As expected, one of the major issues could be found in the block, as seen on the damaged piston heads that hit the valves hard. The subsequent teardown work was removing the oil pan, which gave access to the oil pump and the crankshaft. The former had a decent amount of wear, but it could still build pressure, while the latter looked good for the most part. The pistons had valve impact damages, with one wrecked.
The reason why the engine died was believed to be oil starvation after no junk in the oil pump pickup was found. If the oil level were high, some debris would’ve been jammed in the pickup. As such, we can point a finger at the owner for lack of proper maintenance and not necessarily engine design.
The LM2 will be discontinued, but its second-gen iteration, the LZ0, is already used for the brand’s full-size trucks and SUVs like the Chevy Silverado, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade.
