Second opinion
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Second opinion
I'd like to get a second opinion. My 01 coupe has high end knocking. It's thought to be carbon build up. Shop I ended up at said agreed it probably was carbon and said they'd do the clean out for 2k but only if I agreed in advance to allow them to do a $7000.00 rebuild if once inside they found it to be more than carbon...
I can buy a new crate for $7000.00...
Mileage about 129K
Anybody know a GREAT vette shop near Tacoma, WA???
I can buy a new crate for $7000.00...
Mileage about 129K
Anybody know a GREAT vette shop near Tacoma, WA???
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 2,606
Likes: 355
From: Rochester New York
I'd pull your car away from that shop ASAP. No reason to do a rebuild when you can buy some really nice motors for less. Heck I've seen LS3 short blocks for $2k in the C6 section.
Clean the carbon your self. Try Seafoam first. Use 1/3 of the can and run it through your brake booster. If you buy the can that is a spray, spray it directly into the throttle body with the engine running. Then pour another 1/3 into the engine oil. The last 1/3 goes into your fuel.
What fuel have you been using during your full ownership of the car? Low test (87) is known to cause excessive carbon build up. I would run 93 octane if you haven't been to buy your self some safety margin against knock. If it still knocks you can even run octane booster, but at this point expect a performance degrade.
If the Seafoam doesn't improve things after you burn through a full tank and 300-400 miles with it in the oil, then you may have no choice.
If you don't care about performance (IDK why) you COULD get a PCM tune and have them take the timing back a bit until there is no knock.
I don't think you need a complete engine tear down, not unless you are consuming oil or if you are experiencing engine noise/knock all the time.
You could remove the heads and send them out to be freshened up, will come back nearly brand new. And in the meantime clean the carbon off the piston tops.
Check and see if any shops near you have any of the worm light cameras. You would pull a spark plug and then feed this camera into the port and hopefully you can see the piston tops.
You could also install a lower temperature thermostat and tune the fans to come on sooner to keep engine temps down. Lower temperatures buys you a bigger safety margin as well.
Clean the carbon your self. Try Seafoam first. Use 1/3 of the can and run it through your brake booster. If you buy the can that is a spray, spray it directly into the throttle body with the engine running. Then pour another 1/3 into the engine oil. The last 1/3 goes into your fuel.
What fuel have you been using during your full ownership of the car? Low test (87) is known to cause excessive carbon build up. I would run 93 octane if you haven't been to buy your self some safety margin against knock. If it still knocks you can even run octane booster, but at this point expect a performance degrade.
If the Seafoam doesn't improve things after you burn through a full tank and 300-400 miles with it in the oil, then you may have no choice.
If you don't care about performance (IDK why) you COULD get a PCM tune and have them take the timing back a bit until there is no knock.
I don't think you need a complete engine tear down, not unless you are consuming oil or if you are experiencing engine noise/knock all the time.
You could remove the heads and send them out to be freshened up, will come back nearly brand new. And in the meantime clean the carbon off the piston tops.
Check and see if any shops near you have any of the worm light cameras. You would pull a spark plug and then feed this camera into the port and hopefully you can see the piston tops.
You could also install a lower temperature thermostat and tune the fans to come on sooner to keep engine temps down. Lower temperatures buys you a bigger safety margin as well.
