Northstar Woes, Update > Repairs Completed

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I have said before that the amount of oil consumed, or let out, by these engines would not pass muster down here.

My '97 Falcon uses about 1 litre of oil between 10,000 Kilometer Oil Changes, and that car has done 236,000 Kilometres.   I haven't had to add any oil between oil changes, as by the time it gets down to needing to add oil, it is time for the change.

Holden had trouble with their V6's back in the early 2000's, and they soon fixed it when people stopped buying them.

My own '72 Eldo used to use oil like it is going out of style, or sorry, at the rate of the North Star, but upon replacing the Gaskets that were leaking like Niagara Falls, when I replaced the timing Chain, all is good now.   But, this engine has just ticked over 100,000 Miles, and still going strong.

Bruce.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

On the option of replacing the gasket creating the oil leak.  You have to spend the extra to get that done.  It's more than just mopping up oil.  On my son-in-laws 2002 Comemorative Eldorado the oil drips at speed and hits the exhaust pipe.  The smell of burning oil is annoying, especially in a luxury car. Tom CLC6866

Usually they don't drip on exhaust when they leak. Resealing would certainly be indicated if that were the case.

I could only wish the transmissions in my '59 & '62 would only leak as much as a Northstar leaks oil on it's worst day. At least they don't leak on exhaust.

[76eldo]

AAA towed the car to the guys shop. He rents a hangar at an airport in Pottstown, Pa.
Jim is a full time Cadillac mechanic and has a nice clean well organized shop. He also flies and services his own plane.

I think he's qualified for this job!

He showed me the repair kit, explained the entire process and scanned my car for codes and drive it to get a feel for the overall condition.

I'm also doing a water pump and metal coolant lines between the engine and firewall as they typically rust and leak.

He will have the car through next weekend so more info to come.

Brian.

[62droptop]

it is always re assuring to have someone so familiar with the breed and its issues do a repair for you

i think you are doing the right thing and addressing everything while it is out

[76eldo]

I am picking up the Eldorado tonight.

The head gaskets were replaced, crankcase resealed, new water pump and belt, new metal coolant lines behind engine.

Right before all of this happened, I replaced the alternator, compressor, radiator and surge tank, and radiator hoses, and di the plugs and wires.

Jim, the Northstar specialist, said the engine looked great inside, still had a lot of crosshatch marks on the cylinders, and despite the 104,000 miles, looked like maybe a 40K motor inside, indicating it had good maintenance.

So, my mint looking. great running 99 ETC at a bargain price of $3000 needed a lot of stuff.  I guess I am up to about $6500 now, still not a lot of money for a nice used car, and I think I can get a lot more mileage out of it.

I'll report back tonight after I pick it up with the final bill and Jim's contact info.

Brian

[76eldo]

I picked up my car tonight and I am completely satisfied with the work that was done on the car.

I drove it home (about 45 minutes) and there was no evidence that the car was even worked on.  Everything under the hood was put back to the original factory configuration, no squeaks, rattles, strange odors,  and Jim had the car aligned for me too.

If you have a problem with a Northstar, this is the guy to go to.

My temp gauge never wavered and stayed right in the middle where it is supposed to be.  I gave it the WOT test on the way home (wide open throttle), no fluctuation on the gauge whatsoever.

So I got the car back, new headgaskets, block/lower crank case/ oil pan resealed, new coolant steel lines, water pump, thermostat, and AC serviced and recharged and car aligned and the total bill was $2460.00.

1.  Work was done professionally, excellent communication and friendly easy going answers to questions.
2.  Work was completed at the agreed upon price.
3.  Work was completed exactly on the day promised.
4.  Car is running beautifully and back together like it was never touched.
5.  Work performed by Cadillac/GM Factory trained master tech.

You cannot ask for more than that.

Please contact me at 76eldo@comcast.net for contact info for this excellent mechanic.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Considering the amount of work you had done, I think that price was very
fair.  You essentially have a "new" N* to enjoy for many years.

Mike

[76eldo]

I feel the same way. If not for this guy, I'm not sure what would have become of the car.
I got lucky finding him.

Brian

[Gene Beaird]

Another one saved.  Nice work. 

