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I am a c8 owner (2021 corvette, 22k miles) and my vehicle while idle in the driveway began emitting a dark blueish white smoke from exhaust.
I called the local dealership & their advice was it was condensation buildup in exhaust and stated it does that because there's no small holes at bottom of exhaust pipes. His suggestion was to drive it some & that it would go away. I got in my car and drove not even a quarter mile to a church parking lot when it was very clear this was a much bigger problem than that. The smoke was so thick that other passing vehicles had to stop.
This is when my adventure begins...
I had my brother with me and I wanted to show him the ease of pressing the OnStar SOS button. I w as quickly connected to a rep who had my location already and assured me a tow truck wait was about 90 minutes. I received a text with a helpful countdown timer of estimated wait. I sat there for 100 minutes with no tow truck. So I contacted OnStar again & they rescheduled a different tow truck company. Again, I got another text with the countdown timer. Again, the wait was 90 minutes. So I waited. Still no truck. For a 3rd time I call OnStar and they send me the same text; but, this time the tow truck company who I was assigned to was the 1st tow truck company. I finally gave up and called a local towing company and paid out of pocket $200 to have it towed to Steve Raymond's Cheverlot dealership.
Once my car was there, I only had to wait 1 day to get what was wrong with my car. Unfortunately, because my car was still under warranty, the service adivisor explained to me that only certain mechanics could work on my car because it was under warranty that the fix to my car would likely take 6-8 weeks long because he had a shortage of certified c8 mechanics. The issue they stated was a stuck open PCV valve. He advised me to find another local dealership who could work on it sooner. Which I did. I found John Thorton Cheverlot in Lithia Springs.
I again had to pay $260 tow from one dealership to another. This time the service advisor explained to me it would take 7-10 days before they could even look at the car. I agreed as there was no better option available. I gave them my keys on Aug 2, 2023 and waited. On August 11th I asked them had they determined the issue and they stated they still haven't looked at it. On Aug 16th they determined it was a bad oil separator. Weird that two certified dealerships came to two different conclusions but whatever. They ordered the part yesterday and got it in today. I'm now being told it will take several days to install it. What am I missing here? Why does it take several days to install an oil separator?
Note:
I reached out to a service advisor from the former dealership and asked point blank if there's a difference between a vehicle under warranty and one which is not. He told me vehicles under warranty have fixed hours to complete a certain job and only pay a fixed amount for certain jobs. Whereas a non-warranty vehicle could be billed more to complete same job. Thus making a warranty vehicle less appealing to work on. Why does a 2.5 hr job take several days to fix?
There is a centrifugal separator in the oil tank on the front of the engine - I do not believe it is a separate component though, and I don't think that is what they are talking about. There is an engine oil separator in the engine valley - that may be what they are talking about. The separator is what feeds the tube that goes back to the intake manifold, and that is also the tube that has the PCV valve in it. If you are getting oil smoke because of an issue in that line, it suggests that raw oil is being passed to the intake. I do not know, but I suppose it could be the PCV valve stuck open (which is trivial to replace and try out before tearing down the engine). If it is the oil separator in the engine valley, then a lot of stuff must be removed to get to it. I think (I am not sure) that it is the highlighted component in the attached picture, because the bolts holding it down (in red) are called PCV Oil Separator Bolts.
If it is not, then it is something else in this same location. And that is why its a relatively big job.
Not sure what you mean by "update your log".
Year: 2021
Model: Stingray z51 package
Miles: 22k
Also, the dealership JOHN THORTON CHEVRELOT is the dealership it's currently at. Though I'm grateful that their timeline is significantly faster than the first dealership I brought it to. Why does installing an oil separator job take several days to install?
Also, I'm no mechanic but from what I see online, c8 doesnt have an oil separator. It's something extra people add themselves to use a catch can. Can anyone confirm this?
When you have your car towed, you CANNOT put your car in neutral unless you start the car. So if you have a dead battery or a car that doesnt start, you're screwed. I found out the hard way. It's apparently a problem for all dual clutch transmissions.
I had a similar problem with a VW I owned. Poured out tons of white smoke. Very toxic. Smelled really bad. It ended up being a fuel injector stuck open and was dumping fuel into the motor that the cylinder couldn’t burn. Not sure if oil burns white?
I am a c8 owner (2021 corvette, 22k miles) and my vehicle while idle in the driveway began emitting a dark blueish white smoke from exhaust.
