This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Happened twice within a day. The main electric fan on the radiator stopped working and the car overheated. Once at idle, was able to shut the car off safely. The second time, there was traffic on the highway, and the fan stopped working and the car started to overheat. Had to shut the car off and wait for it to cool down on the side of the road. When I got the car home, I found the electrical connector of the fan to be melted and fused together. There was no indicator that the fan would stop running prior to the engine overheating.
while driving at ~45mph and 3500 rpm, an exhaust valve dropped on the pass side cylinder head. vehicle lost motive power. there was a hole in the block on the passenger side and the vehicle needed a long block replacement. the vehicle had 79,000 miles
The contact owned a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the exhaust valve had fractured in cylinder # 6, damaging the piston, crankshaft, and engine block. The dealer informed the contact that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 34,678.
2006 Chevrolet Corvette, consumer writes in regard to defective crankshaft pully. The consumer was seeking reimbursement for a crankshaft safety recall. The manufacturer was notified, but declined any assistance.
Chevrolet Corvette. Consumer writes in regards to a defective crankshaft pully. The consumer requested to have the vehicle's repair cost covered in full by the manufacturer.
- Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
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When driving the vehicle the motor locked up and caused a massive oil spill due to the engine exploding.. root cause was due to a dropped valve which caused the whole engine to break into pieces. This is a well documented problem with the LS7 motor from GM.
I was driving in S 35 mph zone and it changed to 45 mph. I was in 2 or 3rd gear and has just started up a slight incline and I was increasing speed when the car made a sudden jerk and loud almost a bang. I depressed the clutch and it stayed on the floor. I though that the clutch had came apart and I pulled the pedal up to see what was going on. The engine at that point was running very rough and would not hold speed or accelerate. I pulled into a parking lot and got my wife to pick me up. I then got my pickup and trailer and took the car to classic Chevrolet. They found where the valve had dropped into the cylinder and caused damage to the piston and rod. I looked at the engine while tore down and noticed what appeared to me to be a crack in the cylinder wall and pointed it out, the forman said the had checked it and didn't feel that it was a crack. They advised me to get a new head and have the other head worked on as well as a piston, etc. I did that and had the car repaired. When the car jerked it also affected the pressure plate so I had that replaced. After I got the car back I noticed it was smoking white vapor whenever I started it. I took it back to the dealership and the tested it and sure enough it was a crack in the cylinder. I then had the motor replaced and the dealership was very fair and credited the earlier work against the motor. When the motor let loose, the car locked the back wheels and the car behind me had to make a rather quick stop and Dodge me so as not to have a wreck.
Engine was found to have valve guide clearances extremely out of allowable specs. Problem was detected by american heritage performance, a company that specializes in these types of engines. If the problem had not been corrected and a failure had occurred, it could have locked up the engine causing the rear wheel to lock up and send the car out of control.
Cylinder head valve guides worn requiring replacement before warranty expiration. If not repaired catastrophic motor failure can occur. If this happens car becomes uncontrollable with oil and coolant flooding out of motor. New heads were ordered from the factory and they were out of specification and needed modification before installed. Previous 2008 Corvette (unknown VIN but can be found at dealership where serviced had this same problem leading to the above mentioned failure and uncontrolled vehicle condition. This happened on an offload venue so there was no accident report. I don not know the exact dates but entered a date as required below.
LS7 engine makes loud "ticking" sound at idle to ~ 2,000 RPM caused by defective cylinder heads which were improperly machined by GM's subcontractor. Local Chevrolet dealers said the noise is "normal"... but when heads opened and valve and valve guides measured, excessive valve and valve guide wear documented. Local GM dealer & $4,350 GM protection plan (extended warranty that I had to buy to cover this $5,000 repair) refused to repair so I had to drive it 5 hours to another GM dealer to get it repaired under my gmpp extended warranty. Many other 2006 to 2015 Corvette owners have experienced this same excessive valve wear including some owners valves breaking and destroying their $16,000 LS7 motors while spewing oil and metal everywhere. This also resulted in a fear of driving this car, a significant "diminishment of value" of this vehicle, and complicated its resale (buyers had heard about these catastrophic LS7 motor failures.
Valve rattle, not driving vehicle to keep from dropping valve......costs $4K for repair to heads....31000 miles... if I drive it and drop valve, will cost $18K to replace engine assembly.....long term value of vehicle decreases with non-matching numbers vehicle. One helluva way to treat customers that spend $85K on a vehicle.
I recently had my valves tested by a local shop since ive heard from other owners that the LS7 valves drop at any given time. I had two valves out of specs and have to get it fixed in order to save engine from future damage. My car currently has 52,241 miles.
I had a friend who had an engine failure on this same engine due to a failed exhaust valve. The valve guides were extremely worn on his car causing the valve failure. Due to his failure and many others like it, I removed my heads and inspected. Sure enough, they were significantly beyond General Motors published tolerances and required machining to repair. This was at significant cost to me and out of pocket. GM knows of this issue and refuses to participate in repair costs for cars out of warranty even though it's a design flaw and safety concern. If and when the valve catastrophically fails, the engine will have a complete shut down, large amounts of smoke out the exhaust clouding the other drivers vision, and has the possibility of leaving oil slicks on the road surface.
The cylinder heads have valves that are out of spec with 23,000 miles. The car is out of warranty due to age, and I was forced to purchase aftermarket cylinders heads to fix the worn valve issue to insure I don't drop a valve and have a catastrophic engine failure.
Z06 7.0L engine valve guides out of spec after 12K miles. This is due to a manufacturer defect in machining and or materials. Failure of the guides results in dropping a valve and catastrophic engine damage. As a catastrophic failure often causes the rear wheels to lock and/or the engine to oil down the road and possibly the rear tires which could lead to an accident or injury to others. This is an extreme safety concern.
I was interning the interstate 15 in California and was picking up speed to inter the hwy and my Corvette Z06 starting making a knocking sound and lost power and I turned it off and had it looked at my a very well know automotive shop who specializes in GM vehicles. They told me it drop an exhaust valve.
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- Redford, MI, USA