Help! 2006 XLR with blown Head Gasket - Dealership will not repair

[XLR-SAM]

To All XLR Owners,

Asking for guidance and help. I took my XLR into the dealership because it had a small coolant leak that I could not determine where it was coming from. As I drove into the dealership, the small T-Connector to one of the hoses broke, and through the help of the users on this forum, i was able find a brass T connector to solve that problem. Their was an engine code, I believe it was a P308 that indicated there was an engine misfire, and the dealership indicated that they needed to perform a head check to the heads on the vehicle. As it turned out, they indicated that i had a blown head gasket, and the dealership was not setup to perform this type of work. They indicated that the bolts may have been stretched, and the head would probably need to be drilled out, have inserted brass ring, to replace with new bolts. Bottom line, it's a huge job, and trying to figure out what my options are to either have this rebuilt or maybe have a new engine/rebuilt engine dropped in as a possible solution. The Dealership indicated that these type of jobs are very specialized, and were recommending to find a shop that rebuilds racing engines. Just wondering if anyone has encountered this problem, and what solutions i have to repair my Vehicle. Looking for qualified shops to contact to either work on this motor, or find a place that sells a rebuilt 4.6L NorthStar engine to replace the current motor I have. I would appreciate any advice given since my may have occurred to other XLR owners.

I live in California, Rancho Cucamonga. San Bernardino County,

Thank you,

Sergio

 

[justdennis]

P0308 is a misfire on cylinder 8, that could be any number of things from a bad spark plug to a bad head gasket. Did they clear the code and did it come back, what other problems are you having to make them think it's a head gasket? Are you still loosing coolant, is the car overheating, does your oil look ok, and did they try to re-torque the head? The dealer may be right but I would rule out the easy things before you start tearing into your engine.

 

[mickeytee]

Engines are super cheap 1000-1500 will get you a good low mileage one.theres 50 for sale Find a decent regular repair shop and they can swap out. You dont want to go trying to fix yours. Id say the block is fine. You would need to replace the bolts which have to be replaced anytime the head is pulled. The dealer should know that the last gen of the northstar blocks were fixed. i use arp bolts on the ls engines but never needed to pull a head on a northstar as they go forever unless run hot for too long.look fir a cirvetre shop. They can swap the engine .another dealer in south california told a cystomer the heads needed pulked to fix an oil leak. Got it all apart and fount chain guides and some gaskets were no longer available. They told her to come pick up the car and bring boxes for all the engine parts.

 

[XLR-SAM]

Thanks for some of the inputs, I did some research and it appears i found a solid solution to repair the head gaskets on the NorthStar Engine. The Dealership did open the head up, and confirmed it was blown head gasket. The only thing i notice was a small leak that i thought it was a hose that i needed to replace. I never saw the car over heat to indicate that there was a problem. Only as i drove to the dealership did the plastic tee broke at that point, and i noticed Steam coming from the Engine. fortunately, it failed as it was parked waiting for service

The Dealership and an independent shop that i went to that had a good reputation told me the same thing. The NorthStar Engines with the aluminum block have a reputation for having blown head gaskets. They mentioned to repair the engine, the heads would have to drilled out, have new copper coils inserted, so that new bolts can be inserted. The caveat they is that there is a good possibility that it could happen again down the line.

For anyone that is experiencing the same problem, I found a website that that actually solved the problem with the blown heads, and actually guarantee with the job with their kit. They mentioned that they have partnered shops that actually will do the work, I'm emailed them to find if there is one in a general vicinity close to where i live.

Has anyone ever had any experience with this company, and their solution?

Northstar Performance - SureGrip Cylinder Head Stud Kits

Cadillac Northstar Engine Head Gasket Repair

www.northstarperformance.com

 

[mickeytee]

Look you need to do research on your own. Gm updated the engines for the xlr and sts. the engine was redesigned internalky fir the xlr. Parts do not interchange with the earlier northstar. They do not have a head gasket problem. That was in the northstars from the 90's. If some one is telling you that find someone else. if its a dealer, share their name. Id like to have conversation with them.
Thats like someone saying that fords catch fire when rear ended. Yes 70 pintos did but that was updated. The northstar head stud is overkill unless you plan on building a racing engine. I have replaced hundreds of headgaskets on engines From running hot. all makes and models They usually require a slight machining of the head and new gaskets and new bolts and are good to go. The corvette engines have more problems with blown headgaskets than the northstar. They have torque to yield bolts just like the northstar . when replaced we usually use real bolts like made by arp. they are stronger and can be reused.Drag racers use these bolts on corvette ls engines. The blocks on the new northstar do not need to be drilled out and helicoils installed. I did that on the northstars back in the 90's. The xlr 4.4 supercharged uses the same headbolts as the 4.6. They stand up to boost which puts extreme pressure on the heads and bolts with no problem.
the guy at northstar performance develooed his kits for the early engines. He tries to push them because no one spends that time and money on the old engines now so he tries to sell them for the new engines. There is a whole culture useing the new northstar in dune buggies and off road vehicles. They do not stud them unless trying to get 1000 hp out of the engines. Its a total waste trying to fix a problem you do not have. the fact your tees burst was because they had cracked earlier and you had been loosing a little water all along. The low coolant sensor was either over looked or had failed as many do.that tgere was enough heat and pressure in tge engine to burst them means it was superhot. You got it hot andvwhen you stopped and parked it it got even hotter with no airflow. . Any aluminum block, a!uminum head engine, when run hot can blow headgaskets. Do a quick search on any make or model car made. . go on facebook narketplace and type in head gasket. Thousands of cars for sale due to blown headgaskets
Sorry for the rant but i hate it when people make claims based on wrong information. Like someone not buying an audi because thet can suddenly accelerate. That was the 80's. They fixed it . and that too was human error. I dont think the stud kit can be installed without removing the engine. Based on the value of 2006 xlrs, sell yours to someone who thinks they can install an LS easily. Add the 10,000$ you are fixing to spend to do nothing as far as improving the car and go and buy an 08-09 and have an even better car than you have now. I just looked at an 09 with 50,000 miles for under 20,000. That would be a lot of upgrade over yours.

 

[XLR Hopeful!]

Sorry you are having problems, XLR-SAM. I expect all of us here have fooled with old cars enough to feel your pain!

mickeytee's advice is always good, so I expect he's on the beam here.

Let us know what you decide to do.

​

 

[mickeytee]

Check out the video of the wizard. He is a you tube mechanic. 50% of his drama is total crap. He makes his money off you tube so he has to come up with content. No profesdional mechanic gives him any respect.he bought aa xlr his dream car and wants to gives it a bullit proof engine. Well he tries to fix a problem that is not a problem. he knew so much aboot the cars that he talks about pulling the engine out the top. Any true xlr tech knows they drop out the bottom with the complete crossmember. He eventually does all this.. Funny thing his engine was not leaking he just wanted to prevent it. GM already did that. Also his video was sponsored by northstar performance. Again the company who did make a kit that worked on prior xlr engines. When he got it all done . he had his dream car but then sold it a few weeks later. the new owner has it in a shop trying to get a ton of issues sorted out that the wizard caused. He started a you tube on the car but i think he had signed a non disclosure when he bought the car which is pretty common on you tube cars as most are repaired or built poorly. They are done strickly to make money off of views. Of course there are very informative ones. Look up steve morris engines on head gasket failure.
I find it strange why a dealer would tear down a car knowing they are not going to repair it .if they pulked the head, have it taken to a qualty machine shop and have them check it. See if its warped.
By the way, the wizard single handedly probably brought the values of the xlr down10% . people looking at the cars google them and when this kind of thing comes up they think the worse.