2009 Chevrolet Corvette: engine failure

Filed Jun 18, 2020 · Engine, Steering · 56,000 miles · OK

I had a valve drop and threw a rod thru my engine traveling at highway speeds on a busy highway. I lost engine power, power steering, and spilled oil and other chemicals onto the roadway. A thick cloud of smoke billowed from underneath and out the back of the car making it unsafe for cars traveling behind me. The dealer who has since inspected my car has stated it is a known issue that the "lifters are weak". After quite a bit of reading, it appears many other owners of the same car have experienced a multitude of issues with valves, lifters, heads, etc. Gm is aware of faulty parts but I cannot find any notice of recalls. Make/model: 2009 corvette z06; engine: ls7.

Filed Mar 18, 2020 · Engine · 30,133 miles · CA

I experienced an engine failure. This resulted in a sudden and complete loss of power at an unexpected time. This occurred during a high performance driver education event at auto club speedway in fontana, ca. There was no warning before the moment the engine failed. The cause of the failure was the head of one of the exhaust valves separated from the valve stem and fell into the cylinder, destroying the cylinder head, piston and cylinder wall. The engine model in my 2009 corvette is the ls7. A google search on 'ls7 dropped valves' will fill many pages.

Filed Feb 14, 2018 · Engine · PA

I was concerned about excessive valve train noise and after reading several corvette forum threads about improperly machined heads by gm's supplier linamar, and that numerous vehicles have had valves drop and ruin the engines, I took my car with 27000 miles on it to a corvette specialty shop to have my valve guide clearance tested. I had (2) intake valve guides outside of service specifications, (4) exhaust valve guides outside of service specifications, and a combination of (10) other intake and exhaust valve guides at or near the maximum outside of service specifications. The car is being repaired with proper re-machining of the heads to make the valve guides concentric, new intake and exhaust valve guides installed, as well as new seals, valves, springs, etc. 88% of the corvette forum members who have had their cylinder heads tested for excessive valve guide wear, were out of service specifications. Source: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-registry.html gm needs to issue a recall on this issue, there have been numerous engine failures as a result of a dropped valve into a cylinder which can cause accidents and fires. Gm is very aware of this issue, but refuses to do anything about this huge safety risk to drivers, passengers, and nearby vehicles if the engine fails going down the road.

Filed Nov 29, 2017 · Engine · 300 miles · CA

Although my car is a 2009 it only has 300 miles on it. The zo6 model which has the "ls7 engine has a known valve issue with both intake and exhaust being out of spec and wearing rapidly. I had a "wiggle test" done on all my valves. More than half of the 16 valves were out of spec. If the issue is not correct a valve will drop and a new engine will be required.

Filed Mar 27, 2017 · Engine · CO

Engine valve train subject to complete failure due to improper manufacture causing a total engine failure an possible loss of control at speed.

Filed Feb 16, 2017 · Engine · NC

I was concerned about excessive valve train noise and after reading several corvette forum threads and speaking to numerous chevrolet mechanics about improperly machined heads by gm's supplier linamar, and that numerous vehicles have had valves drop and ruin the engines. This has happened on completely stock vehicles. People with less than 20000 miles have lost motors. 88% of the corvette forum members who have had their cylinder heads tested for excessive valve guide wear, were out of service specifications. Source: http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...-registry.html gm needs to issue a recall on this issue, there have been numerous engine failures as a result of a dropped valve into a cylinder which can cause accidents and fires. Gm is very aware of this issue, but refuses to do anything about this huge safety risk to drivers, passengers, and nearby vehicles if the engine fails going down the road. If the engine fails due to dropping a valve, the engine will immediately shut off, which cuts off power steering and power braking. This is a very huge safety concern.

Filed Apr 28, 2016 · Engine · 37,000 miles · LA

I was concerned about excessive valve train noise and after reading several corvette forum threads about improperly machined heads by gm's supplier linamar, and that numerous vehicles have had valves drop and ruin the engines, I took my car with 37,000 miles on it to courtesy chevrolet / cadillac to have my valve guide clearance tested. I had (3) intake valve guides outside of service specifications, (7) exhaust valve guides outside of service specifications, and a combination of (11) other intake and exhaust valve guides at or near the maximum outside of service specifications. The cost of proper re-machining of the heads to make the valve guides concentric, new intake and exhaust valve guides installed, as well as new seals, valves, springs, etc. Is something I simply cannot afford at the moment with the downturn of the oilfield industry. Please bear in mind, my car had a replacement ls7 engine from a dropped exhaust valve before I owned it, so this has already happened to my car once. It occurred at 22xxx miles, and can have the gm dealer print a copy of the ro line to prove it. This is occurring at an alarming rate, but after our warranty period, we the consumer are left out to dry. 88% of the corvette forum members who have had their cylinder heads tested for excessive valve guide wear, were out of service specifications. Source: http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...-registry.html gm needs to issue a recall on this issue, there have been numerous engine failures as a result of a dropped valve into a cylinder which can cause accidents and fires. Gm is very aware of this issue, but refuses to do anything about this huge safety risk to drivers, passengers, and nearby vehicles if the engine fails going down the road. Please assist us in having gm make this right.

