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Northstar Engines and System Technical Discussion
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar!!!
repair:
11-23-17 12:19PM
TheDentist56
Cadillac
Owners Member
Automobile(s): 2001 Deville DTS
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar DTS
Hello fellow Cadillac owners! I’m NEW to this posting thing but I had to let people know about the Titan oil stop leak I used. (sorry for the long version but I’m retired and apparently have nothing else to do)…..
Firstly, six months ago my Deville DTS 2001 started leaking engine oil on the garage floor of my condominium. As the weeks went by the leak started to become worse until the condo’s engineering department told me
I needed to do something about it. My first reaction was to take the car to my mechanic which I did. My mechanic told me it would cost more to replace that oil pan gasket than to buy another DTS. I was shocked when He
advised me of just what would have to be done to replace the 38 dollar gasket and why it would cost 2800 dollars to actually replace that gasket.
Turns out, the entire car must be put up on a lift and the entire front engine assembly along with the suspension cross-over, cv joints with wheels still attached brought to the floor just so He can get to the oil pan. This was
almost to much for me to believe so I did some research and found that the good folks and Cadillac decided to use whats called a “split-design” oil pan and engine block case. This means it’s faster and less expensive for
them to install the engine first while the car rolling down the assembly line then install the suspension, cross-overs and many other components. And finally install the oil pan which they designed in two pieces for the sole
purpose of being able to bring both pieces up and around the suspension and cross-overs which are already in-place and installed. This really sounds stupid but not only did they use this design and methodology for the oil
pan they also used it in the engine block construction. This was all done in an effort to speed up the build-time on the assembly line with little to no thought as to repairs which may need to be completed by the end-owner
at years later.
So, obviously I was not going to pay to have this repaired by my mechanic for two reasons (it wasn’t all about the money). #1 OK, yes it was about the money but #2 This is a 2001 vehicle everything under the hood is over
17 years old. I don’t think it would really be the best idea to start pulling these components apart, I know things will break.
So I went back onto the internet and did some more research into engine oil stop leaks. With all the advertisements on the internet for a brand called Lucas I began to turn my attention towards their product and later
purchased it at my local auto parts store. Was a little hesitant to use it when I saw how thick it was a how much there was in the bottle (almost 2 quarts). My engine oil was already at the “full-mark” so back to my mechanic to
have Him remove some oil so I could actually add the Lucas stop leak to the oil crankcase which He did for me. After adding the Lucas i noticed my engine ran at a slightly higher RPM and asked the mechanic why. He told me
It was probably because the oil in the system was thicker now and the compression went up a little but said it probably shouldn’t hurt anything. After a few days I noticed my miles per gallon went down (my dash is digital so
it’s easy to notice that) during my normal driving which at my age is usually to doctors… haha. Any way, The end result was almost no change in the amount of oil leaking. I called the Lucas people and explained this and
they advised me the actual gaskets on my particular engine (Northstar) were not actual gaskets but a type of silicone instead and that most engines now days also have that type of silicone seals in the oil system and their
product really isn’t designed for those newer silicone seals… Well after discussing with them their label in no way actually advises people of that fact they assure me they would issue me a credit (it has been several months
now and no credit). Oh well….
So back to the internet for more research. Finally I found the only oil stop leak actually designed for the silicone-type oil seals in my Northstar engine. This particular oil stop leak is apparently only manufactured by one
company called called Titan Sealer Inc. here in the USA. I called their technical department and was stunned to realize after a few minutes I was actually speaking with someone how seemed to be very knowledgeable in
automotive mechanics as opposed to a sales person (like the gentlemen at Lucas). Either way, He already knew about the issues with the Northstar oil seals and advised me that even if I do not purchase the Titan oil stop
leak I should remove the Lucas from my engine as soon as possible because apparently my Nortstar engine already has a higher then normal engine compression ratio set from the factory and the Lucas will increase the oil
compression causing more stress on the oil seals. I was impressed by His advice because I had not yet told him about the higher compression and RPM’s my engine was exhibiting yet. He advised me that at best the Lucas
would only slow the leak by thickening the engine oil and even at that it would have to be reapplied with every future oil change.
After asking him why the Titan oil stop leak would be different or better I then understood that unlike the Lucas product, the Titan oil stop leak does not make my oil thicker but rather has a high “silicone-yield” to it’s
formulation. The “silicon-type” seals in my particular Northstar engine (which are also in most other vehicle engines I found out) will simply absorb the new silicone content added by the Titan oil stop leak and expand back
to their original size and stop the leak. This seemed to good to be true but I checked around reading other reviews on the internet and others in my situation seemed to have good things to say about the Titan sealer (except
for the higher price of it anyway). Bottom line, I purchased the Titan oil stop leak and was surprised when it showed up a few days later that it was only 8 ounces per bottle (I received two bottles total). Great news for me
as I did not have to go back to my mechanic to remove oil again to make this product fit into my crankcase…
I followed the instructions (which were very easy, basically just add it and let the engine idle for 20 minutes then forget it is in there and drive like normal) and added it to my engine oil myself… After a about two days I put a
piece of cardboard under the engine where I park at the condominium and to my surprise no leaks! Also, no change in compression (from factory standards that is) and fuel economy returned to normal (which really wasn’t
that great to begin with but better than it was with the Lucas product in the engine oil system).
