The problem with these cars is once you mod one thing you have to come back and mod/fix other things to keep it reliable. The 200k+ mile G8s are stock or have just a DoD delete.
I had a lifter tick till it warmed up on my 06 HSV GTS with the LS2 it turned it the plastic timing chain guide broken into little pieces and partly blocked the oil pick up.
I got mine in 2020 as well and tbh i haven’t had any issues the most was crank postipn sensor and a voluntary alternator upgrade and i too plan on doing a LSA blower 😎 my fav car i ever owned
Got myself a G8 09 and I'm loving it. I ran into the typical keys being stuck issue with the G8 or the Holden but it's been great other then that. No engine light history too
If you’re having ticking on startup, oil pump might be getting tired. Put in a high pressure/flow pump. For trans temps, 6l80s naturally run high. Get an external cooler like a trucool 40k to bring those temps down a bunch.
When I bought my G8 it already had the DoD deleted, had a 6.6L stroker kit,and a TSP cam. 3 months later the lifter failed and caused a lot of damage. I went ahead and bought a crate LS3 and had that swapped in, no issues since then.
unfortunate brother, i owned a v6 g8 for a year, completing my ls2 swap on it currently, these cars are trashed by people and then get passed down to enthusiasts that respect the history and the car. thankfully mine is low miles so i havent had issues and keep up on my maintenance. also replaced my carrier bearing with a precision on from oreilys , we will see if it holds up. you mentioned the aftermarket ones that are poly urethane dont hold up which is surprising, i want to invest in a 1 piece aluminum driveshaft to eliminate carrier bearings. motor is fully built and everything in it is brand new without DOD so wont experience lifter tick or valve drop. only suspension ive done is a bmr rear sway bar and umi tie rods and toe arms for the rear with poly bushings, dont have any opinion on them i just installed them and i cant drive it till my engine is started. also noticed your brother works for donut badass even more badass when i found out you had a g8
I feel you on this, my brother and I cammed the car and Bent a rod, ate up the main bearings and my crank two weeks later during the tune and had to tear it all out and redo it smh 😂
I got my G8 (Base) a year ago. Any sane person wouldn't have bought it because it had a grocery list of problems right off the lot. But, because of those problems, I was able to drive down the price for what the dealer wanted, which was $5000 originally, bought it for $3800. I knew nothing about G8's going in, but this car problems were:
Most of those issues you have we also have here in Australia with all the sedan, wagon and Ute versions,,, she needs eyelids to give her that angry look, I run both a the HSV sedan and wagon versions, I think if America imported the HSV's and wagons they may have sold a bit better
Your story is just like mine, got the DOD tick paid like 4K to fix with the LS7 cam and like 2 years later the tick came back. I ended up trading for a 2015 Cadillac CTS VSport 420 hp and 500 w/a tune, great car, awesome chassis and couldn’t be happier. My 2nd car is an 02 Trans Am WS6 M6 so I still have a V8 when I want it. Good luck 👍🏾
