[Z06] Another exploding LS7
04-24-2016, 02:41 AM
#61
Team Owner
Well guys, it's been a long while, two moves and a lot of time and money has gone by since I last posted, but I'm back and so is the Z! Long story but dealer only offered to help with a slightly discounted (from retail) motor price. My letters to the GM and Chevy brass did get me a phone call which after about 10 minutes ended with him telling me they can only help out in the few $100 items and that i needed to talk to the Customer Care rep (I think that was it) at my dealer. That ends up being the Service manager at my dealer who I already had a good discussion with (see above) But I hooked up with a great mechanic (Thanks Frank at Frankenspeed in White Plains, NY
) who turned me on to Karl Chevy Performance Parts (Thanks Adam!) in Ankeny, Iowa who gave me a great price and customer service on a new LS7. With all new belts and hoses, oil cooler, as well as the Lingenfelter oil reservoir upgrade, I'm back on the streets and hopefully soon the track as well. Frank, who typically works on older muscle cars, did me a favor and put my baby back together and its good as new, probably better than new.
Looking at the old motor, number one cylinder's exhaust valve appears to have stuck and I have several pieces of it and the piston along with other chunks of aluminum block as souvenirs.
My brother has a nearly identical silver 07 Z and attended the GT Tire NCM event that we were going to share in August last year. Day two saw his motor grenade as well,
After his own research and my suggestion, Karl Chevy supplied another new LS7 to our family last year.
Still hoping to hear something on the class action suit, but neither of us are holding our breath! I'll get some photos downloaded and add to the post, but wanted to answer back.
) who turned me on to Karl Chevy Performance Parts (Thanks Adam!) in Ankeny, Iowa who gave me a great price and customer service on a new LS7. With all new belts and hoses, oil cooler, as well as the Lingenfelter oil reservoir upgrade, I'm back on the streets and hopefully soon the track as well. Frank, who typically works on older muscle cars, did me a favor and put my baby back together and its good as new, probably better than new.Looking at the old motor, number one cylinder's exhaust valve appears to have stuck and I have several pieces of it and the piston along with other chunks of aluminum block as souvenirs.
My brother has a nearly identical silver 07 Z and attended the GT Tire NCM event that we were going to share in August last year. Day two saw his motor grenade as well,
After his own research and my suggestion, Karl Chevy supplied another new LS7 to our family last year. Still hoping to hear something on the class action suit, but neither of us are holding our breath! I'll get some photos downloaded and add to the post, but wanted to answer back.
DH
04-24-2016, 06:28 PM
#62
Drifting
Well guys, it's been a long while, two moves and a lot of time and money has gone by since I last posted, but I'm back and so is the Z! Long story but dealer only offered to help with a slightly discounted (from retail) motor price. My letters to the GM and Chevy brass did get me a phone call which after about 10 minutes ended with him telling me they can only help out in the few $100 items and that i needed to talk to the Customer Care rep (I think that was it) at my dealer. That ends up being the Service manager at my dealer who I already had a good discussion with (see above) But I hooked up with a great mechanic (Thanks Frank at Frankenspeed in White Plains, NY) who turned me on to Karl Chevy Performance Parts (Thanks Adam!) in Ankeny, Iowa who gave me a great price and customer service on a new LS7. With all new belts and hoses, oil cooler, as well as the Lingenfelter oil reservoir upgrade, I'm back on the streets and hopefully soon the track as well. Frank, who typically works on older muscle cars, did me a favor and put my baby back together and its good as new, probably better than new.
Looking at the old motor, number one cylinder's exhaust valve appears to have stuck and I have several pieces of it and the piston along with other chunks of aluminum block as souvenirs.
My brother has a nearly identical silver 07 Z and attended the GT Tire NCM event that we were going to share in August last year. Day two saw his motor grenade as well, After his own research and my suggestion, Karl Chevy supplied another new LS7 to our family last year.
Still hoping to hear something on the class action suit, but neither of us are holding our breath! I'll get some photos downloaded and add to the post, but wanted to answer back.
) who turned me on to Karl Chevy Performance Parts (Thanks Adam!) in Ankeny, Iowa who gave me a great price and customer service on a new LS7. With all new belts and hoses, oil cooler, as well as the Lingenfelter oil reservoir upgrade, I'm back on the streets and hopefully soon the track as well. Frank, who typically works on older muscle cars, did me a favor and put my baby back together and its good as new, probably better than new.Looking at the old motor, number one cylinder's exhaust valve appears to have stuck and I have several pieces of it and the piston along with other chunks of aluminum block as souvenirs.
My brother has a nearly identical silver 07 Z and attended the GT Tire NCM event that we were going to share in August last year. Day two saw his motor grenade as well,
After his own research and my suggestion, Karl Chevy supplied another new LS7 to our family last year. Still hoping to hear something on the class action suit, but neither of us are holding our breath! I'll get some photos downloaded and add to the post, but wanted to answer back.
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Johns07Z (04-26-2016)
04-24-2016, 07:32 PM
#63
A buddy of mine just lost his motor on 2009 Z09 a few weeks ago. The car was tracked only a few times. I think it dropped a valve or snapped a wrist pin or connecting rod. There were pieces of the block on the floor. It happened during normal street driving.
04-24-2016, 07:38 PM
#64
Racer
IF your not tracking your car pushing it to red line smashing shifts every weekend NO !!! i wouldn't worry about anything
04-25-2016, 07:38 AM
#65
I lost 2 motors already within 40k miles.