Does that car have the pearl paint on it?  It kind of looked so.  Not sure what they do with that paint, but _every_ Cadillac with that paint on it that I've seen in a junk yard has always looked great.  The paint always looked pristine, even if the car is a couple of feet shorter than it originally was.

I picked up my car tonight and I am completely satisfied with the work that was done on the car.

I drove it home (about 45 minutes) and there was no evidence that the car was even worked on.  Everything under the hood was put back to the original factory configuration, no squeaks, rattles, strange odors,  and Jim had the car aligned for me too.

If you have a problem with a Northstar, this is the guy to go to.

My temp gauge never wavered and stayed right in the middle where it is supposed to be.  I gave it the WOT test on the way home (wide open throttle), no fluctuation on the gauge whatsoever.

So I got the car back, new headgaskets, block/lower crank case/ oil pan resealed, new coolant steel lines, water pump, thermostat, and AC serviced and recharged and car aligned and the total bill was $2460.00.

1.  Work was done professionally, excellent communication and friendly easy going answers to questions.
2.  Work was completed at the agreed upon price.
3.  Work was completed exactly on the day promised.
4.  Car is running beautifully and back together like it was never touched.
5.  Work performed by Cadillac/GM Factory trained master tech.

You cannot ask for more than that.

Please contact me at 76eldo@comcast.net for contact info for this excellent mechanic.

[76eldo]

Yes, it's White Diamond.

Brian

[CEC #20099]

Steel coolant lines; Nice to see that Cadillac still had not learned that the coolant lines rust out, SINCE 1990. I didn`t replace mine on the 1990 SDV 4.5, when one blew IN MY DRIVEWAY, as my wife came home. I rerouted the heater hoses under the car & up to the firewall. I have no clue if the pipe was still avail, but I did not want to strip the front of the engine to replace another Cad screwup.

c. chleboun #20099

[Gene Beaird]

Interesting.  It must be a metallurgy issue.  The 84-86 Mustang SVO has probably about 4 feet of steel lines running down the side of the engine, routing coolant from the water pump to the heater core.  Heater core issues?  You betcha!  And you have to disassemble the dash to R&R it.  You hardly ever hear of people replacing the metal lines under the hood, though. 

[cadillacmike68]

That's a very nice ElDorado there!

I have a 2000 SLS with about 173K and my oil consumption has gone to about 1qt per 600 miles. Other than that the car is great. I was talking to one of our members at St Augustine with the same situation. His solution was to use 20/50 oil. He had been doing that for a while and it cut his consumption in half with no noticable effects. Anybody else tried it? I'm coming up on an oil change (each 3K) and think I will give it a shot.     Harry
PS I also concurr doing the repair on that beautiful Eldo. Where else can you get that nice of a ride for such a reasonable price.

I had a 2000 ElDorado, coach builder hard boot convertible for 7 years. Crimson Pearl, tan top and the 7 wide-spoke "sherrif badge" chrome wheels. It leaked oil from when i bought it in 2004.  A serious annoyance. I'm glad the OP's work turned out great and that he had the crankcase seals done. That'll reduce consumption tremendously. Now as to the cross hatch patterns in the cylinder, yes it was designed to agressively keep oil on the cylinder walls, and yes this leads to higher consumption, but i used 20W50 for 7 years in that ESC conv, and other than the crankcase halves leaking i had no other engine issues.

That car was powerful, quiet (for a convertible) and got great gas mileage, i could easily get 30 MPG on highway stretches at 75 MPH speeds. I think the better mileage is because it was an ESC before the conversion (very fet ETCs were converted, because they had sunrofs), and the final drive was more economical in an ESC. The stero was non-Bose and was too wimpy, that was my only complaint.

The leak caused some consumption, but the 20w-50 helped cut it back. It got destroyed in a car crash, but now i have what i really wanted, a rear drive STS NorthStar, Platinum edition (with a Bose 15 speaker system!!!). I still have my 68 convertible, so i still get to go topless when i want!

[harry s]

I put 20/50 in on the last oil change and added one quart today at 900 miles. That is up from 600 with 10/30. I think that is the way to go for me. I do have 175K+ so I can't complain too much.
Harry

[76eldo]

The guy that did the work on my car used Mobil One 5W30.  I'm going to stick with that and monitor pil use.

brian