerns you have

and check back for other members' thoughts as they browse through the forums and run across this thread for the first time

 

[bmoore2]

Perfect car for an auto tech student. Buy it for $500, drop the front subframe, stud it, do the maintenance while everything is apart. Put it back together and have a nice ride for less than $2000, all-told.

Good luck, start a project thread and keep us posted with lots of pictures.

 

[Ranger]

"It has 120k"
"It was female owned"
"-over heated"
"Don't want it to be a money pit"
Based on that criteria.........walk.

"If it need head gaskets il pay to get those done"
That changes the above criteria.

 

[01whtdeville79]

i found the stud kit from norsthstarperformance.com and im going to buy the car and getter done

 

[stoveguyy]

My neighbor with 97 deville w/108k miles has bad heads. Wants 700/Bo now. They have ad on CL and yesterday changed it to also read that the radiator failed and dumped coolant into trans so trans is also shot. Bad heads,trans,rad, heck, maybe even a/c is shot and battery is dead. Used cars are a crap shoot.

 

[Ranger]

Bad heads, trans, rad, heck, maybe even a/c is shot and battery is dead.

That car would be expensive if it where free.

 

[rodnok01]

My neighbor with 97 deville w/108k miles has bad heads. Wants 700/Bo now. They have ad on CL and yesterday changed it to also read that the radiator failed and dumped coolant into trans so trans is also shot. Bad heads,trans,rad, heck, maybe even a/c is shot and battery is dead. Used cars are a crap shoot.

That barely makes my "good car to part out" list even if it was a couple hundred.