Burning oil odor from vents on all ZL1's? The GM District Manager says it's normal

[DropTopZL1]

Hello fellow ZL1 owners, I have a question for all of you. I traded in my 640rwhp C6 Z06 for a brand new 2013 ZL1 convertible in January of 2013 due to the wife saying I needed a back seat for the little one.

Since then I have had my car at the dealership 7 times for a total of 45 days due to a burning oil smell from the A/C vents at normal operating temperatures and I'm at a stop or slow roll (ie. traffic). This burning oil smell is more prominent for the 1st 2,000 miles post an oil change. Yes, I did watch the technician perform the oil change twice and made sure they did not spill a drop of oil anywhere.

The dealership asked me to bring the vehicle in yesterday to meet with the General Motors District Manager. I met with the GM District Manager and let him experience the smell. His response was that the GM engineers are aware of this smell and that it's a normal smell for this vehicle. He offered to give me $5,000 towards the purchase of a new GM vehicle and they would take my vehicle in at trade in value.

I am not an automotive mechanic however I am an electrical/mechanical/chemical engineer and I'm pretty sure the smell of burning oil coming through the A/C vents means there's an active oil leak outside of the block somewhere. When the vehicle was on the rack at one point I did see a small amount of oil on the bottom of the bell housing.

I've always been loyal to GM but this makes me want to never buy another GM vehicle ever again.

What are your thoughts?
Do all of you experience this same odor?
Does it ever completely go away?

Thanks,

Anthony

[motorhead]

I don't have any oil related odors that I smell while inside the car.

[charlietuna]

No issue and I drive it like I stole it. I do have a catch can and run amisoil but the brand of oil shouldn't matter. Hope you work it out sorry for the issue.

[Vroom]

So I had the smell, I tracked it to the oil stick tube thing. Which I suspect is normal. What I did to make it go away is to adjust the rubber hood seal by just pinching it.

[VegasZL1]

I've noticed the same thing. It's irritating.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Lots of threads on this and in short it's normal for these cars and it's a Vapor smell and not an oil leak. Some have had the rear main seal replaced and it can help but for the most part it decreaes over time.

Mine does it but less now than when I first purchasd it and that was just 4 weeks ago. Not a huge deal to me as long as I know there is no oil leak. And, when you mash the throttle I'm too busy hanging on to notice it any longer

[Snickers]

Haven't had any odor in my ZL since it was new, has 6800km now.

'13 A6

[Bigtime53]

All good on my car also,have not had any oil smell at all. I would think if you are getting that smell thru the A/C vents that you have a seal leaking in the A/C compressor.Now it has oil in it and I would ask the tech or the GM guy to change it out. That is where I would start if mine was doing that.

[DropTopZL1]

Originally Posted by Todd in Vancouver

Lots of threads on this and in short it's normal for these cars and it's a Vapor smell and not an oil leak. Some have had the rear main seal replaced and it can help but for the most part it decreaes over time.

Mine does it but less now than when I first purchasd it and that was just 4 weeks ago. Not a huge deal to me as long as I know there is no oil leak. And, when you mash the throttle I'm too busy hanging on to notice it any longer

I had the rear main seal replaced and the problem still exists, also GM brought up the idea that it's a vapor coming from the hoses in the cooling system however when they looked into it they found my vehicle wasn't part of this TSB. The service director at the dealership put the car on the rack so I can inspect it with him and his master technician and we found a small amount of oil at the bottom of the bell housing meaning there's oil coming from somewhere. The oil smell is the strongest post an oil change for the first couple thousand miles and gets weaker after that, meaning wherever it's leaking from is higher up and eventually it leaks out enough to where the oil level is below the leaking point.

[joes407]

sounds like the rear main seal. there were a number of them that had crushed or damaged seals from when they were put together. you should see no oil dripping from anywhere. rear main seal is covered in 100k mile warranty

[DropTopZL1]

Originally Posted by joes407

sounds like the rear main seal. there were a number of them that had crushed or damaged seals from when they were put together. you should see no oil dripping from anywhere. rear main seal is covered in 100k mile warranty

Rear main seal was replaced already.

[joes407]

there were also a handful or so cars that had a cross threaded oil cooler bolt.

[ZO6 Bryan]

Never a smell ever out of mine. The idea that it is "normal" for "this car" is bullshit. There is nothing about this engine that is different than any other that should cause a smell. Lemon Law states that same problem recurring over 3 times without resolution that they should buy the car back from you for what you paid or replace it with another brand new car. Getting trade-in value for it is bullshit too.

There was a thread by a forum member last year in which he had an oil leak that took forever to find. It ended up being a PCV rubber grommet that was "mis-punched" and excess crankcase pressure was blowing oil out the seals. I believe it was the same car that he totaled right before they(Chevy) were going to buy it back from him.

[Tyler H]

You were given some nice options by GM! Take the offer of a trade and the 5G's towards and get another one! Take your mulligan and move on to a new one! Sounds like this one has lost that lovin feeling with you so I think you should move on to another!