I bought a 99 Caddy that “needed work” and found out $4k later that head gaskets were blown. Yes I read about the aluminum versus iron but too late. Regardless, should I expect good life out of this engine with 78k miles on it. Work was done at a dealership rather than a local shop (expertise I surmised).
Hindsight which is 20/20 tells us that you shouldn’t have purchased an 11 year old premium vehicle that required premium priced repairs. But now that you are into it so deep, I’d hold onto it and hope to get another 100k+ miles out of it. If the work was done properly, and you continue to maintain the vehicle, it should last that long.
Awesome! I had a new 99 and it was beautiful, a fine ride and was overcome by this one… However, thanks a lot for your candor; I do maintain cars, just some irritating ‘check engine codes’ that I’ve got to investigate, relating to the gas tank ventilation and something about the torque converter. I need to check more closely about the actual codes. Thanks again. Mike
These engines were also oil burners. My father in law’s caddy burned 1 quart in 1000 miles. Just keep topping it off as needed. He also had a torque converter problem. As I recall, it required a lot of work to fix so he ignored it with no ill effects.
I was at a medium size Caddy Dealer in 99. That Dealership kept two heavy line mechanics totaly covered up in work,all involving the Northstar engine. What I saw mainly was oil leaks due too a somewhat complicated engine block/case design.