'06 Quicksilver Z06

I had said that I wouldn't do it, but for those who wanted to see it, it follows below.

Reason for updating, after giving it a lot of thought, was to put what I found by searching the forum so that folks can get an idea as to the volume of reports on the forum.

One post really motivated me to update. It came from a member who saw the original list of approximately 30 cars and believed that half of them were modded. When I told him that all of that approximate 30 were said to have been stock, he was surprised.

Some of the guys wanted to know how many claimed stock failures have been reported on this forum. These are the ones which I could find.

Cars with aftermarket racing equipment installed into them, to include roll cages, sticky tires, tow hooks, fire extinguishers, etc., an effort was made to not include those cars, even if they were said to have been stock, as these might be looked upon as dedicated track cars by some, as opposed to primarily street driven cars. For this listing, catback exhausts, air filters (cold air intakes) with no tune, mild to wild switches, and skip shift eliminators, I allowed as they aren't going to cause a valve to drop.

For your perusal, and I'm not really looking for comments. The fewer the better. These were the outright reports and strong indications or failure that I was able to find on this forum. This is only a listing of reported stock LS7 engine failures belonging to members on this forum. Perhaps it is a good idea to keep them all in one place:

List of Claimed Stock LS7 engine failures in cars belonging to members of CF

Charles Scavone 2006 Model 1,000 miles 11/26/05 Dropped **intake Valve Street cruising. Broken **intake Valve Spring. Track History: Unknown

Whitjo 2006 Model 2/23/08 Dropped Valve Street cruising rocker failed, Broken Valve Spring broke, valve dropped Mobil 1 5w30? Track History: None

66L72 2006 Model 1/3/09 Oil Starvation Track, * Mobil1 5w30 Track History: Yes

Ruf-Racer 2006 Model 3/13/08 *Two* LS7 engines replaced under warranty. Low Oil Pressure Both Failures* tracked, tracked, tracked Track History: Yes

Raceguy 2006 Model 2/10/07 Spun Bearing at 2,600 miles Track * Track History: Yes

dg144 2006 Model 8/30/08 Oil Starvation* track Mobil 1 Track History: Yes

Sprite2005 2006 Model 6/30/06 Valve Street failed rocker, Broken Valve Spring Track History: None

Mr-Z 2006 Model 12/13/06 Valve Street Broken Valve Spring Track History: Unknown

Montana Cowboy 2006 Model 15,000 miles 7/19/07 Head Gasket Track History: Unknown

Whosurdaddy 2006 model 3/19/08 Oil Starvation, or valve??? but on track track Mobil 1 5w30* Track History: Yes

capitalpiggy 2006 Model 8/11/09 Dropped Valve Broken Valve Spring Street

kennyC6 2006 Model 6/27/10 Dropped Valve street

Larry T 2006 Model 11/??/2006 Spun Bearing * Track History: Yes

Blemley 2006 Model 8/16/07 Rod Bearing

Wesh60 2006 Model 2/14/06 Unknown cause. Failed at 581 miles..

TFAST4U 2006 Model 11/29/07 Street. Oil pump failure. Track History: None

upsetatchevy 2006 Model 7/22/10 Bearing Failure

euro749 2006 Model 3/28/07 Valve Street

CodeBlack 2006 Model 8,000 miles 10/02/07 Stock street. * Track History: Yes

Jeff Leaver 2006 Model 6/??/11 Dropped Valve Broken Valve Spring track * Track History: Yes


The "breakdown":

21 reports of failed stock motors in 2006 models.
8 valve related, 6 of them said to have been "broken valve springs"
4 bearings
5 oil starvation or low oil pressure
3 unknown
1 Head Gasket

**************************************** **********************************

Bmore30 2007 Model 21,000 miles 03/31/08 "Seized" on Street

Pistol Champ 2007 Model 16,000 miles 06/18/09 Dropped Valve, street. Mobil1 5w30 in 3 times for bad rockers they changed them all 6 weeks later dropped valve

bvanwoud 2007 Model 31,000 miles 01/17/10 Valve Street

camirocz 2007 Model 35,000 miles 8/30/10 street unknown, but got a rebuild after dealer "didn't like what they saw in the oil they dumped" during a routine oil change.*

