The Man Who Blew Four C8 Transmissions in 10K Miles
We’ve seen some blown C8 transmissions out there, but four in one car certainly has to be a record.
While the C8 Corvette has thus far proven to be a mostly reliable vehicle – with some exceptions – there is one particular problem area that we’ve seen pop up a few times among Corvette Forum owners – its dual-clutch transmission. Some members have had to get a replacement after just a few thousand miles, which is obviously not ideal. But Corvette Forum member Red Pill seems to hold the unofficial record for blowing C8 transmissions after he just grenaded his fourth after passing the 10k mile mark, as he explains in this thread.
“I wonder if I hold the record for most blown C8 transmissions,” he said. “Well, today while making an emergency run to the store, my 2021 2LT C8 dropped its 4th TRANSMISSION in 10,781 miles. The first two they pawned off as bad valve bodies caused by clogged solenoids. The third one was a new 2022 unit. It only lasted 3,000 miles. After I raised hell over losing three transmissions, they installed a transaxle from the 2023 MY cars and said they had a fix for the earlier issues and I shouldn’t have any problems. It went 4,800 miles or so until today. The car made a loud bang and a shudder at about 30 mph and the A8 won’t shift higher than 3rd gear.”
“I’m starting to seriously reconsider the 3LT HTC I have on order (due to arrive between April and August ’23). Never in my life have I had a car that completely bricks transmissions like this. It’s just insane. FWIW, I have followed the break-in procedures to the letter each time they’ve replaced them. In fact, the majority of my ownership has been in some form of break-in or another due to the frequency of failures. I don’t track the car, it’s bone stock. I live in a rural area and the car rarely sees any stop and go traffic… altogether very easy miles. I’m just at a total loss.”
Regardless of how he drives a car, this development is still pretty shocking, to say the least. We see transmissions get used and abused all the time, taking that punishment like a champ. But what is it that makes this particular car eat gearboxes more than most? Well, at least one of the owner’s fellow members has a solid theory.
“To me it sounds like there’s something wrong with the drivetrain itself that’s killing the transmissions,” said Korbek. “Even if the DCTs as a whole have a 10% failure rate (highly unlikely) his odds of getting four failed units would be one in ten thousand. Not impossible but highly improbable. As it is, I can’t imagine more than a 3% failure rate if that, which means millions to one odds of getting four duds in one car. GM should buy the car back and go over every millimeter of the engine and drivetrain with a fine tooth comb. Something in that car is eating transmissions, I’ll bet.”
One thing’s for certain – this is an extremely unusual case. We’ve seen a handful of blown C8 transmissions out there, but never one car that’s exploded three of them thus far. We certainly understand the OP’s frustration with this issue, and we’re also interested to hear how things ultimately pan out, as well as what you think might be causing this unique issue. So be sure and head over here to join this fascinating conversion!
Photos: Chevrolet
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