It was a little more difficult to find the Titan oil stop leak people on the internet than the Lucas company. Apparently the Titan folks do not advertise as much. Most of the information on their products comes from people
who actually used it, know about it or are professional mechanics with reviews listed on the internet. That makes more sense to me than simply being bombarded with advertisements like with the Lucas company. But it does
make it harder to actually find the Titan people’s website.
Which is why I’m writing this. More people need to know about these people and their oil stop leak sealer. The Titan people (at least the technical department I never had to call the customer service people) were helpful,
knowledgeable and seemed to actually care about my situation. The product actually did what it said it would do (at least for me). And, it’s been over six months now (and an oil change already) still no oil leaks. At this rate
my DTS may outlive me but we’ll see…
Thanks for reading my review and enjoy those cadillacs!!!
11-23-17 12:19PM
CaddyshackCadillac
Cadillac
Owners Member
Automobile(s): 2003 Deville DTS
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar DTS
jinx just kidding i hope you update this in a month and again in 3 to 6 months could be one hell of a find
Originally Posted by
CaddyshackCadillac
My post won’t be as long as yours cause I’m not retired and still have to go to work…lol but seriously your post is very informative and I’m sure it will help alot of people out there.
12-07-17 04:47PM
TheCadMan59
Cadillac
Owners Member
Automobile(s): 2003 Deville
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar DTS
I had the same problem in my Deville. It seems these cadillacs all either have this oil leak problem or will get this oil leak problem. I used the titan stop leak on mine about 4 years ago and it’s still holding. I already knew
about the lucas crap because I tried it on my wifes subaru outback it was leaking oil between the head and block and the lucas didn’t help at all. The titan oil sealer did the trick on both of them.
02-21-18 09:23PM
AirIsWhere11
Cadillac
Owners Member
Automobile(s): 2006 Cadillac STS
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar DTS
Thanks for the info on the Titan Oil Stop Leak!!! My STS started leaking at the engine block a few weeks ago and I found the Titan website placed my order and received the two bottle 8 cylinder package a few days later. I had
a pretty serious leak about 1 quart every week of so. After I added the titan bottles to the oil I noticed a huge improvement in a few days but after about a week I couldn’t see any more improvement. Still had a little leak
left running down onto the exhaust manifold which would burn off and smell real bad. I called the titan service number and they sent me out a free replacement no charge except s/h… Got it in two days and added it to the
oil again. The replacement got me the rest of the way to a full seal. No more oil leak!
Just for info. the service department over there was very helpful. I’d recommend the Titan products to anyone in need.
02-21-18 09:23PM
AmericanPilot11
Cadillac
Owners Member
Automobile(s): 2004 Cadillac XLR
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar DTS
My pride and joy 04 XLR started leaking some oil from the oil pan last month. Took it to the dealer (dealer will remain namesless) where I originally bought it from and spoke to the head mechanic
and the service dept about it. The service manager quoted me $4200 to change the oil pan gasket! As I was leaving past the garage the mechanic called me over and actually gave me the website
address to the Titan Oil Stop Leak company. I ordered it that day and for less than $100 I stopped the leak myself with the Titan sealer…
04-12-18 12:37PM
LetsGolf3487
Cadillac
Owners Member
Automobile(s): 2003 Deville DTS
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar DTS
jinx just kidding i hope you update this in a month and again in 3 to 6 months could be one hell of a find
Originally Posted by
CaddyshackCadillac
Yeah I wanna know how its going. From what I hear my Deville will end up getting an oil leak to. When it does, it will be great if I have that product to fall back on.
07-22-18 03:24PM
SAYWHATWHAT17
Cadillac
Owners Member
Automobile(s): 2009 Deville CTS
Fixed oil pan gasket leak on my Northstar DTS
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The Titan products are all great! I used both their titan head gasket sealer after my 2009 CTS started running hot 3 years ago and their Titan oil stop leak sealer last month. Both have saved me
major bucks. I love my CTS but I literally would have sent this car to the junk yard before I spent the 5200 bucks the dealer wanted to replace the head gasket… You don’t hear a whole lot
about the Titan stuff on the web but they must own the market on products for these cars cause the other stuff out there will not work on these all aluminum engines….