THANK YOU for the positive feedback on the N*'s. I was getting concerned that they were good to the first owner and then turned to crap.

I am excited to get it back. My wife and had purchased an Old's Cutlass new in 99, I have been stuck driving this since late 05 and now again since the gasket ordeal. I fell really hard for the DeVille driving it the month it was running. I have to admit I was more then a little concerned about it ever running again, or at least running well.

I will post the results, you have all been very helpful to a first time Cadillac Owner. I look forwad to keeping in touch on the good things too; as soon as the gaskets are replaced.

Once the gaskets are replaced and the block is Timeserted, it should serve you well for a long time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 25 jackson
mrmadhead.. I have 194,000 miles on the car now. 60,000 since the head gasket/timeset change that I did myself.. With NO Motor issues.. Took me about 40 hours of work, and about $800 in parts to get her done, but I resold the timesert kit on ebay, so I got some of that money back..

These cars are amazing.. Keep it.. People boast about these head gasket problems, mostly due to the cost and how hard it is to have them changed.
To most people this IS an expensive job and they dont have the know how to try and do it themselves. Many cars get this problem in the 80k to 100k mile range and feel (like myself) spending $2k-$3+k to fix gaskets on a car that is only worth maybe $3k and has higher mileage is not worth it. The other option of course is getting a new motor but that would run at least $5k installed. In this case where the car is in the 50k mile range and is a 2000 model which still has some worth, plus the fact the job is under $2k, it seems worthwhile assuming all goes well. BTW: I recently got rid of my '98 Deville, what was so \"amazing\" about it?.

I saw the PICS of your car, and I must say it is gorgeous. If it were mine I would in a heartbeat spend the money to have it fixed. If I didn't have the money on hand I would have saved up until I had it. After you fix it you will wonder why you even had any doubts in fixing her. Hope all goes well and you enjoy your ride for many years to come. Good Luck!

Thank you! I love it. I think that is all the more why this whole process of the headgaskets going took so much more energy.

I cannot wait to have it out again.

It may not be a big deal for you if you are MAKING 1800 bucks a pop everytime some poor soul brings one to you to fix... and thats substantially less than what most dealers charge to do it. For anyone else, this is a 2500-3500.00 repair... theres alot of things that much money can be used for.

It may be \"the only problem\", but that one problem trumps 150 little ones on any other motor. Dont forget the oil leaks as well... people like to overlook that, but in truth, if it gets bad enough it costs almost as much to repair as the headgasket problem.

Its not really an issue of \"boasting\" about the problem... its \"just the facts ma'am\".

I love the Northstar, it is one of the finest motors on the road today, perhaps my love for the thing is even blind based on the criticisms of some of the \"pot stirrers\" around here... but as I said before... if we dont acknowledge a (serious) problem exists and blindly support the product, then GM will never have any incentive to fix it for good. Maintenance should help keep a vehicle in top shape... i.e. no smoke, best performance, top fuel economy... not be the crutch that causes complete failure over something as simple as coolant changes.