Blueleader

News to me but I saw this comment on another media blog and needed to know if anyone here knows about this or is it fake news?

''STEVE BERMAN, HAGENS BERMAN, hundreds of thousands of Chevy Vortec 350, 5.7 liter engines are trash because the boss that holds the outer starter bolt is incapable of withstanding the torque of the starter against the flywheel/engine. Once that little, under engineered piece of cast iron breaks off, there is no repair other than a new engine at a cost to owners of up to $5500.00 with cost of new motor and installation. I happen to be one of those unhappy owners! ''

feeder82

fake news or not, has nothing to do with a C5 Corvette engine, which is aluminum and not a Vortec 350. That said there has been a couple of posts on this subject where that has happened to a LS1 motor, but its repairable by someone with welding skills.

gimp

Let's assume the starter boss breaks off -

Forgive me for being very skeptical that this is a new engine / $5500 problem.

Is this person implying that it cannot be fixed **in any way**? It cannot be re-welded? It cannot get a different mounting boss welded? The starter can't be mounted onto anything else?

I mean, $5500 buys A LOT of custom fabrication time in a machine shop.

For $5500, I suspect you can pull the engine out, send it to your favorite machine shop, get some massively strong boss welded up, some crazy fancy starter to replace the stock one, shipped back, reinstalled back, and have cash left to get a new cam+valvetrain installed and tuned while you're at it.

vettenuts

Several have had it happen here on CF. My observations is that it is usually because the motor can't physically turn over and the starter is engaged. Hydrolock is one example but there are other reasons as well.

I can't think of one case where this has happened and they threw away the block. My memory might be going but I seem to recall an aftermarket kit to repair the block when this happens. Don't quote me on this

lionelhutz

First, the quote? you posted says Vortec and cast iron which isn't a LS1 or LS6 engine.

Second, it says hundreds of thousands of engines are destroyed by this which is BS. Probably hundreds, could even be thousands, but not hundreds of thousands.

Still, yes it can happen to a LS engine. When it breaks, it's generally because the inner bolt boss on the starter breaks and then the starter twists the outer bolt sideways and breaks the outer threaded bolt hole in half on the block.

The easy preventative maintenance you can do if you are really concerned is to get a starter with a thicker/deeper inner bolt boss. It is a much heavier design and won't break off.

It can be welded back together by someone good at welding. Someone did sell a bracket to bolt onto the block and hold the starter. No idea if you can still get it.

If you insist on using a GM dealership because they are the only ones capable of taking care of your precious Corvette then you'll likely have to buy a new engine. They generally like throwing new parts at any issue.

neutron82

as far as I know you can prevent this from happening by replacing the starter with one from a truck that uses 2 long bolts instead of 1 long and 1 short like the c5 does... the short bolt is the one that breaks and on the truck starters the body has more material on that side so this is what keeps them from breaking... I have seen enough people post about this happening to their car that I decided to spend ~$100 on a new bosch starter and replace it while I had my headers out of the way just for peace of mind

Bill Curlee

This happened to my 02 ZO6 after I had a small coolant leak in the head at #1 Cyl. The engine hydrolocled while cranking and popped off the outer corner of the starter boss.

I had a professional welder TIG it back on and its good as new!

I highly recommend getting the truck starter and two LONG STARER BOLTS.