Sean Gibbs

Hello friends !! First let me say I have 2007 AO. Zo6 with 20k I have had it sick 7k and I absolutely love this car.
I have been reading horror stories abouts the dreaded valve issue . Does anyone know what the failure rate is ?
Is this a matter when and not if ? My fear is I may have bought a car that will need a 20k engine at some point .
I do track the car quite frequently and I am at a point I can trade into a c7 model . My preference would be to keep the car I have for as long as I am
on the planet . So any feed back would be appreciated.
Thanks everyone !!!

Tech

Sean.. please... try searching. The questions you have asked.. the concerns you have.. have been covered ad nauseum on this forum.

DWRAT

Sean,
Check out this poll that was done in the past and read the first page at least.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...y-falling.html
I personally think it's WAY over blown on this forum.
The #s don't lie, and I think the LS7 is a great motor.
Two things I would advise.
#1. be very careful doing down shifts while playing on the track, your rev limiter does not prevent over revving when down shifting, only while under acceleration. You kiss a valve because of over rev and it will fail very soon.
#2. NEVER rev a cold motor, 100 degrees oil temp minimum before any playing.
Dan

LMB-Z

You have put 13k miles on the car and just now finding out about the valve guide problems? I would at least do a wiggle test, or just spend the $2-3k and not worry about it.

Dan_the_C5_Man

Just get them checked out, this issue is certainly not worth dumping the car over (unless if / WHEN you find them out of spec, you can't handle the $2K ~ $3K bill to correct, but that seems unlikely, given you are contemplating a C7).

Whatever you do, don't continue to blindly drive (and track) the car w/o a proper inspection.

DWRAT

Sean,
Three questions about your car.
#1. Does it tick more then other LS7's or more then it did when you first got it? FYI, all LS7's have a slight tick.
#2. Does your car use excess oil? Say more then a Qt per oil change?
#3. Does your car Smoke?
If yes to any above questions have the heads checked out.
BTW, the wiggle test is not a very good test from what I know about it.
Dan

Sean Gibbs

The "tick" has remained very consistent. It doesn't smoke . I'm not sure if it uses oil . I should learn to watch that . I can handle the 3k to fix it . I guess my next question would be .
Does 3k fix the issue once and for all ? I don't want a c7 . I just really want some piece of mind that I don't have a ticking time bomd. If I can defuse it I will!!!

LT1driver

i don't push my motor until oil temp hit min 150* but that is just me, better safe than sorry

Sean Gibbs

And what should the max oil temp be ?

DWRAT

With Mobil-1 full syn oil, temps can get to 260 before anything to even worry about, probably more like 300 before a problem.

outhouse

At AHP it does.


They have the best guide material harder then others.

Sean Gibbs

Can you provide my with contact info for AHP
thanks very much!

DWRAT

http://www.americanheritageperformance.com/

Dan_the_C5_Man

None of this has any relevance what so ever, that is a fact, proven so many times. And you might want to educate yourself on a tried and true FACTORY sponsored diagnostic technique that is decades old.

Any other advice than "pull the valve covers and check" is uninformed and potentially dangerous to their wallet and personal safety.

Unreal

Wiggle test works fine in most cases. Only borderline good case does it give questionable results.

Those 3 things don't indicate anything. It is not overblown at all.

If you can pop a valve cover off and rock the valve back and forth 1/4", there is an issue.

Unreal

Maybe, maybe not. It is yet to be proven.

LEJ ZO6

I bought my 2008 ZO6 new. It now has 90,000 miles on it.

No problems, no ticking, no oil consumption.

I don't plan on doing anything to it unless I experience problems in the future. No sense in fixing something that isn't broken.

z06 driver

Yea, I don't leave the garage until my oil temp is 150. My oil cooler is completely covered to keep oil temp at 185 to 190.

MyLS1Hauls

People said the same thing about WCCH several years ago. There just aren't enough miles on the AHP heads yet to say for sure. I've been around since the beginning of this fiasco, and have watched this issue play out. I'm not convinced that valve guide hardness is the only factor at play here. While I have no doubt that the harder guides will fair better, they are still a wear item. My advice to everyone with an LS7, is to keep an eye on guide wear, no matter who has fixed your heads. To not do so is just not smart. Once we start to see a good number of people with higher mileage AHP heads report in, with little to no guide wear, then things may change a bit.

MyLS1Hauls

Glad to hear you've made it this far without an issue, but if your guides aren't sloppy, I'd be very surprised. Your first indicator of a problem could very well be a hole in the block.