Ls3 oil pump ,come on gm

[bcguy]

Hello fellow C-5 members I am thoroughly disgusted today as my stock LS3 oil pump screwed up and left me stranded. We have just finished putting supercharger on it and had it all apart but was told that if oil pump hasn't had an issue yet it should not and to leave the stock one. Not one week later the oil pump relief stuck. Just ordered the Melling high-volume pump for car and should have done that in the first place. So to all you people that are doing anything to the motor internals change the oil pump so you do not have to go through this. I called my GM dealer and ask them if this was a problem that was in their system and they said no they have no documents on this issue?????? I have read a few posts on this here and can't believe they have no record of this issue. And before the rants start I know I play I pay and have no problem with that but this problem happens to stock motors

[Cody6.2]

Being the GMFANBOY I am it still makes me wonder how this is overlooked. Especially when the basis for the LS3 has been out since 1997 so any weak points should been gone years ago.

[2SS 2011]

My Oil Pump went with 3800 miles "Stuck relief valve" They replaced under warranty and never had an issue since

[camarozzzz]

Originally Posted by 2SS 2011

My Oil Pump went with 3800 miles "Stuck relief valve" They replaced under warranty and never had an issue since

My car over heated stranding me in the middle of God knows where on some highway I do not recognize - turned out the cooling fans died....Only way to keep the engine temp down was to drive 100 kms/hour on the highway. AND the icing on the cake was when I took it down to the dealership they told me "nothing is wrong" - these cars are meant to run high in temp. I insisted that they take a look - to which they did. Hour later I get a scared sounding phone call telling me the cars cooling fans are burnt....

I learned two things that day 1) American cars have a rep with the population for a reason and 2) Chevy dealership by my house is shit....

Still love my Camaro though!!!!

[376LS3]

When I did my cam install, I took my pump apart and cleaned everything. Does anyone know what actually causes the relief to fail? I didnt feel burrs or anything that would inhibit it from moving. Luckily and KNOCK ON WOOD, its been running great since!!

[2SS 2011]

Im thinking the spring or the mechanism malfunctions keeping it shut closed

[1BADLS3]

Originally Posted by Cody6.2

Being the GMFANBOY I am it still makes me wonder how this is overlooked. Especially when the basis for the LS3 has been out since 1997 so any weak points should been gone years ago.

The LS3 was first introduced in the Corvette for the 2008 model year. I don't know if it uses the same oil pump found in other, previous LS engines.

The LS engine series came out in 1997 as a successor to the LT series, and the Camaro first received the modern LS engine in 1998.

I don't know what GM's standard is, but how many instances of the same issue causes a "known problem"?

[bcguy]

Like I said the dealer said there was no known issue ,yet I knew about it,mmmm

[BowlingSS]

Originally Posted by bcguy

Like I said the dealer said there was no known issue ,yet I knew about it,mmmm

GM should make their dealers visit C5 daily. They might learn something.

Bill

[Russell James]

It would be interesting to take it apart and see if the cause can be seen. Several possibilities... debris, burr, too tight...

At higher mileage, I'd suspect debris. The pump and relief valve is about the only part of the oil system that is prior to the filter. Which is why I like to use a magnetic drain plug from day one, and 3 - 5K oil changes. Doing that keeps the motor pretty spotless inside.

[Rocky1974]

Originally Posted by camarozzzz

I learned two things that day 1) American cars have a rep with the population for a reason and 2) Chevy dealership by my house is shit....

I understand that if you're the one person stranded along the side of the road this not going to help, but American cars have a rep with the population for problems they had 30 years ago, and not for anything that's happened in the last 15. All cars are very reliable anymore, but if you look at the numbers GM and Ford are ranked about on par with Toyota and Honda, but ahead of Subaru, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, and the Korean brands. They're ranked quite a bit ahead of most European brands. Chrysler lags a little behind, but not much.

[xXSilencerXx]

LS series oil pumps are known to fail. That said my TA went 180k miles with no issues, but I still replaced it while doing my cam swap. There's no excuse to not to when it's only 5 bolts to undo.

[Coyotekiller]

Oil pumps are known to fail on all engines, not just LS motors. If you are worried about the oil pump replace it with something you feel is adequate. But honestly, I'm pretty sure the stock unit is fairly well built. It's just that shit happens. It's a man-made contraption. It's going to fail eventually.

