Tell me about the Northstar

[Vic Vega]

I may replace my daily driver. Currently looking at a 2009 Cadillac STS V8 AWD with 15K on the clock. It of course has the 320HP 4.6 "Northstar" V8. I know these engines are DOHC, 32 valve, been around since the early 90s and (hopefully) have the bugs worked out well by 2009. I know the specs on the engine.

Anyone with practical experience with them? Any issues for this MY? I remember reading about ten years ago they had problems with aluminium cylinder sleeve inserts or something along those lines, I assume this is resolved? I'll probably run the car 10 years and 175-200K miles.

 

[pauldun170]

In the 90s they were just a ball of crap but from what I understand is that by 2004-2005 they resolved a majority of the weakness of the Northstar.

 

[KentState]

Did they sell a V6 AWD STS with the 3.6DI? That would be my recommendation since it was a good combination in my '08 CTS AWD. The car had enough grunt considering the weight, ran on regular gas and got 28MPG highway.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

The better engine combo is the 300HP DI 3.6L engine - way better fuel economy and almost the same amount of power.

Buddy had a 2005 STS V8 RWD- he really enjoyed the car, very comfortable, repairs were spendy and he averaged about 18mpg in mixed driving.

 

[Mermaidman]

I've found Cadillac Forums to be quite informative, even for my non-Caddy!

 

[leper84]

RUN THE F**K AWAY.

Srsly, do not buy a northstar, any year. Get the 3.6 or go home.

 

[JulesMaximus]

:biggrin::ninja:

A pole star is a visible star, preferably a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent position is close to one of the celestial poles, and which lies approximately directly overhead when viewed from the Earth's North Pole or South Pole. A similar concept also applies to other planets than the Earth. In practice, the term Pole Star usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.

The south celestial pole currently lacks a bright star like Polaris to mark its position. At present, the naked-eye star nearest to this imaginary point is the faint Sigma Octantis, which is sometimes known as the South Star.
While other stars' apparent positions in the sky change throughout the night, as they appear to rotate around the celestial poles, pole stars' apparent positions remain virtually fixed. This makes them especially useful in celestial navigation: they are a dependable indicator of the direction toward the respective geographic pole although not exact; they are virtually fixed, and their angle of elevation can also be used to determine latitude.

The identity of the pole stars gradually changes over time because the celestial poles exhibit a slow continuous drift through the star field. The primary reason for this is the precession of the Earth's rotational axis, which causes its orientation to change over time. If the stars were fixed in space, precession would cause the celestial poles to trace out imaginary circles on the celestial sphere approximately once every 26,000 years, passing close to different stars at different times. However, the stars themselves exhibit motion relative to each other, and this so-called proper motion is another cause of the apparent drift of pole stars.

 

[JCH13]

My single point of knowledge is that in most northstar engines there was a fatigue issue that cause the blocks to crack at around 100k miles. Not sure if that was a wide-spread issue or not.

 

[manimal]

The cracked blocks on the northstar usually happens near the head bolts. I turned down a head gasket on a northstar a few weeks ago. Thing looked like it hadnt had a coolant change EVER and the car gave me a bad vibe.

Car ended up being towed away from the chain next door unrepaired. Nobody likes to those things.

 

[zbalat]

Don't worry.

GM will send you a new engine NBD as long as you pay for overnight shipping.

 

[rommelrommel]

the better engine combo is the 300hp di 3.6l engine - way better fuel economy and almost the same amount of power.

Buddy had a 2005 sts v8 rwd- he really enjoyed the car, very comfortable, repairs were spendy and he averaged about 18mpg in mixed driving.

rwd sts?

 

[KentState]

rwd sts?

2005+ are RWD or AWD.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Brother's in-laws had an olds Aurora with the northstar. The whole car was built like a tank and the engine was fine up until it blew its head gasket somewhere well north of 150k miles.

 

[rommelrommel]

Huh, sigma platform too. Sounds like it could actually be a decent car to drive.

 

[jagec]

I thought I remembered the Northstar as having issues with carbon buildup in lightly driven cars. Since so many of those engines went into old-people-mobiles, a lot of them would come into shops running "funny". The solution was to toss the keys to the youngest guy in the shop for an Italian tuneup, charge $200, and return the smoothly-running car to the owner.

 

[manimal]

I thought I remembered the Northstar as having issues with carbon buildup in lightly driven cars. Since so many of those engines went into old-people-mobiles, a lot of them would come into shops running "funny". The solution was to toss the keys to the youngest guy in the shop for an Italian tuneup, charge $200, and return the smoothly-running car to the owner.

holy crap I havent heard the term italian tune up in a long time!!!!

I am italian and I approve this message!!


I remember my uncle telling me about multi carb italian cars that he would work on in the old days that they would just beat on for a bit to get the crap out of the carbs..I think thats where the term came from.

 

[Aurora_Boreas]

If you are getting a newer Northstar, it probably (hopefully!) had all the kinks worked out. Check if they still have the infamous "half case seal". That was the dumbest thing ever, if that leaked, you had to pull the engine in order to replace it. Same if the oil pan gasket leaked.

If it still has a half case seal, get the 3.6 and dont look back.