Buick V8 NorthStar

[clarkflower]

Coming up at the auction tomorrow is a 2006 Buick Lucerne with 126,000 with great service records at the local dealer.

I have 1 year left to find a car. Should I buy it if its cheap or not risk the northstar v8

 

[Charlie2015]

Stay far away.

 

[DONWATERS]

Never buy one of those

 

[14Accent]

Nonsense. There's nothing wrong with buying a N*, especially a newer one. Anything post-03 will be fine.

The Lacrosse Super's (the V8 ones, like the one you're looking at) are nice cars. They use the same chassis as the Seville in my signature, and many other Cadillac's.

There are a few things to mention:

Magneride suspension: The V8 Buick's used Magnetic dampers, just like Cadillac did. They will fail, and they are expensive. You can replace them with normal struts/shocks for not much cost.

Service effort: Yes, the Northstar is PACKED in. Minor services, however, are easy. Oil changes, transmission fluid, etc. Spark plugs are made out to be awful, but they aren't. The intake boot is known to tear, the part is cheap and the intake comes off in about 30 minutes with hand tools.

People are going to bring up head gaskets, and honestly it's overblown. Yes, the early cars had issues. I've had 4 N* cars over the past 10 years: a '94, a '96, a '99, and an '03. NONE had cooling system issues, and I drive them hard. After GM switched to larger head bolts and a revised torque sequence, the problem was basically resolved short of some idiot drivers abusing their cars.

Oil burning and leaks: All N* engines leak. They just do. The later ones are better, but just expect it to have some seepage from the oil pan and block halves. Also, drive it HARD. These engines carbon up and the rings stick, they need to be brought to redline several times a week and are happy to do so.

The 4T80 transmission is basically bulletproof. Early ones had an issue with breaking shift solenoids, this was easily fixed with an update kit. All models after '00 or so have this installed at the factory. Beyond that, just try and break one.

My take? If the car is $5k or less, buy it if it's in as good a shape as you make it sound. Less than $3k? Buy it and flip it if you don't like it. You won't lose money.

 

[Chris142]

Car is garbage. Run.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Run away as fast as you can.

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted by 14Accent
Nonsense. There's nothing wrong with buying a N*, especially a newer one. Anything post-03 will be fine.

The Lacrosse Super's (the V8 ones, like the one you're looking at) are nice cars. They use the same chassis as the Seville in my signature, and many other Cadillac's.

There are a few things to mention:

Magneride suspension: The V8 Buick's used Magnetic dampers, just like Cadillac did. They will fail, and they are expensive. You can replace them with normal struts/shocks for not much cost.

Service effort: Yes, the Northstar is PACKED in. Minor services, however, are easy. Oil changes, transmission fluid, etc. Spark plugs are made out to be awful, but they aren't. The intake boot is known to tear, the part is cheap and the intake comes off in about 30 minutes with hand tools.

People are going to bring up head gaskets, and honestly it's overblown. Yes, the early cars had issues. I've had 4 N* cars over the past 10 years: a '94, a '96, a '99, and an '03. NONE had cooling system issues, and I drive them hard. After GM switched to larger head bolts and a revised torque sequence, the problem was basically resolved short of some idiot drivers abusing their cars.

Oil burning and leaks: All N* engines leak. They just do. The later ones are better, but just expect it to have some seepage from the oil pan and block halves. Also, drive it HARD. These engines carbon up and the rings stick, they need to be brought to redline several times a week and are happy to do so.

The 4T80 transmission is basically bulletproof. Early ones had an issue with breaking shift solenoids, this was easily fixed with an update kit. All models after '00 or so have this installed at the factory. Beyond that, just try and break one.

My take? If the car is $5k or less, buy it if it's in as good a shape as you make it sound. Less than $3k? Buy it and flip it if you don't like it. You won't lose money.




Auction prices Actual sales
12/18/18 $1,000 108,871
11/13/18 $2,700 111,971
11/7/18 $1,550 146,751
12/13/18 $2,300149,813

 

[ls1mike]

Maybe the other GM guys will chime in, but by 2006 the head bolt /head gasket issue was fixed.

In 2002 the block and various other components were updated. 02 and up do not have the problem,
In 2006 more changes were made that help even more.
Stay away from the 01 and prior.

2006 is very good year for the NorthStar. It was the first year for 292 hp and was the basis for the 4.4 supercharged version in the STS-V.
It is the best offering. 02 and up are pretty good, They get a bad rap because people heard of the earlier engines blowing head gaskets.
And don't know enough about them to separate them out by year.
Not even concern in 2006.
.

The thing to look for would be any oil leaks as they are difficult to fix in the N* and history of trans service.

 

[WyrTwister]

Our 2006 Lacrosse has the 3.8l V-6 . Bought it June 2017 w/ ~ 37,00 miles on it .We like it so far .

Dib not know Buick used the NorthStar ? Have heard they were problems , but folks hear indicate they worked them out .

 

[14Accent]

Originally Posted by clarkflower

Auction prices Actual sales
12/18/18 $1,000 108,871
11/13/18 $2,700 111,971
11/7/18 $1,550 146,751
12/13/18 $2,300149,813


For those prices? Even better. Pick it up. Just don't expect much for fuel economy! They'll do ~28 on the highway, I'm averaging 16.6 with my Seville in 70/30 city/hwy driving.

