Dan4time

Hello, I have a 2016 Corvette Z 51, auto, with Magnetic ride control. I had to bring the car back to the dealer for a torque tube replacement after 2500 miles. I just brought the car back with the same grinding noise again with 5200 miles total since new, and they said it was the torque tube again!!! I find it hard to believe that two torque tube failures are occurring within 5000 miles since new. I do not track or race my car. Yes, I do some "spirited" driving, but I don't abuse the car. I feel something may be causing my torque tube to break, or some other related problem. Anyone out there with the same issues or have any suggestions? Thanks, Dan

MIGHTYM0USE

I would plead with them to this time diagnose the reason for the failure vs. just replacing the broken part again.

I don't have that many miles on mine yet but lots of hard launches on drag radials.

Dan4time

^^^^ The dealer is going to get back to me on Friday with their final determination. Since it has all the symptoms of the last failure, and the first thing the tech said after driving the car was he felt it was a torque tube issue. I will be sure to ask them what caused it's failure. Thanks.
Dan

Kent1999

Something else is mis-aligned or way out of spec.

1 defective torque tube, factory installed? Yeah, it happens. NBD.

2 defective torque tubes in a row, installed in the same car?
Statistically, you're beating the heck out of the odds. Time to start digging into other dependent areas (bent/torqued front or rear cradles, out of spec/alignment mating surfaces, etc).

Another possibility is that the replacement TT was not defective, but was not installed correctly, causing premature failure. To me, THAT seems more likely than 2 brand new but defective TT's in a row.

djnice

Also, looks like the torque tube problem will cause crankshaft bearing problems so they better check things out.

djnice

Here is some info on torque tube alignment and crankshaft thrust bearing damage.
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...dure-1313.html

Dan4time

Thanks for all the info, I sent all your comments to my Dealer. They have told me after I constantly told them to find out the "why", and not just "replace", that they sent a priority email to GM tech department for more information. I will keep you posted.

Dan4time

I just spoke to the service tech. He escalated the repair to GM Tech dept. The tech thinks the torque tube has no issues, he found the flex plate had some play in it. He checked the crank and crank bearings, and said they were perfect, well within manufacturing tolerances. GM agreed with his findings, and they are sending a brand new flex plate, torque tube, drive shaft, all new bearings. They want to replace everything to make sure this doesn't happen again. I felt the tech knew his stuff, and was very confident it was the flex plate. GM made me happy in that they want to replace everything so this problem gets resolved. I have to wait some tine for the torque tube, it is on back order. In fact, the tech has another new torque tube in stock, but GM wants to replace all the internals. I will keep you posted.

Dan4time

Just got my car back, runs great. They replaced my flex plate, torque tube and all related bearings. They checked my thrust bearings and crankshaft to make sure all is to spec. I hope this takes care of this matter for good.

UV231 Project

I hope it does too!!

Best of Luck,

Dan4time

Thank you, I love the car. I had a 2014 Laguna Blue Corvette (my first Corvette), now I own a 2016 Shark Grey Corvette, auto, Z 51 package, magnetic ride control. A lot of fun to drive. I have 5500 miles on it. Had two torque tubes, and now a flex plate replaced. I think its all good now!

robert miller

same here. Something up are down stream is not 100% on your car to cause this again. If they don't find the other problem with it, it will to me keep going out until what ever the really problem is goes out.... Robert

Dan4time

They didn't replace the flex plate the last time, so maybe it was that all along. We will see, only time will tell.

csgoman

Hi Dan
You aren't the only one. I too have a Z51 and am also on my 3rd torque tube, 3 engines, rear axle, control arm. The kicker is I'm also a tech and have worked on my own car unde warranty. The torque tube puts wear on the thrust bearing which is the number 3 main bearing and tears up the crank and hammers the block. I can go into greater detail but it seems to have come down to the hold down clamp for the torque tube prop shaft appears to have a torque to yield bolt and that doesn't call for replacement in the service procedures. I've deducted on my own and reported it to the engineers through GM technician assistance. As of just now I started a case with GM to replace the car. I have worked for GM for a number of years and understand their procedures and policies very well. Please feel free to contact me and I am sure I can answer many of your questions. I've tried to stay silent about my ordeal as to keep from influencing others. Keep in mind I've owned my 16 Z51 since December 2015 and I put on 28k miles on the car and it's been in the dealer more days than I've had it in my driveway and that isn't an exaggeration. Over 200 days down. There is so much more I've experienced but hopefully it all works out in the end. I'm here to help,

