I was killing some time today, so I was over on another site just browsing through new threads when one about starters caught my eye. With the upcoming work I am planning on the C5Z, I briefly thought that perhaps i should change out the starter, since the passenger side header would have to come off to get to it, and it's going to be off during the other work I am planning. But heck, it was replaced when Chris Harwood worked on the car, and then again when it got burned up while Aaron Scott had the car. So the one in there doesn't have that many miles on it, and I figured it would be good to go.
Until I started reading that thread that made some references to something that was discovered a few years ago, but brand new news to me today.
Apparently the design of the starters GM was installing in the C5 Corvettes, and maybe even in the C6s, have a design deficiency. There are two different length bolts that are used to mount the starter to the block so that it can engage the flywheel when the ignition switch is turned to the START position. There is a long bolt on the outside position of the starter mounting area, and a much shorter one on the inside position. So it looks like this:
Somewhere along the line, the starter was quietly upgraded such that TWO long bolts are now used, and not one long and one short. Which looks like this:
Why is this significant? Well, from what I can gather, there have been some incidents of that thinner flange on the starter being held to the block by the shorter bolt, actually breaking. Now this wouldn't be a real big deal, since starters are relatively inexpensive, and unless you have many types of headers, a relatively easy replacement. However, apparently in pretty short order, unless you are lucky enough to notice something wrong and catching this failure, things can get substantially worse for you. With that short bolt flange broken, the only thing holding the starter to the block and against the flywheel is the thicker flange with the longer bolt. And, unfortunately, more often than not, the threaded hole in the block will give way from the torque of starting the engine, basically just breaking away from the block itself.
You may wind up with a starter sitting on your bench looking like this:
And your block, well....
So now you have a broken block, and likely can feel the cold sweat running down the back of your neck.
I have read some people were able to get a really good welder to fix this with the engine still in the car, but I would bet that this sort of expertise is probably hard to come by. And I heard of some people attempting to glue the pieces back together with some sort of special Permatex epoxy, but heck, I don't know about that myself as being a permanent fix.
So of course I run out to the garage and put the C5Z up on the lift and get a flashlight to check out my starter. Since the starter was last replaced in 2010, I think, I was pretty sure about what I was going to find. Yep, got the old style starter in there. Sure would ruin my day to have a bum starter wreck that expensive RHS block, so getting a new and improved starter is now on my list.
Might be a good idea for me to check the C6 Z06 too, since it's a 2009. But I've got that under an extended warranty, so until that runs out, I'm just not going to sweat it with that car. If the block gets broken, it will be on GM's dime, not mine.
Anyway, a word to the wise about this potential problem. It's new to me, so maybe you weren't aware of it neither. Do a search for this problem yourself to see how many people you can find that had to deal with this.
Here are a couple of threads about this to start you off..
http://www.paradisecruisers.com/SMF/...?topic=16889.0
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...the-block.html
http://ls1tech.com/forums/general-ma...ock-broke.html
Starter issue.......
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