 

[ls1mike]

I see Accent beat me to it. Nice write up.

In typical BITOG fashion lets lump all them together and just say they are bad.

I will just start lumping Toyotas together because of the 3.0/3.4 head gasket debacle or the Civic porous block issue.

It doesn't work like that and it sounds stupid. That is why you take each car on a case by case basis.

An 06 NorthStar at those price is good deal.

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted by 14Accent

Just don't expect much for fuel economy! They'll do ~28 on the highway, I'm averaging 16.6 with my Seville in 70/30 city/hwy driving.


I can live with that.

I never got it. Both my 3800's Monte and GP (non supercharged) never got more than about 16 in town. 30 on the highway but just sucked it up in town


We'll see in the morning. End of the year. I know the seller and he is not afraid to not sell his cars and bring them back next week...3 and 4 times.
I've see his guy turn down 600 for a overheating 200,000 mile 91 sentra with 2 flats that looked like it went swimming but was currently filled with red ant nests.
But he also lets some go...

 

[SatinSilver]

Only if you're handy and are good at working on cars. Which all of the guys telling you to buy it are the mechanic types.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted by SatinSilver
Only if you're handy and are good at working on cars. Which all of the guys telling you to buy it are the mechanic types.


I wouldn't say that. I dabble and yes I do my own stuff ok heads, cams, clutches and an engine swap here and there, but I am not a mechanic. But I do know the 06 and up are pretty solid aside from the oil leaks.
If he can get one for the prices listed he is getting a steal.

 

[typ901]

[/quote]
Originally Posted by ls1mike
I see Accent beat me to it. Nice write up.

In typical BITOG fashion lets lump all them together and just say they are bad.

I will just start lumping Toyotas together because of the 3.0/3.4 head gasket debacle or the Civic porous block issue.

It doesn't work like that and it sounds stupid. That is why you take each car on a case by case basis.

An 06 NorthStar at those price is good deal.



Well- it would add more credibility to 14accent if he wasn't just ripping apart VAG products, stating they are all junk in another post. So yep typical BITOG. Particularly because he is defending Northstar v8's which most people would pass on too.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Not a fan of the Northstar. I've been under the hoods of a few and they're a nightmare to work on with the transverse layout. The general advice I've always heard regarding these is that they are decent engines if you're keeping them to 100k-- try to keep it for the long haul and all bets are off. Most average to major repairs (like fixing the all-to-common oil leaks) are simply uneconomical on an older car.. So people tend to ignore the larger repairs and try to wring every last mile they can out of them, then to the junkyard they go. Sure, there are exceptions to every rule, and if you're a tinkerer or repair things yourself, you'll probably have a much better experience.

While they don't have the top end horsepower of a Northstar, the supercharged GM 3800 Series II / III is a fantastic engine all the way around-- other than requiring premium fuel, these are mostly trouble free if the lower instake gasket has been replaced with an updated part (most have by now.) They typically get mid 20's fuel economy even in a larger car.

 

[14Accent]

Originally Posted by typ901


Well- it would add more credibility to 14accent if he wasn't just ripping apart VAG products, stating they are all junk in another post. So yep typical BITOG. Particularly because he is defending Northstar v8's which most people would pass on too.


I never said the Northstar wasn't without it's problems, but working in a busy shop that sees tons of VAG products come through with multitudes of problems gives me plenty of credibility.

Ever seen a N* eat a timing chain? No. Ever seen a N* blow out a rear main because it's the worst design seal ever? No.

VAG makes wonderful cars to drive. I like them from a driver's perspective and I understand their appeal. But let's face it, 100k+ miles on a VW is a lot more expensive to achieve. When they do break, and they will, fixing them is always a pain. Vacuum pump on a 2.5 auto? Oh you have to pull the transmission because we couldn't give you 2 extra inches of clearance.

Yeah... They're brilliant cars.

 

[typ901]

14 Accent. My point was not to throw shade to a whole brand but,. I've owned all of the major German cars (Brands), each with their own features. As far as more expensive than a GM to get to 100k miles-maybe but I'm taking that more of a feature of the parts are cheaper for a GM which is a function of economy of scale. You are overlooking a lot of teething issues that GM has had as well; I've never seen VAG ignition lock issues either speaking of worst design ever. Guess you better hold your breathe to see what the Ford-VW alliance is going to do then.

 

[clarkflower]

Never got to bid. (I also have to do my job)
A 50,000 mile Sonata came in. 1 owner. Focused on it and had my dealer friend bid to 3250. It sold for 4600. We both thought that was close to retail.

Next week..always another car

The 3.9 Impala sold for 3800 which we also though was high

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by ls1mike
Originally Posted by SatinSilver
Only if you're handy and are good at working on cars. Which all of the guys telling you to buy it are the mechanic types.


I wouldn't say that. I dabble and yes I do my own stuff ok heads, cams, clutches and an engine swap here and there, but I am not a mechanic. But I do know the 06 and up are pretty solid aside from the oil leaks.
If he can get one for the prices listed he is getting a steal.

Isn't that the Northstar Drip, where fixing it means pulling the engine?