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C6 Corvette ZR1 & Z06General info about GM’s Corvette Supercar, LS9 Corvette Technical Info, Performance Upgrades, Suspension Setup for Street or Track
Within what mileage did your stock LS7 engine require internal repair or replacement? No "fixed" heads, aftermarket cam, adjusted tune, etc.
This includes wiped cam lobe, failed lifter, bent rod, spun bearing, valve that actually dropped, etc.
This does not include valve to guide clearances measuring beyond service limits (post that info in The "Out of Spec" Guide Wear Registry thread).
Please vote and post details in this thread with followup discussion in other threads to keep this one clean. Thank you!
Mine is a stock 2009 Z06 with a GMPP in place, with 26,871 miles. It started making noises here in Reno, so I had Champion Chevrolet check it out and it had a bad cam and lifter.
Since it had to come apart and knowing of the head issues these LS7's are having, I requested that I see the heads and they be checked while apart.
As expected the guides were shot, with excessive play in the valve guides and needed replacement.
After inspection and approval by GMPP, they replaced the heads with an all new set, along with cam, lifters and associated parts.
I had them put in new spark plugs while at it at no extra labor charge, just the cost of the plugs.
All said and done, it cost me $381.95 out the door, for my deductible and the spark plugs.
The GMPP paid $10,127.88. It would have cost me $10,509.83 total in expenses, had I not had the GMPP, sure glad I had it.
2006 Z06, 2 rods galled and motor siezed 3rd or 4th day after I bought the car. 78K miles.
Block/liners did not crack, currently rebuilding with forged bottom end. Got lucky, must have been in neutral when it actually seized. On teardown, found cam and lifter damage as well.
Heads were sent off at same time, and although all guide clearances were within spec, two intake and two exhaust valves were just below service limits.
Mine is a stock 2009 Z06 with a GMPP in place, with 26,871 miles. It started making noises here in Reno, so I had Champion Chevrolet check it out and it had a bad cam and lifter.
Since it had to come apart and knowing of the head issues these LS7's are having, I requested that I see the heads and they be checked while apart.
As expected the guides were shot, with excessive play in the valve guides and needed replacement.
After inspection and approval by GMPP, they replaced the heads with an all new set, along with cam, lifters and associated parts.
I had them put in new spark plugs while at it at no extra labor charge, just the cost of the plugs.
All said and done, it cost me $381.95 out the door, for my deductible and the spark plugs.
The GMPP paid $10,127.88. It would have cost me $10,509.83 total in expenses, had I not had the GMPP, sure glad I had it.
I hope you had the heads fixed before they were installed and didn't just put on new GM heads. My new GM heads lasted 20,000 miles and needed replaced again because of bad guides. This last time the heads were sent to AHP and GMPP paid to have them fixed.
Nope, I was stuck with Champion Chevrolet in Reno and GM wanted the old heads sent to them and they sent me new ones.
I'm in Sparks, Nevada and the noise came on sudden and I wasn't going to drive or trailer it to AHP in So. Cal.
I was planning on having them checked before my GMPP expired and get things done with AHP then, but crap hit the fan before that, with the cam and lifters.
PS I'm ready to turn 76 in a month and I've only put 1,600 miles on it in the 1 1/2 years since it happened. So in reality I'll probably only put another 7-10K miles on it myself anyway. By then I'll probably be ready to sell it. Time will tell.
Edit: 11 people have voted, but only 3 have posted what happened. I'm hoping for more posts, to see the causes and timing of the events.
Let's post it up guys.
Purchased the car in Feb 18 with 74k miles on it. By the end of Mar 18 the engine seized on a wot pull @ 7k rpm @ 76k miles. Had 6 bad rods and 3 trashed bearings. Rebuilt with a forged bottom end, btr3 cam, and had a local shop repair all the guides.
2009 5,700 miles bone stock. Never abused or raced. Oil always at 150 before going over 3k rpm. Dropped valve destroyed motor. Cracked the block. I now have a new AHP forged motor with a host of upgrades to the tune of 30 grand with me doing all the labor.
