Which northstar engine is good

Many Northstar engines have reportedly experienced head gasket failure, which can be quite an important and expensive repair. The problem occurred when the engine ran hot for too long of a time, and the head bolts would pull out of the aluminum block, resulting in a leak of coolant and a loss of coolant moving into the combustion chamber.

The most common years of the head gasket issues for the Northstar engines are , with the change of Cadillac lengthening the head bolts severely reducing the prevalence of the problem in Northstar engine cars. This decreased the chance of failure but did not eliminate the issues, showing how the Northstar engine remained bad in the following years. However, once the and model years came around, the head bolts were replaced using the LS6 head bolts, which were longer than the originals and had a coarser thread with a better girl, effectively altering the issue and making the Northstar V8s no more prone to head gasket issues than other aluminum V8 engines.

Other issues with the Northstar engines that have gone bad are the oiling in the cars. General Motors fixed a lot of these problems after the model year, but earlier cars develop leaks around the seals and valve covers in the vehicle. The oil pressure can quickly plummet, especially on the early Northstar engines in the and models, due to the debris caught in the oil pressure relief valve. This problem will require the owner to replace the seals and the gaskets, with the gaskets being a bit tricky and time-consuming to fix.

For cars in the pre category, they tend to go through oil much quicker than newer and more modern vehicles. The oil is not leaking in these cars, but it is being burned off quicker in the combustion chamber.

This can allow the engine blow-by to go directly into the crankcase and cause a huge decline in power and fuel economy, showing how the Northsatrr engines can be bad in the earlier models. You should change your coolant at 3 or 4 years, not , miles unless you drive more than 30, miles a year. If the car is out of warranty, I would decide whether to take the car to a dealer or to a mechanic based on the problem I'm having.

I have the oil changed at a reliable service station that gets in 8 fresh quarts of 5W Mobil 1 when I make an appointment. If you are just now getting the car, I would have the coolant checked for life and combustion products, then change it. Also, of course, change the oil and filter. I'll leave to you whether to change the serpentine belt and the hoses.

Rather than ask for "known problems", you should rather try to understand how these problems can be prevented. For starters, search for "WOT", you'll have fun with that one. Happy reading I think you meant 7. Overfilling it will actually promote oil consumption. Its a great way to read about any car before purchase Occasional problems on this vehicle are the failure of the Crankshaft Position Sensors and the Fuel Pressure Regulator.

A failure of either component can cause the vehicle to stall. A problem with the Crankshaft Position Sensors can cause the vehicle to not start.

The user reviews give you all kinds of info about what someone has to say about the car. It has Pros, Cons and Overall catagories. Soft ride, but tight handling. The best of all worlds. This vehicle has an excellant powertrain. As reliable as the high end imports that I've driven in the recent past.

Goodyear tires develop ride disturbance after 15k miles. This has been my experience with all Goodyears. A vehicle in this price range should come with the BEST tires. I am very satisfied with the ride and handling of this vehicle. The engine is just great! What get up and go! Overall quality of the finish on the interior and the exterior is not up to the high end imports, but the price of the vehicle is. This is Cadillac's weak spot.

The service department has been very good, but lacks the polish of the hgh end import facilities. Nice touches such as a wash after service are not always performed. Good luck with your car, i'm sure you will love it, keep the regular maintence up and you should be fine. And, remember - the people on this board LOVE to discuss anything having to do with Cadillacs - so please do post often and thoroughly - any little question or noise or smell or anything you notice about your car will be discussed at length here once you post the topic.

Spend a coupla hours reading past posts and you'll get a feel for what goes on here - and what to watch out for in your car - and what should be avoided like politics and gratuitously dissing Cadillacs. And, scrupulously follow the recommendations you find here to the letter for instance adding the "tabs" to the new coolant and where to add them - attention to small details can mean a big difference in your car's reliability and loveability. Some good advice Based on mine and about 9 people I know with and early s Northstars and Shortstars And the parts guy at the dealership Not "Occasional".

