You tube wizard costing you money

[mickeytee]

If you care anything about the value of your XLR please read this. A mechanic on you tube known as the "wizard" is doing a series on the XLR. He sort of praises the car. He bought a basiclly junk one and is going to repair it. Well i watched because i wanted to see how he handled the shocks leaking and the top not working. Instead he decided to fix the head bolt/gasket issue. Problem is that is not an issue.A few people have reported problems but most can be traced to broken radiators or failed cooling fans that cause the car to over heat. Any aluminum head car that over heats will have issues. He makes it sound like ALL XLR have head bolt issues. he is sponsored by a company that sells, you guessed it studs to replace the headbolts. They are a great product and i used them back when the northstar had issues in the 90's. He also talks about the main bearing bolts breaking. They do not unless you are removing them . why would you remove them except you have a failed motor. They dont break under normal conditions. I can give you a list if cars that bolts break when you dont remove them PROPERLY .He mentioned j and j auto parts has 30 something used engines. Its because no one needs them. To someone looking to buy a first time XLR and sees this video , they are going to think along with the problems the car does have they will be needing to spend thousands to replace a motor thats going to fail. If you care, go to the video, post comments about your car so that people reading wont think these cars engines are prone to fail. Oh and the top repair i wanted to see, well its being put off because i suspect he does not know how. to repair it. I like this guy and love Hoovie who made the wizard who he is but he is bringing down our car values by misrepresenting issues for the sake of his channel

 

[Gord]

Wizard.....I did take the time to skim through his video and a fair amount of time reading the comments there.

IMHO he's bought a XLR with a bad engine... -for himself- or for resale. He's used his YouTube status probably to get free parts and probably even a spare engine in return for the mention and links. It sure does seem obvious or at least that's how I (and some other YT commenters) interpret it.

Someone in the comments under the video mentioned how blatant 'the whole thing being an ad' was and that he was leaving. Wizard's reply: "see ya." I don't find that very tasteful or proper. Minus a point for the self-proclaimed Wizard.

Michael, while I fully understand the issue with the early NorthStar engines, I don't have personal experience to back anything I might write in his video's comments - though I sure can agree to comments by someone like yourself who does have the first-hand experience.

If perhaps you do decide to make your professional opinion known there, by all means, do let me (us) know as I'll be more than happy to stand behind your words - I think we all should.

 

[mickeytee]

Wizard.....I did take the time to skim through his video and a fair amount of time reading the comments there.

IMHO he's bought a XLR with a bad engine... -for himself- or for resale. He's used his YouTube status probably to get free parts and probably even a spare engine in return for the mention and links. It sure does seem obvious or at least that's how I (and some other YT commenters) interpret it.

Someone in the comments under the video mentioned how blatant 'the whole thing being an ad' was and that he was leaving. Wizard's reply: "see ya." I don't find that very tasteful or proper. Minus a point for the self-proclaimed Wizard.

Michael, while I fully understand the issue with the early NorthStar engines, I don't have personal experience to back anything I might write in his video's comments - though I sure can agree to comments by someone like yourself who does have the first-hand experience.

If perhaps you do decide to make your professional opinion known there, by all means, do let me (us) know as I'll be more than happy to stand behind your words - I think we all should.

The fact you have had no experience with the issue means you have had no problem. Thats what people need to know. Keeping your oil changed and coolant replaced even though factory says lifetime will keep your car safe and your engine problem free. Yes they do seep a liitle oil but its not an issue unless its up top on the cam actuators

 

[MPRCTCL]

Seems he puts the “wiz” in wizard.

 

[RDwilkerson]

I take most advise with a grain of salt; it is better to do the research before getting started so that you do not buy parts that will not be needed. Being a new bee have found some absoulte crap done to mine. Mostly lack of maintenance simple things like changing the cabin filter, air filters spark plugs and distorting the air diffuser becase they could not know how to connect the rubber sleave. But the one that take it prize is the roof lift pistons. What I really miss is the Chiltons manuels they could make you a master mechanic with the exacting pictures and instructions.

 

[JohnnyBfromPeoria]

I've been watching the Car Wizard for quite a while and I respect what he has to say. He repeatedly says during this series that the later Northstar engines (including all XLRs) had the head bolt issues resolved with the coarse thread head bolts and that the engines are quite reliable. The video series IS sponsored, but he makes that clear. He also makes clear that he doesn't even have to do this modification, but because the engines and the parts are available, he's doing it for the channel and for peace of mind. You'd have to actually watch the videos he's published in this series to get his subtleties. In every one of his videos I've seen, he's a businessman, but he's also an honest mechanic, one I would use if I needed to. He'd likely ask an XLR owner why in the world you would want him to do this series of modifications to your Northstar if you didn't need to. If somebody gave me a spare 4.6 and another company gave me the head stud and main stud parts kits, I'd do it, too.

