New 96-99 Northstars?

[Bruce Nunnally]

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ptd/5236657896.html

"BRAND NEW 96-99 CADILLAC DEVILLE 4.6 ENGINE VIN Y ASKING $1700"

Are there still NEW engine in production for these? New old stock maybe? I don't see anything on their actual website, so could just be a puff craig's list ad.

[Cadillac Jim]

When I got my Jasper reman in 2006, they were keeping only a few in stock for immediate shipment, although mine came from a warehouse in Philly. The price of $1700 is way below cost from GM. At best, this is a warehouse find. More likely, at that price, somebody has a few rebuilds laying around.

I checked the URL in the photo and bolt-on-motors is an outlet for used parts in Dallas. Address is 2370 Medill Street. Google Street View shows a fairly substantial looking shop :

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7746253,-96.7665564,3a,75y,57.25h,87.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sBmXqhb_VhHelAXwvs2VIQA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Ad for engines says "hand selected, fully inspected." That's pulled, cleaned up, checked out, possibly started or at least compression-checked.

If you need a VIN Y motor, it's worth a call. They probably have a VIN 9 motor or two too; those have always been in the minority, so they won't have as many as they would have VIN Y motors. The shop looks like you can drive/tow in and they can do the swap.

[winterset]

i would be concerned that the half case, and other seals all dried up.

[barczy01]

What inserts did they use? Did they torque them correctly? What kind of piston rings? Whats the warranty? Are the engines even rebuilt? Are they using the cheap knock-off timing chain tensioner's from ebay? I have seen one of those tensioner's fail and go into a full release and bent all the intake valves on the rear bank. A shop here in Indiana built the engine and is no longer around. The shop didn't refund him so he ate 4500$$ only after 3 months after the repair.

[KHE]

I didn't see anything in the thread or the Craigslist ad that the engines were rebuilt. If they are in fact new old stock, $1700.00 is a pretty good deal. The parts and tools alone to Timesert a Northstar engine is about $1500.00 not including labor.

[Cadillac Jim]

Their web page says that they sell used parts, including complete engines. It's unclear from the Craiglist ad whether these are new engines from a warehouse find or just used engines.

[airmike]

I called the guy. Only one left. vin-y..He says brand new from gm dealer. A bargain if you ask me.

[barczy01]

http://www.123engine.com/content/cadillac1/cadillac1e.jpg

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ptd/5236657896.html

So, why does 123.engine and the craigslist ad have the same picture?

I went to cadillac northstar head gasket repair and went to images on google. scroll down a ways

[James Woods]

What inserts did they use? Did they torque them correctly? What kind of piston rings? Whats the warranty? Are the engines even rebuilt? Are they using the cheap knock-off timing chain tensioner's from ebay? I have seen one of those tensioner's fail and go into a full release and bent all the intake valves on the rear bank. A shop here in Indiana built the engine and is no longer around. The shop didn't refund him so he ate 4500$$ only after 3 months after the repair.

Those are words of wisdo . A few dollars saved on a rebuild is not worth cost down the road of $5000 to do it all again. But can't even put a price on The headache .

Killer deal though since engine is a dealer leftover stock. I had Cadillac replace my transmission with a new unit not remanufactured on my 2002 DTS because of the torque convertor solenoid and convertor itself. At Mercedes where I work we get reman units from Benz. Caddy dealer told me that 90% of time GM sends new engines and transmissions for warranty repairs.