David426

Zee06 made a post that really interested me on broken valve springs.. I'm trying to see if those who did break springs have something in common What were you guys doing when the spring broke,, racing the motor, high revs? Was the engine fully warmed up?. Oil temp above 150? Was it cold outside?Just curious on how these things are breaking i thought the ls6 was bullet proof. Here is a good link to preventing spring breaks.. I wonder how many of you guys did not follow these rules.. I'm not bashing anyone,, just curious.. I always keep my DIC display on the oil temp setting. Does everyone else do this? Just trying to find a common denominator if the is one.. Maybe we can prevent this? Thanks guys http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...=springs+valve

TheSnakeJake

how many miles are on your Z?

ZeeOSix

Link above isn't working.

Many who have experienced a broken spring said it happened at an idle or at very low RPM. I think it can happen at any time as the failure is fatigue and when it happens is just coincidental.

If revving the engine to high RPM when the oil is cold has any factor it should be noted that drag racing the car might have a bearing on this. Many guys sit in the staging lanes and the engine cools way down, then they fire it up, do a burn out and hammer the engine down the 1/4 mile ... most likely the oil has not reached anywhere near full operating temperature. Just a thought.

sothpaw2

A lot of posts I have seen on here say it happened at idle with no spirited driving involved on that day. I remember at least one that prescribed to the "warm it up" advice and claimed his was always warm before he put his foot in it.

I don't think there's any correlation between the spring problems and letting the engine warm.

PuJu Z

factory defect. chevrolet should replace all of our engines w/ the one in the 09 zr1. well that's my view atleast. one can only dream

ptindall

Right, because GM is swimming in profit and unused LS9s laying around.

David426

42k I still have almost 2 years on the warranty.. I really don'y like the idea of having to worry about a broken spring even with the warranty

TheSnakeJake

if you have 2 years of warranty left, i would not worry about it and just enjoy your car. i just purchased my Z06 last weekend, and it has over 58k miles on the original springs (no warranty obviously). the car runs very strong, you would never know it has that many miles... i am not going to worry about the valve springs.

hpfiend

I wonder however if some of these reports are skewed by coincidental complaint letters written to GM about what an inferior product they designed and are seeking recompense or extension of warranty.

Advertising on a public forum that you flogged the living @#% out of the car and then trying to win a customer service complaint/lawsuit is not smart and I think most corvette owners realize this.

But nonetheless, I am still going to replace mine with LS2s as soon as I get it.

ZeeOSix

All the valve springs can be replaced for very little money. IMO, replacing them if you have an 02 or 03 is cheap insurance. I plan on doing it to mine this winter, as the paranoia factor is not worth a few hundred bucks to me.

rb185afm

I was driving on the hwy at night for over an hour with cruise set at 70 MPH. Spring just let go.

David426

Made a few calls this morning My Huffines Chevy dealership has only seen a few with broken LS6springs, Most are the LS7.. Spoke with the "vette man" Kieth Overturf.. He remembers the one LS6 that broke a spring had an aftermarket cam and springs and the owner being upset , because the warranty would not cover repairs Another Corvette Performance shop who deals with these on a daily bases told me they have never seen a stock Ls6 with a broken spring,, but has seen problems with the Ls7 springs breaking ,,at his shop.. Makes me feel a little better as both the dealership and speed shop are high volume Corvette facilities in Dallas Tx

PuJu Z

my comment was just a sarcastic UPlifting statement as to yours was a sarcastic downer. big difference. try to be optimistic in your life atleast once

ZeeOSix

That's interesting, as you can see in this thread that there seems to be many members who have experienced a valve spring failure.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2024214

In fact, it seems there are fewer reports on the board of LS7 springs failing vs. LS6 springs. All I know is that it can and has happened to a significant number of board members. IMO, that makes is much more likely to happen than I'd like it to be.

ptindall

You know nothing about my life. If you are trying to be funny, try to make your comment funny next time.

PuJu Z

you're right, i know nothing about your life and wasn't trying to be funny. just replying to your statement in the same sarcastic manner as you was replying to mine. hince the

David426

Yeah I thought for sure I would be told something different from both people.. or at least 1 of them.. You would think they would have seen a few ls6 motors with a broken spring here and there with the posts on here

jclarksnakes

Valve spring failure is rare enough that it is not worth worrying about. Even if it does happen it is not the end of the world.
Jeff

2002rich

That's exactly what happened to mine. Hell I was on my cell phone talking to a friend and all of a sudden my check engine light started flashing, then started to miss, then died while on the freeway.

That was over 2 years ago and the car had something like 8000 miles.

It was the #4 exhaust valve and the dealer replaced both springs on #4 under warranty. Since, I have sold the car but I still see it every day. No other problems. Of course the car is still under warranty until 12/2009. If your car is not under warranty, I would replace them just to have peace of mind. Others were not as lucky and sucked a valve which cost way more than the cost of replacing the valve springs.

BTW - it was a 2002

Granted it is a small percentage but it can happen to you.
This is common knowledge and it's hard to believe that a dealership wouldn't have known about it, unless of course they don't sell Z06 corvettes.

ZeeOSix

... well, I guess totaling a Z06 isn't the end of the world either, but I wouldn't want to do it.