I have a 2023 stingray that I picked up last fall and put on the road in April. It has 3,000 km on it now. Driving it two weeks ago I noticed a ticking sound coming from the engine bay - I could hear it from inside the car. I researched it a bit and found that it seems to be a fairly common thing that most people put down to fuel injector noise. At the same time however I noticed the check engine light came on. I had Onstar read the code for me as a malfunctioning knock sensor. I brought the car in to the local dealer here in Vancouver and they phoned me back the next day saying the actual problem was that on one side of the engine the valve springs were sticking. Apparently this too is a pretty common problem with these engines and their associated fuel saving 4 cylinder mode.....Anyway, not good news as they said they needed to change those springs and to do that they needed to pull the engine from the car. Not happy about that but no choice so I said go ahead. That was 10 days ago. They contacted me last Wednesday to say the springs had been changed and the car would be ready to go today.
Today they call me to tell me that unfortunately the sound is still there - i.e. there was no problem with the valve springs. They commented that when they did the job the springs and cam etc... all looked perfect - because I guess they were. Anyway they now advise that there is a bigger problem deeper inside the engine and they are going to have to remove the engine again and dismantle it completely. Terrible news. They said that likely they will be putting in a new engine but they must dismantle it to identify the problem, submit the paperwork to GM for the new engine authorization etc... I believe it is a very rare thing - the service writer mentioned that the manager of warranties for GM was going to come and see the car once the engine is apart to see for themselves why this happened. The car was broken in properly, oil checked regularly etc... So quite bad news as we are in prime 'Vette season and I had plans for a nice road trip through the interior of BC next week + loss of use of the car for an estimated 4 weeks! I tried to post a video here of the sound it is making however could not do it. Maybe only allowed to post pictures not videos here? I believe this is a rare problem but that doesn't make it any less of a drag.... OK whine over....
Today they call me to tell me that unfortunately the sound is still there - i.e. there was no problem with the valve springs. They commented that when they did the job the springs and cam etc... all looked perfect - because I guess they were. Anyway they now advise that there is a bigger problem deeper inside the engine and they are going to have to remove the engine again and dismantle it completely. Terrible news. They said that likely they will be putting in a new engine but they must dismantle it to identify the problem, submit the paperwork to GM for the new engine authorization etc... I believe it is a very rare thing - the service writer mentioned that the manager of warranties for GM was going to come and see the car once the engine is apart to see for themselves why this happened. The car was broken in properly, oil checked regularly etc... So quite bad news as we are in prime 'Vette season and I had plans for a nice road trip through the interior of BC next week + loss of use of the car for an estimated 4 weeks! I tried to post a video here of the sound it is making however could not do it. Maybe only allowed to post pictures not videos here? I believe this is a rare problem but that doesn't make it any less of a drag.... OK whine over....