General Motors Facing Another Vortec Engine Class Action

General Motors is facing yet another class action lawsuit involving claims its Vortec-branded engines burn off too much oil.

Roger Heater, a West Virginia resident, is the latest lead plaintiff to take the automaker to court over the alleged defect. 

The lawsuit joins several other lawsuits filed recently alleging similar complaints, including a class action lawsuit filed last week in Ohio District Court.

According to the latest class action, General Motors has known about the faulty system that burns off extraordinary amounts of oil, causing engine failures and misfires, but allegedly continued selling vehicles despite the defect. 

General Motors introduced the Generation IV Vortec 5300 V8 engines in 2007. Heater bought a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado with a Vortec engine in it before filing the class action lawsuit. 

Heater alleges these engines were designed to fail and cites several aspects of the engine as evidence of defects. 

Piston rings in the Vortec engines fail to keep oil sealed in the crankcase, the class action contends. This leak leads to atomized oil to escape through the ventilation, where it is burned off. 

Furthermore, according to the class action lawsuit, General Motors’ Vortec engines have an oil pressure relief valve that spits oil along the piston’s skirts. This pushes extra oil past the piston rings, overloading and fouling parts of the engine. 

If the oil isn’t burned off, it builds up as carbon, Heater argues. 

Exaggerating the alleged excessive oil that’s burning off on these Vortec engines even more is General Motors’ “oil life monitoring system” that’s installed on the Vortec engine vehicles, the class action claims. 

Heater alleges while the name suggests it checks oil levels, in reality, it does nothing but monitor engine temperatures and revolutions. 

The lack of proper sealing to keep the oil from leaking leaves it messing up the Vortec engine spark plugs, according to the class action. These defects leave drivers in risky situations where their vehicle engines could suddenly cut off. 

The alleged defect “can damage critical engine components and cause drivability problems, such as lack of power from misfire, spark plug fouling, excessive engine noise, abnormal vibration or shaking, piston cracking, head cracking, and, ultimately, engine seizure,” the class action stated. 

Heater is seeking to represent Class Members who bought or leased a GM vehicle of the following models from 2011 to 2014:

• Chevrolet Avalanche
• Chevrolet Silverado
• Chevrolet Suburban
• Chevrolet Tahoe
• GMC Sierra
• GMC Yukon and Yukon XL

Formally, the class action lawsuit is accusing General Motors of violating the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protections Act, along with breaches of warranty, fraudulent concealment and unjust enrichment. 

Do you drive a vehicle made by General Motors with a Vortec engine? Have you had issues with oil consumption? Let us know in the comments below. 

Counsel representing the plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit are L. Lee Javins II, Taylor M. Norman of Bailey Javins & Carter L.C.; Adam J. Levitt, John E. Tangren, Daniel R. Ferri of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC; W. Daniel Miles, III, H. Clay Barnett, III, J. Mitch Williams, Tyner D. Helms of Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles PC. 

The GM Vortec Engine Class Action Lawsuit is Heater et al., v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 1:21-cv-00024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. 

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