TheKomoman

First as always, no spin, wreck or injuries to report so the truly important stuff was safe & sound.

We were running at NJMP Lightning on Sunday. 1st session of the day on the 4th lap my wife was driving and I see her crest the hill over turn 1 with about 3 cars around her, the drop out of sight of the paddock on the other side of the hill and I see a giant cloud of white/blue smoke blow over the hill. Sinking feeling as I see the cars coming around under black flag and no yellow Z06. I find out quickly from the radios there was no spin or wreck, car pulled over and she was fine, so then it was just waiting to see the car when it got back to the paddock.

Two distinct areas of fluid loss, one straight oil, one a mix of oil & water. Couldn't really see much from the top and I didn't have a jack with me. Our car is an '08 but I bought in new in January of '09 and still has nearly 2 years of powertrain warranty left on it, so I just had it towed up to the dealer we use(Before it's recommended/asked, I put the bigger LPE oil tank in the car last year). A quick external inspection with mirrors showed a big crack at #1, enough to see the sleeve so then it was just wait & see what GM had to say. As my thread title indicates, the warranty repair/replacement was authorized yesterday.

So now it's just the ticking of the clock between now & NCM VIR. If we get it back late next week I'm hopeful we can get the break-in miles on the motor so we can join in. It's our favorite event of the year and we'd hate to miss it.

Just wanted to share our story as we have all seen far too many reports of blown LS7's. It's no fun, but at least GM is standing behind the product they build.

travisnd

Probably dropped a valve.

CodeBlack

Good to hear they authorized it with the LPE tank.

TheKomoman

My assumption as well. I asked for details and if possible pictures when they pull it.

The biggest focus seemed to be on programming changes. If you're running the stock tune you're safe.

travisnd

I thought GM authorized the LPE tank when they put the TSB (or notification or whatever it was) on increasing the oil capacity?

We've heard for years now that they really scrutinize the PCM for any changes or sings of past changes.

trapp

How much track time on the car? 2009-12.....just wondering how much the car was at the track...events per year..

Tom

Racingswh

Sorry to hear it blew up. Awesome to hear they covered it under the warranty.

TheKomoman

Was not heavily tracked, average of about 5-6 days per year. More last year as my wife started driving too.

dvandentop

are they planning on reusing you lingenfelter tank?

Dirty Howie

Been there and done that.
Mine was an 08 with LPE tank which the cleaned out and reused. Had 87K miles and near 30 track days. GM took care of it under warranty.

Stock motor and no tune correct ?

GO GM !!


DH

Bill Dearborn

I imagine they would. GM replacement instructions are as follows.
Notice: Avoid engine damage. Debris in the engine oil tank, oil tank hoses and engine oil cooler may be pulled back into the engine causing severe engine damage. You must clean the engine oil tank, and replace the engine oil hoses and engine oil cooler.

Bill

topmover

I notice that you mentioned water and oil..........were you running water and water wetter or anti freeze?

Also were you running stock Mobil One or a different Oil?

I only ask because I run my ZR1 with stock lubes for fear of them not covering a failure because I had something different in the car, even though I'd very much like to run WW and a better track oil.

TheKomoman

Correct. Aside from the LPE oil tank the engine was completely stock. My approach has been that as I have been building MY skills the last thing I'm worried about on a 505hp engine is adding power!





I can't imagine them changing the tank back over to the stock tank.

Anybody that's been through this... I'm just curious about the procedure. I assume it's cheaper for GM to just send the dealer an assembled motor, then the dealer techs hang the accessories, run the wires, etc. That right?

TheKomoman

I said water because oil/water mix has a distinct look & smell, but it was oil & antifreeze. I was running the stock coolant. Oil was Mobil 1.

Bill Dearborn

GM sends them an assembled engine and the dealer removes the old engine and transfers parts that are supposed to be transferred and installs the new engine (including the engine builder label). They also replace anything damaged by the engine failure which in my case was both catalytic convertors and the O2 sensors.

You are lucky things are moving fast for you. It took 6 weeks to the day for me to get my car back. The day after I dropped my car off at the dealership we were hit with a massive flood that isolated the dealership on high ground and they were closed for two days. A large number of their employees had home damage and took days off over the next few weeks as they took care of their personal tragedies. The GM center looked at the ECM data and told the dealership to proceed with pulling the head and doing a rebuild cost estimate which they did by throwing every conceivable part they suspected as bad into the estimate) but the GM rep for the area didn't get to town until because of the flood and all of the closed roads so it was several weeks before he saw the damage and approved a Goodwill warranty replacement (he didn't authorize a Powertrain warranty replacement due to usage circumstances that might have invalidated that warranty). After he approved they ordered all the parts which were at the dealership within a week of being ordered. I thought they would start on the car when they got the parts but it took over a week before they started working on it. There were other cars being put in line ahead of mine so I complained to the owner and to GM. Once they started working on the car it took 5 days to finish. GM gave me a two year GMPP service package for oil changes and other maintenance as a way of compensating me for the time it took. I really like the way the dealership maintains my car but I was really frosted that other cars were being put in line before my car even though they had just come into the shop.

Bill

SLandstra_Z06

Great to hear that they're taking care of you. When we saw you at lunch on Sunday you were feeling pretty low, but hoping GM would take care of it. They stepped up fast. That's great!!!

See you soon.

Steve

TheKomoman

Thanks for confirming my suspicions, Bill. Sorry to hear you had such a nightmare getting the car back. Fortunately no signs of flooding here (knocking on wood!!!) so we shouldn't have delays like that. I'm sure that the dealer will be balancing the tech's workload as he's the only Vette tech they have but I'm hopeful once they have the engine that it doesn't sit for days at time. I did communicate to them that we had a trip coming up I really wanted the car for!!

Thanks Steve, it's really a huge, huge relief. Sunday was definitely rough, arriving with 2 cars and going home with 1 was surreal. Thanks for letting me bend your ear with it as well, I was a ball of angst at that point.

dvandentop

wish GMPP has the same mindset at regular gm warranty.....

anyone have any good contacts??