Well, I was planning on taking the Z06 on a road trip this weekend, but didn't make it far. My tank was almost empty, so I filled it up with Chevron 93 octane on the way out of town. About 10 minutes later, the cruise control disengages, the car starts hesitating and knocking, and the check engine light starts flashing. I exited the highway, pushed the clutch in, and the car died. I coasted to a stop, and tried to restart the car... it would crank over, but wouldn't fire. I checked the codes, and the only one listed was a P0300 (random misfire, as I've learned). I cleared it, and it didn't come back. I checked all the obvious stuff that I could while sitting on the side of the highway, but couldn't find a problem. Injector, coil, and plug wires all tight, pulled a couple plugs - they looked fine. Oil pressure and temp were fine when the problem happened. Ended up having to get towed back to the nearest Chevrolet dealership. Currently waiting the result of their diagnosis. At least the tow truck driver that showed up was really careful, and took his time getting the car on the flatbed without scraping the front end.

I'm leaning towards bad gas, although it would have to be REALLY bad gas to cause this much of a problem. Everything had been fine prior to the fill up, and it was a little po-dunk gas station on the edge of town... maybe they don't sell much premium gas.

I suppose it could also be a dead fuel pump or a clogged fuel filter... and I guess either one of those could be the result of some funky gas. I asked the dealership to save a sample of the gas if they drain the tank. If repairs get expensive, I'm going after the gas station.

Hell of a start to my vacation.

 

Sorry to hear about the issues. Did you have it taken to Champion?

 

I broke down near Jarrell, so I had it towed to Hewlett in Georgetown... it wasn't too far away.

 

Update this post with the findings on the gas sample.

 

Well, I finally talked to the dealership (yes, this is a real Chevrolet dealership). Read this as if Larry the Cable Guy was saying it for an accurate picture:

"Welp... I got some bad news for ya. Yer motor's blowed".

Oh really, I said. What did you do to determine that? Did you do a compression test? Did you even try draining the fuel tank to see if there was water in the gas?

"The tech went out there and started it up, and said it's knockin real bad... it's blowed fer sure. And he's the best tech there is. We can do those tests if you want, but it's gonna cost $250."

Then he went into explaining how they would have to take off the exahust and drop the fuel tank to drain it. I tried explaining to him how to disconnect the fuel line and run it into a bucket, jumper the fuel pump relay, etc... but it wasn't sinking in.

I told him to roll my car back out into the parking lot, and I would come trailer it away.

 

Unbelieveable. I don't know if you've ever used Champion on 183 but Tony Do is great to deal with an honest guy to boot.

I've never had anything done at Corvette Country so I can't comment on them. Hope all gets taken care of in a timely fashion.

 

Just tunin' in to hear how it comes out.

Hope the cable guys diagnosis is off.

 

keep us updated on this one!!!

 

I've had luck at Henna, but my car only went there for recall work. (I don't trust dealerships at all)

Quick way to tell if your fuel pump was blown would be to try to drain the tank using the jumper method. If it won't drain, the pump is fried and it's a cheap fix. (Aftermarket Racetronix is cheaper than stock I think)

You can skip all this and just check pressure at the rail with the key on but it won't help you if you have bad gas
.
1)Drain the gas out of the tank to see if it's the pump or the gas causing the issue. While you're there replace the fuel filter. If the gas drains and you have a new fuel filter in there should be piece of mind that it was the gas as a culprit.

2) If you have fuel pressure at the rails and it will start but knocks see if you have oil pressure. If so it could definately be the gas.

I'd also pull all the plugs to see if they all look the same make sure there's nothing to worry about there.

I'd be more than willing to help look at it.

Edit: I have a stock pump from a coupe if you need it if money or time is of issue.

 

"It done blew. We'll git cousin Cletus to tow it wit his ma's truck an git it under the big oak and yank that sucker outta dare" "I bet it's dat crank thingie, maybe the whatchmacallit under dat fancy plastic thingie" "Hey, did you know they make dem Corvette motors outta aluminum now? I bet it can't take one of those 357's in the block like Cetus' ma's truck!"

 

Incredible diagnosis.......hopefully injector(s) fuel pump, or something relatively painless. Best of luck

 

Sounds like water in the gas to me. Since gas floats on water, any in your tank would go to the bottom and fill the line. With prices what they are today the station may not sell much premium as you posted so water could be in the tank. Hope your problem is a small one.

 

Unbelievable. Despite doing absolutely no diagnosis before telling me the motor was "blowed", they were right. Pulled the valve cover, and there's a broken valve spring on the #2 cylinder (I saw it with my own eyes). Also took a gas sample, and it looks/smells perfect... no water at all.

I haven't taken the head off yet, so I don't know the full extent of the carnage. The guys at the dealership immediately started trying to sell me a new longblock to the tune of $7k. I winched the car onto a trailer and towed it away. Surely the valve made contact with the piston when the spring broke... the question now is did the piston frag, and if so, how much collateral damage is there.

Ugh.

I could understand a spring failure at high rpm on a missed shift, but I was just cruising along in 6th gear at 70mph. WTF?!

 

sorry to hear... keep us posted.

 

Im wondering about the mileage on your car, and its pure curosity.

 

i blew my motor the same way but i was shifting at 7k rpm. i had to get a whole longblock because the piston and rod just exploded and damaged the head.

 

Thanks for the report on the engine. When I read your first post I was intrigued to learn the outcome. I'm sorry to hear of this. I went through something similar, except I did it to myself. I dropped a washer into the #7 hole and didn't know it until I started it. I now own an LPE 403.

I'm hoping for the best case scenario in that the valve didn't drop in far enough to cause significant damage to the piston, head or cylinder liner. Hopefully it's just a bent valve with a couple of eyebrows on the piston. If it's worse you'll probably have to take the motor out.

The bad news is GM doesn't make an LS1 or LS6 shortblock. They only sell it as a complete long block.

The big question is, was it under a warranty of any kind? If so, you may be able to get a new engine for not much.

Best of luck on getting it back on the road.

 

Sorry to hear about the bad luck. Please keep us informed of the progress and please include pictures.

Bill Curlee

 

No warranty, unfortunately... the car has 70k miles on it. I actually just bought it in December - I guess the previous owner drove it a little harder than he let on. I'm going to pull the head off today and see how bad it looks.

 

Sorry to hear that. Just out of curosity, was the spring broke near the top or in the middle??