DickieDoo

After reading multiple threads about dealers that cannot properly change the oil on a dry sump car, I begin to wonder how they can possibly service and mid engine supercar ?

Everything is going to be different on this car and more difficult to get at.
You will need special training to even change the oil perhaps ??

So the service manuals must be being written right now and very very soon, the first teaching techs will be getting ready to train the dealer techs. This will be costly and only a limited few dealer will qualify to service this car. If you thought you had trouble getting good service before, you'll have to drive 100+ miles to a dealer that can service a ME.

firstvettesoon

Interesting. Hopefully they have thought this through and have solutions

elegant

I have an outstanding Corvette Tech who has never once let me down. Besides his love of vehicles and his 30 years of experience, he has over the years cultivated relationships with the special ”internal help line” GM has for its Tech’s. So if he is not positive of what needs to be done to fix my Corvette, instead of his wasting time trying to figure out those unusual things (on my nickel), he doesn’t have an ego and instead calls the help line and they together figure out the cause of my Corvette issue and its most efficient solution.

True, along the way, I “fired” two Chevy dealerships for their incompetence. Then I got smart many years ago talked to lots of Corvette owners in our area and found one person they all raved about, e.g., my current Tech.

We do not neccsarily go to the closest restaurant to us, the closest doctor, nor the closest financial advisor, yet it never stops to amaze my how lazy car owners are when selecting their “car doctor.” We need to do our part in selecting a great GM Corvette Tech. They are out there.

Bill Dearborn

Most GM dealers have been working with dry sump vehicles for over 10 years now and know how to change the oil. On a new car they will get appropriate training. The only thing you have to worry about is the mechanic that thinks he knows everything and doesn't read the book before doing something. If people on the forum can maintain their own cars there is really nothing that a good mechanic with the proper tools can't do in a dealership. There will really be nothing different about servicing a ME Vette than doing any of the ones that came before. Now if they make it a AWD hybrid with electric motors driving the front wheels then you add a lot more complexity. I have found a lot of mechanics over the years that were excellent when it came to mechanical things but had a lot of trouble around electrical equipment, especially high powered electrical equipment. At least at GM dealers in certain areas of the country you have a fair number of mechanics who have been trained on and serviced the VOLT, BOLT and Malibu Hybrids. It will be interesting when one of our home brew mechanics sticks his fingers in the wrong place on a hybrid. Definitely will be a hair raising experience.

Bill

MitchAlsup

Many ME cars have removable inner fenders. Once removed (5 minutes) the entire side of the engine, transaxle, <radiators or coolers> are exposed for easy <eye level> access and service.

This is vastly better than having to crawl up on top of a FE car and reach down into the engine bay (especially with all the covers involved nowadays.) It is also better than access from underneath reaching up into the engine bay (with hot fluids dropping out.)

NY09C6

I still do not understand why people feel the c8 will be a super car. There is a decent chance this will be a 70k Corvette.

fasttoys

I hope they figure it out. It’s not just a GM thing even my Ferrari friends have the same problem, some refusing to go to the dealer. My R8 AC compresure blew up and the entire engine needed to be removed to pull out a 680 dollar part. My AC compressor was shaft driven.

MitchAlsup

The demise of Viper has shifted american belief to "A Vette is already a super car" mantra.

VETTE-NV

The car doesn't even exist and the sky is already falling.

As a Corvette owner, you have to do your homework. There are ways to find a competent dealer, although I do agree, you may need to to drive farther than down the street for good service.

Relax...everything will be okay.

2L8ULUZ

Who is this Tech and at what dealership? I'm in the Pacific Northwest also and just bought a 2015 A8. Need to know who to go to when the torque converter grenades!!

XC6VETTE

PM sent

elegant

Ken Yutzie @ Power Chev (Sublimity, OR). Interesting that you point out that you might need that info in case you later have a major failure, and the reason that your post brought a smile to me, is that another person who had the same failure two years ago, drove 5 hours each way based on my earlier recommendation for Ken @ Power Chev. That person did not trust his local Chevy dealer, and was very pleased with the work that Ken did — though not in love with his ride time to get to and from the dealership.

Contact the SA there (John), mention my forum name (of course I do not get a referral fee), and tell them you want an appointment with only Ken. They hear that a lot. 1.503.769.7691.

Power is small country dealership. Great folks!

Rkreigh

back in the days of the LT5 c4 platform we had similar troubles with service, and getting the right hands on your car is always a concern.

Don't worry, the brotherhood of the beast is a tight knit group and there are always subject matter experts that can advise you on how to best take car of the corvette.

I agree that there will be new challenges, but it's still the same old bolts to me

if you can't fix the new one, bring your car out east, or reach out to find folks in your area with feedback that you can trust with your car

the c8 is still unobtanium, but it doesn't have any radical new technology so far that can't be fixed by someone who knows there way around corvette and has access to the right tools. the car is getting much more sophisticated and ME cars are generally hard to work on hence the high repair bills of "ME exotics"

I agree that corvette will come out with a ME car that your GM mechanic and many others will be very comfortable fixing, enhancing, racing, and whatever you need done. Just be ready to pay for it if you can't do it yourself and access to the right tools and expertise can be expensive on new cars until the experience trickles down. That doesn't take as long as it used to

DickieDoo

I am sure GM would not get away with the servicing nightmares that the likes of Ferrari and Porche have created with their vehicles and they will make things easier to service, but that has to be engineered into the car and not an afterthought, obsession with just the performance component can lead to difficulty down the road.

In so many cases with ME, I hear that you have to pull the motor in order to perform routine maintenance. I hope not with the C8.

It will be very interesting to watch the new threads on the actual C8 general discussion forum about their new and unique issues... Hopefully those will be few and far between.

time to go check the NSX forums to see how they are coping.

DickieDoo

The cost does not exclusively make it a super car. If it's 70K, then it will be a $70K Supercar. But supercars have historically been very expensive to own, making them the property of the super rich.
Imagine when the 70K C8 blows away all the Lambo's, Ferrari's and Porches and McLarens AND is cost effective to maintain...

Batman 357

Lot's of room for improvement with Corvette service.

OnPoint

There are some really outstanding Corvette techs, and there are some crappy/non-existent Corvette techs.

Do yourself a favor and do some homework to find the former, and your Corvette servicing will be pain-free.

gurneyeagle

I'm willing to bet that only certain dealers will be "qualified" to sell and service the new mid-engine car for the first few years.

JerriVette

The service will be quite simple...

Any major service and the few bolts needed will drop the subframe and engine down for heavy service...

It's not going to be difficult and of course you want your corvette serviced by GM world class techs...

Figure a few hour of labor to do so but we re talking probably 4 hours of labor to drop...and then access will be unlimited.

I travel 3 states to have my corvette serviced. It's about 2 hours of travel without traffic..I usually get up and out around 530am and the drive up is amazing up the merit as the sunrises...

I never worry as my GM tech is awesome and been working on my various corvettes foroming on 20 years. His passion to provide excellence is the reason I travel as there are many others to choose from closer..

Jackson Chevy in Middletown Ct.

The entire facility and staff is fantastic.

bgspot

Thats because you're stuck in the past. Things change and evolve. We're all watching the corvette slowly morph into a supercar. Whose to say a brand like Kia or Toyota can't have a car/line up that won't one day be considered luxurious on a BMW or Mercedes level???

On topic like others have already mentioned, there are good dealers out there. You just have to do some research.