Scatterbrained

I'm looking at a Caddy with a Northstar engine for a daily driver, and I wondered about the reliability of these, since I have no experience with them. Anyone have any insight into them? I haven't heard anything bad, but then I haven't done any research either...

Scatter'd

Bullman

I would pass. Those things are cheap for a reason. IIRC, the entire motor has to be replaced if a head gasket goes out. FYI, I had an 02 Aurora (4.0 Northstar) and the motor itself was great but I only had it for a little over a year. Good power and sounded nice. The rest of the car though was in constant need of maintainence/repairs (a/c system, crankshaft position sensors, 3 steering shafts, cv joints, etc). Fuel economy on the freeway was about 24-25 which was not so bad considering the size of the car. I got tired of dumping money into it and got rid of it. IMO, it was just not cool enough to justify the hassle. YMMV.

Bullman

Kebrock

I had a 94 STS and had really no major problems with it other than normal maintenance. The only thing of noteworthyness was the starter went out. I had the car from about 75,000 miles to around 120,000 miles.

FU

Very reliable.............but sooner or later your going to need a head gasket. To do both sides with timeserts that are needed to do the job properly is an expensive job (2-3 K)

PeterK

My friend had a late 90s caddy with a northstart and it blew a headgasket soon after warranty. The local caddy dealer simply refuse to even give an estimate on how much it would cost to replace the gasket saying that it CANNOT be replaced. My friend ended up putting a engine from a junk yard and then selling it for not much more than he paid for the engine swap.

I would stay way .. away from these cars.

Mikeceli

I love the looks of the late Eldorado's.

I too have heard the head gasket/pulled head-bolt hole tread stories. Some on the Cadi forum claim if you maintain the cooling system and NEVER overheat, they can last? But most now have 70,000-100,000 MI. and up, what's the prognosis? Any Cadi Tech's / Ser. Mgr's. out there?

vulgora

not to me

the older caddis with the 4.1 and 4.5 v8 are way more reliable and i have seen some surpass the 200,000 mark

but if you really want a reliable car made from GM , look at a buick park avenue with the 3.8 not as fast but is cast iron with a timing chain
you can even get a super charged 3.8

buick,oldsmobile,pontiac all have the 3.8 and its a great engine
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...es/cheers2.gif

Zrxmax

Northstar motors are all over the place from a reliability perspective. Once rebuilt like the sand buggy guys use to do they can run in a very reliable manner. The problem with that is it cost to much from a practical point of ownership. I also love the looks of some of these and cruise Craiglist in Scottsdale / Phoenix area looking at the late 90s and early 2000s that you see for 3 to 5 k. Some of them are one owners and look to be excellently maintained, garaged, and pampered all their life. In my dreams I would buy a nice clean ETC and re engineer the whole car to rear wheel drive. Again... not a practical way to get the body style to die for in an American luxury car.

IMXCITD

i would pass. I have had a couple of them...and lucked out w no major repairs. as many have said...they are reliable...but the labor and repairs are very expensive..that's what get's ya

B Stead

I have a Northstar with 185,000 miles on it. The transmission has the same mileage but can slip when cold and throw an error code.

The engine has a very nice sound at medium throttle.

Well, the aerodynamics and gearing of the Eldorado was easy on the car
.