[Z06] Valve spring problems *READ HERE*
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2002
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Valve spring problems *READ HERE*
I resolved my valve spring problems and I know alot of others have had the same problem, most cases ended with the valve dropping and the engine blowing, believe me I have looked into this situation after losing 2 springs in 2 years , thankfully under no load, First casually releasing clutch, second spring broke with clutch fully engaged 
Anyways, GM is ****, they will not recall these springs because it's not a perceived safety issue.
It was and is bad design, and you will see that they changed the design of the springs "my guess is somewhere early 03" due to most springs breaking in 02's and early 03's. Do a search on 04 z06 broken springs and you will not find any breaks in stock form. Sorry for the ranting but this **** pisses me off
GM even replaced 1 spring with the redesigned spring and left the rest stock which broke the next year 
Guy's get these things out of your car, it is worth the money, or get GM to replace them with the 04 springs
If your 01, 02, 03 your part # is 125653 here is your answer from GMpartsdirect: These part numbers were not found in our database: 125653. The part numbers you seek have either changed to a new part number or no longer available from GM.
New spring part # 12586484 *edit* btw this is the same spring installed in the LS2.
Good luck guys, but I can tell you from the guys that e-mailed me, and replied to my previous posts. I was lucky to be flatbedded twice with engine intact, its worth looking into remove these now
Anyways, GM is ****, they will not recall these springs because it's not a perceived safety issue.
It was and is bad design, and you will see that they changed the design of the springs "my guess is somewhere early 03" due to most springs breaking in 02's and early 03's. Do a search on 04 z06 broken springs and you will not find any breaks in stock form. Sorry for the ranting but this **** pisses me off
GM even replaced 1 spring with the redesigned spring and left the rest stock which broke the next year Guy's get these things out of your car, it is worth the money, or get GM to replace them with the 04 springs
If your 01, 02, 03 your part # is 125653 here is your answer from GMpartsdirect: These part numbers were not found in our database: 125653. The part numbers you seek have either changed to a new part number or no longer available from GM.
New spring part # 12586484 *edit* btw this is the same spring installed in the LS2.
Good luck guys, but I can tell you from the guys that e-mailed me, and replied to my previous posts. I was lucky to be flatbedded twice with engine intact, its worth looking into remove these now
Last edited by 03QuicksilverZ06; Sep 7, 2005 at 07:34 PM.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
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This came under a post of " Pictures: of 1 $30.00 spring and 1 Destroyed Engine "
Pics here" http://www.muchneeded.com/galleries/...page_0001.html
Pics here" http://www.muchneeded.com/galleries/...page_0001.html
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
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This is an e-mail from a great guy here on the forum, regarding the badly designed spring, helpful guy , thanks Steve 
You broke a spring and thats all??? Twice? Did the engine just stall out on you
before it had a chance to damage itself? I had a weak valve spring in my '02
which I could hear for a month or so. It broke as I was restarting the car
after it stalled. It blew pieces all over the engine. The valve stem got
pushed out the exaust and stuck in the Cat. the rest of the valve spring and
pieces pushed a hole in the oil pan. Chev. replaced the entire engine under
warranty. I went to Crane roller rockers after that, mainly since the car is
solely a track car and I need the reliability. the same time I had my incident
there were at least two other guys here that had springs go south with major
engine damage...on '02's that is...I think it was more than a bad batch of
springs...It was more likely poor design, but I'm sure I would get an argument
from some here on that point. Hope you're on the road soon!
Steve
Steve was obviously right, hence the change in mid 03. good call
You broke a spring and thats all??? Twice? Did the engine just stall out on you
before it had a chance to damage itself? I had a weak valve spring in my '02
which I could hear for a month or so. It broke as I was restarting the car
after it stalled. It blew pieces all over the engine. The valve stem got
pushed out the exaust and stuck in the Cat. the rest of the valve spring and
pieces pushed a hole in the oil pan. Chev. replaced the entire engine under
warranty. I went to Crane roller rockers after that, mainly since the car is
solely a track car and I need the reliability. the same time I had my incident
there were at least two other guys here that had springs go south with major
engine damage...on '02's that is...I think it was more than a bad batch of
springs...It was more likely poor design, but I'm sure I would get an argument
from some here on that point. Hope you're on the road soon!
Steve
Steve was obviously right, hence the change in mid 03. good call
Last edited by 03QuicksilverZ06; Sep 7, 2005 at 08:06 PM.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2002
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newest post by forum member diamond in an earlier thread:
gameon wrote "8 intake broke yesterday.
"6 intake broke a two months ago.
Both times, sitting at a stop light, daily commute.
Installing Manley dual springs, seats, titanium retainers, and hardened push rods today"
I won't post anymore on this issue, just trying to be helpful
gameon wrote "8 intake broke yesterday.
"6 intake broke a two months ago.
Both times, sitting at a stop light, daily commute.
Installing Manley dual springs, seats, titanium retainers, and hardened push rods today"
I won't post anymore on this issue, just trying to be helpful
Last edited by 03QuicksilverZ06; Sep 7, 2005 at 08:23 PM.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 10,649
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From: Central Florida
It's always sad when crucial parts fail.
