Help me decide on a Hoopty replacement

[TFucili]

Better yet- the athletic ones with the pinholes, and out in a old car with floor vents on a nice day.

Wing windows and kick panel vents, oh yeah!

 

[mwilson]

So you know "NorthStar" = "$Headgaskets$" regardless of GM's finally fixed/improved (2004+) after a decade of throwaway NorthStar engines. A HG job would cost book value on that car. Cadillac may have a rep for luxury, but, it also has a rep for high priced repair parts and a bad rep for unreliable engines. Oldsmobile, may they RIP, built more reliable engines and even the Olds 5.7 Diesel hand-grenade was almost on par with typical Caddy engine failures.

Whats the coolant service history on it? You have a test kit to see if there is combustion gas in the coolant? I bet the oil pan leaks on it. Don't NorthStars hold 7+ quarts to just "make it" between oil changes between high consumption and leaks?

Buick will get you down the road with less parts need and less expensive parts at that.

I appreciate your concerns and advise, they are known issues for sure.

Not afraid of this generation NorthStar, they changed the thread pitch for the head bolts in that 2004 upgrade. If the dumb GM bas***ds had gone with head studs right off of the bat things would have turned out differently for that engine....
If this one loses a head gasket I will stud it and put it right back together.

Hoopty had 206,000 miles on it before it popped and it is in the early stages. I feel really bad about scrapping that engine as it continued to use 1 pint of oil per 12,000 miles. I've never seen anything like it.

When these do dump a head gasket or pull the threads there is no coolant going in the oil. Either comes out the tailpipe or drips off of the block. So no big clean up after the failure.

Coolant had been changed twice in the new one according to the records, engine had a complete reseal..(timing cover, half case, oil pan and oil filter adapter) at 85,000 to the tune of 2800.00. I'll bet the farm all it needed was the oil filter adapter gasket changed. That makes a mess.... I don't how many folk get conned into these "reseals" but I'm betting 90% of the time that it was NOT necessary.

The NorthStar is a lot like a 2 stroke Detroit Diesel, they weep a bit. No big deal unless an oil drip on your garage (or Man Cave) floor drives you to desperation.

Another tidbit, people put too much oil in them during an oil change. 7 1/2 qts is the max. That's halfway between "Add" and "Full". Fill them to the "Full" mark and they will ralph that pint right back out. Many times that is the "High Oil Consumption" issue......

 

[mwilson]

Transmissions are pretty strong too, too bad they didn't develop the 6 speed version...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_4T80_transmission

 

[jgillott]

Mike, instead of scrapping Hoopty 1, have you thought of donating it to a vo-tech school or similar place. Our local tech schools are just screaming for projects for the kids to work on but don't have much budget at this point.

 

[mwilson]

Mike, instead of scrapping Hoopty 1, have you thought of donating it to a vo-tech school or similar place. Our local tech schools are just screaming for projects for the kids to work on but don't have much budget at this point.

Well, I admit that I had not. I need to remove some stuff and it's kinda' old technology but maybe....I'll ask....

 

[jgillott]

They may not need it as a shop demo piece but rather a personal project for one of the students. I'm not sure how it is there, but at our local schools, many of the kids still repair older cars as their senior project. It may be fitting for something like that for a kid that can't afford one of their own. That old Cherokee that I got rid of in early '17 ended up as a kids auto body project vehicle. That's what had me thinking.

Anyway, it's worth a call to one of the schools to see before you jump in to scrapping it.

 

[GrantP]

Mike, instead of scrapping Hoopty 1, have you thought of donating it to a vo-tech school or similar place. Our local tech schools are just screaming for projects for the kids to work on but don't have much budget at this point.

I love that idea! I was fortunate enough to go to a high school too many years ago that actually had an auto shop. Most of our work was fixing the teachers cars (and our own) but sometimes there was nothing to work on. We even had the occasional charity case drive in with car problems they couldn't afford to fix. Point is, some kid is going to learn a lot doing that head gasket job. I had to replace a flat camshaft on a small block 350 for my auto shop teachers girlfriend! I learned a lot.