Cor Dame 2007 Model 08/12/08 Valve Spring Two engines One Lifter, One broken valve spring Street * Track History: Yes

KRAYZ308 2007 Model 09/10/10 Dropped Valve * Track History: Yes

Hoefi 2007 Model 09/??/09 Dropped Valve Track * Track History: Yes

UR2SLO 2007 Model 11/30/09 Dropped Valve broken valve springStreet

BLKLS7 2007 Model 11/05/09 stock Valve. broken valve spring Street

50thragtop 2007 Model 2/13/08 Valve broken valve spring Street

TrooperDLA 03/29/12 bearing failure possibly due to faulty oil pump Street


The "breakdown":

12 reports of failed stock motors in 2007 models.
8 valve related. 4 of them said to have been "broken valve springs"
1 "seized"
1 bearing failure
1 Lifter
1 unknown

**************************************** **************************************** *******

ctdeng0 2008 Model 9/25/11 *Two* LS7 engines to fail under warranty. 1st failure rod bearing 2nd failure "rod bearing" * Track History: Yes

snapsZ06 2008 Model 06/08/10 Oil pump bypass valve failure, street.

Joe_Planet 2008 Model 05/09/09 Oil Starvation Track * Track History: Yes

07C6Z 2008 Model 10/28/11 Dropped Valve

elh0102 2008 Model 05/28/08 Track Oil Related Failure Bearing? * Track History: Yes

Pro531cad 2008 model 10/21/07 cracked piston, street.

Darius 2008 06/25/11 Valve failure, track * Track History: Yes

DirtyHowie 2008 Model 87,000 miles 10/26/11 Dropped Valve * Track History: Yes 87,000 miles and approximately 30 track days

Tailwag 2008 Model 09/15/09 Piston

blue 85 2008 Model 6,054 miles 11/10/08 Spun Bearing

MarkusWelby 2008 Model Second of two LS7 engine failures. First LS7 failed was tuned. Then replacement LS7 engine failed after approx. 3500 miles question as to if all debris had been removed from oil tank and lines from first failure. * Track History: Yes

Marcosis 2008 Model 3,000 miles 05/28/08 Oil Starvation Track yes Yes

Hulksdaddy 2008 Model 11/27/07 Bearing Failure. Rod bolt improperly torqued

rikhek 2008 33,000 miles 07/02/11 Valve, Street * Track History: Yes 8 track days, 1,432 track miles

TheKomoman 2008 Model 06/03/12 Dropped Valve???? Mobil 1 track* Track History: Yes 5-6 track days per year, car purchased 1/2009, motor popped 6/3/2012

dpascucci Dropped Exhaust Valve

The "breakdown":

17 reports of stock failures in 2008 models.
6?? valve related.
5 bearings
3 oil or oil pump related
2 pistons
1 Oil Starvation


**************************************** *****

Mrimpala02 2009 Model 10,3xx miles 08/13/09 Failed Oil Pump

Alchemist31 2009 Model 6,700 miles 11/03/11 broken Valve Spring Street

The "breakdown":

2 reports of failed stock motors in 2009 models
1 Valve related. That 1 said to have been "broken valve spring"
1 Crank bearing failure

**************************************** **************************************** ****

MOSPORT1 2011 Carbon Model 5,890 miles 7/5/12 Spun Rod Bearings Track History: No

The "breakdown":

1 reports of failed stock motors in 2011 models.
1 Rod bearings.

* indicates car has seen some track duty. Dates are typically when first reported. However there are instances where the actual incident preceded the report by several days, weeks, or even months. In those instances, an attempt was made, by reviewing the report and owner's prior additional posts, to accurately list the actual date of the incident wherever possible.

whatcop?

Keep it up

Griffee

Needs to be a sticky

SoCA04V

I might be interesting to know how many Zs were produced each year for reference.

