elitebomberX

The last 2 weeks have sucked to say the least.

2 weeks ago, I started to notice a ticking noise coming from inside my engine compartment or possibly my clutch. The noise was very faint and only was audible at a certain RPM band (2,000 - 3,000). At first, I thought it was just a piece of plastic coming loose, but I decided to get a second opinion. After having another person listen to it, we thought it was an exhaust leak.

The next day was a local spirited cruise with high end sports cars (organized on this forum in the southwest region board). I decided to ignore the small noise and go on the cruise with my buddies (first mistake). We drove about 80 miles west of Austin Texas. Everything was fine and it was a beautiful day and I had one of my friends (attractive girl ) with me in the car. Basically it was a really great day and I was enjoying myself. On the way back from the destination, I was doing about 70 on the high way (not gonna BS...I had pushed the car earlier on the cruise) with the other cars and all the sudden I noticed the noise get really loud. Before I could think, something broke loose and the clutch pedal got stuck in and the motor died.

I put on my emergency flashers and pulled over to the side of the road. I opened up the hood and took a quick look to see if anything was smoking. The whole day I was keeping a close watch on my oil pressure and temperature. Nothing was out of the ordinary. There was no smoke and I didn't notice any leaking. My first thought was the clutch went out. I tried restarting the motor and it wouldn't turn. At this point, I'm not sure what to think.

I called USAA and used my road side assistance to get a tow truck out. It was a really hot Texas day; probably over the 100 mark. We waited for an hour. An elderly gentlemen in a truck saw us on the side of the road and brought us some water. It was really nice of him. Finally the tow truck arrived. Guess what, I forgot to turn off my emergency flashers. The battery was dead and I didn't have my key on me. All I had was the FOB (kicking myself in the face at this point). He had to load the car on the flat bead with the E-break on.



http://www.ericbeckinger.com/images/corvetteownd.MOV

I had it towed to my place. I tried to keep myself busy that night to try and forget all about it. The next day, I took a look underneath it. I noticed it was leaking oil. I knew at this point, something was really screwed up. I asked around and figured out where to take my car. I ended up taking it to a dealership about 40 miles east of where I live.

After they looked it over, they gave me the bad news and told me I had thrown a rod (connecting rod on a piston broke and punched a hole in the side of the crankcase).



Basically what this translates to is: the whole engine block is trash (there may be a few salvageable parts in there). I needed a new motor. About 3 months ago, I had my car tuned at a very reputable shop. I also had a full exhaust system installed from long tube headers to the Borla mufflers. I don't blame them for the thrown rod because I know they've tuned many corvettes without issue. They also disabled an exhaust code that was caused by my high flow cats.

I didn't even consider having it towed back there and de-tuned. It never really crossed my mind and I didn't want to do anything dishonest. One of my buddies on this forum knew the general manager of service at the dealership and told them about my mods and to do as much as they could. What it came down to was they had to take a snapshot of the programming on the ECM and send it to GM to get the warranty approved. He sent it in for me and GM detected after market programming. So no warranty. I asked for a quote and was quoted at $8600. I decided to repair it because I love my car.

At this point, I don't even have another car. 2 months ago I sold my other because I was never driving it (kicking myself in the face again). I needed a car to go to work. I tried getting a free rental through my insurance with no luck. I was under 25 at the time (just turned 25 on the 23rd) and didn't want to get reamed. I decided to buy the cheapest POS I could find on craigslist to have something.



1996 Geo Metro with no AC. I've had to drive it around for 2 weeks now. It has a 5 speed manual and 55hp. It's a pimp-mobile no doubt. As the week progressed, I drove down there and visited my car to take a look at it and speak to the mechanic responsible for my car. I knew my car was in good hands. He told me I was going to need a new intake manifold in order to get the warranty on the new motor. The new motor comes with 3yr/100k warranty if the intake manifold is replaced and the ECM is returned to stock programming.

