David426

Hey guys.. I'm selling my 99 C5 for an upgrade to a 2002-2003 Z06.. What are some things to look for.. ie .. potential problems.. Were there any oil burners in 2002?? I know the 2001 models had a piston ring issue and they burned oil.. When did they fix this problem?? Thanks DW

thehammer69

2001's were the only ones with ring issues.

SilentFright

Man you people keep propagating this anti 2001 bull sh*t don't you. This has to be the most ill-informed topic on the forum. For starters not all 2001 production models had the low ring tension, and the ones that did (GM TSB states ring revision was in May 01') only exhibit these symptoms under certain driving conditions (Sustained high RPM causing ring flutter). Mind you very few had any consumption problems that were ever deemed excessive.

If you actually try and think about oil burning in general you would realize that LSX engines tend to burn oil that is introduced into the intake manifold as vapor via the PCV system. Why else do you think that the oil separators are so popular? So if you want to get technical all 97-2004 Corvettes burn some oil.

BlueRag

I owned an 01 with this issue....Had to add a quart every 1000-1200 miles...And it didn't matter how I drove it Had it re-ringed under warranty. Afterwards it used barely 1/4 qt between oil changes. Unless you have owned and driven one of these you can talk all the smack you want, but it doesnt change the facts that it sucks to own an '01 with this issue

SilentFright

I owned a 01' Z06 for four years so I'll talk whatever smack I see fit. The production date was Feb 2001 which no doubt had the low ring tension, but exhibited little if any oil consumption. The problem here is when people generalize and state that all 01' models are oil burners when in fact it was limited to certain production periods within 2001.

u4ick

One thing you may want to consider in the decision between an 02 and 03 is what color car do you want..........you have to remember that the 03's have the silver colored badges and look very sweet on a black car in my opinion. A minor thing when it comes to "what year do I want?" But for me, if I bought another one it would be an 03 for that reason.

2003Z06LS6

CJR2

I wonder how many posts we'll get to before this one's locked? This subject seems to bring out a lot of passion.

LO PHAT

The problem wasn't the cars ... it was the way certain people drove them. Driving the cars with a low load on the engine (constant speed) at higher than normal RPMs (caused by not using higher gears) caused "ring flutter."

While you certainly have the right to drive around at a steady 4,000 plus RPM, why would you want to?

LO PHAT

SilentFright

As an ex-01' Z guy I just hate seeing people label the car as an "oil-burning" black sheep, unworthy of the Z06 name. The 2001 Z06 is an awesome car and deserves to be recognized as such.

CJR2

Understood, we have a big investment in our cars and we hate to see the value diminished.

SilentFright

I'm right there with ya. If I wasn't T-boned by a drunk driver I would still have my 01' Z.

Matt

ctusser

This topic has been beat to death, over and over and always irritates the 01 owners who haven't had these problems. Try using the search feature on a known or common issue next time.

BlackZ06

It also REALLY pisses off the people who had the problem and got it fixed under warranty ... GM bit the bullet and spent a lot of money fixing the problem .... neither GM or the 2001 Z06 should be "dinged" for the issue.

I'm surprised GM covered it for you .... the cutoff was MORE than ONE QUART in LESS THAN 1,000 miles. A quart per thousand miles is considered by GM to be "acceptable" oil consumption for an "almost race" all aluminum engine.

I was involved almost from the get-go on this issue. I took delivery of my 2001 Z06 on August 3rd of 2000 (that's not a typo .... 2000) ... one of the VERY first cars delivered. By September the car was "broken in" and I took it to an HPDE at Sears Point (Infinion) Raceway. The car burned over a quart of oil in less than 200 miles of track time. I complained to the dealer but got the old "its normal". By November, and several more HPDE weekends with similar consumption, and more complaints to the dealer, the dealer finally came back and said GM was hearing complaints. I wrote a letter they then passed on to the GM zone rep explaining my experiences.

In early December I had a business trip that took me out of town for a week, so a deal was struck ..... the dealer got my car for the week, GM Powertrain FedEx'd a set of the "new rings" to the dealer, and arranged for an engineer to document the installation of the new rings. They wanted to pass on to other dealers how to do the re-ring without pulling the engine from the car, and also to document exactly what parts and how much labor were needed for the procedure.

I had weekly calls from a GM rep for about a month after the work was done to assess the "success" of the new rings. I understood my car was one of a handful of early build cars that were used to validate the new rings and the procedure. Sometime in early 2001 St. Catherine's started using the new rings for engine production, and a TSB was issued regarding warranty coverage, parts to be used, labor paid, etc.

So, to be fair to GM, in six months they identified the issue, figured out what was causing it, engineered the fix, tested it, and rolled it out to production and the parts/warranty system. For a BIG company that's not bad .....

only59

I drive on 01 with a May build date. The engine has neer been apart, I added maybe 1/2 qt last November, which is about 2000 miles ago.

My 2007 Uplander Lease Van uses about 1/2 qt between oil changes @3000 miles.

My Suburban 5.3 uses a few drops of oil between changes.

My previous L98's used about 1/2 qt between oil changes.

I think the underlying factor is this;

This is 2008, if you are looking to buy a 2001 Z06 this is most likely not even an issue anymore. I would purchase ANY 01 Z06 even if it used a qt of Oil in 1000 miles.

So let me ask, what is the guarantee that if someone buys an 02,03 or 04 that it will not use some oil ?

Right..No guarantee .

When buying an 01 Z06 it is best to do your research, there are plenty of documented articles from GM regarding the RING FLUTTER, not OIL BURNING issue.

IF it concerns you, don't look at an 01. It's that easy.

It's a crazy subject and one I feel that gets way more attention than other more pressing issues such as the Steering WHEEL LOCKING issue and the so called GM fix .

94-vette

IB4TL!!!

CJR2

I love my beautiful 50th "03" Z06 !!! Great car

ZeeOSix

... It's funny how the sensitive people skirt the issue with the 01 Zees. GM claims it was caused by "ring flutter" ... and if ring flutter caused excessive oil burning then the engine burned excessive oil regardless of the cause. Can't hide a fact by using a different term for "oil burning".

Some 01s burned oil, some didn't ... and as someone mentioned in some cases it didn't matter how the car was driven -- maybe those cars had other issues. I'm sure the "ring flutter" aggravated the oil consumption issue. I've found that if any L6x engine is driven at high rpm and high loads that it will burn more oil then if driven mellow -- in reality, any engine follows those physics. Some oil goes past the rings, some goes out the PCV system.

Milan

Even if you get an 01 with no problems...good luck convincing the people you try to sell it to after you're done with it that it has no problems.

Other than that, things like 405hp badges, HUD, etc. are features that although I don't care about, I know would bother me if I did not have them in an 01.

HRDTOPC54FUN

Nicely done. Thanks for the post.