Hirohawa

Quick, thanks for posting this.

So 49 reported cases out of 27,000 motors.

I have always maintained that there is less than 1% failure rate - and no I don't think there are 220 more stock motor failures that we don't know about. I think a stock motor failing is BIG news that gets around. Maybe there is another 10-20 cars out there at most.

whatcop?

You are forgetting how many numerous cars had headwork done that may have prevented them from failing. I was just reading about one in the roadcourse section that was having work done and one of the bearings basically fell apart in the techs hand and the car only had 3500 miles on it.

RedZ4me

didn't you sell your car?, wondering why you'd start another one of these threads. if so, why do you care, move on instead of stirring up the crap

mirage2991

well lets just put the actual number so that it look the "size" it's suposed to look:

0.18%.

Fun facts:

Thus far, the B737 has had about 2.6% hull loss (1970 to Aug 2011) -Flight Safety Network data

0.5% of houses will be hit by lightning (during a 12 month period) within 10 miles of a storm where lightning is present -NLSI data

kinda put things in perspective...

mirage2991

motors are not idiot proof either...with what you stated, unless it's completly made up, or those bearings really fell apart and in this case, there either one big NTAC (No Talented *** Clown) or that particular motor was a massive lemon.

Stevenyc777

Good info here.not having any 10-11 s on the list do you think its because they haven't been around long enough? Or did gm do something about it?

Gary '09 C6

a noble and informative effort, Quick...

2000FRCZ19

i have a set of stock exhaust valves and a set of stock guides if anyone wants them. my motor was still running when they came out. even though the numbers do seem low for failures, i am happy there are people out there that will stir things up. the guides and the exhaust valves were excessivly worn and would have caused a failure sooner than later in my car after my cam swap. i consider myself lucky that it was caught. i owe it to the sky is falling threads. its up to each person to make a judgment on what to do with their car. if you dont like the sky is falling threads, dont read them. if you feel there is something to be gained from them then read them and then make a decision on what you read and research it more if you like. you might be like me and it actually save your engine from a failure. you might be on the other end and have a 150,000 mile engine. it doesnt happen to all of them obviously, but it does happen to quite a few.

D-Rod

I have tried to stay out of this for a while because the facts are out there and people can decide what to do on their own. I DO NOT WANT THERE TO BE A PROBLEM with LS7's. I think some people who dont beleive there is an issue really think that people who believe opposite are attacking the LS7. Every post I have made on the subject is to be informative and to help.

However, when I see a post like this it just blows my mind. I will say, I was affected by the valve issue and while I was modded, I only had 2K miles on the mods and my valves/guides showed severe wear. Anyways, please when you factor the following in your percentages when you make your decision on IF there is a problem.......
1.) Many Z06's are garage queens that don't see many miles per year. The percentage of people that daily drive Z06's is low. Its not rare to see '06's with 10k miles. I think my miles are average and I have 22K on an '06. Yes some cars will go 300K miles with no dropped valve. No one has ever said every car will have the problem (at least not that I have read)
2) I have personally talked to a couple reputable people in the corvette world that have seen the issue on numerous occasions. Right from the horses mouth.
3) Everyone disregards modded cars that have had the issue. I think they should be factored in and taken for what they are worth. Many of us are not satisfied with stock power or just like to mod for fun. This, along with the low miles most of these cars have, and the small sample group we have on this forum really drop the percentages of cars that are considered. It is certainly not out of a 27,000 sample.
4) Not all cars that have wear have dropped a valve. I dont know if mine would have dropped a valve in 5 miles or 5 years but there was an obvious problem that my mechanic had never seen in another LS motor. He mainly works on LS1's.
5) How many, like mine, were caught in time and replaced?
6) How can anyone disregard people that we all respect like Katech, Formatto, Herter, Rich, ect? They have seen tons of LS motors and all have personally seen the described issue.