Once they pulled the new motor out, they noticed that my clutch was worn. The car only has 30k miles on it and I had bought it used. One thing I did notice when I bought the car was that it had almost no clutch fluid in it. I drove straight to a dealership and got some when I bought it. I decided to go ahead and put in a new clutch as well. I wanted a fresh start. They said they would not charge me additional labor and the clutch kit was $340 with no flywheel.

Just today I got the call that my car was finished. I got the bill:



It's a lot of money for me. I've only been working full time for under 2 years. I had enough saved, but I was planning on saving up for a 77 Trans Am.

I finally got my baby back and it was like buying the whole car all over again. The whole car felt foreign to me. I've only been out of it for 2 weeks, but I was already not used to the clutch. The Geo Metro's clutch had made me soft.

I really don't blame anyone for this whole deal except for myself. I've tried my best to take care of the car. I've kept up with my oil changes. I've had it professionally detailed. I wash/wax it once a week. I keep coolant, oil, brake/clutch fluid in my car at all times. It was really upsetting and shocking to me when I found out the entire motor was ruined. It's been my daily driver and I've tried not to drive it too hard. At the same time, I've tried to have fun with it within reason. I go on spirited cruises, but have never taken it to the track. I think my biggest mistake was having the car tuned after I sold my other car. It wasn't smart to have modified my daily driver like that and I paid for it.

Sorry for the long post, but I had to vent because the last 2 weeks have been very stressful for me.

Anyways I got my baby back now and am almost afraid to drive it. I do have the Metro to drive me around!!

AORoads

Truly a bad scene, and I do feel for you. I appreciate your story and hope some others read it, too. Not saying it is going to happen to everyone, or even anyone else. But it does happen. And this time, it happened to you.

Better luck in the future!

Rebel 1

I don't know what to say.......
I'm sorry for your loss.....
better luck in the future....
i'm speechless.

stockticker

if i had 9k to spend, i'd have already traded in and bought a 09 z06

elitebomberX

Believe me, I was thinking about it. I really want a 77/78 trans am though. Even though its giant and clunky and only makes 200hp, I think it's one of the best looking cars ever built.

Foxer55

I kind of know your pain. 5 years ago I went on a business trip about 75 miles from home. I had a '99 Olds Intrigue LS that I really liked, nice black with a grey interior. Bought it new right near where I was on the trip. I had stopped at a light and was accelerating away as it changed and the engine faltered so I stepped deeper into the gas peddle and the engined roared back with all this loud clanging and banging from deep inside the block. It sounded horrible! Crashing banging metal parts.

Well, long story short, the dealer said it needed a new engine for $6K without giving any details. I had just paid it off and figured I was free of car payments for awhile. Despite that it had 110K miles it was in exceptional shape because I took really good care of it. Really clean, spotless interior, good rubber, fully loaded, no accidents, full service history, etc. I couldn't decide what to do and it was a real pain running around in a rental car for a couple of days while I checked on buying another car. I had to get wheels quick. I wound up buying a new Impala vice paying for the new engine and sold the Olds to a junk yard for $700. Really, really annoying, especially the new car payments.

c1j1c2

I can understand that GM voided the warranty because of the new programming, but it still sucks. Seems like big companies are always looking for a way to get out of paying for things.

calmtgguy

This thread should be titled "you tune, you lose".

Tom's_03SVT

Damn that sucks, no use in crying over spilled milk, but what would a performance build cost you from one of the site vendors? Could you have gotten a forged small block for $10K?

'06 Quicksilver Z06

"Mods Gone Bad"
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-gone-bad.html


What a sad story.

Beautiful girl riding in the car with you, and the motor pops, and in near 100* heat, have to stand in the heat, locked out of the car, and have to have the car
dragged onto a flatbed with the emergency brake on.

And then to add insult to injury, have to go out and buy a hoopty, a Geo metro, no less.

All of this AFTER finding out that the warranty you paid for is null and void.

