It appears that elitebomberX had some very bad luck, and refreshingly, he did not try to blame it on someone else. He had it fixed and paid for it, accepting the circumstances as they unfolded. He isn't whining, he is just reporting.
Seems like the kind of stand-up guy you would want for a friend.

 

There have been several threads lately on "to mod or not" or "should I mod my C6 or buy a C6Z " etc etc

I don't think anyone is bashing modding , this thread just shows that when you mod, you take a risk, you gotta pay to play... and the OP really didn't have serious engine mods done, just headers and minor bolts ons.. more so, the theme here is, you tune your car, no matter how good, and it pops, GM ain't gonna pay for it. Only exception would be if you had a lingenfelter or Callaway package that they installed and it broke, and they have their own warranty.

I think people have to ask themseleves, if I tune the car and mod it, is it worth the risk if something like this happens (assuming of course you have some type of warranty)??

To the OP, sorry for your woes, glad to see you got the car back. Hang in there and I am sure you'll learn from this , not that you did something wrong, but the expierence in general

 

FrankTank,

Risk is always the 600 pound gorilla. Buying a car is a risk in and of itself. Government training programs for procurement teach 3 principles in dealing with risk:

1. Avoid the risk (in this case, don't buy a mod'd car)
2. Reduce the risk (in this case, buy only with full knowledge and from a trusted source)
3. Pass the risk to someone else (in this case, an unquestionable warranty - research)

 

In case you didn't notice, he tried to get GM to pay under warranty. Then, after being turned down, he paid for it because he had to.

To the OP...I am really sorry you had this happen to you. We all want to drive hard, have fun and hope for a reliable Vette. Good luck with the new engine!

 

My guess is its not just the tune or mods that caused this. It could have, but I think something else was wrong in there. Either something from the factory or something the previous owner did. The mods and tune likley exasperated the situation.

As far as modding is concerned, it is always a risk. But basic mods like exhaust and tune usally prove safe.

If I planned to mod I would use a higher mileage car. There is no warranty to sacrifice and the mods wouldn't hurt the value of a higher mileage car as much as a low mileage garage queen. Also I actually think higher mileage cars can be safer in someways. Sometimes 10k miles is not enough time to shake loose any issues that might be hiding in there. In a way higher mileage cars are more proven.

This is a little off topic, my apologies to the OP. Sorry for your troubles. These things happen, its fixed now so just enjoy your vette.

 

Sorry for your misfortune and your story is helping me keep our daily driven 09 stock with no tune and the extended warranty we purchased

 

Not mod bashing per se.

But really goes to what one poster eloquently stated about "risk".

When you mod, you are taking risk.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all say that...... we all say it with good and noble intentions. We are all ready to "Pay to play". We say it with conviction and sincerity.

But do all of us who say it, really know just how much risk we are taking?????

Do all of us who say it, and say it with good intentions, really know just how much we will have to PAY to play, if the $#!* hits the fan........or are some of us just talking a good game???

Are some of us OK with paying to play, as long as the expense is under "X" number of dollars?

How many of us "don't know, and don't want to know" just how much a popped engine or popped transmission will cost us? And just hope that it happens to someone else if it is going to happen?

How many of us modders have actually researched how much a popped engine or popped tranny will cost us???? :

This original post......gives us an inkling of just how much we might have to PAY in order to play if the $#!* hits the fan.

As already itemized out in my prior post.

Cost wise, he would have come out better staying stock and putting the money into a late model Z06.

Counting the hoopty GEO, so theat the guy could get to work and back, the original price of the mods, and then the repair bill after the car popped out of warranty, what do you figure he is out???????

About $20 grand or therabouts.

So those headers and that tune.....ended up costing him about 20 grand.

Now that we know, just how much we might have to "pay" in order to play, how many of us are still willing to "play"?????? How many of us are still willing to mod.....????

:d Hell, we all are.........MODDING MISHAPS, HAPPEN TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO DON'T DO THEIR DUE DILIGENCE AND RESEARCH. THEY'LL NEVER HAPPEN TO US. THESE SORTS OF THINGS, HAPPEN TO OTHER PEOPLE.

At least that's what we like to think anyway.

 

Well it depends. I knew going into it that I was possibly voiding my warranty.

