Lightningfish

I have an 2002 Z28 M6 bone stock
here is the vehicle background.
7,310 miles. Yes it is brand new, except it is 10 years old.

Oil
first 1,000 factory oil
second 1,000 Valvoline Durablend
2,000-7,310 Mobile 1
Oil filter Delco except last 600 miles I am running with a Bosch filter

This is my toy car. I only take it out on special occasions. I do try and run it at least once a month during the warm months to keep everything lubed up. The last 3 years I have been living in another state working for International truck away from my car. I did however run it on weekends when visiting my Detroit home.

6 years ago I was driving 35-40 mph or less as I attempted to pass a slow moving car. I was in 5th gear and attempted to shift to 3rd. well it slid into 1st, the car shuttered, the low track light came on...I jammed the clutch back in pulled over opened the hood. Everything seemed okay. I jumped back into the car and drove it home. The car still had plenty of power.

a few months later my father said it had what sounded like a stuck valve or tapping noise. I called my good mechanic friend with 20+ years of experience including 3 years working at GM as a service tech and service manual author to help me check the pushrods. He pulled the serpentine belt and declared my engine healthy sounding.

1 year ago I was toying with a mustang and redlined my car to the rev limiter yes I still have plenty of power. Although due to riding my Nighthawk motorcycle I guess I though is was not reving as high as I was. The draw back to not driving it as much as I should.

last 2 months. I now have a strange turbine sound that follows the engine. It is intermittent in that every time I have a friend look at the car the sound seems to hide. I ended up driving the car from Detroit to Fort Wayne and the strange turbine sound returned . I drove the car to another mechanic friend and he said the car seemed to be missfiring on the right side of the engine. I felt the top of the engine and I could feel a slight stumble. He suggested I take it to the local performance shop to have it looked at.

The shop reports the push rods and valves are in good working order. The vehicle ECM is not reporting a misfire condition. However, they say the engine has lower issues and recommend a new Jasper engine or a rebuild. Cost of around 6K for the new engine and it is a new car so I really don't want a rebuilt engine. The do say that Jasper could rebuild my engine if I was willing to wait longer. same price

Currently no SES light, no smoking exhaust, seems to still have power.

1st mechanic friend says get a second opinion

GM camaro/corvette air induction engineer says the LS engines do miss somewhat due to an agressive cam and he would check with his powertrain buddies to see what they say.

My International buddies say if it was a lower part of the engine it would have ripped itself apart.

I could take the car to a GM dealer and see what they say.

Any Ideas? I am not poor but 6K is alot of money to spend. Any advice would be appreciated.

Camaro_94

iTrader: (5)

Take it to a shop that specializes in this stuff.

I would figure out what the problem is, and just replace THAT. You shouldnt need a whole new engine.

parks450

iTrader: (17)

The ticking is normal with ls1 cars. Almost all of them have it. are you sure the wining isnt your ps pump or alt? If the whining was your bottom end it would do it all the time not whenever it feels like. Id say your fine as long everything feels normal. Take your belt off when you here the wine to eliminate accessories. Try not to redline it to much more

Lightningfish

Parks: Those are the only 2 times it has been redlined. Both were not intentonial. One should have been avoided, the other shock the crap out of me. I guess I am happy that I didn't bend a push rod.

Camaro 94: The shop that said I should replace the engine was a performance shop. I figured they would know, however I am suprised the are telling me to replace the engine. I am leaning on taking the car to the dealership.

Nathan C

take it to the dealership and get a second opinion.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Agreed.

Absolutely nothing posted so far would lead me to believe that a new engine/engine rebuild is in order.

That 3-1 mis-shift usually results in bent push rods. I know that you said they were checked and found to be fine, but if the shop that's saying you need a new engine is the one that found the push rods to be OK, I'd have someone else take a look at that.

I also agree with this. There is a certain amount of tick that is pretty normal for the LS1s (noisey valvetrain and noisey injectors leading to a "sewing machine" sound is common).

There is also a certain amount of piston slap that is normal for an LS1. To give you an example, my '02 Camaro has had piston slap at idle in cool weather for all the years I've owned it. If your average mechanic that doesn't know these cars were to listen to it, he'd probably think it needed a new engine as well. But this engine has 101k miles on it, and has made this same sound for the 4 years I have owned it without it ever getting better or worse or having any other engine related issues.

As for the whining, I also agree with the above post. That sounds like a accessory issue to me, not the engine. Power steering pumps are known to whine on these cars, or it could be another accessory as well.

