Northstar engine
| Northstar engine | |
|---|---|
4.6 L Northstar engine
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | General Motors |
| Also called |
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| Production | 1991–2010 |
| Combustion chamber | |
| Configuration | DOHC 90° V8/V6 |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor |
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| Successor | |
The Northstar engine is a family of 90° V engines produced General Motors between 1991 and 2010. Regarded as GM's most technically complex engine, the double overhead cam V8 design was developed by Oldsmobile's R&D, but is most associated with Cadillac's Northstar series.
Displacing 4.6 L (281 cu in) in its basic form, the original Northstar design went out of production in 2003, but the family expanded with longitudinal and 4.4 L supercharged versions. Variants were used at Oldsmobile (as the Aurora L47 V8 and "Shortstar" LX5 V6), as well as in several top-end 2000s Pontiacs and Buicks.
The related Northstar System was Cadillac's trademarked name for a package of performance features introduced in mid-1992 that coupled variable valve timing, road sensing suspension, variable power steering, and 4-wheel disc brakes to the Division's high-output and high-torque Northstar engines.
GM ceased production of the Northstar series in July 2010, with the final cars to receive it, the Cadillac DTS, Buick Lucerne, and Cadillac STS, rolling off the line in 2011. It was replaced by the GM LS small-block OHV engine, used in newer Cadillac V8 models like the CTS-V, marking a return to a simpler, more reliable push rod engine design.
GM initiated the Northstar's design ca. 1984 at Oldsmobile R&D in anticipation of the advanced dual overhead cam V8 engines to be introduced by European and Japanese competitors later in the decade. At that time, Cadillac was using the aluminum HT Overhead Valve (OHV) V8 which GM pushed hastily into production because the CAFE standards for 1982 would not allow for the use of the V8-6-4 of 1981. At the time it was GM's corporate policy not to pass the gas guzzler tax on to the consumer.
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