SRT Engine Failure With Less Than 1k Miles Clocked

[Larry Macedo]

A local SRT owner just recently notified me of his catastrophic engine failure and I thought I should shed some light on the events leading up to the failure. At under 200 miles clocked on the odometer, the oil pump failed and it was towed to the closest dealer of the owner. The dealer looked the motor over and found the oil pump failed and replaced the failed part. Apparently the oil pan was removed and the internals were checked for abnormalities to which none were found. Currently with over 500 miles clocked the #9 connecting rod let go and a rep for the manufacturer is stating that water intrusion is the cause of the catastrophic failure. To what extent were the parts analyzed when the oil pump failed? I have no idea. I can say this though, if the oil pressure dropped low enough for the upper end of the motor to make noise, I would have pulled the motor completely apart and checked everything thoroughly. I'll let the owner chime in if he decides to do so.

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

Isolated incident I'm betting.

 

[SneakyPete]

Isolated incident I'm betting.

Hope your right, but thats what they said about 2001 waterpumps and good number of those car had to be rebuilt due to engine damage the failures caused.

The Person that was buying my SRT-10 called me and told me run it through the auction or sell to someone else, because of long term engine tests showed that the engine would not even last 20,000 miles due to design flaws.

I was shocked because I thought the car was sold at 1000 over invoice (great price) and they were going to use it to design parts for it. You just never know

 

[Ron]

Are dealers now authorized to tear down Viper engines?

Is Arrow no longer involved?

 

[kverges]

Here we go - just like the phantom head gaskets of Gen I, we have to start an urban legend to see if we can destroy the value of SRTs. Well I'll go on record as having owned 5 Vipers, each from new, with NO DRIVETRAIN PROBLEMS OF ANY KIND. And I drive my cars with vigor, including sessions on track.

Now I'd be very upset to have an engine failure on my new car, to be sure, but let's not jump to conclusions with one failed oil pump that was apparently not treated properly insofar as internal engine inspection was concerned.

 

[91ZR1#661]

Probably an isolated failure.GM had similar problems with
the new LT4 motors they used in some 1996 models.It turned
out to be crane rocker arm failures.I would'nt be worried if
I owned a SRT.
95yellovett

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

I really don't think PVO would let a car out that could not withstand 20,000 miles. I'd bet that in testing the cars saw way over that. Jumping to conclusions that ALL will be like this and they are all flawed is just outright STUPID.

 

[Russ Oasis]

I agree with Keith! Here comes "urban legend" time. Every Viper I've owned was close to bullet proof. I have nitrous kits on them, I've dragged them, road raced them, and driven them around town just for the fun of it. All of my cars still look great and run great. There's no doubt that occassionally there is going to be a manufacturing flaw. It happens to all cars. DC always stands behind their cars and fixes anything. Vipers are the most durable exotic I've ever owned, and I've had a lot of them. Do I need to tell you about the Lambo that went up in flames right in front of my GTS on the track in Homestead?

Quit beating us up with "expert" opinions. There is no evidence that the engines are only good for 20,000. I'm going to drive my SRT until the cows come home.

 

[SneakyPete]

I really don't think PVO would let a car out that could not withstand 20,000 miles. I'd bet that in testing the cars saw way over that. Jumping to conclusions that ALL will be like this and they are all flawed is just outright STUPID.

I dont think anyone is jumping to conclusions, but we have seen with the 2001 overheating engine problems, where a good majority of them were either rebuilt or bought back with non-disclosure agreement, that stuff can happen. I'm sure PVO did not plan that, but it happend.

And if there was a problem you can bet that the manufacture is not going to say anything, they deal with it on a per occurance basis.

 

[jrkermode]

DC is responsible for seeing the cars meet emissions for 100,000 miles. I find it hard to believe they plan on using 4 motors to get there. Although, I'd be pretty happy knowing DC was giving me a new motor every 20k miles.


P.S. Does anybody know which rod let go on the CC at Buttonwillow?

 

[George Murray]

42,000 miles on my 99 GTS. Only problem has been seepage from water pump gasket. Easy fix.

Over 50K miles on yellow (YELLOW!) 95 RT/10. Only problem was the car was wrecked...totalled 4 years ago and I ended up hospitalized. Rebuilt three years ago. I flog this car mercilessly. Bought it at 10K miles...died at 29K, then resurrected.

Bought 95 Venom 600 at 12K miles, sold at 30K miles. Current owner has over 40K miles. No engine problems, ever.

12K miles on buddy's 00 ACR. I've put 10K of those miles on it. Zero problems.

These cars are strong. No reason to think new ones will be weak.

 

[Marv S]

Don't call it an E46 yet

 

[gtsviper]

Oh no! Oh my gosh...what are we going to do?? The new SRT-10's have problems...Billy P...should I buy mine? Am I going to have problems with it? Will they have spare parts? Will DC support the warranty? What if the company disappears? What if I can't afford the fuel for it?

PANIC IS NEVER THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE!

 

[Larry Macedo]

My post sure has taken an interesting slant. I don't think anyone actually believes these new motors are "dated," mileage wise or not. I am curious about the alleged VGX engine failure though.

I praised this car earlier in the week and I still believe it's a World Class Automobile.

