News : Massive Problems with GM Gen III V8

[Myles]

Hey guys,

Over here in Australia these has been a huge uproar about the Gm Gen III V8 engine.

This engine is fitted to Holdens ( www.holden.com.au ) and HSV's( www.hsv.com.au ).

Ther have been articles in all major magazines and newspapers about the problems that GMH (General Motors Holden) is having with this engine.

The engine is chewing massive amounts of oil, and has severe piston knocking when cold as well as various other problems with valves etc.

Holden under warranty is rebuilding the engines if the owner complains.

The problem is, there are so many Gen III's waiting to be rebuilt that there is a 10 month waiting list. :scared

I know that the Gen III's are made in two factorys. I think we get the Canadian ones.

Has anyone had experience with these engines. The only ones that dont seem to be having problems are the 300kw Callaway modifed one in the HSV GTS.

This is 2003, I thought the days of massive quantities of oil being chewed and piston knocking in modern engines were long gone.

[Guess My Name]

What displacement?

I have heard on some of the 4.8,5.3, 5.7 they needed different PVC valves with smaller orifcaes in it becuase it would allow oild to drain back on top of piston at start up and well make a puffy white oily smoke cloud...

Cold start up piston slap has been beaten to death.....

I think GM has redesigned the piston in 2004/2005 engines to get rid of the knocking as it had something to do with the oil wiper ring and skirt were to blame.....I read where GM has final responded about this..........in writing.

Search the net the info is out there now...

[Luster]

This is not the news I wanted to read since GM is planning to import the Holden as the new Pontiac GTO late this fall! I have seriously considering purchasing one.

I need to read up on these engines and their problems, before making a $35,000 buy.............

Do you have any links to articles discussing the engine problems?

[Avalanche]

Originally posted by Luster
This is not the news I wanted to read since GM is planning to import the Holden as the new Pontiac GTO late this fall! I have seriously considering purchasing one.

I need to read up on these engines and their problems, before making a $35,000 buy.............

Do you have any links to articles discussing the engine problems?

I have owned GM all my life, in my family right now there are no less than5 GM's that are supposedly potential "slappers" all of them are dead quiet and use no oil. I think this problem is vastly exaggerated and has taken on a life of its own via the vast conspiracy network known as the internet. As you research this problem you'll find people blaming everything form squeaky fan belts, and power steering problems on piston slap. I love my Avalanche and think nobody makes a better truck than GM.

[Luster]

Originally posted by Avalanche
I have owned GM all my life, in my family right now there are no less than5 GM's that are supposedly potential "slappers" all of them are dead quiet and use no oil. I think this problem is vastly exaggerated and has taken on a life of its own via the vast conspiracy network known as the internet. As you research this problem you'll find people blaming everything form squeaky fan belts, and power steering problems on piston slap. I love my Avalanche and think nobody makes a better truck than GM.

I agree with you......I have never owned anything but GM cars.

I've had six Grand Prix's and the only reason I ever had one in the shop was a blown speaker (replaced under warranty!).

It sounds like a whole bunch of over-reacting to a few people's problems.

(Can't wait to test drive the new LS1-GTO!)

[jem7vwh]

to be fair, everyone I've known with GM vehicles has had major problems.

My family purchased an 1984 Oldsmobile Omega. After doing some research on it, I found it was built on the GM X-Body platform. This same platform was used for the Chevrolet Citation, a car which was described at length in Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe at any Speed". Our Oldsmobile had over 22 Federally Mandated recalls. It developed leaks in the engine, transmission, differential, oil pan, gas tank, and every fuel resevoir possible. It drank oil, killed tires, was endlessly out of alignment and needing tuneups.

Next, we purchased a GMC/Chevrolet Van Conversion. Despite routine and careful maintenance, the main cylender seized and two pistons cracked. The speakers fell out of the front doors and the woodworking was coming apart when we sold it only 6 years later.

These two vehicles, on top of a friend's deathtrap Chrysler LaBaron, my uncle's pyroshow Fierro which blew up, earlier misshaps with a Pontiac 9000, Chevrolet Celebrity, and Plymouth Dusters led my folks to believe that GM was screwing the customer over.

So we bought some Hondas. We sold the first one in 1995 with 400,000 miles on it for more than we paid for it. Last year we got tired of the 1990 Civic and sold it after 214,000 miles.

But the fun with GM didn't stop. My girlfriend's parents bought two GM 15 passenger vans. The air conditioning died after 150 miles. Warranty replaced that though. It did it again at 50,000 miles. They've also gone through transmissions, radiators, and gaskets with unbelievable speed.

