I'm at a loss as to why this issue engenders such polarity. I suppose it's the emotional response to a decidely expensive repair that, for whatever reason, one feels shouldn't need to be done. The problem I have with it is the broad brush that seems to be used to paint ALL Northstar-equipped cars, when that is simply not accurate.
Do a certain percentage of Northstars have a HG issue? Yes. No one has ever denied that.
Is the issue caused, at least some times, by owner neglect of the cooling system? Yes.
Is the issued caused, at least some times, by random chance, to low-mileage engines that have been religiously maintained? Yes.
It's just that I have an intellectual problem with a statement on the order of \"GM should recall all Northstars and fix them\" or words to that effect.
The flaw in the Northstar design, if there is one, is that apparently imperfect aluminum was used in certain manufacturing runs that caused threads to fail.
Who the heck knows? Could we be making high powered, relatively complex, car engines with your recycled Coors cans? Probably.
Destroyer, and Ranger and I have opposite viewpoints. I don't think anything any one of us says is going to sway the other. And that's ok too, 'cause it's not like we're keeping score.
And to underscore Ranger, we never have told anyone to \"feel better because others are not having the problem\". I feel for anyone facing that kind of an expense on an automobile that you THINK should be more bulletproof. But that doesn't overpower the fact that a blanket statement damning every Northstar ever built is simply incorrect.