I called the local dealership & their advice was it was condensation buildup in exhaust and stated it does that because there's no small holes at bottom of exhaust pipes. His suggestion was to drive it some & that it would go away. I got in my car and drove not even a quarter mile to a church parking lot when it was very clear this was a much bigger problem than that. The smoke was so thick that other passing vehicles had to stop.
This is when my adventure begins...
I had my brother with me and I wanted to show him the ease of pressing the OnStar SOS button. I w as quickly connected to a rep who had my location already and assured me a tow truck wait was about 90 minutes. I received a text with a helpful countdown timer of estimated wait. I sat there for 100 minutes with no tow truck. So I contacted OnStar again & they rescheduled a different tow truck company. Again, I got another text with the countdown timer. Again, the wait was 90 minutes. So I waited. Still no truck. For a 3rd time I call OnStar and they send me the same text; but, this time the tow truck company who I was assigned to was the 1st tow truck company. I finally gave up and called a local towing company and paid out of pocket $200 to have it towed to Steve Raymond's Cheverlot dealership.
Once my car was there, I only had to wait 1 day to get what was wrong with my car. Unfortunately, because my car was still under warranty, the service adivisor explained to me that only certain mechanics could work on my car because it was under warranty that the fix to my car would likely take 6-8 weeks long because he had a shortage of certified c8 mechanics. The issue they stated was a stuck open PCV valve. He advised me to find another local dealership who could work on it sooner. Which I did. I found John Thorton Cheverlot in Lithia Springs.
I again had to pay $260 tow from one dealership to another. This time the service advisor explained to me it would take 7-10 days before they could even look at the car. I agreed as there was no better option available. I gave them my keys on Aug 2, 2023 and waited. On August 11th I asked them had they determined the issue and they stated they still haven't looked at it. On Aug 16th they determined it was a bad oil separator. Weird that two certified dealerships came to two different conclusions but whatever. They ordered the part yesterday and got it in today. I'm now being told it will take several days to install it. What am I missing here? Why does it take several days to install an oil separator?
Note:
I reached out to a service advisor from the former dealership and asked point blank if there's a difference between a vehicle under warranty and one which is not. He told me vehicles under warranty have fixed hours to complete a certain job and only pay a fixed amount for certain jobs. Whereas a non-warranty vehicle could be billed more to complete same job. Thus making a warranty vehicle less appealing to work on. Why does a 2.5 hr job take several days to fix?
It's a shame that your first post here is about a failure. I'm new here too, but I joined because I'm excited about my ordering of a new C8.
I have been around engines a long time, and I have never seen a pcv system suck so much oil that it fogs out the road. I have seen engines smoke real bad from over filling the engine oil, not sure how the dry sump on this vette works yet...I know the theory, just not this particular system. Other reasons for billowing smoke would be a badly failed piston/piston ring or a valve seal/guide. I hope it gets resolved for ya, your dealer experience sure is sad to say the least. Good luck and keep us posted.
Welcome to the new normal when it comes to any type of service.
I’m building a house with my son and we are having issues getting concrete. The local concrete company is temporarily closed because they can’t get anyone to work. We have to get it from another company almost an hour away.
I can’t believe there are so many jobs available and nobody to fill them. When I was young the only way you could find employment was if you knew someone.
There is a centrifugal separator in the oil tank on the front of the engine - I do not believe it is a separate component though, and I don't think that is what they are talking about. There is an engine oil separator in the engine valley - that may be what they are talking about. The separator is what feeds the tube that goes back to the intake manifold, and that is also the tube that has the PCV valve in it. If you are getting oil smoke because of an issue in that line, it suggests that raw oil is being passed to the intake. I do not know, but I suppose it could be the PCV valve stuck open (which is trivial to replace and try out before tearing down the engine). If it is the oil separator in the engine valley, then a lot of stuff must be removed to get to it. I think (I am not sure) that it is the highlighted component in the attached picture, because the bolts holding it down (in red) are called PCV Oil Separator Bolts.
If it is not, then it is something else in this same location. And that is why its a relatively big job.
Note:
I reached out to a service advisor from the former dealership and asked point blank if there's a difference between a vehicle under warranty and one which is not. He told me vehicles under warranty have fixed hours to complete a certain job and only pay a fixed amount for certain jobs. Whereas a non-warranty vehicle could be billed more to complete same job. Thus making a warranty vehicle less appealing to work on. Why does a 2.5 hr job take several days to fix?
