[UnknownJinX]

Not exactly the best way to end my fun on Canada Day, but alas, I will be posting about this mishap here.

So I participated in an open track day event organized by Speed Fanatics at Vancouver Island Motorsports Circuit. I have to admit, I thought I would need more time to learn the track again, but after a session or two, I really picked up the pace and made some consistent improvements over the last few times I was there.

Anyway, I was just starting the 5th session of the day, and the session started pretty much the same as any other. There was no trouble... Until there was. I was approaching the last straight of the track on my second lap and trying to perform a short shift there, and I had the engine up to 5k~5.5k RPM in 2nd gear and did a shift to 3rd. Then the warning chimes and messages came on, and I felt the engine cut power like it would when the traction control kicks on. Uh oh. Looked in the mirror and yeah, giant clouds were coming out of the exhaust fast. Definitely not good. There was also a bit of smoke coming out the hood, too.

I let off the gas and luckily, I was pretty close to the pit. The engine was still turning at close to 2k RPM even with the foot off the gas. Then the engine just seized. I popped the clutch in and managed to get the car into the pit lane, thanks to the slight downhill at the end of the last couple of turns.

I stepped out of the car and yeah, there was coolant and oil leaking as I made my way into the pit. Cleanup crews were ready with the fire extinguishers, but luckily they didn't have to use them. They did have to use a generous amount of absorbent sand to clean up the mess, however.

Everyone's first thought was head gaskets, but that was quickly debunked as we saw chunks of metal at the bottom of the engine bay, so yeah, it looks like the block went kaboom. By that point, I already called OnStar and was able to get the Camaro towed to the closest Chevy dealer.

I had a couple of good buddies that kindly waited for the tow truck with me and got me back to the ferry terminal. I recently picked up an old Civic for a good price and that's really useful now, so at least I still have a car while I wait for the diagnostics to happen on Monday. I called the dealer earlier today, and the Service Advisor told me that they only have oil guys in on Saturdays, and he informed me that I should receive a call on Monday or Tuesday.

Here are a few things I think I should mention:

- Car was purchased in May of 2020, and I had about 36k km/23k miles on the car when this went down.

- As my signature says, my car's only "mod" is the GM CAI, which is an official GM accessory I got from a GM dealer so the car is stock as far as that goes.

- I always use Mobil1 ESP 0W-40 and GM genuine/ACDelco PF64. The oil level was good and the engine doesn't consume any oil on the street. It uses like a third of a quart, if that on a grueling track day, but the oil level was good.

- PDR data revealed no abnormalities with any engine parameters, especially with oil pressure, oil temperature, and water temperature, and I had no warning until it was pretty much too late. No noise, no dash messages, no excessive power cut, nothing. Never got a black flag that day, either.

- The event is an open track day, so not racing or competing by any means.

- I have a buddy in a Miata behind me that was recording his laps, and his footage showed that the track was clear with no smoke or leak marks until about when I saw the warnings on my end. The leak didn't look like it started immediately, either - it looks like the leak started as the engine seized. It was a little tricky to tell due to the glare, though.

- Worst of all, my car was pretty close to catching fire - I had small flames coming out of the leftmost exhaust pipe according to the Miata footage. Fortunately, they died down without any intervention quickly, but they did manage to leave some soot marks on the bumper.

- As far as the direct financial losses go as of this post, I had to pay CAN$263.16 out of my pocket for the cleanup fee, and also a missed ferry ticket of CAN$50.20. Towing is covered since I have an OnStar subscription. Not sure if GM can reimburse those costs, but it's worth a shot.

Judging from the stories I have read here, GM seems to be on the responsible side of things when it comes to tracking failures, so I will be posting as the situation evolves. My main concern is actually about the part wait time. On top of the long block, I am thinking some of the emission stuff like cats and O2 sensors are toast between the cloud show and the flames in the exhaust.

Just want to have another data point for folks to reference, especially for people in Canada.

[Redlinez]

That sucks and I am sorry to hear that. Seems Ford, Chevy, and Dodge have their share of catastrophic engine failures. I have about 33k on my 2020 SS 1LE and have had zero issues with it. I head to the track in September. Crossing fingers! Best of luck to you.

[UnknownJinX]

Originally Posted by Redlinez

That sucks and I am sorry to hear that. Seems Ford, Chevy, and Dodge have their share of catastrophic engine failures. I have about 33k on my 2020 SS 1LE and have had zero issues with it. I head to the track in September. Crossing fingers! Best of luck to you.

