General Motors is now the subject of an NHTSA investigation after more than a thousand complaints were logged over sudden and catastrophic failure of some of its “L87” 6.2-liter V8s—a core power plant for Cadillac, Chevy, and GMC trucks. It’s actually the latest in a string of uncommon but linked reliability problems to impact the 5.3- and 6.2-liter small block families over several recent model years—a notably bad run for what’s supposed to be an uncomplicated, naturally-aspirated V8 engine.