cdngolfer

I spoke to a service tech at Wilson-Niblett (Canada's largest corvette dealer) in Toronto today about re and re on my 08 Z06 heads. The car has 26,000kms (16000 miles) and has a couple of weeks of warranty left. The car does have some ticking but no smoke. I have tracked it for 1/2 day at Mosport and it has about 25 drag strip runs.

He guessed that it was about an 8 hour job @$115/hr. He said that if the valve guides were found to be out of spec, they would send the heads to a machine shop for rebuild and that it would be covered by warranty. I told him that I had headers and a tune and he said that would not affect any warranty regarding valve guides.

I am thinking that $1000 inspection may be a good idea. I can remove the heads myself but I am a little leery about installing them. I have all the tools I need. If I took them off and brought them in, I would have to get my car towed to get them put back on.

I put this out as an option to be considered. $1000 now (if no wear) or $17000 if there is a future problem. If there is wear, it does not cost me anything. If the guides are in spec, I have peace of mind.

IanM

If you are worried about it I would say why not? Especially if you have the dealers blessing as far as warranty coverage goes. The only thing here that I would consider is the cause of said valve guide problems. The most recent speculation is that the wear is due to improperly machined heads from the factory in a very small % of the cars out there... if this is true then provided your guides are torn up just replacing them will not solve a single thing. In the end though the % of cars showing the problem is so small I doubt you will be in that group. Either way it is worth the inspection if your losing sleep over it IMO. That being said... If you are in that very small group experiencing the problem then I would seriously consider what roads you choose to take to fix it.

MudZ06

That is the reason I am putting the money I would have used toward refreshing the current guides/valves into new aftermarket heads to avoid this potential problem all-together.

'06 Quicksilver Z06

Smart approach.

Olddudesrule

I agree. If your peace of mind is worth $1000, go for it! It's a no brainer that way.

Hirohawa

I would do it.

Or why not get an extended warranty before yours runs out?

Gary '09 C6

^ one or the other...

tim414

JetBlue427

I guess the next the question is would they really rebuild them if they seen wear or would they simply give you new heads? a 3rd party shop would probably not have access to the same powdered metal guides...so most likely they would be installing bronze guides. So would GM warranty a head built out of spec from there original design? lots of questions here to ask..but I had considered going the same route as I also have a 08 and winter will soon be approaching.
Let me know what they tell you...I am in western Canada so if my dealer questioned the repair at least I could refer them to yours.

X25

I do have a brand new Z06 and I intend to do this end of every summer. If there is no wear, fine, I will have spent a grand to refresh my confidence in my car. If there is some, then it will be taken care of, and I won't even have to pay the inspection cost.

toxin440

With as many "incidents" that we hear about when a Z06 is getting worked on at a dealer.... I don't know if I would trust the car to dealer work.

A dealer can promise the moon - unless it's in writing you will be screwed.

1000 for tear down, inspection, and reassembly doesn't sound too bad... but to be honest if I was going to spend that kind of money I'd rather have a dedicated corvette shop doing the work.

My warranty runs out on my 08 early 2013 -- I wont be driving it till jan or feb at the earliest. With limited options on extended warranties (even then it's a gamble on getting them to pay out) I'm considering spending around 2500-3000 to have my heads taken off, worked, with new valves and springs from LG motorsports (I'm local to them here in DFW TX)

Sadly - no matter how you cut it, it's all really gambling as nobody still REALLY knows what's going on with the LS7 concerning this issue.

Gary '09 C6

^ IMO, a better economic decision for your specific situation (head-work vs non-GMPP warranty).

Jorday

I'd keep my car as far from the dealer as possible.

Katherinejjm

With as many "incidents" that we hear about when a Z06 is getting worked on at a dealer..

Random84

I also would be leary of letting the dealer leave my LS7 shortblock exposed for any length of time (and then when you spin a bearing a few days later...).

But given the amount of guide wear we see reported on the forum, I'd say your chances of having the heads covered under warranty for at least ONE of them being out of spec are probably pretty good.

Please post the results no matter what you find.

b4i4getit

This is a very good point. Consider that some dealers have problems changing the oil on a Z06. Unless you are fortunate enough to have a dealership that has rebuilt an LS7 successfully you may be taking a big risk for peace of mind. For those almost out of warranty I would think your money is better spent with an extended warranty.

GMuffley

Do you have confidence in the machine shop if the dealer authorizes the repair?

383vett

I would do it yourself if you are concerned and pay a little more to have the valveguides done and the heads freshened. I wouldn't trust a dealer to do anything more than replace a fuse.

Undy

It's not just the guides it's the valves concentricity on it's seat from the factory, something not very easily checked... Just food for thought.

3LZZ06

...^^^this can be a very valid point, unfortunately.