 

[mwilson]

Well, I'm on my second tank of gas and no issues yet.

Heated / Cooled seats come and go just like they did on Hoopty, control module connection under the passenger seat. A couple of hours and $10.00 worth of terminals and a connector will bulletproof that issue.

Only other thing is that the shocks and struts appear to be original, front struts are still good but the rear air shocks get a little bouncy after they warm up. A couple hours and $65.00 will fix that.

That's ALL I can find for the time being.......

 

[mwilson]

Almost 1000 miles and oil level remains unchanged.
A/C will freeze your nipples.

All good so far!!

 

[mwilson]

Listened to FM radio for about three days, I was starting to drool...

Then I remembered I needed to switch the XM over from Hoopty. Called them up while driving home, had Radio ID all up on the screen ready to go.
Dude did the changeover and then told me there would be a 15.00 fee for changing it over. I started to lose it, said if you charge a longtime paying customer to change service from one vehicle to another then I will stop all of my subscriptions immediately. And I meant it,,,
Silence, followed by the sound of paper being flipped....then he says “You have been a customer since 2006, I can waive that fee!”...I said “Good Answer!”

Unreal.....

 

[jhenderson]

My wife is scheduled to do battle with XM this week for my renewal. No need in my calling. All that would happen is they’d loose a customer and I’d loose XM.

 

[mwilson]

That $15.00 charge almost launched me into orbit.......it is fascinating what companies like XM, Dish, Direct TV, etc. will do to get new customers but completely abuse existing longtime customers. Dish Network found that out when dealing with me...I even had specialists calling for a while offering me everything but in Maine fashion (never forget who screwed you) I never gave in and never will...I'll watch a blank screen before I ever have Dish again....

 

[jgillott]

My wife is scheduled to do battle with XM this week for my renewal. No need in my calling. All that would happen is they’d loose a customer and I’d loose XM.

I had dropped the Sirius in my '07 when it was broke down in the spring. When I went to add it back, they wanted to charge me nearly double what I was paying before. I told them no and hung up. No less than 10 min later, they called back and offered me 6 months for $30 and back to the regular change after that.

 

[DavidC]

but in Maine fashion (never forget who screwed you)

So that's where I got it from

Dave

 

[Wayne M.]

My wife is scheduled to do battle with XM this week for my renewal. No need in my calling. All that would happen is they’d loose a customer and I’d loose XM.

Yup. The endless battle to keep it under $8/ mo.

 

[Dan_69GTX]

That $15.00 charge almost launched me into orbit.......it is fascinating what companies like XM, Dish, Direct TV, etc. will do to get new customers but completely abuse existing longtime customers. Dish Network found that out when dealing with me...I even had specialists calling for a while offering me everything but in Maine fashion (never forget who screwed you) I never gave in and never will...I'll watch a blank screen before I ever have Dish again....

Kind of like the cell phone companies. "I'll give you a $200 credit towards a new phone if you switch to us from them" vs I'd like to upgrade my phone.."well, there is an activation fee for that, and we will charge you full price for the phone".

 

[jhenderson]

Today, loyalty like many other admirable and desirable human qualities is far more likely to be ridiculed than rewarded. Social progress?

 

[jgillott]

Today, loyalty like many other admirable and desirable human qualities is far more likely to be ridiculed than rewarded. Social progress?

Well said. Loyalty is sometimes just viewed as a means by which to be taken advantage of.

 

[jhenderson]

Just an update: even my wife couldn’t deal with XM this time. No more for me. Now the problem is she’s going to be stuck finding the eclectic selection of music I like and download it for me. She’d probably prefer to pay the increase but while I’m not from Maine, my old man was.

 

[jgillott]

Just an update: even my wife couldn’t deal with XM this time. No more for me. Now the problem is she’s going to be stuck finding the eclectic selection of music I like and download it for me. She’d probably prefer to pay the increase but while I’m not from Maine, my old man was.

Cancel your subscription and then call back in a week and ask for the reactivation special offers.