I am going tomorow to look at a '96 seville SLS with only 64,000 miles and very clean I've looked at her before and am taking it on an extensive test drive tomorow. My questions are the northstar head gasket problems really as bad as people say or is it simply a lack of maintnace thing? Are there issues or service recalls for the 1996 model year for these cars? For those of you who own this model year of seville or northstar powered cadillac owners in general whats your opnion on these cars? What should I look for tomorow are they known for leaking anything from anywhere? And last thing is how do I check for any codes,what buttons do I have to press? thanks for any help guys.
Looking at a '96 seville SLS need advice
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Remember, people come here with problems, not to say that they have had none, so the perception is that all Northstars have head gasket problems. Not so. I am selling my '97 with 106k on it tomorrow to a neighbor. I would not do that if I was concerened about it. There are many on this and other sites with well over 200K. Cooling system maintanence is the biggest factor. Make sure it is maintained. '96 is when GM started using Dex-Cool (5 year changes) so your car should have had at least one coolant change by now and just about be ready for the second.
Some leak oil at the halfcase seal. It usually is nothing more than seepage and is a niusance but will not cause any problems.
'95-'97's had a fuel rail recall. You can tell if it was done by removing the 4 plastic acorn nuts on the beauty cover and lifting it off. If the fuel rail is black plastic it has not been done. If it is stainless steel, it has been done. If it hasn't, you can take it to any Cadillac dealer to get it done for free.
As far as codes go, I am not positive what dash configuration is on that model. I want to say it is the INFO UP and OFF buttons (simulatneously, press and hold. Prompts are answered yes with the ON?OFF button and no with the INFO RESET button). If it does not have those buttons, then it may be OFF and PASSENGER WARMER (HI FAN will = yes and LOW FAN will = NO).
Some leak oil at the halfcase seal. It usually is nothing more than seepage and is a niusance but will not cause any problems.
'95-'97's had a fuel rail recall. You can tell if it was done by removing the 4 plastic acorn nuts on the beauty cover and lifting it off. If the fuel rail is black plastic it has not been done. If it is stainless steel, it has been done. If it hasn't, you can take it to any Cadillac dealer to get it done for free.
As far as codes go, I am not positive what dash configuration is on that model. I want to say it is the INFO UP and OFF buttons (simulatneously, press and hold. Prompts are answered yes with the ON?OFF button and no with the INFO RESET button). If it does not have those buttons, then it may be OFF and PASSENGER WARMER (HI FAN will = yes and LOW FAN will = NO).
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