...so I was in the middle of a massive burnout and

[wasthatacop?]

Update 12/4/17 @ 12: pm PST - Blown piston ring on cylinder number 2. Engine needs to be removed and sent to machine shop for complete overhaul. Estimated cost $3,000.



I had a traction/ stability turned off and was in the middle of power braking/burnout. When the smoke cleared I had a serious problem: Stabilitrak / Check Engine and engine is clunking/misfiring. I was a quarter mile from home and limped it to my garage going about 18mph. I shut it off and tried it again an hour later and the problem was still there.

Problem: Stabilitrak / Check Engine

I have seen several posts about the engine performing badly and the Stabilitrak / Check Engine lights on. The noise is horrible and sounds like a blown piston or bad top end. Most of the posts I've seen @ camaro5 talk about finding a loose ignition or spark plug wire and the problem is fixed. Or its the throttle body.

I check all the wiring and everything looks good. No disconnected wires. I am considering changing the spark plugs this weekend, but they are a pain in the ass to change. My car has been running great otherwise. Its got 93,000 miles on it. 2010 Automatic V8 and I just changed the oil myself last month. Pure synthetic as always.

Anyways, I want to hear from some people about what the fix was. What ever ended up happening. Some people have said the next morning that the car ran better. Did the problem re-occur?

I 'd ike to hear any and all comments. Post links too. Car sounds like S### right now. I am sweatin bullets.

[JOURDAN]

valve spring or lifter..... :(

[theflea42]

I had a valve spring break in a 5.3 liter ls-based engine - happened back in August. Brand new valve springs to go with the new cam, bored 30 over, everything else was stock. I wasn't even running it hard - about 40 mph so, heard a weird sound so I shut engine off. Too late though, the head was ruined, and the block was trashed to the point that the only way to fix was put a sleeve in it. I opted to buy a brand new block from summit racing and start all over, again.

[hunter1660]

Disconnect the battery

[snarky]

but but but the burnout was fun

[christianchevell]

LOL, yup take the valve covers off, your a stock or sounds like it AFM with DOD l99, your upper drivetrain is where I would look for trouble for a blown trunnion, bent pushrod or other evidence of spring break or lifter trouble as the AFM lifters are known to be more problematic....think about it they starve oil to shut down 4 cylinders.....

I cannot tell what your clunking/misfire noise is and without a scanner you cannot even tell us what codes come up, but if you continue to run the engine you are most likely damaging it to a point further beyond repair if somethings bad inside you shut it down....
Scan it and tear its valve covers off and check all spark plugs.... best advice IMO.. you could also check engine grounds and electrical connections to this and that systems but if its a mechanical problem knocking is a way to say shut me down now..... big difference in word CLUNK..... one a more drive line bad u joint clunk into gear sound, and if you have never changed your plugs they are so very due.....and of course check clean MAF look far anything loose... so much to check.....that's where a code could narrow things down maybe.

[Moto-Mojo]

So would the experts say this was: (assuming something is in fact broken)

a) Result of engine stress caused by a burnout?
b) Excessive RPM? (during a burnout)
c) High mileage engine?
d) Just bad luck?
e) All of the above?

[frankwjr]

e..all of the above...and per Mike's post above as long as you have basic mech skillz? and tools you MUST pull BOTH valave covers...do not start..do not do ANYTHING until then...if just valve train(lucky) straight forward...if it's in the block? whew depends on your funds and what you want to end up with...good luck OP and REPORT back!

[wasthatacop?]

Thanks for all the posts. I'm going to tow it to my mechanic. I'll let you know what they find.

I'd try and diagnose my self but I'm in a temp rental house and don't have my garage and tools.

[JerTM]

Originally Posted by christianchevell

....think about it they starve oil to shut down 4 cylinders.....

No, they don't. It collapses the lifters on 1,7, 4, 6 and shuts off the fuel injector. The oiling system is not shut down in any way. The engine receives oil exactly the same in v4 and v8 modes. An oil circuit is turned on to latch the lifter in the shortened length. There is NEVER an oil starvation during a correctly functioning AFM event. The issue with AFM is the damage to the cam and rollers in the AFM event due to poor retention of the lifter basket. The shortened lifters slide down and tap on the cam like a tiny ball peen hammer. Over time it wears on the cam and lifter and flattens them. I can provide the service information page on how AFM works in pdf if anyone is interested.

[StingrayblueSS]

Originally Posted by JerTM

No, they don't. It collapses the lifters on 1,7, 4, 6 and shuts off the fuel injector. The oiling system is not shut down in any way. The engine receives oil exactly the same in v4 and v8 modes. An oil circuit is turned on to latch the lifter in the shortened length. There is NEVER an oil starvation during a correctly functioning AFM event. The issue with AFM is the damage to the cam and rollers in the AFM event due to poor retention of the lifter basket. The shortened lifters slide down and tap on the cam like a tiny ball peen hammer. Over time it wears on the cam and lifter and flattens them. I can provide the service information page on how AFM works in pdf if anyone is interested.

So does tuning out afm reduce the wear on the cam and lifters?

[JerTM]

Originally Posted by StingrayblueSS

So does tuning out afm reduce the wear on the cam and lifters?

Yes it does. It disables the shortening of the lifter and keeps it in contact with the cam at all times.

[qcman]

Originally Posted by JerTM

Yes it does. It disables the shortening of the lifter and keeps it in contact with the cam at all times.

Thx I'm glad to hear this as AFM only ran for about 16 months on mine before I used a Range and then a Custom tune.... Hopefully that gets me further with these issues.

[NC_SS]

Really bad:
-Lifter/Valve spring/etc

Not so bad:
-Just a spark plug finally letting go