And to top it all off, get a bill for right at $10,000.00. The change left over from 10 grand won't pay for a good night out on the town.

So you have the price of the car.
Plus the price of the mods and tuning.
Then the price of repairing the car after it pops in behind that.
Plus the price of the hoopty.
Plus the headache.

Had this car been stock, it might not have popped, who knows?

But what we do know, is if it had popped, the original poster, would still have the money he spent on mods, plus the money he spent on the hoopty, plus the 10 grand, still in his bank account.

It's always sad when mods go bad.

obxchartercaptain

I'm sorry for your troubles....AND hind sight is always 20/20. Having said that .... knowing what you know now....would you have still have had your engine "tuned"?

NOCRISIS

sad story,but it will help those that are on the fence looking to tune their cars,,,,

dgrant3830

Bummer Big Time. I know it doesn't seem fair that GM says no warranty when we all know that most tunes wouldn't cause this problem but I sort of understand their view too. Example is someone runs a supercharger, racing it all the time and then gets a wild hair and adds NO2 to it as well and blows the engine. GM has to draw the line somewhere and the easiest place is the tuning. My '07 is hovering at 96K miles now and still under the 5yr/100K power train warranty. Tune is stock and didn't want to alter that till I'm past the point of no return.

AFVETTE

I felt your pain just reading your story. While the tune may have voided your warranty I have to wonder why your LS2 blew with only 30K miles in the first place? I wanted Z06 power but didn't want to mod my LS2 to get there, so I just waited until I could afford to buy "factory" power. Your experience only reenforces my decision to buy factory power to begin with.

You said you bought it used, how many miles were on it when you bought it and did you get any intel about it's first owner? The low clutch fluid could have been a clue to abuse.

But at least you are back on the road and hopefully you'll run trouble free for many years.

Tom

XEUROTRASHOWNER

New ls3 6000.00 ls3-480 (oem) 6400.00 2600.00 to R & R seems a little pricey.

Foxer55

Quicksilver,

That's why I posted my experience. While 110K miles may be high, the car was well taken car of and shouldn't have blown the engine. I woudn't say the case here is a direct link to the mods but a possible link to the mods. It could have been poor service or abuse. Statistically, there are always going to be some failures no matter which car you buy and if your the unlucky guy then you're the unlucky guy. That you may have had a tune complicates the issue but there's no direct connection except that GM knows it complicates the issue.

Most of the guys I've met so far in CCA have mod'd 'Vettes but I haven't heard any horror stories.

So the question here is...is this specifically about mods or is this about not liking GM's policy that mods are a risk and void the warrantee. I agree they probably have the numbers to demonstrate that's true.

AORoads

It's not a question at all. OP stated what happened to his car, not the why because no one knows unless a broken part is visible as the culprit , and then the outcome as well as GM's response. Quik said his peice, too, re all the facts at hand and some conclusions, one way or the other (dollars in hand, tune, GM warranty, etc.)

To put blame on the car, the engine, the mfr., the tune, the mods, etc., is another thread altogether. Neither one of the two posters is necessarily assigning cause or blame.

And that's the way it is....

tomzarbo

I feel for you. Major engine trouble was a fear I have, since I bought my car used as well.

Look at it this way, at least you've got a new engine in your car, and you shouldn't have any trouble for many years in the future!

TomZ

Foxer55

AORoads,

I agree but this seemed to start be a mod bashing thread. Personally, I'm undecided about mods and would prefer to hear more of the details. Regardless of how it happens, when your car goes TU and you get the bill - it sucks - but its more about the luck of the draw.

vettedoogie

What makes you think GM should pay a dime for this?

Clearly a modded car with tuning and that puts greater stress on the motor. More evidence of how hard this car was driven is the burned out clutch with no fluid (when he bought it) at only 30k miles. OP may have taken good care of it, other than the tune, but sounds like it musta been rode hard and put away wet by the previous owner.