With that said, the quick assertion that a "design flaw" is the root cause of the reports of some valve spring failures seems overdrawn.
Perfect occasion for a poll on who's had valve spring issues. Those that report an incident, would then post the circumstances of the failure, whether the rev limiter setting was stock, whether power adders were ever in use...etc.
I've put my 02 through its paces quite a few times and the valve springs and all the other engine parts remain without issue. Were there a design flaw, I for one would have experienced it by now at about 350 passes
Ranger
With that said, the quick assertion that a "design flaw" is the root cause of the reports of some valve spring failures seems overdrawn.
Perfect occasion for a poll on who's had valve spring issues. Those that report an incident, would then post the circumstances of the failure, whether the rev limiter setting was stock, whether power adders were ever in use...etc.
I've put my 02 through its paces quite a few times and the valve springs and all the other engine parts remain without issue. Were there a design flaw, I for one would have experienced it by now at about 350 passes
Ranger
Last edited by Ranger; Sep 7, 2005 at 08:53 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,394
Likes: 6
From: Melbourne FL
Originally Posted by Ranger
It's always sad when crucial parts fail.
With that said, the quick assertion that a "design flaw" is the root cause of the reports of some valve spring failures seems overdrawn.
Perfect occasion for a poll on who's had valve spring issues. Those that report an incident, would then post the circumstances of the failure, whether the rev limiter setting was stock, whether power adders were ever in use...etc.
I've put my 02 through its paces quite a few times and the valve springs and all the other engine parts remain without issue. Were there a design flaw, I for one would have experienced it by now at about 350 passes
Ranger
With that said, the quick assertion that a "design flaw" is the root cause of the reports of some valve spring failures seems overdrawn.
Perfect occasion for a poll on who's had valve spring issues. Those that report an incident, would then post the circumstances of the failure, whether the rev limiter setting was stock, whether power adders were ever in use...etc.
I've put my 02 through its paces quite a few times and the valve springs and all the other engine parts remain without issue. Were there a design flaw, I for one would have experienced it by now at about 350 passes
Ranger
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,083
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by Ranger
It's always sad when crucial parts fail.
With that said, the quick assertion that a "design flaw" is the root cause of the reports of some valve spring failures seems overdrawn.
Perfect occasion for a poll on who's had valve spring issues. Those that report an incident, would then post the circumstances of the failure, whether the rev limiter setting was stock, whether power adders were ever in use...etc.
I've put my 02 through its paces quite a few times and the valve springs and all the other engine parts remain without issue. Were there a design flaw, I for one would have experienced it by now at about 350 passes
Ranger
With that said, the quick assertion that a "design flaw" is the root cause of the reports of some valve spring failures seems overdrawn.
Perfect occasion for a poll on who's had valve spring issues. Those that report an incident, would then post the circumstances of the failure, whether the rev limiter setting was stock, whether power adders were ever in use...etc.
I've put my 02 through its paces quite a few times and the valve springs and all the other engine parts remain without issue. Were there a design flaw, I for one would have experienced it by now at about 350 passes
Ranger
Call it bad batches from the distributor, or bad design, I think you got lucky. I have many more stories but they are all the same..
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
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Just got private messaged while I was replying to Rangers post:
he wrote:
"Mine was #7 exhaust on my 2002 Z06 @ 32K miles.
They gave me a lot of hassle stating I was overreving the motor until I told them the spring busted and went into limp mode at just above idle! Warranty covered all expenses"
he wrote:
"Mine was #7 exhaust on my 2002 Z06 @ 32K miles.
They gave me a lot of hassle stating I was overreving the motor until I told them the spring busted and went into limp mode at just above idle! Warranty covered all expenses"
Last edited by 03QuicksilverZ06; Sep 7, 2005 at 09:37 PM.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2002
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
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Yet another , this lucky guy had 3 fail, and they blamed it on his driving, 
http://z06vette.com/forums/showthrea...n+valve+spring
Just trying to help, my final question to anyone who thinks this isnt a problem, why did GM change out the springs in mid 03, that is all. good luck.
http://z06vette.com/forums/showthrea...n+valve+spring
Just trying to help, my final question to anyone who thinks this isnt a problem, why did GM change out the springs in mid 03, that is all. good luck.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 10,649
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From: Central Florida
Another data point.
About a dozen 01-02 Z06s in our club, most have been drag raced many times. None have experienced valve spring failures.
Good subject for a poll. But respondant with the issue should be asked to state whether the rev limiter setting is stock and whether the car has ever had power-adders mounted...etc.
My suspicion remains that the root cause is (very infrequent) "bad parts." Poll would help suggest the frequency of occurrence.
Ranger
About a dozen 01-02 Z06s in our club, most have been drag raced many times. None have experienced valve spring failures.
Good subject for a poll. But respondant with the issue should be asked to state whether the rev limiter setting is stock and whether the car has ever had power-adders mounted...etc.