04-26-2016, 09:28 AM
#66
Drifting
I'd be willing to "get the heads done" in a heartbeat IF someone would guarantee in writing that their "fix" would indeed prevent valves from dropping for a respectable amount of mileage.
04-26-2016, 11:45 AM
#67
Melting Slicks
IMHO at the moment your best bet would be something that is completely 'reengineered' like the TFS. Use your stock ti intake valves and you'll get a significant improvement in power and wont spend much more than 'fixing' stock heads.
Cheers, Paul.
04-26-2016, 05:34 PM
#68
Drifting
IF you need a guarantee you need another car, it's that simple.
IMHO at the moment your best bet would be something that is completely 'reengineered' like the TFS. Use your stock ti intake valves and you'll get a significant improvement in power and wont spend much more than 'fixing' stock heads.
Cheers, Paul.
IMHO at the moment your best bet would be something that is completely 'reengineered' like the TFS. Use your stock ti intake valves and you'll get a significant improvement in power and wont spend much more than 'fixing' stock heads.
Cheers, Paul.
The guarantee (or warranty) should be on the work and parts.
If I'm going to spend $3k+ to fix something, there should be some evidence it actually will and if not, it should be made right if there's a failure after the fix.
Tail light warranties should not apply when spending this much.
The fact no one will offer said warranty leads me to doubt boasts of finding the solution to the problem. Until the real cause is determined it's anybodies guess.
YMMV
04-26-2016, 05:52 PM
#69
Team Owner
sadly all it would take is one mis shift, or one over rev, and you can have a destroyed head/motor. I can see a warranty against guide wear for XXXXX miles, but not a no questions asked your motor will never drop a valve. Tuning, driver, etc. There is way too many other factors to offer a warranty on something like this.
04-26-2016, 06:21 PM
#71
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Jan 2013
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I respectfully disagree.
The guarantee (or warranty) should be on the work and parts.
If I'm going to spend $3k+ to fix something, there should be some evidence it actually will and if not, it should be made right if there's a failure after the fix.
Tail light warranties should not apply when spending this much.
The fact no one will offer said warranty leads me to doubt boasts of finding the solution to the problem. Until the real cause is determined it's anybodies guess.
YMMV
The guarantee (or warranty) should be on the work and parts.
If I'm going to spend $3k+ to fix something, there should be some evidence it actually will and if not, it should be made right if there's a failure after the fix.
Tail light warranties should not apply when spending this much.
The fact no one will offer said warranty leads me to doubt boasts of finding the solution to the problem. Until the real cause is determined it's anybodies guess.
YMMV
04-26-2016, 06:46 PM
#72
04-26-2016, 07:57 PM
#73
Burning Brakes
Nickel/ bronze exhaust valve guides
04-26-2016, 10:05 PM
#76
Safety Car
04-26-2016, 11:16 PM
#77
Burning Brakes
He looked at mine and said they're fine. He doesnt see much going on with the intake guides. Clearly I'll follow what guys say about checking them every 10K miles...
04-27-2016, 01:32 AM
#79
Le Mans Master
Don't take this the wrong way, but at this point, anyone posting in the C6 Z forum, in April of 2016, that is "confused" or "unsure" or "skeptical" about the root causes of excessive valve guide wear on LS7's (there are several) and the potential impact of ignoring said excessive guide wear, either lack initiative (they don't want to expend the time and effort to educate themselves) or are contrarians, people that enjoy shooting holes in clear and easy to understand cause and effect explinations for no other reason than to "cast doubt" while offering no logical theory or counter-point argument to explain the phenomenon.
That said, if you own an LS7, learn how to pull your valve covers and perform periodic wiggle tests, preferably after you've had the heads reworked by a reputable shop that understand the various short-comings of the stock heads, valves, guides, rockers and initial machining (or work hard enough to pay someone else to check them for you).
That said, if you own an LS7, learn how to pull your valve covers and perform periodic wiggle tests, preferably after you've had the heads reworked by a reputable shop that understand the various short-comings of the stock heads, valves, guides, rockers and initial machining (or work hard enough to pay someone else to check them for you).
Last edited by Dan_the_C5_Man; 04-27-2016 at 05:05 PM.
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XLR8-R (04-27-2016)
04-27-2016, 02:38 AM
#80
Team Owner
Don't take this the wrong way, but at this point, anyone posting in the C6 Z forum, in April of 2016, that is "confused" or "unsure" or "skeptical" about the root causes of excessive valve guide wear on LS7's (there are several) and the potential impact of ignoring said excessive guide wear, either lack initiative (they don't want to expend the time and effort to educate themselves) or are contrarians, people that enjoy shooting holes in clear and easy to understand cause and effect explinations for no other reason than to "cast doubt" while offering no logical theory or counter-point argument to explain the phenomenon.
That said, if you own an LS7, learn how to pull your valve covers and perform periodic wiggle tests, preferably after.you've had the heads reworked by a reputable shop that understand the various short-comings of the stock heads, valves, guides, rockers and initial machining (or work hard enough to pay someone else to check them for you).
That said, if you own an LS7, learn how to pull your valve covers and perform periodic wiggle tests, preferably after.you've had the heads reworked by a reputable shop that understand the various short-comings of the stock heads, valves, guides, rockers and initial machining (or work hard enough to pay someone else to check them for you).
Well said...but I will say there is an influx of "new" C6Z owners lately. Those folks do need to educate themselves on the topic, but I believe some of us "lifers" are always here and willing to assist. Now those who have been on the forum for years; and as you say, refuse to believe or educate themselves...best of luck if you don't learn from the numerous lessons on this forum. 