Hi, sorry about your issues. I thought I'd give you a more complete answer to one issue you brought up, about warranty repair work.
About a million years ago I was a Chevy tech. The factory (doesn't matter whether its GM or Ford or whatever, they all do it) issues a "flat rate book" to dealers' service departments. The flat rate book lists all the possible remove/replace items on the entire car and specifies a time (in tenths of an hour) they will pay for that R/R. So, for example, to remove and replace a water pump, the flat rate book might specify 1.2 hours. It means the factory will only pay the dealer 1.2 hours at the dealer's labor rate to do that job.
It might actually take a tech 1.5 hours to R/R that water pump, but will only get paid 1.2 under a warranty claim. If you were out of warranty, the delaer will charge you whatever time it took the tech. On that same example it might be 1.2, 1.5, maybe even 2.0, but you'll get billed that amount of labor out of warranty.
Flat rate books are and always have been a bone of contention in the "back rooms" of dealers.
Signature dealers are the new certified c8 dealers.
remember to ask if their certified c8 corvette still works their.
You can look them up to make sure. They will all tell you they are corvette "specialists" that's not a really big lie is it?
😵💫
Understand your frustration. I got frustrated just reading your post. Hopeful their diagnosis was the correct one and be back on the road once again!!
owner horror stories have abounded since the C8 intro.......fantastic looking car but wish gm could honestly bring back that old ZENITH tag line: the quality goes in before the name goes on. I still buy national corvette museum raffle tickets
Note:
I reached out to a service advisor from the former dealership and asked point blank if there's a difference between a vehicle under warranty and one which is not. He told me vehicles under warranty have fixed hours to complete a certain job and only pay a fixed amount for certain jobs. Whereas a non-warranty vehicle could be billed more to complete same job. Thus making a warranty vehicle less appealing to work on.
That explains some things. I had an issue with the leather on my dash bubbling up (3LT). The dealer where I bought the car is about an hour away, and first wanted me to bring my car up for them to inspect before ordering the parts. That would have meant one trip up and back for inspection, another trip to drop off my car, and yet another trip to pick it up (6 hours total drive time). So, I contacted a Chevy dealer much closer to me about getting the issue fixed under warranty. They refused to deal with it under warranty and told me to take it to the dealer where I bought my car, which is what I ended up doing. Luckily, by the time I got around to taking it up there, they had a new dash in stock, so I dropped it off when it was inspected. This saved one trip.
Some time later I had an issue with my HTC - the end of a cable came loose due to a defect. The dealer where I bought my car did not have the part in stock, but would not order it until inspecting my car in person, even though I sent them pictures that clearly showed what the problem was. This time around the dealer closer to me was willing to fix it under warranty. It still took three trips, one for inspection, one to drop my car off, and one to pick it up, but it saved me about 3 hours in total drive time.
I was thinking of ordering but now I might just wait another year. I'm not sure I'm up to dealing with the experience.
I'm not sure there are any cars out there that don't have a few examples with significant issues. Especially high performance vehicles. Though forums like this are a good place to read about those issues, they provide a negatively biased view of the ownership experience. People don't post about driving another day or week or month with no issues. Most C8s on the road are trouble-free.
I had a similar problem with a VW I owned. Poured out tons of white smoke. Very toxic. Smelled really bad. It ended up being a fuel injector stuck open and was dumping fuel into the motor that the cylinder couldn’t burn. Not sure if oil burns white?
Usually white smoke coming out the exhaust indicates a head gasket problem allowing water/coolant in a cylinder (personal experience).
I hate to hear when owners can’t find good Chevy service departments. I tried to use the dealer a local Corvette club recommended and couldn’t even get them to answer their phone.
I live in a rural area and there is a large Chevy/Ford/GMC dealership near me. I take my 2020 2500HD and my wife’s 2020 Denali to them for service. This dealer only sells a handful of Corvettes every year. I was there one day getting an oil change and asked the Service Advisors about servicing my C8. They spent the next ten minutes explaining the tests they had to take when the C8 came out, the tools they had to buy, and the training their mechanics went through. I used them for my one year oil change and was very happy with them.
Sometimes going to a dealer that you might not think can service your car will surprise you.
Frustrated C8 owner