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Originally Posted by bcguy

Hello fellow C-5 members I am thoroughly disgusted today as my stock LS3 oil pump screwed up and left me stranded. We have just finished putting supercharger on it and had it all apart but was told that if oil pump hasn't had an issue yet it should not and to leave the stock one. Not one week later the oil pump relief stuck. Just ordered the Melling high-volume pump for car and should have done that in the first place. So to all you people that are doing anything to the motor internals change the oil pump so you do not have to go through this. I called my GM dealer and ask them if this was a problem that was in their system and they said no they have no documents on this issue?????? I have read a few posts on this here and can't believe they have no record of this issue. And before the rants start I know I play I pay and have no problem with that but this problem happens to stock motors

I apologize for the inconveniences that you have been experiencing. Have you tried contact GM of Canada for further assistance? They may be available to help. Their phone number is 800-263-3777.

Please let me know what they were able to do!

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

[Heath901]

My oil lines, oil gaskets, oil pumps all failed. I had to get some of them replaced under warranty. Dropped car off yesterday and they kept car over night. The problem was fixed the next day though. I was told these problems happen frequently. (By some random car tech or the repair guy)

[mikeSS]

Originally Posted by Rocky1974

I understand that if you're the one person stranded along the side of the road this not going to help, but American cars have a rep with the population for problems they had 30 years ago, and not for anything that's happened in the last 15. All cars are very reliable anymore, but if you look at the numbers GM and Ford are ranked about on par with Toyota and Honda, but ahead of Subaru, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, and the Korean brands. They're ranked quite a bit ahead of most European brands. Chrysler lags a little behind, but not much.

you are right. in fact i have heard American cars rank better than European cars in reliability.

i personally love euro, jap and American performance. i visit other car forums to check out what people are doing to other cars. sure you hear about problems with other brands. but when talking about newer cars. i hear more about this oil pump causing failures than anywhere else. it just bugs me that this problem keeps being talked about. its a major problem to have for somebody.

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Originally Posted by Heath901

My oil lines, oil gaskets, oil pumps all failed. I had to get some of them replaced under warranty. Dropped car off yesterday and they kept car over night. The problem was fixed the next day though. I was told these problems happen frequently. (By some random car tech or the repair guy)

I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns!

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

[jay11]

Originally Posted by bcguy

Hello fellow C-5 members I am thoroughly disgusted today as my stock LS3 oil pump screwed up and left me stranded. We have just finished putting supercharger on it and had it all apart but was told that if oil pump hasn't had an issue yet it should not and to leave the stock one. Not one week later the oil pump relief stuck. Just ordered the Melling high-volume pump for car and should have done that in the first place. So to all you people that are doing anything to the motor internals change the oil pump so you do not have to go through this. I called my GM dealer and ask them if this was a problem that was in their system and they said no they have no documents on this issue?????? I have read a few posts on this here and can't believe they have no record of this issue. And before the rants start I know I play I pay and have no problem with that but this problem happens to stock motors

i have had 2 oil pumps fail within 4 months. dealer replaced the 1st one. it went out again last week, i said screw it and bought a melling oil pump and put it in myself this weekend

[camarohead]

when getting my cam installed, my shop said is was not necessary to change out the stock oil pump for it would cost me a little more labor cost. pondered the idea but had read about these issues and decided to go with the aftermarket katech oil pump. anybody with mods and a lost warranty should really think about taking it to a shop and change it out while its still working for i hear when the stock pump fails, it can cause major damage. know its a tough decision, but one to think about. not sure what i would do either.

[mikeSS]

Originally Posted by 1BADLS3

I don't know what GM's standard is, but how many instances of the same issue causes a "known problem"?

that right there is the question.

[camarohead]

Originally Posted by mikeSS

that right there is the question.

i agree

[tjbusa]

Mine failed, left me stranded too... I am so embarrassed with the toyota and ford guys at work, I won't even tell them my camaro is broke.

[DJ_BigC]

Relief valve gets stuck. I'm like 98% positive there is a TSB or a PI on this. Its not dirt or debris, its just a plain of case of crappy oil pumps. I've changed quite a few on the pick up trucks and a couple on the Camaro's, between the pumps and the AFM lifters I don't know where the quality control went more wrong... yes more wrong LOL. GM tried to associate this with lack of oil changes at one point and time, but then realized that this wasn't the case for most failures, I changed one on a convertible LS3 Camaro with 617KM's.

[tjbusa]

11,425 miles and a stuck relief valve was the death sentence for a LS3 oil pump part number 12556436. I 'd be glad to send it to GM and have them send me half the money I spent getting my dealer to replace it with a better one.