Northstar Engine

[adallak]

I do not think it is the guru.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/al-cline/77/95a/8a6

This is the guru:

http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Al-Cline/328589667

[BodybyFisher]

Al Cline was a die hard GM fan not likely he is with chrysler. If he were still around I believe he would pop in. He was fantastic, I miss him. Thx

Here is an article he wrote, the northstar was mentioned:

http://www.contactmagazine.com/Issue54/EngineBasics.html

[elmaestro]

I have a 2000 Deville 73000 mi. Head gasket were fixed @ 66000. However, its using 2 quarts oil every 1000 mi. I've replaced pcv and am at a loss as to why. HELP !!!!!!

Is there any leak under the vehicle when parked over night?

[James Woods]

A quart every 500 miles is not uncommon for some of the north star engines. As a lot of people have recommended the WOT method works. I never heard of out until about a month ago. I've done it on all 3 odd my Deville. Before that I would use GM top end engine cleaner and also bottled water through a vacuum line to few the rings.

I suggest doing the WOT and GM top engine cleaner. The procedure for the top engine cleaner has been discussed here before. The best way is to get it into engine at 2000 rpm and let our stall out, then remove spark plugs and pour it into each cylinder and let it soak over night. Then watch the smoke fog your neighborhood for a bit.

Just doing the engine cleaner yearly would cut my oil consumption to a quart every 5000 miles

[BodybyFisher]

Jwoods, about 10 years ago we had a GM tech here named Ian who posted photos of a case half job he did from the bottom with the car on a lift by removing the carriage and leaving the engine and transmission suspended, very impressive. I think it was an Aurora. I will try to do a search for him, but I believe all the photos are gone.

The top engine ring cleaning procedure you describe, do you see big benefits with it? On start up is there a danger of the rings not having oil on them due to the solvent soak and damaging the cross hatch? I would lean toward mixing oil into the mix to sort of fog the cylinders with oil like I do when I winterize my small engines. We have seen this procedure described before, if I recall the guru was concerned to put any liquid into the intake and favored the WOT procedure.

As a matter of fact, Ian posted a photo where a tech put too much UEC in his intake, it pooled in the intake and on a high rev the solvent was sucked all at once into one of the cylinders and hydro-locked the engine blowing a rod out of the side of the block. Please be careful using that procedure. Here is a photo of an engine that hydrolocked after sucking solvent into the intake.

[BodybyFisher]

I have a 2000 Deville 73000 mi. Head gasket were fixed @ 66000. However, its using 2 quarts oil every 1000 mi. I've replaced pcv and am at a loss as to why. HELP !!!!!!

What was the result of this? Whats going on here, did you do the WOT procedure as KHE suggested any help? Any leaks? Use only enough oil to just cover the little bulb at the end of the dip stick don't use 7.5 quarts. Please fill us in on your progress.

[BodybyFisher]

Napa sells a Balkamp head gasket tester for $42, I use it all the time and would never buy a 90s NS without first doing the test.

[rockfangd]

Is there any way to tell if a engine has already been repaired without taking things apart?

[KHE]

Is there any way to tell if a engine has already been repaired without taking things apart?

It is possible you could obtain the service history from a dealer.

Without removing the heads, you can't tell if Timeserts have been installed.