All of them. When these fail the car will stall and then easily re-start The price above is full retail The effort to install them is only slightly harder then changing your oil. This is a DIY project. These can and do fail at about 50, - 80, miles and are covered under a federal emissions warranty.

Off warranty go for aftermarket universal fit. It will drop from the list of choices on the Head Unit They only way to fix this is to replace the head unit. This problem takes about 2 weeks to a month to manifest The and newer cars seems less likely to have this problem My is a high mileage beast and the original FPR is just fine. My car is on its second one.. I wonder how many of these are diagnosed as head gaskets?

Many Northstar engines have reportedly experienced head gasket failure, which can be quite an important and expensive repair. The problem occurred when the engine ran hot for too long of a time and the head bolts would pull out of the aluminum block, resulting in a leak of coolant and a loss of coolant moving into the combustion chamber.

This is especially evident in Northstar cars that have heavy and billowing white smoke coming from the exhaust pipes of the vehicle. The failures of the head gasket in the Northstar engines caused the engines to run very hot and overheat while driving, which in turn, made the problem worse and get worse faster than it normally would have. Repairs for this issue are especially expensive and at the high end of the price spectrum, since the engine will have to be removed from the chassis to do the repair, showing how Northstar engines can be a bad choice.

The most common years of the head gasket issues for the Northstar engines are , with the change of Cadillac lengthening the head bolts severely reducing the prevalence of the issue in Northstar engine cars.

This decreased the chance of having the failure, but did not completely eliminate the issues, showing how the Northstar engine remained bad in the following years. However, once and model years came around, the head bolts were replaced using the LS6 head bolts which were longer than the originals and had a coarser thread with a better girl, effectively altering the issue and making the Northstar V8s no more prone to head gasket issues than other aluminum V8 engines.

The Northstar engines after the and model years are known for their long lifespan and reliability, and show how Northstar engines can be good vs. Now that you know head gasket issues are a prevalent problem in some model years of the Cadillac cars, you should know how to spot a head gasket leak. Head gasket leaks can oftentimes be hard to identify and diagnose in a Northstar engine, showing how this engine choice could be bad when fixing your own vehicle.

The typical symptoms of head gasket failure include the radiator needing to be constantly stopped up with water after minimal use and plumes of smoke emitting from your exhaust pipe. However, with some Northstar engines, these signs are not always apparent and easy to spot. If you see the level of this light dropping very quickly in a short amount of time, this can be a sign that the coolant is leaking in your vehicle. This limp mode is used to keep the engine running even when the coolant tank is dry, but this can sometimes actually damage the engine further, showing the Northstar engine can be bad when the coolant is leaking.

Other issues with the Northstar engines that have gone bad are the oiling in the cars. General Motors fixed a lot of these problems after the model year, but earlier cars develop leaks around the seals and valve covers in the vehicle.

Say what you will about Cadillac, but they practically reinvented the market for top-end cleaners, fuel system cleaners and head gasket sealers. In addition to the aforementioned problems, Northstars of all years have a nasty habit of blowing head gaskets. Especially after any kind of overheating event. One of the big selling points of the Northstar was its resistance to overheating, and it certainly has that.

But overheat it once, and you'll find out how little margin of error GM engineered in for excess metal expansion. Part of it has to do with the engine's basic design, but a good bit of it has to do with the awful, single-use, torque-to-yield head bolts Cadillac used. TTY head bolts are a bane to all mankind; once tightened, they permanently stretch.

That's nice for assembly purposes, but overheating a TTY-bolt engine -- especially one with aluminum heads -- stretches the head bolts further than they were meant to go.

And being TTY bolts, they don't shrink back to size when the heads contract. That causes the head to sit loose on the engine, and the head gasket to blow. Forget head gasket sealers; the only lasting option is replacing the gasket and The Devil's Bolts. The Northstar is a perfect example of an engine that was slightly over-engineered for its own good.