carpe dm

I have been seeing a number of posts about "dropped valves", and "blown" engines. Are these the result of early production, driver error, or bad mods? I'm a little worried because I just ordered a Z......

tim414

You have nothing to worry about.

You should be looking forward to getting your new 'Z....sweet ride for sure. Have you owned one before?

MR_JLR

Shouldn't you have asked this question "BEFORE" ordering? Congrats on the Z anyhow, hope to move up to one someday myself.

Marc Lefebvre

Mine is an 06 and has run like a swiss watch in the almost four years that I have owned itMarc L.

OnPoint

You probably heard on the news that somebody got robbed in your town this week/month.

I doubt that means your neck of the woods isn't a safe place to live.

Just sayin'.

carpe dm

You are right, I probably should have paid attention to this before ordering. I have had Corvettes for many years, but this will be my first Z. I guess I am just getting a little jittery waiting...... Looking forward to it. Thanks.

steveovette

I think the odd engine issue has to do to the fact that you have over 500 HP from the factory and you have guys sticking 600 plus lift cams and shifting at 7000 rpm with tunes set at the edge. Remember 500 HP is huge for stock mass produced engines.

Turbooo2u

You're best off leaving the new Z stock and getting an extended power train warranty. There seems to be more problems with the LS7 engine compared to the LS3 engine. I have yet to see a "blown engine" post in the regular C6 section. Good luck.

FrankTank

Op you have nothing to worry about . The car and motor are solid. A lot of the failures are heavily modded or tracked cars .

MTPZ06

I try not to pay too much attention to the dropped valve posts anymore...don't like worrying about something that may or may not ever happen. I will say, of the posts that I have seen...I haven't really seen any dropped valve issues on '09's and up that are still stock motor and stock tune.

OP I'd say you're fine here...my 3/36 just ran out and I purchased a 4yr GMPP from Dennis Fitchner (dealer on here) for peace of mind. You could always do the same.

HyperX

It's combination of mods and people who do not know how to drive stick shift!

Bill Dearborn

How are you planning on using the car? If you are like 95% of Corvette owners you will not have any issues. The LS7 engine issues aren't related to mods but they definitely are related to using the car as GM advertised it to be used. Very few of us do that so if you aren't planning on pushing the car to the limit 20 days per year 4 times per day for 30 minutes at a time for 3 years straight you are very unlikely to have an issue.

I bought my 08 with 13.5K miles on it in Aug of 09. I put 10 track days on it in 09, 20 in 10 and was working on 14 or 15 in 11 with about 24K miles on the car when the head of the exhaust valve in number 1 cylinder fell off. GM warrantied the engine. The engine was completely stock right down to the original air filter.

It wasn't fun having that happen but the blast I received from the previous track days was well worth it. These cars are something else when you have your foot to the floor and they are accelerating towards 160 mph (7K rpm) in 4th gear.

Bill

'06 Quicksilver Z06

That's typically what happens when you don't look.

You say that you have "yet to see a blown engine post in the regular C6 section?

Well, I'm about to do a little something to change that.

The first two links ought to really get your attention.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...post1569337188

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...post1569407651

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...post1569409417

Now lets look at a few of those descriptions of blown engines in the regular C6 section which you have not been privy to:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...post1563937022

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-decision.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...d-a-badge.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-3k-miles.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...post1578991292

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...post1567212737

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...chevorlet.html

And there are other instances of blown LS2s and LS3s, in the C6 tech and performance section of the forum and the auto crossing and road racing sections of it as well.

Oh, and I'm throwing this one in for good measure:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...nsumption.html

While it didn't actually blow, there was no way the owner could continue to drive it with it guzzling oil like it was.

FrankTank

I agree with most of what you post except for the statement that the issues have nothing to do with mods on these motors . Yes obviously a stock motor failing is concerning .

Bill Dearborn

If you dig out the old C5 sections you will see where there were plenty of LS1/LS6 failures as well although most of those were oil starvation issues Vs dropped valves but there were a fair number of LS6 dropped valves reported in the C5Z section 9 to 10 years ago.

Bill

FrankTank

Amazing what a little research can do to debunk some of the bs here

FrankTank

I remember those too .. Quite a few Ls6 that would break valve springs too

foremaw

You have to keep what you read on here in perspective. The failures are a very small percentage (so far total only a fraction of 1% of all Z06's made as near as I can calculate). The other 99%+ with no motor issues don't show up here because there's nothing to write about. There are a lot of other factors as well (mods, track time, etc.). There are very few stock failures. The most well defined issue I have seen is on valve guide wear. From all I have seen on CF the LS7 is very reliable for a high performance engine.

3 Z06ZR1

camirocz

The weak link is in the heads and once you know that you simply address the problem.Put in some replacement retainers and guides of a better than stock quality and you shouldnt have any issues.Its like spending a little money for an insurance policy.