[VIDEO] Corvette Z06 Owner Discusses Needing an Engine Replacement at 7,000 Miles

When the C8 Corvette Z06 first came out in the late fall of 2022, we heard about some owners whose LT6 engines needed replacing. We felt that these early replacements were due to the very complex 5.5-liter flat-plane crank engine being new, and also wondered if new owners were following the recommended break-in protocols.

Now that the Z06 and its high-revving engine are in their fourth model year of production, we hardly hear of any owners having catastrophic issues requiring a full engine replacement. I’m sure that it occasionally does happen, but we just don’t see a ton of Z06 owners complaining about it, nor do we see Technical Service Bulletins for dealership techs addressing any engine failure issues.

Having said that, here we have a Z06 owner talking on YouTube about how his LT6 needed replacement at 7,000 miles. This owner bought the car with 3,000 miles on the odometer and has since put another 4,000 miles on it. He does participate in track days and had tracked his car a couple of weeks prior, but this didn’t happen while at the track. Here’s the story:

“This didn’t actually fail at the track like everyone thinks it did. No, I wasn’t beating the crap out of this car. I just took it to Angeles Crest Highway. When we went up, everything was fine. As we came down, everything was fine. I parked it at Panera Bread by the Target, and we went out for lunch. An hour later, I came back to the car, and it would not start.”

“I thought it was a battery. We checked the battery. The battery was completely green. So, that wasn’t it. So, I called OnStar and they facilitated a tow truck to come pick me up. When the tow truck arrived, we had another problem because we couldn’t put the car in neutral to be able to roll it up the tow truck. What happens is in these cars, you have to turn on the engine for it to be able to shift in neutral. There’s no neutral release or anything like that. The only way you could release it is take apart the trunk of the car, access the transmission, and use a special tool that’s provided by Chevy to be able to put the car in neutral so you can push it. This tool cost around $200. And obviously, I didn’t have it on me. So, what the tow truck driver did was provide skates. He put the skates underneath the car, and he was able to drag it up onto the tow truck.”

“The nearest dealer to me at the time was Covina Chevrolet. We towed it to that dealership, left it there that evening and I ended up getting a hotel room so I could stay nearby and figure out what to do the next morning when they diagnosed the car.”

Once at the dealership, the GM technician checked out the car, starting with the electrical components and the starter. After those checked out, he tried to hand-turn the engine but said it felt rough with a lot of feedback. Checking the oil and the oil filter, they found metal shavings inside. The technician documented the metal shavings in the oil with photos and video and sent it up to GM in Detroit and they approved the warranty engine replacement.

The owner now says he has about 8,000 miles on the car which would mean around 1,000 miles on the replacement engine, and he’s happy with it and the extended warranty that comes with the replacement. He does say the experience gives him a bad feeling about GM, but then says his new Porsche GT4 also required an engine warranty replacement which was done at the Porsche facility at the port.

He goes on to say there were four main reasons for purchasing the Z06. First is the sound which he calls incredible. Then there is the performance which he claims in on par with his previous Porsche GT3 RS on the track. His third reason was the price. He says he paid $120K for the car which does have the Z07 Performance Package with the full aero kit. And finally, it was the warranty that he wanted as his Porsche GT4 RS and GT3 RS both had issues and because they were out of warranty, he was potentially looking at some very expensive repairs. One of those repairs saw him coughing up $12,000 to replace cracked windows in the Porsche.

So has the engine replacement dampened his enthusiasm for the Corvette Z06? Not a bit! While the only real downside to the C8 Corvette Z06 is the resale value because of just how many there are, he says you cannot beat the performance of the Z06 for the price. As a former Porsche owner, he also recommends the car to other Porsche fanatics who may be buying a GT4 RS which can cost between $170,000 to $200,000. The C8 Z06 can be enjoyed fully with a full warranty at a much lower price.

We appreciate the straight talk from this Corvette Z06 owner despite the circumstances and am glad to hear how much he does like the Z06 over his previous Porsches.

From ngoansx via YouTube:

My C8 Z06 engine failed at 7,000 miles and was replaced under warranty by GM. Here’s what actually happened, what the warranty process was like, and why warranty coverage was one of the key reasons I bought the car.

I also explain the other reasons I chose the Z06 — including track performance and how it compares to my former GT3 RS and GT4 RS — and whether this engine replacement changes my opinion of the car.

Source:
ngoansx / YouTube

Related:
[VIDEO] 2023 Corvette Z06 Suffers Engine Failure at 621 Miles
[VIDEO] Newly Delivered Corvette Z06 Suffers Engine Failure at 52 Miles
GM Has Issued a Service Bulletin for the LT6 in Regards to Oil Leaking from Front of Engine

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