Hey guys, I am looking to pick up a G8 GT but I'm having a hard time accepting, buying a car for $20-22K with 40k less miles on it when I am going to have to spend another $2k+ on a damn cam install to eliminate the DOD.

I used to have a GTO, and I am looking to get back into a LSX for a dd again. Its between this and a LS2 GTO.

Can some of you share your good/bad stories with this issue for these cars.

What did it cost you and what did you have to do?

Thanks

 

In for answers...i want out of my gp gxp. Would love the m6 gxp but availability of those keep prices up from what I'm seeing..

 

I came from an LS2 GTO. I don't have any horror stories of my DOD, although I've only had the car since Novemeber. DOD is annoying on the highway, but you can manually shift to 6th gear and it won't activate. I'm not real happy about the cost of cam/dod delete myself, but I figure I'll have the heads milled while they are off, which is what a lot of the LS2 GTO guys do when they switch to the LS3 top-end.

I loved my GTO, but I think I may love this car just as much, if not a hair more. Sorry, didn't really answer your question, but I had the same decision about 3 months ago.

 

Welcome guys. How many miles did you pick up your G8 with?


Anyone else have any good feedback regarding the subject?

 

Off topic but I see you're in FL, are you on the Florida G8 Club on Facebook?

I think my car is slowly starting them. I am hearing a tick on cold starts and a decently audible one every so often. My car has 66k miles on it but the dealer gave me an extended time to march incase the issue actually is what I say it is. When I brought it to them, they said that it was normal valetrain noises (BS).

But some people have gone 100k miles without an issue. It all depends on how hard of a life it had. Is it an 08 or 09?

 

I heard 09's are "supposedly" better. Is this really true? Because I heard GM used the same lifters still.

I'd like to have a 09.

 

I've got an 09 with 37K. No problems yet, but it's on warranty until the end of the year so we will see what happens

If lifters go before then I'll have dealer replace

After = aftermarket with delete

 

Mine did it for a few days on really cold starts at around 52k miles, I didn't hesitate and got a new set of lifters, head bolts, and gaskets. Did the swap in my garage in a weekend for about 600 bucks, I kept the DOD cuz its a daily driver.

On the other hand I might be doing a DOD delete next month or so for a buddy of mine, we are shooting for the most cost effective way, more updates to come on that.

If I was to upgrade the cam I would get rid of the stock converter, no point on upgrading the cam a lil bit, and limiting your choices with the stock converter. Really not a fan of dropping 2k on a car to get 100 horses out of it.

 

I just had mine replaced on my early 09 GT under the factory powertrain warranty. I gto my G8 last October with 58xxx miles. A local with a red 08 GT replaced her cam with an LS3 cam in a weekend, she got her delete kit through another board. She said that she actually noticed an improvement in fuel economy and a better response after a tune. If you can find a 2009 G8, you should be able to find a few with a factory powertrain warranty remaining.

 

I didn't have any dod problems with headers and a tune.

 

Deactivation was one of the big reasons I traded my 08 GT I purchased new for a new GXP in 09.

I didn't have it long enough to experience any real mechanical issues but it's definitely noticeable, especially on the highway. The car feels "sleepy" and takes a half-beat to reacte to throttle input.

It never saved any fuel either, both cars averaged the same MPG. In my opinion it is a bullshit "feature" and it's well worth the money to delete it and tune a GT.

 

I had 55k on mine before I did a cam swap and a bunch of other goodies. Never had an issue with the DOD though, I just wanted to go fast LOL

 

My wife's car has 32k and no issues with it. If feels kind of boggy when it comes on and makes a low-pitched drone, but it's not obnoxious. The slightest throttle touch instantly deactivates it. And as mentioned above, it doesn't come in when the car's in M6.

 

Did you leave the DOD active when you had it tuned? It's my understanding that the program can be deactived with a tuner tool.

 

24k on the clock on my '09 GT. No issues so far but I agree with the above comments about the laziness or the delayed response with the DoD. I have all parts sitting in the garage to do a DoD delete and do a proper tune.

The one thing that drives me crazy is the slight humming and vibration you can feel when the DoD is active. That alone will make it worth it to me to get rid of it.

 

When I drive the car, I notice the humming and vibration, but it doesn't bother me much. After all, my Firebird easily outdoes it when it comes to humming and vibration I can assure you, though, that my wife has NEVER noticed it.

 

I have 72K hard miles on my G8 and no issues with the DOD since I disabled with a tune at 20K miles. The motor has had a ticking sound at cold start up since I bought it used in 2008 but it hasn't got any worse. When I get it paid off in December of this year I want to install a non DOD cam & lifters plus some long tube headers.

 

I bought my 09 last June with 115k on the clock and am passing 121k now. Not sure if anything was done to the lifters before but there is an audible ticking on cold start that is NOT normal valvetrain noise, but no real issues. My mom also has an 09 with 160K miles and it has the same cold start tick but still running strong. I abuse mine much more and it hasn't really had issues. I have DOD tuned out with the Cortex and I added a Spectre intake and a Camaro 3.27 LSD but so far the car has been fine. I'll be doing a set of ported heads and a Livernois converter friendly cam in the future though.

 

Bought mine with 78k..has 100k... no issues ever

 

105,000 on my 09 GT...no issues

GREG