I haven't had any major issues up until this point with mine either, and remember, people are more likely to be vocal about their bad experience than with their good experience. Not a lot of folks would go about starting a thread talking about how their car has no issues.

The only issues I think I should mention was with some fuel pressure CEL more than a year ago from hitting the rev limiter too often on the same track - some of the shorter straights are a bit awkward with the M6 gear ratios, which is why I tried short shifting, but they disappeared on their own and I was never able to replicate it again anywhere. Even up until the sudden engine failure, I didn't think the CEL light up.

As long as you don't mod your car(unless it's with the official GM stuff) and your warranty is still valid, even if something goes down on the track, you should still be covered, which is part of why I am cool with tracking my car and I spent the extra money with the GM CAI.

If I were to speculate with what I could see... Maybe I blew a head gasket first, and with how hot and fast everything is on the track, the engine ate through the coolant very quickly(hence the giant clouds) and at the same time, the oil managed to mix with the coolant and that ate up the bearings, which cause the crank to seize. Some rods probably broke because of that, and the block was destroyed, causing the leak. That said, I don't know why the head gasket would be blown - the engine coolant temp looked fine.

Just remember that if something like this happens on the track, remaining calm and being safe are the most important things. Do make sure you pay attention to driver meetings and follow their instructions in case of an emergency like this. At least the rest of the car was still fine in my case. The last thing you want is for someone else to bump into you while your car is down and cause more damage not covered by warranty.

[ChevyTech77]

Sucks to hear. LT1’s have been solid engines for the most part. Also, I don’t think it should be any kind of a big issue to get a long block.

[Trochoidal]

Well crap that’s a mess. At least you did get off the track with no fire and you’re ok.

I wonder if that small coolant hose gave out and caused issues with coolant loss, overheating and the seized engine?

That hose is just an accident waiting to happen.

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=572469

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=594782

[N Camarolina]

Sorry to hear about your engine loss. Mine spun at least one rod bearing at VIR this Feb with only 5K on the odo and about 7 track days under it's belt. In my case the oil temp started climbing above 272 about a 1/2 lap earlier but I never had anything exit the tailpipe and never dropped oil or coolant when the engine started grinding itself to pieces.

Sounds like you had a different cause and experience. Given that your block is blown apart, the dealer likely won't do any excavation and will just order a replacement engine without seeking to find the cause.

Your biggest concern should be whether the dealer knows what they are doing with replacing an engine in this car, and that they put everything back together correctly
- bolts torqued correctly
- plastic anchors for electrical conduit lines under the car (running all the way back to the diff) all replaced correctly
- diff cooling lines reinstalled correctly
- trans fluid replaced with correct volume

The dealer isn't paid enough by GM to spend the propper time following every step in the shop manual (exhaust system removal, trans removal, engine cradle removal, engine removal), so they generally don't read the manual and try to cut all the corners that they can. If you have a chance, photograph the engine bay and underside of the car before they start so that you can check everything before you take reposession of your car.

I had to send mine back for the dealer to fix many things they did wrong and this consumed an extra week. I also had to have 1 primary cat replaced as well, as it started throwing codes (presumably from the cylinder that failed and started throwing unburnded fuel into the cat).

Good luck! Keep us posted.

[Dabjbr]

Agree with the above post. Don’t expect any type of detailed investigation. Block is toast. They’ll just order a full engine replacement.

Glad you’re safe and have a positive mindset. Like you GM’s warranty coverage is why I picked it over other options. I’m certain they’ll do you right. Hopefully, you have some good techs at that shop.

[UnknownJinX]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and opinions!

Originally Posted by Trochoidal

Well crap that’s a mess. At least you did get off the track with no fire and you’re ok.

I wonder if that small coolant hose gave out and caused issues with coolant loss, overheating and the seized engine?

That hose is just an accident waiting to happen.

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=572469

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=594782

I don't think it's a coolant hose, since the footage from the Miata behind me never showed any fluid on the track. In fact, I think my leak actually happened after the engine seized, not when the warnings came on.

Originally Posted by N Camarolina

Sorry to hear about your engine loss. Mine spun at least one rod bearing at VIR this Feb with only 5K on the odo and about 7 track days under it's belt. In my case the oil temp started climbing above 272 about a 1/2 lap earlier but I never had anything exit the tailpipe and never dropped oil or coolant when the engine started grinding itself to pieces.

Sounds like you had a different cause and experience. Given that your block is blown apart, the dealer likely won't do any excavation and will just order a replacement engine without seeking to find the cause.