2006 Z06, completely stock except for B&B Fushion exhaust. Dropped an exhaust valve on the track at about 43k miles. Engine was replaced under GMPP no questions asked.
Mine failed at 30000mi, almost on the dot. I have a video of the noise it made. I had the #4 intake lifter fail, then it wiped the cam or vice versa. I believe it was lifter failure, when I had the bad lifter and a good one on the bench upside down, the dinged lifter leaked oil out. I almost put a set of lifters in as a fix. HOWEVER, I knew I wanted to fix or replace heads and I was going to do a cam anyways. There is nothing wrong with my stock heads. Valves are tight. But I bought and installed Texas Speed PRC 285 and BTR stage 3 cam+install kit. My son and I did all the work in the garage. And was tuned by LSxperts. I’m very happy. Need headers now to let it breathe.
Last edited by fred50stang; 01-23-2019 at 07:41 PM.
Stock motor 07 with 93,000 miles. Low oil pressure warning while I was in stop/go traffic. The engine sounded fine. It wound up being a broken bearing. I was lucky, no major engine damage. All bearings replaced, rings replaced, and the crank polished. I had the oil tank modified plus a larger oil pan and baffle.
You may be interested to know that a local guy to me with a BTR cam only 2007 z06 went all the way to 223k miles before going down for a broken wrist pin. He bought the car all stock as a one owner with 219k miles. Lots of highway miles driven daily by a commuting lawyer original owner.
Interesting thread. Based on the fairly small sample size, it looks like around 85% of the engine failures happen before 50,000 miles.
I guess this info is a little comforting to me as I recently purchased a 2008 Z06 with around 56,000 miles on it. I knew about the valve issues with these engines and had planned on doing the heads (and cam) right away, even though next fall would be much better timing for me... but this survey tends to suggest any significant defects that were likely to cause major failure, probably would have already nuked the engine if it was going to happen. Don't take me wrong, I realize there's always that chance I could drop a valve tomorrow with this car, but odds are if it hasn't already happened, and it currently sounds healthy, it probably won't let go if I were to hold off redoing the heads until later this fall. I think I'll just pull the valve covers and check for obvious excessive valve movement and oil consumption. If okay, I'll hold off until next fall to redo the heads.
With 30+ votes so far, the number of dropped valves does not seem disproportionately high considering the prevalence of valve to guide clearances reported beyond service limits. It certainly seems prudent to inspect the lifters and cam any time the heads are off and to monitor oil pressure as a rough indication of bearing health.
Originally Posted by R&D
I recently purchased a 2008 Z06 with around 56,000 miles on it. I knew about the valve issues with these engines and had planned on doing the heads (and cam) right away, even though next fall would be much better timing for me... but this survey tends to suggest any significant defects that were likely to cause major failure, probably would have already nuked the engine if it was going to happen. Don't take me wrong, I realize there's always that chance I could drop a valve tomorrow with this car, but odds are if it hasn't already happened, and it currently sounds healthy, it probably won't let go if I were to hold off redoing the heads until later this fall. I think I'll just pull the valve covers and check for obvious excessive valve movement and oil consumption. If okay, I'll hold off until next fall to redo the heads.
That's what I did in 2014 when I bought my car with 62k miles. All clearances were within service limits, and it's still running perfectly with 82k miles. I hope other potential causes of catastrophic failure documented in this thread provide more warning...
Originally Posted by dcooper23
You may be interested to know that a local guy to me with a BTR cam only 2007 z06 went all the way to 223k miles before going down for a broken wrist pin. He bought the car all stock as a one owner with 219k miles. Lots of highway miles driven daily by a commuting lawyer original owner.
219k in stock form is encouraging! I wonder how much further it would have gone with the stock cam?
01-20-2019, 12:42 PM
mileage before LS7 engine failure stock
had I not had the GMPP, sure glad I had it. 
