[ZR1] Couplers; what will be the final percentage of failures?
#1
Team Owner
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Couplers; what will be the final percentage of failures?
In say 100k miles; since the SC fluid change is required at that time anyway, and a SC pull would be necessary. All of em, 100%? 50%? 25%? Will most fail, or will most survive?
What do you think?
What do you think?
#2
thing knower
you mean isolators? mine looked pretty ugly at 28k.... really glad i replaced mine....
#3
Instructor
Mine was shot at 6000 miles, supercharger needed to be rebuilt as well with a new rotor pack.
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EvanZR1 (04-20-2021)
#5
Melting Slicks
Just replace it and hope for the best
Some people drive them hard some don’t
yeah only time will tell.
id be concerned about the 2 piece time chain tensioner as well if you’re in or plan to go into the higher miles
Some people drive them hard some don’t
yeah only time will tell.
id be concerned about the 2 piece time chain tensioner as well if you’re in or plan to go into the higher miles
#6
Instructor
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#9
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leadfart (04-20-2021)
#10
Drifting
#11
Racer
I don’t know when my coupler failed. I bought my 2010 ZR1 in 2015 with 9600 miles. I thought the noise was a little bit of rotor slap. After reading another thread, the owner said he heard a rattling noise in the SC. Yup I got that to. Then I read about what it was and how to check it. Release the belt and check the play. At 50k miles mine had 3/4” play in the pulley. Again, I had noticed the noise and thought it to be normal. Luckily, I had an extended warranty that paid GM $6000 to replace the SC. Noise went away.
Ed
Ed
#12
Drifting
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I don’t know when my coupler failed. I bought my 2010 ZR1 in 2015 with 9600 miles. I thought the noise was a little bit of rotor slap. After reading another thread, the owner said he heard a rattling noise in the SC. Yup I got that to. Then I read about what it was and how to check it. Release the belt and check the play. At 50k miles mine had 3/4” play in the pulley. Again, I had noticed the noise and thought it to be normal. Luckily, I had an extended warranty that paid GM $6000 to replace the SC. Noise went away.
Ed
Ed
The supercharger was replaced because the isolator/coupler is a non serviceable part. The coupler isn't even available as a GM part. Unfortunately the replacement SC has the same coupler as the original SC and the noise will be back.
This is what the spring does to the shaft. The more wear on the shaft the noisier it gets. This was at 18,000 miles and it was very noisy.
#13
Racer
Yeah, lied to again. When I discussed the replacement SC with the dealer, I said the same thing. The parts guy assured me that my replacement SC has an updated coupler. I thought, right, Eaton recalled all the spare SCs and replaced all the defective couplers out of the goodness of their hearts. Well, that is not exactly what I thought. Another Barbara Streisand answer.
Jim, thanks for the info.
Jim, thanks for the info.
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While I see people saying there is guide wear on LS9s, I have yet to see anyone say they've had an LS9 have catastrophic failure like the LS7s have. I'm at almost 65K on stock heads, and while I haven't had them checked, the car is running great and makes 700wheel on mild mods. Would it make sense to have them checked if you're doing a big build? Sure, but personally I'm not going to worry about unless I decide to do a cam or valvesprings to support a higher rev limit.
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leadfart (04-28-2021)
#19
Racer
The only valve train issue I had was a broken #4 cylinder exhaust valve spring @ 19,000 miles. It happened at idle so no piston slap or valve damage. I borescoped the cylinder after the repair. The car really becomes un-drivable when that happened. It dumped so much fuel into the motor that the cats and the O2 sensors had to be replaced after the spring repair. Took a long time to get all of that soot out of the mufflers.
Ed
Ed
#20
Instructor
My ls9 heads are at Katech, I'll hopefully get them back soon, it's been about a month now. A few of the intake valves were out of spec with only 6000 miles in the engine. I was able to wiggle them a decent amount even with the springs on. That isn't normal, or good. I'm not saying every ls9 is going to have this issue, but I'm glad I sent mine in to be fixed. I already had one Corvette drop a valve, I didn't need another. My previous dropped valve was in an ls6.