Scott "GO MAN"

Dan4time

Hello Scott, thanks for the info. I unfortunately traded in the car after only 5,000 miles. I loved the car, I had a 2014 Z 51, and than purchased the 2016 Z 51. I never enjoyed a car more, looks and performance, than the 2016 Corvette. I also had my car in service for most of the time I owned it. I felt I couldn't trust the car after the problems I had, and also hearing other people with the same situation. I regretted selling it, and I just wanted to ask you some questions. Do you feel I would have had more ongoing problems with the car, and could my engine have been damaged, either now or in the future with these issues? I guess I just want some closure, I really miss the car, but I don't miss the aggravation I had when the torque tubes and flex plates went out. I appreciate your response, thanks in advance, Dan

csgoman

Dan, it's very possible engine damage could or would have occurred depending on the length of time and the severity of the torque tube damage. What happens is when the diaphragm style flex plate expands, the prop shaft moves back. Then when throttle is released, it snaps back into position and when the hold down clamp doesn't hold, the splined shaft slips in the flex plate. However the clamp isn't loose enough to let it slide back in so it forces the crankshaft forward into the block. The thrust washer is only half and located in the upper crank main bearing for number 3. This gets damaged easily and causes excessive crank runout or in most cases wil bind the crank and then eventually locks it up. Mine died after I ran it on the freeway because the crank seized in the block due to excessive pressure forced by the torque tube prop shaft. This was indicated by the starter smoking and no crank when trying to restart. The starter was replaced and the engine ran until warmed up and then died again during a roadtrst. Found a noise coming from the flex plate ring gear was hitting the starter drive gear in the rested position. Found torque tube prop shaft had slipped back again and this is evident when looking through the inspection hole of the bell housing. The beating surface of the prop shaft into the housing should be close to flush but was back about a half inch. GM indicated service procedur may not hav been followed and that was the cause of the failure. I know for a fact this wasn't the case as I was the the doing the repair. I did some research after finding the hold down clamp was the same one from the original replacement of the torque tube and also found the Z06 uses a beefier flex plate and carbon torque tube instead of Aluminum. Very possible the added strength and lighter weight of the Z06 setup helps from failures happening as often in those cars. I'm actually wanting to find more owners with the same issues. There is in my opinion a design issue since these failures are happening so soon. In my case at 2500 miles and again 5k miles after and then again another 7k miles after that. I haven't had the car long enough since the eng e was replaced a second time to see if the new Goodwin clamp for the prop shaft does a better job. Highly suspect that people having the flex plate replaced because of the noise which was indicated in a GM bulletin as the flex plate aren't looking at the torque tube when removing it. Therefore when the torque tube gets reinstalled after the plate replacement, it changes the position of the prop shaft to give more clearance to the crankshaft only temporarily until the customer drives the vehicle a little more and then the issue reoccurs. GM has revised the procedure a number of times. An engineer was called out to verify the service procedures were done correctly. I had to one time correct the engineer as the prop shaft to convert or plate was phased incorrectly. I have 28k miles on the car right now and it's still in the shop. I have had another dealer working on it instead of taking it to mine during the last few repairs just to avoid any conflictt of interests. End results still the same. Everyone of those miles but the first 1500 were plagued with issues. My car was ordered under the employee program and built on a Monday 11-16-15. I ordered the car in August of that year. Very disappointed to experience this as my pre 2002 F-Bodies never had these issues.

Dan4time

Thank you Scott, it seems likely that some engine damage might have occurred to my Corvette, or the torque tube/flex plate issue would have come up again. I sold the car right after the dealer said it was "fixed". Thank you for explaining the details. I hope your Corvette will be fixed permanently. Regards, Dan

djnice

Scott thanks for posting these details. Why do you think some cars have this issue at low miles and other don't? Could driving conditions cause something to move and initiate the problem? Would GM void the warranty if the car were upgraded to use a Z06 flex plate and torque tube?

Dan4time

I kept my car below 4000 rpms the first 1000 miles, never raced, never redlined, never abused my car, ever. I live in California, it never saw rain or snow. I drove 90 percent of the time on the freeway, going to and from work. Driving conditions had nothing to do with it. Just an FYI.

Dan4time

Hello Scott, do you feel I would have continued problems with my 2016 Corvette? Either with engine or torque tube/flex plate related problems? Thanks, Dan