This has turned into a who's right and who's wrong debate. Look at the facts. Thats all you can do. I followed the dropped valve threads for a long time. It got to the point for me that I was convinced this was not a "It happened to a couple people and now the sky is falling" fluke problem. So I had them checked out. It saved my motor. End of story for me.
I wish the vavle droppings are over. If not they need to continue to be tracked. If you have not dropped a vavle you should be thanking Ricky for doing this even if you dont like the way he presents it. I dont care if he sold his Z06 and drives a 1992 geo metro. It may reach a point were you believe there is a problem, if you dont already. Personally I do but I respect anyone who does not........ they should be considering all the facts though.

D-Rod

Perfectly said. I wish I would have seen your post before I put mine so I could have just done this...... lol

For the people who are on stock vavles that actually want to see this problem tracked, I think we should start another list showing modded failures and ones that were caught in time like yours and mine. If I only looked at the 15 stock failures (I think thats all I knew of when I decided to pull my heads) I may not have been in a rush to have mine checked even though I was told I had a small puff of smoke on startup. Honestly though, it was Formatto who saved my engine. After he urged me to change them my decision was easy.

OnPoint

Well put D-Rod.

Moike

Thanks for taking the effort to document it.

Mopar Jimmy

Well you can almost guarantee that GM is aware of theses LS7 failure thread and are monitorng same, and my gut feeling (opinion only obviously) is that some basic changes were made to ensure much less valve guide, exhaust valve wear on 2010 and 11 models. Only time will tell!


NOT A GOOD idea in my opinion but I think your joking base don all your prior posts. We don't need a bunch of trolls coming here and spreading the word (viral madness on all car forums) like wild fire that the LS7engine is a bad engine. That will just KILL the reputation of this great car and likely resale value, etc.

We know that 06 Quicksilver Z will be tracking this issue, and one could always pm him for info as time evolves, etc.

hoefi

One of the problems with the internet crowd is that some of them actually thinks the whole world revolves around the internet. If 10% of that 27,000 hangs around this forum, we should have 2,700 Z owners reading and posting on this forum. I have lots of car friends (serious car guys) that use the internet for email only and NEVER read or post on car forums. They are all too busy in the garage working on their cars.

Quick's list only gathered the failures from this forum. Any failure outside this tiny little section of the real world is not included. Real world includes owners that don't read or write english (hence, won't be posting his failure here). It might shock some of you that there are lots of people out there that don't even use a computer. I know a few that don't even own a cell phone.

Anyone one who thinks failures reported here represent the real world failure rate of this motor is got rocks in his head.

One interesting thing to note is that we know for a fact that the pre-'09 small dry sump tank is inadequate under certain cornering situation. Even with that known fact, it didn't gernerate more failures than dropped valve incidents. Think about that for a moment, a known deficiency did not generate a higher frequency of reported failures , and some of you still argue that there is nothing wrong with these motors???

hoefi

Oh yes, they know about the problem. I said that multi times over the last 20+ months. This is the reason why these engines run so rich from the factory. Don't bet on seeing improvement or real solutions until you see GM starts using miulti-valve heads. Until then, any thing they do is just band-aid patches.

Hirohawa

Internet goes beyond car forums, Autoblog and Jalopnik are examples of fact based car info that cover things like recalls and cars having failures, etc. Do you think Engines blowing up and failing is not news? People have joined this forum JUST to report an engine failure on their first post.

What about the flying roof recall or the Dead Battery on the C6 - those where widely reported and dealt with. Even a low volume car the 2006 Ford GT had a seal problem with the Engine/tranny that was reported and fixed by Ford. What would GM have to gain to cover up these alleged massive unreported failures?

So you and all your "serious" car guys - that have never seen a computer - what are you saying the failure rate is? Are you saying it is 1%, 10%, 20%? I say less than 1%. Even if there are 150 more unreported stock failures out there (which there are not) it's still less than 1%.

When I see 270 stock failures reported, not conjecture or conspiracy, I will agree it is a serious design problem vs. a real problem that does not effect 99% of Z06.

Anyone who thinks there are hundreds or even thousands of unaccounted stock LS7 engines that have blown probably also think the moon landing was fake.