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Pages: 1

98 STS get's a new Northstar

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Posted by: speedy_2

I don't know if any of you remember me. But, I was on Deployment for 6 months. I got back last month. And, before I left last year my Caddy started to knock. Well, I had a chance to get it checked out once I returned. Turns out, she lost a rod. So, I needed a new engine. Luckily I found a running engine out of a wrecked '98 STS with less than 10K miles. She's in now, and runs like a champ. I was actually thinking of getting rid of the car since the Caddy dealer told me it would cost $10,000.00 for a new Northstar. But, the whole car is in such good shape I couldn't give up so easy. Anyways, all is well now. And, I plan on making a road trip back home to Florida this month.

Here's some pics.

Old Engine:

Ahh...A hole. This happened because I decided to drive it to the shop instead of get another tow:

Hey, where's my engine?

Just a transmission, nothing more. haha

The replacement:

Posted by: MonsterMark

Good to hear you're back on the road.

Posted by: lhheston

And as for the car, how much did you beat the dealer estimate by? This could happen to anyone of us.

How tough was the swap? A mechanic I know said you had to disassemble the car to swap engines.

Best of luck.

Posted by: lbarton98STS

I'm new to the forum and have enjoyed the info shared tremendously. I viewed the photos with interest as it appears the engine was removed from above ? I thought the engine/trans unit had to be dropped down on the mounting frame ? Can the engine be lifted out from above ??? I have a 98STS with 157,000 miles that appears to have just lost a head gasket and I am considering replacing engine with a brand new one but don't have the ability to handle it myself if engine has to be "dropped". On the other hand if it can be lifted out above I could have a lot of fun!

Posted by: HappyMofo

Im pretty sure he dropped it out.... but if you took the hood off you should be able to rip it out cleanly.

Posted by: Cadillac Mike

Quote:

Originally Posted by lhheston

And as for the car, how much did you beat the dealer estimate by? This could happen to anyone of us.

How tough was the swap? A mechanic I know said you had to disassemble the car to swap engines.

Best of luck.

I was wondering the same. Also, how many miles were on the engine that threw a rod?

Posted by: speedy_2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cadillac Mike

I was wondering the same. Also, how many miles were on the engine that threw a rod?

Hello all. Haven't been on in a while. Well, the engine that died had 97,591 miles on it. Now the car has over 108,000 miles on it. Trip to Florida was great, except the fuel pump died on the way there. And the idler pulley broke off on the way back. Only a loss of one travel day, so no sweat. She's running beautifully now

Posted by: Red STS

When I come to a stop at home or wherever, I hear a slight knocking noise under the car. I read the manual and it said that this noise is common with the cars.

I couldn't help but to hear you say that your engine started to knock. I hope we are not talking about the same noise. I think the knocking of a rod would be different from the knock I'm talking about.

Is this knock that I have under the body of the car a sign for maintenance, or just something that happens with the car.

My STS is a '98 and I have 72,000 miles on it so far. When I bought it it had 67,000. Let me know if this noise is common with y'alls cars. I would be pissed if I have to do something like and engine swap!

Rob

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