My suspicion remains that the root cause is (very infrequent) "bad parts." Poll would help suggest the frequency of occurrence.
Ranger
Race Director
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From: Central Florida
Originally Posted by 03QuicksilverZ06
Ranger
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 10,649
Likes: 31
From: Central Florida
Originally Posted by 03QuicksilverZ06
Ranger
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2002
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Originally Posted by Ranger
Subject car had "tuning." Any idea what his rev limiter setting was changed to?
Ranger
Ranger
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 10,649
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From: Central Florida
Originally Posted by 03QuicksilverZ06
Yet another , this lucky guy had 3 fail, and they blamed it on his driving,
http://z06vette.com/forums/showthrea...n+valve+spring
Just trying to help, my final question to anyone who thinks this isnt a problem, why did GM change out the springs in mid 03, that is all. good luck.
http://z06vette.com/forums/showthrea...n+valve+spring
Just trying to help, my final question to anyone who thinks this isnt a problem, why did GM change out the springs in mid 03, that is all. good luck.
Originally Posted by Rocketsled from z06vette.com
One is bad luck. 3, at nearly the same time, IMO, is defective material and there's very little question about it. And part of my job includes both failure analysis and material analysis.
If this were your fault, something you were doing, given the number of failures you've had and the number of other Z owners there are, there'd have to be at least *some* other Z owners with the same bad luck. Your success rate is nearly 40%. Statistics demands we'd see others making the same "mistake". Why aren't there others as "lucky" as you?
And if that weren't enough, I'd be hard pressed to figure what you might be doing that would consistantly break valve springs and nothing else. Preventative Maintenance doesn't enter in to it. It ought to be down right impossible.
You're not doing something crazy like starting the engine and then putting a rock on the accelerator pedal and walking away, are you?
If I had to guess, springs probably come off a machine and then go in to an engine "sequentially". They don't make the springs, toss them in to a big box and then pull them out randomly. They make the springs and they package them so they're arranged in a neat, orderly fashion. The most likely orderly fashion is in the order in which they're made. Then, when they're built in to an engine, the springs go in to the engine in the order the were packaged, which was the order in which they were made. So if a machine went out of tolerance, or a section of the wire had any material defects (from either handling, fabrication, or the metal itself), it would likely be a group of springs all made around the same time that'd turn out to be bad. If the bad springs all ended up in one car, which is certainly possible if not even likely, that car would have a radically disproportionate spring failure rate.
Just like you.
This kind of thing happens all the time in just about any typical manufacturing process. Things go out of whack and you don't always notice right away. By the time you do notice, you've already made a bunch of widgets and you don't know how many others might also be bad. You inspect the material, but sometimes maybe some has already shipped and you can't easily call it back, other times you can't see the defect and the part passes inspection. Some bad ones "escape". The end user sometimes ends up with your problems.
Of course, getting GM to consider this possibility and "do right" is going to be long odds, but if it were me, I'd give this approach a shot with the GM service "chain of command". If you have the broken springs, they can be inspected at the fracture. Metal failure is a well developed science. It is relatively easy to say why a material fractured and any contributing defects are often easy to identify. And while I can't name any right off the top of my head, I know there are services you can pay that will do this analysis for you, if GM proved unwilling.
I wouldn't be surprised if you had additional failures.
Originally Posted by 03QuicksilverZ06
Ranger...bad batch or whatever, these broken valves are happening to people @ idle, I just posted to give people an avenue to NOT let GM replace out one spring with the new valve spring, and leave them with 15 potentially bad springs left, get all springs replaced.
Ranger
Last edited by Ranger; Sep 7, 2005 at 10:31 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 25,889
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From: Virginia Beach
CI 3-5-6-7-8 Veteran
'01 Z here w/ stock motor (bolt-ons only) and almost 50k on the odometer w/ 10 HPDE weekends, lots of auto-xing, 3 evenings at the drags and a good deal of general beating. I (knock on wood ) have not had any valve-train problems but I follow one golden rule...
no WOT and nothing over 3000 rpms until to oil temp hits 140 on my DIC!
Colder springs are more brittle and prone to breaking and weakening.
) have not had any valve-train problems but I follow one golden rule...no WOT and nothing over 3000 rpms until to oil temp hits 140 on my DIC!
Colder springs are more brittle and prone to breaking and weakening.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 20,933
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From: salem OR
Originally Posted by Cobra4B
'01 Z here w/ stock motor (bolt-ons only) and almost 50k on the odometer w/ 10 HPDE weekends, lots of auto-xing, 3 evenings at the drags and a good deal of general beating. I (knock on wood ) have not had any valve-train problems but I follow one golden rule...
no WOT and nothing over 3000 rpms until to oil temp hits 140 on my DIC!
Colder springs are more brittle and prone to breaking and weakening.
) have not had any valve-train problems but I follow one golden rule...no WOT and nothing over 3000 rpms until to oil temp hits 140 on my DIC!
Colder springs are more brittle and prone to breaking and weakening.
warm.