Filed Apr 15, 2016 · Engine · 15,000 miles · HI

Gm denies any sort of wide spread issue with respect to the manufacturing/assembly of the cylinder heads for the ls7 engine. There have been numerous catastrophic engine failures as a result of a broken valve head dropping into the cylinder and subsequently blowing a hole through the motor, causing fluids to leak all over the road, and complete loss of control of the vehicle. The symptoms are premature valve guide wear, which eventually become so worn that the valve closes on the wrong angle to the seat, and off breaks the valve head. The issue appears to be poor valve guide to valve seat concentricity, which leads to premature valve guide wear. My 2009 z06 corvette at only 15,000 street driven miles was inspected by a reputable third party repair facility, and discovered that 14/16 valve guides were beyond gm's service limit, and the remaining 2/16 were right at the limit. This is something that shouldn't occur until 150,000 miles at least...not 15,000. There needs to be an investigation before more catastrophic failures occur. There are hundreds if not thousands of documented occurrences.

Filed Jun 12, 2015 · Engine · 21,900 miles · IL

The ls7 engine is known to have bad 2 piece exhaust valves that come apart and fall into the cylinder resulting in a catastrophic engine failure that requires an entire new engine. This happened to me this past march 2015. Gm needs to issue a recall on this issue, there have been numerous engine failures as a result of a dropped valve into a cylinder which can cause accidents and fires. Gm is very aware of this issue, but refuses to do anything about this huge safety risk to drivers, passengers, and nearby vehicles if the engine fails going down the road.

Filed Apr 7, 2015 · Engine · 7,812 miles · IL

I was concerned about excessive valve train noise and after reading several corvette forum threads about improperly machined heads by gm's supplier linamar, and that numerous vehicles have had valves drop and ruin the engines, I took my car with 7800 miles on it to a corvette specialty shop ( katech) to have my valve guide clearance tested. I had (5) intake valve guides outside of service specifications, (4) exhaust valve guides outside of service specifications, and a combination of (3) other intake and exhaust valve guides at or near the maximum outside of service specifications. The car is being repaired with proper re-machining of the heads to make the valve guides concentric, new intake and exhaust valve guides installed, as well as new seals, valves, springs, etc. 88% of the corvette forum members who have had their cylinder heads tested for excessive valve guide wear, were out of service specifications. Source: http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...-registry.html gm needs to issue a recall on this issue, there have been numerous engine failures as a result of a dropped valve into a cylinder which can cause accidents and fires. Gm is very aware of this issue, but refuses to do anything about this huge safety risk to drivers, passengers, and nearby vehicles if the engine fails going down the road. Here is a link with the guide measurements in it. Http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c6-z06-discussion/3608443-katech-stage-2-z06-sn-74-a.html.

Filed Jan 25, 2015 · Brakes, Engine · 30,000 miles · AZ

Engine had excessive noise. After reading several corvette complaints about improperly machined heads by general motor's supplier linamar, and that numerous vehicles have had valves drop and catastrophic engine failure, I had my car with checked at a specialty shop. I had several valve guides outside of service specifications. The car is being repaired with proper re-machining of the heads to make the valve guides concentric, new intake and exhaust valve guides installed, as well as new seals, valves, springs, etc. 88% of the corvette forum members who have had their cylinder heads tested for excessive valve guide wear, were out of service specifications. Source: http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...-registry.html gm needs to issue a recall on this issue. There have been numerous engine failures as a result of a dropped valve into a cylinder. This stops the engine, power steering, and power brakes which can cause accidents and fires. Gm is very aware of this issue, but refuses to do anything about this huge safety risk to drivers, passengers, and nearby vehicles if the engine fails going down the road. Regards.

Filed Jan 19, 2015 · Engine · 7,500 miles · MI

I became aware of a potential valve guide wear issue with the ls7 and ls9 engines through the corvette forum, the corvette action center, and other sources. I began researching the issue and decided that I should have my car checked out at a gm dealership. It was determined that the valve train noise appeared to be normal and the engine was not burning or using any excessive oil. The more I followed the valve guide wear issue, the more concerned I became. That being said and the fact that the dealer had never heard of or had any customer come in for the issue I decided to have a local performance engine shop (because of their extensive ls7 experience) install a reworked set of heads with bronze valve guides with additional parts recommend by the shop, to fix the problem permanently, based on their knowledge with the issue. My original heads were evaluated for valve guide wear and 'every intake and exhaust valve guide was outside of the gm service bulletin service limit of .0037 with the #8 intake valve being so far out that it was deemed n/r (so loose it was too big for the gauge readout). The vehicle only had 7500 miles on it. 88% of the corvette forum members who have had their cylinder heads tested for excessive valve guide wear, were out of service specifications. Source: http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...-registry.html gm needs to issue a recall on this issue, there have been numerous engine failures as a result of a dropped valve into a cylinder which can cause accidents and fires. Gm is very aware of this issue, but refuses to do anything about this huge safety risk to drivers, passengers, and nearby vehicles if the engine fails going down the road.