Hi everyone I’m a proud owner of a 2015 C7 Stingray. Never had a corvette before but always wanted one. Found this super clean 2 owner yellow corvette with 27k miles. When I test drove it I do not recall ever hearing a ticking noise. When I drove it off the lot I was driving on the highway and noticed this ticking noise only happening between 2000-3000 rpm under load. Next day after purchasing salesman took it back to dealership and tearing the engine apart. It really stinks to see such a well maintained corvette literally torn apart but does anyone possibly know what can cause this? Also no check engine light and car drove nice and strong. Thank you!

 

Don't panic just yet. Might be something easy and quick. Sadly, there are two sides to that coin and mechanics can find more parts to take off than anyone thinks possible.

Elmer

 

Did you happen to get a recording of the sound? The early Vette's ('14 and '15 I think) had a different shape fuel line that at that RPM can make a sound per the Vette tech I use.

 

There is a maintenance bulletin for that noise. They replaced my 2017 cam and lifters under warranty.

 

I’m trying to attach the attachment of a short video clip I took but it won’t let me upload it. The upload button is faded out. Anyone know how to do it? No error messages. The dealership did tell me they say a tsb regarding fuel system but he said when they checked all looked fine. Said they heard the noise on the driver side and that’s why it’s all taken apart at the moment. No update yet as to the cause or if they found anything though.

edit got the video to upload I had to condense it into a 5 second clip

 

Looking at lifters then maybe the cam depending what they find with those I'd imagine. But what in the actual f*** is up with the impact gun, coils, bolts, tools, brackets, wires, and parts laying on the heat extractor, all over the cowl and windshield wiper, not cool at all. And that impact gun socket looks like it's resting on the radiator fins. At least they're using a fender cover...

Maybe I might be too picky or OCD

 

I would be so pissed if I saw that on my car.
What kind of dealership would do that crap, a wrecking yard?

 

No way I'd let them do that on a newly purchased car.

Your looking at hack mechanics.

 

Yeah I took pictures of everything to document it because if they don’t put it back together how it came in I’m going to have a word with the dealership. Plus if they break anything as well. I got an update and they said bank 1 lifters failed and camshaft damaged and need to replace all bank 1 lifters and camshaft. They are waiting on an inspector to come before they can approve the repairs. Luckily the dealership I bought it from put a 6 month power train warranty on the car. So I’m guessing it’ll be end of next week or week after on hopefully getting the car back. So sad

 

Since it looks like you have a Z51 and they said the camshaft was damaged, I'd ask if they plan to flush the oiling/sump system and see what they say. It might be part of what they're going to do, but in my research the dry sump system normally requires some type of service after motor damage has occurred that could have produced added metal material to the oil system.

 

My 15 C7 bought new and about a year later it developed a ticking/clicking noise between 1750 - 2100 rpm, just crusing steady, noise stopped when I went below or above the rpm range. Took it to the dealer three times and they were perplexed but the tech heard that the the belt idler/tensioner may fix it so he replaced it and the noise went away. That was 8 years ago. Still no ticking/clicking.

 

I know its too late to do anything about this issue at the present since the engine is all in pieces.

But if it were me, I'd would of found a very good diagnostic shop, ie: Scanner Danner or C5Diag, they could of told you what that 'ticking' sound was without taking anything apart.

Hate to say it but I doubt that the engine will be returned back to its original condition. (no 2 bolts will end up in their original location).

This is a classic example of a 'tech' tearing apart an engine and then firing the parts cannon at it.

I truly wish you the best of luck in this situation.

So sad.

 

I had a weird ticking sound like yours but it seemed to be coming more from the rear of the car. Came and went at very specific rpm’s. Turned out to be a broke battle in one of the npp mufflers. They wanted 1500 or something like that to replace it (not under warrantee of course) so the mechanic just left it unplugged.

 

Been a while since I posted this. So I still do not have the car back. It’s been in the shop now for almost a month since I bought it. The sad part is they have had all the parts for 2 weeks and yet the car is still not put together. I went on Monday to see the status and found that their corvette master tech is not the one working on it. I asked the young man what he has found to physically see all the old parts and I did see some wear on the camshaft, but nothing like a DOD lifter failing. He explained to me that the irregular wear patterns caused a very slight gap causing the ticking noise. He also told me he is replacing the oil pump because he saw slight signs of wear and to go ahead and replace it while it’s torn apart. Granted the dealership is paying for this but at this point I’m a bit disappointed in this. I’m truly starting to think he’s going to put everything back together and the noise is still going to be there. Crazy part is I did research about this dealership and apparently they have a good reputation from what I found on this forum, but that was with the actual corvette tech. Dealership told me their corvette tech will be working on it but then when my service advisor quit he told me the corvette techs apprentice of 6 years is working on it and that I can be assured it’s in good hands. New service advisor told me it could possibly be done by this Saturday. I just think it’s getting ridiculous that it takes 2 weeks to put back an engine…

 

On a positive note, you have all the parts - that's great it's not tied up waiting on something. Secondly, a 6 year apprentice should be ok to put the engine back together as it's pretty straight forward and we're talking about the top end here. He's probably seen a few go through and been involved with the reassembly over that length of time. Keep the faith, it's all you can do right now

 

For sure thank you for the positive words! I tipped the tech $200 bucks to hopefully take care of me