Your biggest concern should be whether the dealer knows what they are doing with replacing an engine in this car, and that they put everything back together correctly
- bolts torqued correctly
- plastic anchors for electrical conduit lines under the car (running all the way back to the diff) all replaced correctly
- diff cooling lines reinstalled correctly
- trans fluid replaced with correct volume

The dealer isn't paid enough by GM to spend the propper time following every step in the shop manual (exhaust system removal, trans removal, engine cradle removal, engine removal), so they generally don't read the manual and try to cut all the corners that they can. If you have a chance, photograph the engine bay and underside of the car before they start so that you can check everything before you take reposession of your car.

I had to send mine back for the dealer to fix many things they did wrong and this consumed an extra week. I also had to have 1 primary cat replaced as well, as it started throwing codes (presumably from the cylinder that failed and started throwing unburnded fuel into the cat).

Good luck! Keep us posted.

Regarding the dealer, supposedly a couple of friends know that particular dealer. One said the dealer has a pretty good rep, and the other said they even offer to mod Corvettes and Camaros there. The price is high, but I would imagine that includes a dealer warranty. Google reviews are also pretty good, so I would think I am in good hands.

I am actually not too far away from the dealer right now since I am on a trip for some other business right now, so I think I should have some time to drop by the dealer tomorrow to talk to them about it.

Originally Posted by Dabjbr

Agree with the above post. Don’t expect any type of detailed investigation. Block is toast. They’ll just order a full engine replacement.

Glad you’re safe and have a positive mindset. Like you GM’s warranty coverage is why I picked it over other options. I’m certain they’ll do you right. Hopefully, you have some good techs at that shop.

The fewer questions asked, the better in this type of situation, I suppose.

[Dabjbr]

It would be great to find the cause but I just doubt they’ll take the time. The one thing I suspect they’ll do is run diagnostics to ensure no abuse (over rev, money-shift, etc)

Glad to hear you kept stock oil and didn’t mod.

[UnknownJinX]

First of all, Happy July the 4th to our American forum members, and I suppose I should have said Happy Canada Day a few days ago as well, but you know, things were pretty chaotic.

So I visited the dealer today and the service manager showed me some of his findings. Apparently there were not one, not two, but three holes in the block, and he also found the remains of one of the pistons. At that point, I don't think they will do any more investigation.

He mentioned that he already has sent the paperworks he can retrieve on his end to GM for pre-approval, which includes all the 4 courtesy oil changes I have done at the dealer and a snapshot of the ECM as the engine blew. He says I will have to send in some proof for maintenance after the 4 courtesy oil changes, which I DIY'd. I did keep the receipts for the oil from Rock Auto and I recorded oil changes as they happen in aCar, but unfortunately I don't think I took photos of my work, so hopefully those two things will be good enough. He also mentioned a track checklist, which I wasn't sure about, but I will grab a copy of the tech inspection as proof of the car being good.

Might also send the PDR footage and my friends Miata's footage in.

Also decided to grab my plates and check for some stuff in the trunk. They mentioned it probably will be a month before my car will get going again, so may as well try to save a bit on insurance.

[UnknownJinX]

Update time again.

Talked to the dealer today and I got the warranty claim approved for my Camaro from GM, so they are ordering parts now. They are also arranging a loaner vehicle for me, which is very nice.

So it looks like what everyone is saying here is true; GM made the car track capable and is willing to back it up with a track warranty. Says something very good about the brand.

And yeah, I will be releasing some videos and photos of what happened for reference here. The walls of text must be boring for you all without images.

[arpad_m]

This is quite the silver lining, very happy to see the dealer and gm taking care of you Keep us posted, as many others, I'm also very curious about those juicy failure details.

[Dabjbr]

Happy for you OP! It’s awesome to hear GM yet again honor warranty for track goers.

They did for me, you, and many others before. LT1 might be durable but shit happens. You gotta love a manufacturer that not only sells track capable cars but stands by them.

[UnknownJinX]

Alright, sorry about the wait, so I finally have some time to put together some pics and videos up.

So here are the videos of how everything went down as I was on the track, one recorded by my own PDR, one recorded by an ND Miata behind me:





And here are some photos of the immediate aftermath:

Trail of leaking fluids and some...



The engine bay. Notice the chunks at the bottom along with the fluids.


Then here are the photos sent to me by the Service Manager of the dealer the car was towed to:

A piston ring, some chunks of the block, and then some pieces of piston(s).


A hole in the block in the background.


Another two holes. Never thought I'd see this happen on my own engine. The Service Manager said this is one of the worst he has seen.