I agree, a working engine swapped from one car to another, you should not need to break it in. Now, if the engine was torn completely down and rebuilt fresh from the ground up, different story.
I would suggest having the oil and oil filter changed on the engine before driving it around.
Sounds to me like you had some bad luck. For all you know, the previous own of that engine may have been driving it hard.
As for the tune, I don't know much about ZZP's tunes, but I would figure for a stock engine, their tunes should be safe and reliable (they have been in the 3800 market for a LONG time).

I hope you get this resolved and no more issues.

 

Yes I'm hoping so I'm tired of dealing with this LOL.

So on an unrelated or maybe related matter? I noticed the oil pressure gauge is going haywire and sometimes spinning around completely 360º. Does GM have problems with the stepper motors in the clusters on the '05 Supercharged SS? Its the only gauge to have a problem on the entire cluster OR is it the sending unit down by the passenger tire? I'm also curious there is no way this could have caused an issue with that engine is there? Like if maybe the computer thought there was an erroneous oil pressure level because of the sending unit (if that's the culprit)? I'm reading where if that sending unit goes bad it can throw the engine into a "limp" mode?

 

Yes these stepper motors are pieces of crap..

 

If the gauge is spinning completely around, it's the stepper motor. Sadly, these cars have those issues.

 

Thanks guys I'll have them swapped out. I knew the 05' Trailblazer had problems but I never had problems with my '01 SS so I wasn't sure the stepper motor was the culprit.

 

I woudnt get worried about them lying to you about the cause. As long as they're honoring the warranty, it could've choked to death on pixie dust for all that matters.

Certainly a broken crank could've cracked the block and cause oil to spew out. A broken rod taking out the crank is definitely another possibility, but as the power level is pretty low, it likely started at something like a spun bearing or something - a manufacturing flaw severe enough to break big parts like that would've surfaced before 60k+ miles.

I'd just chalk it up to bad luck, that's part of the gamble with junkyard engines. You're just lucky it died under warranty.

 

Thanks yeah I'll chalk it up to bad luck what bothered me was the original garage owner tried to make me think I did something wrong and that's what has me ticked off.

 

So the plot thickens: I learned tonight that I definitely threw a rod through the block by the starter and that is what caused the fire. I also was told by the new owner "some things happened during the installation of this engine that weren't done correctly". When I asked him what he meant he said "the flex plate bolts were left loose" and he thinks (my friend said no thinking about it it absolutely) put the engine out of balance and that is what threw the rod through the block. So needless to say I'm a little p!ssed......