Take A Closer Look At The 2019 Silverado’s New 2.7L Four-Cylinder Engine
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General Motors will take the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado into new territory with the introduction of a new 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
Chevrolet announced the new powerplant alongside the rest of the 2019 Silverado’s engine availability on Friday but also provided additional technical details on the engine. So, let’s dive into some of them.
The basics: 310 horsepower and 348 pound-feet of torque, with peak torque arriving from 1,500 rpm to 4,000 rpm. Chevy said the engine will help the 2019 Silverado sprint from 0-60 mph in under seven seconds and the mill weighs 380 pounds less than the 4.3-liter V6 engine it replaces. The V6 engine will stick around, but only in lower-spec models. Both the block and head are made from aluminum to reduce mass.
According to the brand, the 2.7-liter turbo-four engine features an “innovative double overhead cam” valvetrain that enables active fuel management (a first for a four-cylinder engine at GM), high- and low-lift valve profiles and continuously variable valve timing.
Active fuel management works with an electro-mechanical variable camshaft to provide three different cam profiles: high-valve lift for full power, low valve lift for balance of power and efficiency, and two-cylinder operation during light loads.
Other highlights of the new engine include:
- Dual-volute turbocharger housing for improved low-speed torque
- Active thermal management to improve engine performance in hot and cold temperatures
- An integrated exhaust manifold for a reduction in turbo lag
- Stop/start technology
- An electric water pump
Chevrolet said the engine was built from the ground up as a truck engine, first and foremost. That meant loads of torque available from down low in the powerband. To achieve this, engineers implemented a long piston stroke of 4.01 inches for better combustion and a higher compression ratio.
To ensure things run smoothly with high cylinder pressures that come with turbocharging, the crankshaft and connecting rods are made of forged steel and the pistons are made of a tough aluminum alloy with a cast iron ring groove insert. Engineers also subjected the engine to the same set of rigorous tests that V8 engines endure.
The engine will enter production at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, facility this fall and launch in the fourth quarter of this year. EPA fuel economy estimates, payload and towing ratings will all come closer to the engine’s launch.
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It says “the Silverado,” as in the whole (new) truck, weighs 380# less with the 2.7 vs. the old truck with the 4.3. But that number keeps showing up in reporting as if it’s the engine alone. In the video with the engine’s engineer, he says the 2.7 is 80# lighter than an aluminum 4.3.
Lots of displacement for a 5 cylinder engine, methinks.
This reminds me of the Citroën DS 21 of yore which had never engines with more then 4 cylinders what I thought to be wrong back then.
It’s a (4) cylinder. GM’s only(?) 5 cylinder was the 3.7L in the Gen 1 twins. It was part of the Atlas 4/5/6 cylinder engine line up!
I don’t understand where the 380 lbs of weight savings comes from. How heavy was the 4.3l (an aluminum block) that they were able to save that much weight switching to a turbo 4? I’m guessing that the number is actually total weight savings over the previous model and not just for the engine
The weight savings figure is for the total truck, not for just the engine.
As an F150 owner and a fan of Ford’s push to move pickups into the 21st century since 2015, I’m very excited to read about what seems to be another bold and innovative power train development for GM trucks in 2019. Dynamic Fuel Management for V8s go way beyond the competition; the first OEM to develop an all-new diesel specifically for the American half ton in what should most certainly give them a cost advantage over the competition due to the material savings of an inline and distribution and logistical savings found in domestic production versus European production; and now my dream engine size and type for a half ton for light and medium duty.
I must call GM out for deceptive advertising though. You can’t introduce an optional power train in the lower trims and then compare it’s performance to Ford’s base engine. Ford too offers their 2.7L TT V6 with a ten speed standard in Lariat trim (3rd level up) and for one grand more in lower trims. That’s the right comparison. It has 325, [email protected] & 20/26/22; for hp, torque and mpg, respectively. Almost for sure that this turbo in a half ton GM truck will take the gas-powered mpg crown from Ford, but to ignore Ford’s small turbo for performance comparison is an out-right lie.
I love my barebones F150 truck with the small Ecoboost getting 24 mpg in the real world for commuting, but since 2015 I’ve been somewhat confused as to why Ford chose a small, expensive twin turbo V6 as an alternative to the base engine for an extra grand, and during this time Ford has developed and used three different base engines that was certainly an expensive endeavor on two occasions. They could have simply spent all their time, effort, money, and engineering prowess to add a four cylinder turbo and made that engine the base engine.
Likewise, even though GM went partly the right direction with a slightly cheaper turbo four cylinder versus a twin turbo V6, they too chose to keep a base V6 that even fewer people will accept now that there is a turbo 4 with better performance, capability, refinement and mpg.
The best reference with respect to weight loss is comparing the new Tripower to Ford’s 2.7L TT V6 Ecoboost, because comparing GM to itself, you’ve got the lighter-weight platform truck that also works in to the mix of the comparison and GM won’t say how the power train itself compares to the 4.3 mated to the 6-speed. GM says their truck powertrain will weigh around 70-80 pounds less than Ford’s with equal displacement; I think that’s comparing power train to power train; not just the engine. If you go to the Ford site and look at specs of different power trains you can sort of figure out that Ford’s 2.7L mated to a 10-speed weighs about 100 pounds more than their own 3.3L base V6 mated to a 6-speed. The difference in weight of the two Ford transmissions is not all that significant but it’s at least 20 pounds; you can also see that Ford’s 2.7 Ecoboost with part GCI block is only 20-30 pounds lighter than their own latest V8 (the only engine they build that actually lost weight from one generation to the next). I think then, at most, GM’s new 2.7L weighs no less than Ford’s 3.3L NA V6, all-aluminum engine; probably just a tad more; and to venture a guess, probably weighs only 40-50 pounds less than the 4.3 mated to a 6-speed; and that’s being friendly, as it may not be any lighter whatsoever.