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Yep, you're way better off, statistically speaking, getting a new OEM engine than trusting the average dealer service department to inspect for all possible damage and repairing the old engine.
I had a very similar issue on my brand new 1994 Trans Am with a 5.7 LT1 engine. About 2k miles after purchase, power dropped off and it started making a clattering noise. Turned out two rocker arms were broken. GM wanted the engine back so I got a loaner for the three weeks it took them to get the new engine and swap it out. Didn’t cost me a thing.
Well, almost. Seems they drop the entire cradle including the front suspension, engine and tranny to make the swap. I got the car back and they never aligned the front end. Within 500 miles the front tires were severely worn. I wanted the tires replaced and an alignment. The dealer denied responsibility. I called corporate and after a ton of hassle, they replaced the tires and aligned the front end at a different dealer. It was a pain in the butt.
My advice. You want that engine replaced or even a new Corvette. Get involved and find out how they do the swap and what else could be impacted including any diminished value or carfax negative report. I feel for you and best of luck!
I had a 2016 Camaro that spun bearing #5 and #6. It happened on the highway and it was instant. Zero oil pressure and then engine seized. I had 6000 miles and no track days. Unfortunately mine was rebuilt and took 7 more visits to the dealer to fix all the issues afterwards. Did 2 track days after that with no issues and then traded it in on a GS.
- Just thinking out loud...but you might want to force them to rebuild rather than replace. The value of the car may really tank if you go to sell it one day and have to disclose it has a new engine. I dont care if Mother Teresa is the owner...once you tell me it has a new engine...the deal is off. Others may feel the same way...not sure.
To me - engine "rebuild" could mean you just had some problems - but engine "replaced" means you beat the heck out of it and needed major work to fix it... Again this is just my perception...others here can weigh in..
Personally, I would MUCH rather have a brand new GM factory-built crate engine than one rebuilt by the local mechs at the dealer between Malibu oil changes.
And I think it will be many decades before a C7 with a rebuilt factory original motor is worth considerably more than one with a crate --- far FAR longer than 99.9% of us would keep it.
Last edited by Kent1999; Oct 24, 2018 at 01:11 PM.
- Just thinking out loud...but you might want to force them to rebuild rather than replace. The value of the car may really tank if you go to sell it one day and have to disclose it has a new engine. I dont care if Mother Teresa is the owner...once you tell me it has a new engine...the deal is off. Others may feel the same way...not sure.
To me - engine "rebuild" could mean you just had some problems - but engine "replaced" means you beat the heck out of it and needed major work to fix it... Again this is just my perception...others here can weigh in..
Regardless I hope everything works out to your benefit!
For the scoop on "Matching Number Vehicle" values, versus "Engine Replaced by Factory/Dealership", just watch some Barret-Jackson or Mecum Auctions and it is quite clear that Matching Numbers bring the best prices, and are most highly regarded.
IMHO, of course.
I had a 1987 IROC Camaro 350 that spun a bearing at about 45000 miles. Started knocking and instantly went to zero oil pressure. Happened Saturday evening on a fast take off from a light with automatic shift near redline, so no over revving. I was down in Florida on vacation and scheduled to drive home the next day Sunday. No way to get it into a dealer on Sunday so I just headed north to Maryland to get as far as I could with my friends following me planning to find a dealer nearby wherever it seized up. But somehow made it all the way home and parked the car at the dealer. It got a new short block under power train warranty and ran perfectly for another 80,000 when I sold it.
You get a new motor, you'll be fine. In my case it was a positive having a newer low mileage motor, although with yours failing so new that won't be a factor for you.
Are VIN numbers even stamped on engines anymore. I went through this with a Ford F-150 once. They did a shop rebuild which failed after 8k miles. No way in hell would I accept a rebuild on a new car ever again. Factory new only.
Yep, you're way better off, statistically speaking, getting a new OEM engine than trusting the average dealer service department to inspect for all possible damage and repairing the old engine.
I agree. Also, GM may want that engine back to discover what went wrong.
Situations like this are examples of what is known as "infant mortality" in manufacturing. Components and systems have a higher probability of failure at the beginning of their life cycle, and, of course, at the end, when components start wearing out. Infant mortality is indeed rare. Once an engine has been well-broken in, chances are it will make to the high mileage club if it is well-maintained and not abused.