Reading through Consumer Guide's manual for used car buying, the only GM vehicle they recommend is (SURPRISE!) the Geo/Chevy Prizm, which is just a rebadged Toyota Corolla.

Chevy's flagship, the Corvette has major fit and finish issues. The most gorgeous combination of technology and art they've ever made has a little problem where the steering column locks up suddenly in low speed, and high speed situations.

So, when it came time for the family to select three new cars (2 that we pay for, and my father's company car) my dad handed down an edict:

"If we're paying for it, it will be a Honda or a Toyota. We will never EVER buy an American brand."

I'm not so stubborn as to say I never will be an American car,but it's going to take a lot of reliability improvements and customer service improvements before I stop buying Honda's.

Right now, there's just no intelligent reason to buy American. If you want muscle, there are European imports that far outclass American cars. If you want comfort and reliability, there are Japanese cars that make an embarassment of Domestic models. GM needs to take a look at their competition, and focus on what's important. I don't need 64 different rebadging of the same car. Everyone knows a Buick is an Oldsmobile. A Camaro is a Firebird. SO, how about a little less money on the advertising campaigns and a little more focus on quality. Until then, I'll add the word POORLY, to the made in the USA stickers.

[Shiny Lil Detlr]

we've known the LS1's have problems for a long time, complaints of oil consumption and pison knock have been going in the f-body and vette circles for a long time.... no surprise that holden is having the same problems. Hopefully this wakes GM up about finally finding a fix!

[BradE]

Being totally honest ALL cars have their fair share of problems. Hondas and Toyotas are nice cars, but IMO are nothing special. My Mom had a 1988 Accord back in the day, when it hit 80K miles it starting having problems galore. Water pump went, timing belt, calipers siezed, need new radiator, master cylinder. The list went on and on. It was nothing but downhill from there. My Dad had a 2001 Avalon XLS, that car was a big disappointment. He had some problems with it in less than 20,000 miles.

See, problems are not just limited to American cars. In fact my Ford Explorer just rolled over 80K miles and I have yet to have a single problem with it. The only things it's required in that time is a new belt, idler pully and heater control valve ($17 part) and new brake pads. That's it. I do have buddies who are not happy with their LS1's for the reasons SLD mentioned. What really ticks them off more is that GM does not seem very interested in fixing the problem.

[stanger99]

Originally posted by ShowroomLincoln
Being totally honest ALL cars have their fair share of problems.

It's about time some common sense chimed in..what took you so long?

[thevolvoguy]

My best friend and I share an '89 F150 as our "work truck", it has the 302 V-8, still gets around 17mpg on the highway and has over 180k miles. The truck has been in their family since new and has only needed routine maintenence.

My grandmother had a '96 Explorer limited with one of the first 4.0 SOCH V-8 (known for major problems in its 1st years). It needed replacing within the first 2,000 miles. Before this she had a '92 Explorer, and still has it around. It runs just fine, and has only needed minor replacment parts.

My dad had a early '90's Chevy truck with un countable problems, it finally was declared a lemon when he got rid of it in about '95.

Then my friends '97 Chevy Blazer has about 90k miles and still runs fine today.

This all comes down to what SRL said, all car companies have problems. Its just not possible to get around them, especially considering how mass produced cars are now.

[Aurora40]

Originally posted by jem7vwh
Chevy's flagship, the Corvette has major fit and finish issues. The most gorgeous combination of technology and art they've ever made has a little problem where the steering column locks up suddenly in low speed, and high speed situations.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but the Corvette recieved JD Power's award for best premium sports car in initial quality.

You mentioned that all the chumps that want American muscle should just buy European cars. Are you aware of the problems BMW owners are reporting of their M3 engines? BMW isn't doing much about it either, and are finally acknowledging that there is even a problem. Maybe if the cars went for a longer boat ride, owners would be willing to overlook this problem too... Also, are you aware that Volkswagen has one of the lowest ratings from JD Powers in initial quality?

I like the way you started your post: "to be fair, everyone I've known with GM vehicles has had major problems." Glad to see you are going to be fair. For a second there, I thought it might have some bias...

I also liked how you associate rebranding with only American cars. I'm sure VW or Toyota or Honda would never <i>dream</i> of such a thing...

[Redcar GUY]

Take is easy everyone, we all know that every car company has troubles and none are perfect, lets not let this turn in to a flame war....