AFM related Corvette C7 Stingray and C7 Z06 engine failures reach epidemic proportions, leaving gullible owners frustrated and carless

The problems with the +General Motors way out of providing meaningful fuel economy improvements suitable for a sports car  (weight reduction and aerodynamic improvements) called Active Fuel Management was a given for the newest generation of Corvette.  These problems appeared not because GM had been cursed by car gods but because they an unfortunate fact of life for hundreds thousands of GM pick up trucks and SUV's, for many years now.  As this blog pointed out very long time ago, the AFM alone is a reason good enough to avoid any of the C7 Corvettes like the proverbial herpes.

Of course like with anything else, there are plenty of stupid people out there who choose to ignore the reality and instead rely on hollow assurances made by people like +Tadge Juechter and GM marketing department.  These people are learning the hard way now why ignorance is only bliss when car purchase is not involved.  On the bright side, the lemon law attorneys and manufacturers of heart medicine and Pepto-Bismol and various stomach ulcer drugs rejoice the buyers stupidity- after all, where would they be if people finally conduct any kind of search outside of sales brochures and car forums before parting their way with the contents of their bank accounts?

What are the symptoms of the AFM related problems?  Ironically enough, there is no need for the owners to await any valve coking problems, the AFM hardware fails considerably sooner than the dreaded DI related valve coking would dictate.

Typically, the "lucky" owner starts experiencing car idling very rough and then refusing to run on all 8 cylinders, making some very strange noises in the process.  Ultimately, the clutter gets very loud, just like collapsed hydraulic lifters would do and the lifters that happen to fail are of course the AFM lifters.  Those owners, with better luck end up with bent rocker arms and destroyed cams and soon after, blown up engines.  The unlucky ones go through the agonizing process of  problem determination, applied by the fine and highly qualified GM dealership "certified" technicians who as a rule, cannot duplicate the problem until the failure becomes catastrophic.

The entire process typically takes a few months, leaving the car owners (if lucky) with a econo box rental while their relatively expensive ride literally rots away at the dealership.

Does GM realize the problem is severe?  Of course it does but as it is the same old GM, instead of ditching the flawed AFM system, GM instead chooses to attempt to fix the problem by supposedly improving the flawed parts and replacing them with improved ones.  The problem of course is the entire system is flawed and replacing separate pieces will never add up to an effective solution.  If in doubt, no need to look further than hundreds thousands of newer GM pick up trucks equipped with the exact same AFM.

The real question here is why would GM employ a failed AFM technology that is already dated and never made to work properly on its only sports car, especially the ailing Z06 flagship?  Perhaps, there is a certain degree of vindication for the owners of the previous generation of Z06, still dealing with the cylinder head related issues.  All the signs are there that GM screwed the buyers of C7 Z06 much worse than those from the previous generation- ALREADY KNOWING THE AFM PROBLEMS WERE THERE!!!

In the end, buyers of the cheapest and the most expensive versions of the newest Corvette will be sharing place in the same service line at their dealership, among the SUV and pick up truck owners as shown in the included TSB.

Seems like Bob Lutz reads the GM TSB's while the dumb Corvette buyers do not... Hmmm....

As usual, GM, Mary Barra and Tadge Juechter extend their thanks to the idiots modifying their C7 Corvettes- no need to worry about replacing engines in the cars of those schmucks, LOL.