That's generally true, although I know someone who had a Dodge Journey with over 500,000 kms on it, and at that point the camshaft just snapped without warning, the engine was running perfectly up to that point. Investigation found it to be a manufacturing defect that just didn't show up for a very long time.
For the scoop on "Matching Number Vehicle" values, versus "Engine Replaced by Factory/Dealership", just watch some Barret-Jackson or Mecum Auctions and it is quite clear that Matching Numbers bring the best prices, and are most highly regarded.
IMHO, of course.
Sure. How many of those cars that brought a premium at B-J or Mecum for a "matching numbers" engine are LESS than 40 years old? Yup. Zero of them. You have to go back almost 50 years to see any kind of meaningful value attached.
That example pretty much makes my point. 99.99% of us won't hang on to our C7's anywhere NEAR long enough that a "matching numbers" engine would make any meaningful difference.
Think of it this way:
When selling a used C7, which statement do you think is more appealing to a perspective buyer: "My engine was stripped down and rebuilt by a guy named Larry down at Happy Clown Chevrolet"
or "My engine was replaced with a brand new factory-built engine"
Last edited by Kent1999; Oct 26, 2018 at 11:45 AM.
Sure. How many of those cars that bring a premium for a "matching numbers" engine are LESS than 40 years old? Yup. Zero of them. You have to get back almost 50 years to see any kind of meaningful value attached.
That example pretty much makes my point. 99.99% of us won't hang on to our C7's anywhere NEAR long enough that a "matching numbers" engine would make any difference at all.
OP has a very nice car, but nothing rare or unusual about it. A friend who collects Corvettes says that except for the oddball stuff that some people like to acquire, for the first 30 years a Corvette is just a commodity to most people. And since OP's car has the problems already documented, the vast majority of potential buyers would much rather have a new crate engine installed that the original rebuilt by a dealer. The best a dealer rebuild could hope for would be to equal a new crate motor, and most of them can't even do that well.
I think you will have a very difficult time "forcing" GM to do anything but it seems many on this forum disagree without basis. In other threads on this forum there have been long arguments about the merits of shop rebuild vs replacement engine. The consensus seemed to be in those threads the dealer lacked both knowledge and facility to properly do the job. Something I disagree with. From experience, in the real world, it would be a coin flip on either solution or whether either solution made one bit of difference at resale,
For a recent build car a replacement engine is no different than having a replacement alternator. It is lower cost for GM to have the engine replaced than it is to do a rebuild. No matter how you look at it a mechanic working in a shop (even at the reduced per hour pay warranty claims pay) can't tear down and then reassemble an engine as cost effectively as a person working in a factory with all of the proper tools within a hand's reach of where they are working. When it is built in the factory GM knows it has been assembled to all of its required procedures. No matter how good the mechanic at a dealership is they can't really say they followed GM's assembly procedures because they don't have the tools the factory does.
As for affecting the cost of the vehicle I doubt a replacement engine affects it at all. Again it is no different than any other replaceable part. Early failures are more likely due to a fault in workmanship rather than beating on the engine as there are enough cars being beat on for hours on hours at track events across the country with minimal failures.
Where replacement engines become a problem is 25 or 30 years from now when some collector wants to purchase the car and it isn't original since it has a replacement engine. Then it doesn't matter if the owner can document that GM replaced the engine at 1 mile due to a problem found during pre delivery inspection. It isn't original anymore.
For a recent build car a replacement engine is no different than having a replacement alternator. It is lower cost for GM to have the engine replaced than it is to do a rebuild. No matter how you look at it a mechanic working in a shop (even at the reduced per hour pay warranty claims pay) can't tear down and then reassemble an engine as cost effectively as a person working in a factory with all of the proper tools within a hand's reach of where they are working. When it is built in the factory GM knows it has been assembled to all of its required procedures. No matter how good the mechanic at a dealership is they can't really say they followed GM's assembly procedures because they don't have the tools the factory does.
As for affecting the cost of the vehicle I doubt a replacement engine affects it at all. Again it is no different than any other replaceable part. Early failures are more likely due to a fault in workmanship rather than beating on the engine as there are enough cars being beat on for hours on hours at track events across the country with minimal failures.