 

[DEVILDOG]

Bought 95 Venom 600 at 12K miles, sold at 30K miles. Current owner has over 40K miles. No engine problems, ever.

Dang better be careful. Stating that a [******] Venom with over 40K miles and three owners is bulletproof will get the natives restless. BTW, my Venom has not had a single problem and it dynos as advertised and I drive to 5.8K RPM on most shifts and run high triple digits on most outings (closed track).

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

Don't call it an E46 yet

LOL!!!!!

 

[agentf1]

WOW 40,000 miles and still going. Thats impressive... Come back to me when you have 200,000 miles like alot of vettes out there do. Don't flame me I not trying to put down the vipers but just had to laugh at people giving 40,000 mile example as high mileage and durability. How many 6 figure Vipers are out there with untouched motors. You guys need to drive those cars, no wonder I never see any on the road. They won't fit on the mantle piece so go have some fun.

 

[slaughterj]

Given this apparently catastrophic flaw present in ALL SRT-10s, I hereby offer any and all owners of these cars to take their SRT-10s off their hands free of charge, so you will not be burdened with dealing with these issues. Understanding that many of you will not want to publicize that you are electing to accept my offer, please feel free to PM or email me instead and we will work out the details, which of course will include free delivery to the location of my choice.

 

[George Murray]

DEVILDOG - it was an early Venom 600 (#019, a 514 stroker...when the "Venom" name meant something...last dyno'd 549 rwhp and 585 rwtq), and the engine was built by the Terpstras (TNT) when they did JPH's engines. Man I miss that car. Lee Dove doesn't!

agentf1 - I concur.

 

[Rich Carlson]

And the sky is falling. The only way that I will believe this second hand information is by MacedoMS providing me the owners name or the name of the dealer that performed the work and/or the last eight of the VIN of this vehicle.

 

[coiled]

I am so depressed.

My 03 viper is sitting at the dealer with an engine problem very similar. The zone rep/district manager will be showing up, with a viper expert to inspect the car and determine what happend on monday, because the local dealer does not have a mechanic that works on them.

will let you know what info I get from them. Do they still pull engine out and ship off for rebuild?? 3 months without the car is going to painfull.

 

[Y2K5SRT]

will let you know what info I get from them. Do they still pull engine out and ship off for rebuild?? 3 months without the car is going to painfull.

Hmmm... It will be interesting to see what comes of this and I am sure you will have many other folks contacting you in this regard, including Rich Carlson. Don't know where you are from, as your profile doesn't show it or any other posts besides this one. I am not sure how they are handling 2003's, but would assume that in the unlikely event of a problem, they would be shipped off to Detroit for a complete teardown, analysis, and rebuild. Whether that is Arrow or somewhere else, I have no idea. I do know that it is NOT three months no matter what. Count 6-8 weeks if that was the case, maybe less.

Be sure to keep us posted on what transpires, as I am sure we will be watching...

Chris

 

[coiled]

Just checked voice mails, turns out it was "something minor" (I dont know what that is?), they looked at the car Friday and will be back by on the road monday. We will see how it goes.

 

[Gerald]

DEVILDOG - it was an early Venom 600 (#019, a 514 stroker...when the "Venom" name meant something...last dyno'd 549 rwhp and 585 rwtq), and the engine was built by the Terpstras (TNT) when they did JPH's engines. Man I miss that car. Lee Dove doesn't!

agentf1 - I concur.

LOL!!

 

[DEVILDOG]

DEVILDOG - it was an early Venom 600 (#019, a 514 stroker...when the "Venom" name meant something...last dyno'd 549 rwhp and 585 rwtq), and the engine was built by the Terpstras (TNT) when they did JPH's engines. Man I miss that car. Lee Dove doesn't!

agentf1 - I concur.

LOL!!

Gerald, go **** some artificial atmosphere...LOL!!!

 

[TomMiriViper]

What would they do about the engine? Will they replace the motor or the entire car?
Would it depreciate the value of the car with a rebuilt engine?

 

[Larry Macedo]

And the sky is falling. The only way that I will believe this second hand information is by MacedoMS providing me the owners name or the name of the dealer that performed the work and/or the last eight of the VIN of this vehicle.

Rich,

You and I breathe oxygen, although we can't see it. Does that mean it doesn't exist?

 

[JonB]

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. Don't Shoot The Messenger (Larry). Pay close attention to your oil pressure in SRT/10s. And yes, Arrow is still the VEWC. They have some ISOLATED, VERY ISOLATED concerns.

 

[Mike Brunton]

AgentF1,

Never miss an opportunity to slam the Viper, eh? DevilDog was talking about the longevity of BUILT motors, not stock ones. There has never been any question about the longevity of the stock motor. They hold up great, unless you are seriously road racing in which case you need to address the oiling problems.

How many built motors are lasting for 10's of thousands of miles? That is the topic that was referenced when the 40k mile quote was made.

 

[agentf1]

Mike, if you read my post you would know it wasn't meant as a slam but as an observation. 40k miles is nothing in my book, most vettes are just breaking in about that time and there are plenty of people with over 100k on vettes with no problems. I guess my point was you guys need to drive them more often.