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Defective Northstars'?


MAC

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Welllllllllll I have to say somthing here. Gm is not perfect but if you look at the whole picture I believe there are the best. Of course I am bias for I have 5 GM vehicles in my yard. I have a saying that when my cars quit running its usually in my driveway or every now and then close to home most of the time it will get me home with little or no work (I do my own) I have drove GMs since 68. I feel safe and secure in my cars/trucks, when my children were babies I trusted my 73 caprice station to bring my wife and them home safe. Parts are reasonable and easy to get. My latest 97 sls and 04 sierra are fine vehicles I dont know what more I would want. As to parts failure there have been studies of shops replacing parts not needed and charging for repairs not done and of course mistakes, it is a problem in this country. Taking in account you are a cad driver you are more at risk (who can afford to pay a high repair bill not the guy driving a old ford). Being on this site has help a lot of people avoid the not needed repair and we are more atune to the irregularities of our rides. Now after all this bragging my cars will take turns flaming out at exactly the wrong times. Mike

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Adallac, you spent $2,200 in four and a half years? OMG! :lol: You mean in 54 months you spent $2,200? Now lets look into that! That expense equates to $40.74 per month during that time period.... :lol: NOT BAD I WOULD SAY! Especially since you say 45% was spent for no good reason, so lets decrease that by 45% to $1,210 now you spent $22.41 per month, WOW, that car is a LEMON set fire to it!! :lol: You couldnt take PUBLIC transportation for that! :lol:

Especially considering a new Caddy will cost you in excess of $500 per month :lol:

This is the way you have to look at it, when the repair costs per month are unjustifiable, its time to look for another car. With a new car, you have a big loan payment but no repairs, with a used car you don't normally have a loan payment but you have repairs, when the repairs become excessive its time to cut and run. People that can do their own work CAN own older cars as they can do their own work to keep the costs down. People that can NOT do their own work, need to get rid of the car if they are going to take it in for repairs....as it becomes too expensive and illogical to own an older car for those people. This site allows and helps me TENFOLD me to own an older Deville!

Imagine grandma taking her 10 year old STS, ETC or DEVILLE to the dealer every time the check engine light came on? :blink:

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The 4T80E is rated for 305 lb-ft of engine torque.

http://media.gm.com/division/2005_prodinfo..._specs.html#mh1

Bruce

2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

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Bigfoo,

I hope you get a definative answer (if possible), but I think 400hp itself is not the specific problem - how its used might be.

The extra hp will probably not twist off the axles or cv joints when nailed from a stop.

I believe the eventual problem would come from extra slippage and heat generation due to the tranny handling more front wheel braking etc to stop wheelspin - until the engine cuts power back. Hopefully you will still use the anti-spin technology to maintain some control off the line.

If the extra heat is not disapated, then the tranny will simply fry quicker. No differant than heavy towing

I believe that the primary reason Caddy Northstars are/were so successful is that the computer can brake and reduce the power to the steering axles. However, that's also why there are numerous Caddy posts that whine about the inate inability to launch with full power without braking or cylinder dropouts. The second gear starts are a safe default, but of course they are not as quick as using all 1st gear and rpm at peak.

This power-delivery limitation is probably one of the fundemenatal reasons GM is moving backwards to RWD (pun intended). There is only so much hp can be placed on the steering axle without defeating it to maintain control/safety. After a certain hp -you simply have to do the RWD and or AWD approach - or optimum vehicle performance suffers.

And of course, forums like these are made to find answers to problems. So they are populated by DIY'ers or folks whow simply want to know what went wrong. To expect a reasonalbe poll for relieability from this forum - is simply bad science.

Having said that above, I'll stack the BRD (Big Red Dog) against ANY comparable vehicle: orig cost, weight, size, features with my current mileage, performance and decimated by my infrequent maintenance. There is simply no comparison around... ;)

Add power to leave problems behind. Most braking is just - poor planning.
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You want to hear about bad transmissions?

go talk to any 98-2002 v6 accord owner or any 01-02 Acura CL owner....

especially the CL owners... they had so many problems with their transmissions... you would not beleive, we are tlaking failures at 5k miles, 15, 28, and it happeneing 2 or 3 times!

ever wonder why all 98-2002 v6 accord owners got a secret letter inthe mail about how honda was now extending their warrany on thei trnasmission to 100k.

now TALK about some crappy stuff... they neither have transmission coolers OR filters in their cars! HAHA

GM Transmissions are the most stout, bar-none. Ask around and anyone will tell you that.

Here are some other lemon Trannies:

ANY Mopar Mini Van... Lucky to get 10-15k per transmission...

The electronic overdrive unit in Ford Trucks and Mustangs... My 91 F150 is on its THIRD rebuild...