Where replacement engines become a problem is 25 or 30 years from now when some collector wants to purchase the car and it isn't original since it has a replacement engine. Then it doesn't matter if the owner can document that GM replaced the engine at 1 mile due to a problem found during pre delivery inspection. It isn't original anymore.
Bill
There is nothing there that I would disagree with and would even prefer a rebuilt factory replacement if in fact talking about a complete rebuild being necessary. Some of our previous threads talked about partial repairs being necessary and not a complete rebuild. Who knows on this one.
Warranty labor is not normally at a reduced monetary rate. The factory will pay posted labor rate to the dealer as one of the dealer's options to determine warranty rate. Most dealers choose this method. What is different is the labor time paid for repairs using the factory manual. Many if not most dealers use Motors or Chilton labor guide for customer pay work. These guides are basically 30% more time than factory manual.
Sure. How many of those cars that brought a premium at B-J or Mecum for a "matching numbers" engine are LESS than 40 years old? Yup. Zero of them. You have to go back almost 50 years to see any kind of meaningful value attached.
That example pretty much makes my point. 99.99% of us won't hang on to our C7's anywhere NEAR long enough that a "matching numbers" engine would make any meaningful difference.
Think of it this way:
When selling a used C7, which statement do you think is more appealing to a perspective buyer: "My engine was stripped down and rebuilt by a guy named Larry down at Happy Clown Chevrolet"
or "My engine was replaced with a brand new factory-built engine"
At 34,000 my LT1 broke a valve spring and dropped the valave into the cylinder, you can imagine the carnage ....I was first pissed off that I was getting a new crate motor but after awhile I came to the realization that at 34,000 miles I had a brand new motor in my 2015 and that was actually better than having my original motor rebuilt by "Bob" .....
4,000 miles and many quarter mile runs later , the new motor is way stronger than the old ...and the mechanic that did the work was fastidious....you cannot tell that just a short while ago my car was in pieces and the body was up on a lift while the spine was on the floor lol
After getting engine replaced with only 4k miles, I was happy to have the car back!
Again, really love the car...just not sure the car loves me back!
After about 9 days and 300 hundred miles on the new engine, today I was driving and at about 20 mph and the car completely died on me.
No power steering, no brakes...car just completely shut off. When the car came to a stop (on a busy highway), I put in park and tried to start it and it was dead. I mean nothing worked, no lights, no signals, no horn...nothing!
I was in a bad spot, left lane of highway, hazard lights not working (see pic below). Even door would not open (luckily I remembered the manual lever on side of car). Got a tow truck to Chevy dealership and now they are working on it...again.
At this point, I'm not sure I want the car back. Let me be clear, I definitively want another corvette, just not one with a engine that had to be replaced under 4k miles and apparently a car now with electrical issues / other issues.
I suspect when the engine was installed a main power feed was pinched or otherwise misrouted and the large fuse at the battery is now open. It could also be a connection at the positive or ground came off but usually if one of these connections is so loose that it can physically jump off from a bump or sustained vibration then the car likely wouldn't have started in the first place given the large voltage drop that occurs across this poor of a connection during the heavy starter current draw.
Hopefully this is a single issue with a simple cure but the dealership, in cooperation with the GM mothership, now needs to step up with some goodwill buying goodies to make up for the additional inconvenience. As an owner, if you aren't mechanically inclined then bring a friend who is to look at the overall workmanship of this when it comes back to you. Poorly routed wires, greasy fingerprints, scratches, etc. would be a big red flag and an indication that there is a high probability of other issues due to careless work.
Are VIN numbers even stamped on engines anymore. I went through this with a Ford F-150 once. They did a shop rebuild which failed after 8k miles. No way in hell would I accept a rebuild on a new car ever again. Factory new only.
Yes agree he should get a new motor. Especially with such low miles.
- Just thinking out loud...but you might want to force them to rebuild rather than replace. The value of the car may really tank if you go to sell it one day and have to disclose it has a new engine. I dont care if Mother Teresa is the owner...once you tell me it has a new engine...the deal is off. Others may feel the same way...not sure.