On another note, it was interesting to me that Northstar Performance is still (claiming) developing both a flashable tune as well as alternate camshafts in the near future. Now that would be something.

John B.

 

[pure zen]

What is the automotive background of the Wizard's experience,,, anyone know?

If so,,,please post. Thanks!

 

[mickeytee]

He fixes cars for hoovies garage. Like all mechanics he has his opinions. ive watched him for some time and he hardly ever covers his mistakes he makes. Some are very easy to spot for people that know what they are looking for. It much easier to lok smart when you edit your videos. I agree if you watch in depth you can read betwern the lines on what he is doing. But for people looking to buy their first XLR and google issues, i doubt they watch the whole series. They just see "engine failure " and other misleading claims. Oh and northstar performance has been saying they are working on a tune for years. One company says they can do it on 04/05 but not 06-09 but they have never answered any of my emails requesting cost or how to buy it. Its just not going to happen. its xlr specific and how many sales do you think you would really make?100? The guys building northstars for buggies use a completely different ecm. They can add headers intakes turbos, things not available for the xlr.

 

[JohnnyBfromPeoria]

What is the automotive background of the Wizard's experience,,, anyone know?

If so,,,please post. Thanks!

He was an Army mechanic until discharge, worked for some shops then opened his own. About all I've been able to pick up.

My brother picked up on a couple of errors made in a video of replacing timing chains and guides on a Jaguar XK8.

John B.

 

[mickeytee]

Most of the videos i see all he does is put brakes shocks and suspension parts on and fix leaks. A couple of cars with real issues either get sold or are still parked there. theres a Bmw tech that shows up on his show that can actually repair cars. His show is for enterainment more than actully how to do repairs.

 

[MR Roadster]

If you care anything about the value of your XLR please read this. A mechanic on you tube known as the "wizard" is doing a series on the XLR. He sort of praises the car. He bought a basiclly junk one and is going to repair it. Well i watched because i wanted to see how he handled the shocks leaking and the top not working. Instead he decided to fix the head bolt/gasket issue. Problem is that is not an issue.A few people have reported problems but most can be traced to broken radiators or failed cooling fans that cause the car to over heat. Any aluminum head car that over heats will have issues. He makes it sound like ALL XLR have head bolt issues. he is sponsored by a company that sells, you guessed it studs to replace the headbolts. They are a great product and i used them back when the northstar had issues in the 90's. He also talks about the main bearing bolts breaking. They do not unless you are removing them . why would you remove them except you have a failed motor. They dont break under normal conditions. I can give you a list if cars that bolts break when you dont remove them PROPERLY .He mentioned j and j auto parts has 30 something used engines. Its because no one needs them. To someone looking to buy a first time XLR and sees this video , they are going to think along with the problems the car does have they will be needing to spend thousands to replace a motor thats going to fail. If you care, go to the video, post comments about your car so that people reading wont think these cars engines are prone to fail. Oh and the top repair i wanted to see, well its being put off because i suspect he does not know how. to repair it. I like this guy and love Hoovie who made the wizard who he is but he is bringing down our car values by misrepresenting issues for the sake of his channel

Car Wizard said in the video he was going to have to replace the control top module because the top would not go down. I noticed his trunk opened using the fob so i emailed him and told him to try the tech2 relearn. I walked him through the procedure of relearning with a tech2. His problems was the tech2 was old and hadn't been updated. He sent me a two videos showing where the tech2 was failing to connect to the control top module but using another scanner he was able to view the data. But only the tech2 can do a relearn, so he tried a newer vci. He wrote to me:
Fixed my top. The issue was the vci box inside my tech 2. I bought a new vci, swapped it out, and i can now read everything fine. Did the relearn easy peasy.
Just a junk vci box.
So a video about the control top will be coming in the near future.

 

[XLRVIII]

Just watched a video he made a few years ago about what Cadillac models to buy and which to avoid in each class, and in the sports models he recommended the XLR - all years. I know he recently purchased one as stated, above, and he stated he always loved XLRs. Been following him for a few years now, seems like a decent dude IMO.