GM invented the Auto Transmission and still makes some of the best.

Am I wrong, but I though the Northstar Transmission is front wheel drive overdriven variant of the ol’ Turbo 400… Which used to live behind 500ft/lb Big blocks…

caddy.jpg

Easin' down the highway in a new Cadillac,

I had a fine fox in front, I had three more in the back

ZZTOP, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide

Greg

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You want to hear about bad transmissions?

go talk to any 98-2002 v6 accord owner or any 01-02 Acura CL owner....

especially the CL owners... they had so many problems with their transmissions... you would not beleive, we are tlaking failures at 5k miles, 15, 28, and it happeneing 2 or 3 times!

ever wonder why all 98-2002 v6 accord owners got a secret letter inthe mail about how honda was now extending their warrany on thei trnasmission to 100k.

now TALK about some crappy stuff... they neither have transmission coolers OR filters in their cars! HAHA

GM Transmissions are the most stout, bar-none. Ask around and anyone will tell you that.

Here are some other lemon Trannies:

ANY Mopar Mini Van... Lucky to get 10-15k per transmission...

The electronic overdrive unit in Ford Trucks and Mustangs... My 91 F150 is on its THIRD rebuild...

GM invented the Auto Transmission and still makes some of the best.

Am I wrong, but I though the Northstar Transmission is front wheel drive overdriven variant of the ol’ Turbo 400… Which used to live behind 500ft/lb Big blocks…

How about the Ford AXOD...

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93' STS with 168,000 miles.

Fluid change at 100,000; works perfect.

Driven daily in spirited manner.

93' STS with 95,000 miles.

Fluid change at 85,000; works perfect.

Driven daily with a little less spirit.

-George

Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................

DTS_Signature.jpg

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Hmm... well if it's rated at 305 torque and i put 450 torque to it what will i break.. i guess that's the question.. the axles? cv joints? diff? trans itself? I plan on getting a high stall converter and an extra trans fluid cooler but still.... and don't tell me it's difficult to do FWD because i've seen guys with FWD hondas with 500HP big nitrous all that crap and it's not blowing up their cv joints but I don't know if they replaced it with something other than factory.. You see some weird things at the track, especially those little AWD cars and even VW's that have massive stuff done to a 2 liter 4 cylinder engine and are front wheel drive still. It must be able to be done.. the hard part is figirung out how to do it, ESPECIALLY on a caddy :>

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Hmm... well if it's rated at 305 torque and i put 450 torque to it what will i break.. i guess that's the question.. the axles? cv joints? diff? trans itself? I plan on getting a high stall converter and an extra trans fluid cooler but still.... and don't tell me it's difficult to do FWD because i've seen guys with FWD hondas with 500HP big nitrous all that crap and it's not blowing up their cv joints but I don't know if they replaced it with something other than factory.. You see some weird things at the track, especially those little AWD cars and even VW's that have massive stuff done to a 2 liter 4 cylinder engine and are front wheel drive still. It must be able to be done.. the hard part is figirung out how to do it, ESPECIALLY on a caddy :>

and one would suppose that's the fun part albeit sometimes expensive and frustrating of modding your car? Try stuff and see what works? I know most stories I read about brandX buildups mention how they blew an engine and several other parts before they got the tuning just right. Not sure how they pay for all that and still have fun, but they apparently do.

Bruce

2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube

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I guess the northstar is the whole system , trans, engine, computer, engine frame, shocks, everything in one unit in the front of the car is the 'northstar system'.. maybe the trans was specially designed for the engine I dunno :/

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Bigfoo,

If you go with a limited slip differential, you will eliminate traction control completly. Both wheels will always spin at relativly the same speed. The only concern would be the extra heat generated if any which may cause premature problems.

Question? Why didn't GM just put in a limited slip in the first place? Then they would not have a need for TC to protect the differential as both wheels would spin equally distributing the power to both wheels.

MARK 99STS

TURBOCHARGED

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maybe cuz going around corners and punching the gas would suck? heheh

Anyway I got a 99 chrysler minivan with 97k miles on it and the transmission and engine is fine :)

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Bigfoo,

If you go with a limited slip differential, you will eliminate traction control completly. Both wheels will always spin at relativly the same speed. The only concern would be the extra heat generated if any which may cause premature problems.

Question? Why didn't GM just put in a limited slip in the first place? Then they would not have a need for TC to protect the differential as both wheels would spin equally distributing the power to both wheels.

You still need a traction control. Otherwize:

1. you will change tires too often.

2. Every time tires spin, car starts slower.

3. In some cases tires have different friction (just one wheel on a dry surface)

Traction control wasn't created to "protect the differential". It has a different goal.

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