[1]Pictured: NOT the Z06 this story is about, but the most representative photo in our archives. Dean almost always reconnects stuff when he's done...
[2]Image: Jalopnik [3]
This week, Jalopnik brought us the story of Thani Al Mazrouei [3], a 21 year old college student and owner of a 2008 C6 Z06 Corvette that developed what might be described as “problems”. Odd noises led to Al Mazrouei taking the car to Lassen Chevrolet in Albany, Oregon, where the cause was determined to be crankshaft-related and the LS7 was replaced under warranty.
According to the story, just a few miles after picking up his just-repaired Corvette, the transmission failed due to what the story says was Kendall Chevrolet Cadillac in Eugene, Oregon’s determination that it was “run out of oil.” Jalopnik’s story also contains one critical element that they say may point to the tranny failure being due to the warranty work: The Lassen service technician’s multiple texts to Al Mazrouei asking him to “bring your Corvette back by for a few minutes so I can get the serial number from the new motor” and “It’s urgent.”
At this point, Al Mazrouei is on the hook for $6,000 to replace the transmission at Kendall, who say that it can’t be warrantied since the damage was caused by the lack of lubrication rather than any defect. Lassen is claiming that there’s no way the transmission (which we know to be the rear-mounted 6-speed manual that all C6 Z06’s came equipped with) would have been drained for the engine swap, but the by the book service procedure does specify disconnecting the plumbing that circulates gear oil to the front-mounted transmission cooler present in this model.
Could everyone, including the driver, have missed the tell-tale sign of a couple quarts of gear oil pumping out from underneath Al Mazrouei’s car as he drove away from what Jalopnik even-handedly categorizes as a “Stealership [4]“? Why didn’t he return the car to Lassen, or at least contact them immediately upon the car becoming disabled? We can see this could go either way, and we will stay alert for any new information as it develops, but in the meantime we would suggest a true ‘baller would take this opportunity to step up to an EMCO full-sequential box from LG Motorsports… [5]