Here are some further things to consider/discuss:

- Has anyone done a compression test? If so, what were the results?

- Has anyone done a leakdown test? If so, what were the results?

- Has anyone hooked up a vacuum gage? If so, what were the readings?

- What sort of oil pressure are you seeing, and how does the needle behave as you increase engine speed?

Based on the info in this thread, there are no obvious signs that your engine has internal problems, so I'd want some pretty specific answers to these questions before agreeing to a new engine. In my opinion, if there is anything wrong with your engine (which there may not be at all), it will be valvetrain related (bent pushrods or valves).

01Ls1Ghost

i agree with RPM, all those tests are absolutly nesasary to determine the health of the engine, between the compression test and leak down test will give you your viability. vacuum will tell you how healthy your engine is while running. mine makes a light ticking noise when cold and goes away, it is a lifter that is having trouble pumping up, not worried abt it bc i will be replacing cam and heads soon.. i would tend to think that would be the same consern your having bc of the lack of drivin the vehicle has seen over the years. if it was a rod it would be a heavy knock sound and would get worse and louder and time went on, if it was a wrist pin it would make a double knock..

i would definitly get a second opinion and if you do need a motor, for 6 grand i would not be buying a jasper, i would have someone build me(or i would do myself) a nice motor that puts out a wee bit(alot more) power.. since its only a fun car.. lol

blk/slvr02ss

iTrader: (21)

The LS motors make a lot of different noises and if u feel no power loss i would not worry about it and when and if it blows up then i would worry about it !

01 CamaroSS SLP

I would take it to a LSX specialist that's probably heard it all. They will be more likely be able to help you with your issue than a dealership that will just tell you to replace it. That's what i did and its given me peace of mind.

Starz T/A 17

iTrader: (6)

^ This, these are noisy cars and more then likely you are just over analyse every little noise.

One other thing to remember is although your car is low miles the car will still wear some from sitting and it is 10 years old. Mounts and bushings will age from being exposed to heat and cold therefore giving a little more then "new" components thus making more noise. So I would get it checked out but I wouldn't expect anything majorly wrong to where you would have to replace the engine.

82cetuner

iTrader: (9)

I think your getting the run around cause someone is trying to sell you on the noises being catastrophic, a Redliine usuually will result in bent valves or the rod bolts will let go and then you will know exactly what the problem is. I have ran a stock ls1 to 7k rpm on accident with no damage what so ever.

the whining is most liketly power steering or water pump could even be the alternator or ac compressor. sick engines dont while if you got a bad bearing it will typicaly squeek as metal on metal would.

i dont think you got a problem at all , keep us updated though.

I would recommend taking it to a reputable shop localy and not a performance shop as they charge way to much money and will try to oversell on things you dont need. regular shops deal with problems more than they do with bolting on performance parts

z28241

iTrader: (13)

RPM WS6 is spot on! Also remember ur car is stock, so ur redline is factory set..i rev my stock bottom end LS1 almost a 1,000 over urs ALOT! 90k on mine btw. If u had an issue its most likely as said a bent pushrod, do the compression and leak down tests chack ur plugs and connections etc., take a engine stethascope and move it to all points of the motor..that should diagnose where noise is coming from, good luck.

NC01TA

This is the noisiest engine I have ever owned when it comes to taps, pings, 'sewing machine noises', etc... I only have 25,000 miles on my T/A and it runs strong. I use 'no ethanol' 93 premium yet all the noises are still there, some days much noisier than others. It is the nature of the beast. Did you damage your engine even with the low miles?? Possible, but just like in medicine, get that 2nd opinion or even a 3rd. Good luck!

blk/slvr02ss

iTrader: (21)

Even my 08 Vette w/ 30,000 on it makes noise when i start it up in the morning so its not just a LS-1 that makes noise and even my 2010 Camaro SS made noise since it had 10 miles on it when i got it !!!

NY02ws6

Am I the only one that noticed this? WTF kind of "performance" shop tries to sell jasper engines? Something about that on its own sounds fishy...

blk/slvr02ss

iTrader: (21)

Jasper Engines r a Good Quality Engines .

Lightningfish

Hello and thanks for the the timely answers!

I was not about to replace my engine without a 2nd opinion. I am betting that my engine is healthy and just fine. I do however plan on have a leak down check just to be safe.

I will keep you guys updated on the progress of this, I am going to pick my car up on Friday.

SSLSXLQ9L92

iTrader: (3)

I am in the process of replacing my motor after an over rev that left me with a ticking. Turned out to be a lifter in my case