Blown engine

[DonD]

Does anyone know of engine issues with the CTV-4 Blackwing?

11K miles, several oil changes and everything is great.

 

[piranha971]

There are no issues with the lf4 engine. Keep your oil in good shape (there are numerous ways not to) and they are ery reliable. I have read a few spun bearings on a stock car over the 8 years I have been with this engine but literally less than a hadfull. It is not clear how truthful the owners were about the "stock" part.

 

[Jakemey]

I'm only going to say this one last time. Your work order only shows 8 quarts of Mobil 1 oil. CT5-V BW's take 9 quarts.

Have you checked your oil yet?

Yes i when i checked there wasn’t enough oil to touch the dip stick lol and added about 1.5 to it thank you

 

[G.Newt]

Does anyone know of engine issues with the CTV-4 Blackwing?

11K miles, several oil changes and everything is great.

Just about every other engine GM makes right now is solid besides their V8's, which seems backwards lol. Even their 1.2L turbo 3-cylinders are doing fine.

 

[blkout]

Just about every other engine GM makes right now is solid besides their V8's, which seems backwards lol. Even their 1.2L turbo 3-cylinders are doing fine.

Depends on the V8 too. The LT4 is bulletproof and the LT2 and LT6 are also reliable. The LT1 and LT5 were also reliable but currently out of production. It's just the L87 that has issues right now.

 

[Slick Blackwings]

Depends on the V8 too. The LT4 is bulletproof and the LT2 and LT6 are also reliable. The LT1 and LT5 were also reliable but currently out of production. It's just the L87 that has issues right now.

LT4 unfortunately is not Bulletproof! We lost our @ 20,000 miles

 

[blkout]

LT4 unfortunately is not Bulletproof! We lost our @ 20,000 miles

Considering this engine has been in production since 2015 and less than 1% failure rate and considering people have modified these engines to 1000hp on a stock block and raced them for a decade now. I'd say its bulletproof. Its unfortunate whatever happened to yours but there's lots of variables that can go into that. Not a single manufacturer can claim that they build an engine that has NEVER failed. Sample size matters and the LT4 is bulletproof statistically.

 

[NorCal Blackwing]

Considering this engine has been in production since 2015 and less than 1% failure rate and considering people have modified these engines to 1000hp on a stock block and raced them for a decade now. I'd say its bulletproof. Its unfortunate whatever happened to yours but there's lots of variables that can go into that. Not a single manufacturer can claim that they build an engine that has NEVER failed. Sample size matters and the LT4 is bulletproof statistically.

The only data point I'm aware of for that 1% failure rate is the self-reporting on this board. So unless we have insight into other data I don't think any of us can say for sure one way or the other.

Anecdotally all Cadillac dealers in my area I've talked to say that they have not encountered a blown engine in the 5BW, but again, that's not enough data to conclude anything.

On the flip side, on Rennlist (the only other board I frequent) I don't see a post every few months with someone reporting that the bottom end failed on their 991 gen 911, and they sell a lot more of those.

Again, I'm not going to worry about it, but if mine goes, I'm not going to let my dealer claim "well you must not have followed the break-in procedure because these engines are bulletproof" and deny my warranty.

 

[blkout]

The only data point I'm aware of for that 1% failure rate is the self-reporting on this board. So unless we have insight into other data I don't think any of us can say for sure one way or the other.

Anecdotally all Cadillac dealers in my area I've talked to say that they have not encountered a blown engine in the 5BW, but again, that's not enough data to conclude anything.

On the flip side, on Rennlist (the only other board I frequent) I don't see a post every few months with someone reporting that the bottom end failed on their 991 gen 911, and they sell a lot more of those.

Again, I'm not going to worry about it, but if mine goes, I'm not going to let my dealer claim "well you must not have followed the break-in procedure because these engines are bulletproof" and deny my warranty.

If there was a major issue with blown LT4 engines we would have known about it over the last 10 years. It's been in the Corvette, Camaro and Cadillac but there's no reports to show this is a serious issue other than random failures which every auto manufacturer has.

As for the Porsche comment, that 991 Gen 911 has had MULTIPLE engines through its 8 year span.
3.0 L twin-turbocharged Flat-6
3.4 L Flat-6
3.8 L Flat-6
3.8 L twin-turbocharged Flat-6
4.0 L Flat-6

The LT4 has been the same since 2015 other than the differences between dry sump and wet sump oiling, and minor tweaks in intake and exhaust for the different platforms for packaging. So really, you're comparing a lot of base model engines to the LT4 which is a high performance engine. Apples and oranges really. That being said, none of that changes the fact that I'm quite certain some Porsche engines have failed. A quick Google search of 991 engine failure will return results, I checked.

If your engine fails under warranty, the dealer will cover it assuming you didn't do something stupid like run it out of oil. Being "bulletproof" from a reliability and mod standpoint has nothing to do with that. You must be new to GM platforms and the LT4 because there's 10 years of evidence to support the strength and reliability of this engine.

 

[NorCal Blackwing]

If there was a major issue with blown LT4 engines we would have known about it over the last 10 years. It's been in the Corvette, Camaro and Cadillac but there's no reports to show this is a serious issue other than random failures which every auto manufacturer has.

As for the Porsche comment, that 991 Gen 911 has had MULTIPLE engines through its 8 year span.
3.0 L twin-turbocharged Flat-6
3.4 L Flat-6
3.8 L Flat-6
3.8 L twin-turbocharged Flat-6
4.0 L Flat-6

The LT4 has been the same since 2015 other than the differences between dry sump and wet sump oiling, and minor tweaks in intake and exhaust for the different platforms for packaging. So really, you're comparing a lot of base model engines to the LT4 which is a high performance engine. Apples and oranges really. That being said, none of that changes the fact that I'm quite certain some Porsche engines have failed. A quick Google search of 991 engine failure will return results, I checked.

If your engine fails under warranty, the dealer will cover it assuming you didn't do something stupid like run it out of oil. Being "bulletproof" from a reliability and mod standpoint has nothing to do with that. You must be new to GM platforms and the LT4 because there's 10 years of evidence to support the strength and reliability of this engine.

Absolutely hoping you are right, and it's all a giant nothing burger like you say.

I don't have any data to refute the assertion that there is no difference in suppliers, tolerances, parts, tuning, software QC etc between the LT4 in the 5BW and other applications of the LT4. I don't have any data to refute the assertion that the LT4 in other applications has a higher or lower failure rate than the average high performance engine, and I don't have the data on the failure rate of any of the 991 engine variants. I'm not even enough of an engineer to refute the suggestion that the 3.0L TT engine is significantly less complex than the LT4.

I'll keep updating the registry regardless, just in case any of us need it to push back on the idea that this is some totally weird one off failure like C&D explained it on theirs; but I guess the take away is that as individuals it's not really a problem worth worrying about unless our own engine lets go.

 

[Jakemey]

The only data point I'm aware of for that 1% failure rate is the self-reporting on this board. So unless we have insight into other data I don't think any of us can say for sure one way or the other.

Anecdotally all Cadillac dealers in my area I've talked to say that they have not encountered a blown engine in the 5BW, but again, that's not enough data to conclude anything.

On the flip side, on Rennlist (the only other board I frequent) I don't see a post every few months with someone reporting that the bottom end failed on their 991 gen 911, and they sell a lot more of those.

Again, I'm not going to worry about it, but if mine goes, I'm not going to let my dealer claim "well you must not have followed the break-in procedure because these engines are bulletproof" and deny my warranty.

When mine was getting my engine put in they had another bw in at the same time with the same exact issue