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I've had two...2011 with 130K miles and a "new"2013 with ~40K miles. I can tell you there are several things you will want to keep an eye on:
1. Harmonic balancer
2. factory rocker arms have unsealed needle bearings and they will, with time and mileage wear out. When they do, they puke those little needle bearings into the engine which make beautiful FOD. This is a known problem for LS3s as they age.
3. Valve springs as noted.
Love C6 Grand Sports... probably on of the better Vettes ever made.
Just pull the valve covers off. Its a simple task, anyone with basic knowledge and mechanical skills can do so in 15-20 minutes. Pull the plastic cover off one side, disconnect the 4 plug wires and remove the coil pack/rail off the aluminum valve cover and then remove the few bolts that hold the valve cover on. Very simple. Also not something you should worry about immediately. Its not a Z06 with the LS7s with the notorious head issues...the Grandsport is a LS3, one of the most reliable engines GM has ever built.
Just pull the valve covers off. Its a simple task, anyone with basic knowledge and mechanical skills can do so in 15-20 minutes. Pull the plastic cover off one side, disconnect the 4 plug wires and remove the coil pack/rail off the aluminum valve cover and then remove the few bolts that hold the valve cover on. Very simple. Also not something you should worry about immediately. Its not a Z06 with the LS7s with the notorious head issues...the Grandsport is a LS3, one of the most reliable engines GM has ever built.
No kidding! Yes it’s just that simple to ask the seller to see if you can open up the valve covers and see what valve springs it has
No kidding! Yes it’s just that simple to ask the seller to see if you can open up the valve covers and see what valve springs it has
the manual gs has a dry sump so the on-engine valve cover oil "cap" can be popped open and you can definitely see the spring. the auto has a locked in angled filler neck so its a bit harder. def doable with a boresscope or a mirror.
Anyway, the "check your valve spring" was more of an after-purchase comment. its prob not going to drop on the drive home, but OP should definitely pop a VC off after getting it home to check and swap.
The 4LT leather dash will come loose sooner or later. Just a cosmetic issue but relatively difficult to fix. Easy to avoid as only 12% of the '13 GS had 4LT.
There are no valve spring issues on the LS3. And no seller is going to let you pull a valve cover to look at valve springa.
I agree, there are no “ bad yellow springs” to be concerned with in an LS3, perhaps the poster was confusing the LS6 engines which did have valve spring issues early on with the C5 ZO6’s