Another Corvette Z06 Engine Fails, This Time In Journalist's Hands

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson

While track testing the latest Z06 Corvette, Gary Gastelu of Fox News experienced an issue that’s becoming a trend for Chevrolet’s supercharged sports car: engine failure.

“After a few lapping sessions, the engine in mine unceremoniously called it quits,” reports Gastelu in his review.

Unfortunately the cause is still unknown in this instance, though engine failures are increasing in occurrence for the 650-horsepower Corvette.

Late last year, Corvette Forum’s member “Lawdogg149” had the LT4 V-8 in his Z06 implode after only 891 miles on the clock. The failure was with the valvetrain, though root cause of the failure wasn’t reported. GM instructed the dealer servicing the car to return the engine to the mothership unopened for further analysis. The Z06 received a new powerplant covered under warranty.

GM Authority stated as many as three failures have been mentioned on Corvette Forums as of June 2015.

Other issues have been reported, such as reduced power after hard launches or track use, in order for the engine to “survive for 100,000 miles as well as allow the Z06 to meet stringent US emissions regs,” reported Jalopnik last year.

Mark Stevenson
Mark Stevenson

More by Mark Stevenson

Comments
Join the conversation
5 of 138 comments
  • Things break, I understand that. Will GM and their dealers stand behind it? It sounds like they did the right thing in this case, but, as they say, "your mileage may vary."

    • Dantes_inferno Dantes_inferno on Jul 20, 2015

      > Will GM and their dealers stand behind it? They'll stand FAR behind it - in case the vehicle catches fire - or worse.

  • Hotdog453 Hotdog453 on Jul 19, 2015

    It was discussed in the linked jalopnik.com article, but the bigger issue to me is the whole ecu-self-throttling going on. That's something that's not going to be fixable without 3rd party. There's a reason the c6 z06 worked so Damn well: natural aspiration is much "better" for track stability.

  • VolandoBajo VolandoBajo on Jul 21, 2015

    The author of the original piece was being diplomatic, no doubt wishing to be able to live to drive a Vette another day, but from the limited description of the failure, it was not something simple like a blown fusible link or a dead battery due to a failed charging system. There was oil, meaning a breach of the block. There were parts, meaning something came off forcefully, and likely not in a way that they could just be bolted back on, as it was multiple parts, not a part. And there were bad sounding noises. It sure didn't sound like in that context he meant bad as in a throaty roar as it accelerated, more like bad crunchy sounds as the car ground to a halt. The cause may not have been determined, but the nature of the failure was clearly catastrophic and not a minor part failing and needing replacement with thirty minutes of shop labor and a seventy dollar part...the failure as described was clearly at the Bad News Bears end of the failure mode spectrum. Let's be clear about that...it WASN'T just a minor bit of fallout. It was a subatomic event with nuclear fallout from the engine. Not good in anyone's book, at any time.' So let's all just get off the idea that it wasn't any big deal, that we still don't know what happened. We don't know what happened, but we know that whatever happened wasn't good, and it wasn't going to be cheap or easy to repair. That kind of narrows down the set of appropriate reactions to the event, does it not?

  • Zbnutcase Zbnutcase on Jul 23, 2015

    Why does everybody think GM/Chevrolet builds such great engines? I spent 28 years of my life as a marine mechanic. The random, stupid, failures were amazing. And I am not talking about neglect or failure to winterize. Both small blocks and big blocks. Chevrolet engines put a lot of food on my table, and beer in my fridge.

Next