If I had known my engine was gonna die, of course I wouldn't have gone through with it.

I did try to get it covered by warranty. It was worth the shot. I tried calling the racing shop to see what exactly they had tuned on my car. They couldn't find a record, so I thought maybe they didn't actually touch the programming. I did have an exhaust code turned off though and that will change the stock programming.

If I got denied warranty because I got a CEL turned off, that would be a major bummer. But that's life.

I did much heavier tuning on my previous mustang GT and that car was like new when I sold it a few months ago with 130k miles on it. I enjoy tuning cars and don't really regret any of the decisions I made.

I could have built a monster engine with the money I spent and had done all the work with me and my friends. I decided not to go that route. The Corvette is still my daily driver. I've been assured that as long as I don't touch the programming, I will have the warranty on the new motor. I will probably save up money and buy another car (that isn't a Geo Metro) and then maybe in the future do some heavier mods on the Vette. But I want to get to a point where I'm not driving it every day.

 

I can understand the enjoyment you get when you tune your cars.....BUT, what you said in the next paragragh says it all. "I've been assured that as long as I don't touch the programming, I will have the warranty on the new motor".

 

 

Is this an isolated incident? If you read this forum regularly you've been aware that tuning will void the warranty but how many of us have had our cars tuned and had no problem? How many of us have had a tune and had the engine pop? That's what I'd like to know.

 

I'm sure if we did a poll, there might be two or three. How many of us have a tune? C'mon modding Chicken Littles, give us a break.

 

To be honest, you never should of brought the car to the dealer, you could of purchased a pull out Z06 motor and had it installed for that. I would have just bought an LS3 longblock from a reputable vendor. Looking at the past is uselsss now though, at least a dealership is going to give you a full warranty on the motor, although most any shop selling you a brand new motor would.

 

I looked up prices on LS7 motors. They were pretty expensive. When i was quoted $8700, I budgeted myself $9000. I considered doing an upgraded engine. I wasn't sure if the accessories on the LS2 would fit an LS7. If not, then I would have needed a new alternator, power steering pump etc...

Also not to mention my car has the T56 transmission and not the Tremec 6060. I really would have been going beyond the limits of what my car was engineered for. More power would have required larger tires and wheels in order to maintain decent traction. That would have been another $2000.

I wanted the work done by GM certified technicians. I have been on the phone with GM representatives and they have been calling me to make sure that I was satisfied with the work that was done on my car through the dealership. The bottom line was I just wanted my car the way it was before the engine died.

 

I agree with you wanting to get it back to your normal and expected performance. Even though it was really bad timing to have it kill itself on you, maybe it was a good thing in the long run. Trying to look at what would have destroyed a rod? Too much power on the one cylinder, too little lubrication there, faulty parts or bad workmanship? Whatever it was, it wasn't you. Cudos to you for at least trying with GM. Hopefully the new engine is working perfectly.

 

After reading your thread I have the utmost respect for the way you handled the events during and after the rebuild of your engine.
Your emotion's must have like a rollercoaster ride. Modding these vettes will do that to owners.

Also the integrity exercised by not jumping to conclusion's of who was at fault for the demise of your engine...

Enjoy your baby...

 

Why didn't you rip off the headers and detune the car? It would take like a couple hours. You need to pull that program now anyways.
Also, why a factory short block? GM is not going to warranty this new one either and you could have gotten a decent motor with at least a 12 month guarantee from a forum vendor and had more power to boot.
Glad you got your car back but you also got shorted.

 

does a tune really make the car that much more vulnerable to failure? seems that that would have been a factory deffect....i understand the warranty issue....but was it going to happen anyways....? probably! i am sorry to hear how this went down....good luck in the future...

 

GM is going to warranty the new motor. It has a 3 year / 100,000k mile power train warranty as long as I don't touch the programming (which I won't). I talked with a GM representative on the phone and he assured me this was the case.

When a dealership has to do a warranty request, all they have to do is send in a picture of the programming on the motor to GM headquarters to get the warranty approved. The dealership can turn you away because of the bolt on mods, but the general manager of service at the dealership told me that they don't mind the bolt-ons.

 

So why did you lose a rod, and did the tune contribute or cause the problem or just void your warranty?