GM Experiencing An Increasing Amount Of V8 Engine Valve Lifter Issues
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GM Authority has received a growing number of emails and messages from General Motors pickup truck and SUV owners experiencing valve lifter problems.
Some of these owners are stating that their vehicle has been at the dealership for several weeks while waiting on repairs. The valve lifter issues seem to concern the naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 L84 gasoline engine and the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 L87 gasoline engines, which can be found in 2019-and-later model year Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups, as well as 2021-model-year full-size GM SUVs, including the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Suburban, Chevy Tahoe, and GMC Yukon.
To note, the naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 L84 is rated at 355 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 383 pound-feet of torque at 4,100 rpm, while the naturally aspirated 6.2 V8 L87 gasoline engine is rated at 420 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 460 pound-feet of torque at 4,100 rpm.
Repairs for the V8 engine valve lifter issues are currently being performed under warranty.
The uptick in complaints from GM Authority readers regarding valve lifter issues follows a service bulletin issued in September of 2020 addressing valve spring issues in newer 6.2L V8 engines, including the L87, LT1, LT2, and LT4. The service bulletin states that certain GM V8 engines may produce a service engine light, along with a misfire and peculiar engine noise, which is the result of faulty valve springs. The bulletin instructs technicians to check for a broken valve spring and, if necessary, perform a cylinder leakage test. For other GM V8 engines, including the L82, L84, and L8T, technicians are instructed to replace the affected valve spring, and if there is a cylinder leak, perform further inspection to determine the extent of the engine damage.
A report from GM TechLink also indicates that GM pickups and SUVs equipped with either the L84 or L87 could experience a “misfire condition with a bent pushrod that leads to a collapsed lifter or the lifter comes apart.”
GM Authority will follow this story closely and report back any further updates as we receive them.
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I have a 2021 1500 with 13000 miles . Had this issue and left me in the middle of a six lane highway. Then gm said they won’t give me a loaner because they have none. They said they will have my truck for over 3 weeks. And they won’t give me something to drive. It’s bs
They have screwed a bunch of us. Time for a class action lawsuit!!
I have a 2019 RST 4wD . I put miles on trucks . I’m at 80 k and at cold start my truck sounds like a handful of pebbles in a metal bucket. The same dealer I’ve bought the last 7 new chevy trucks is putting me off although I’ve informed them .it’s probably because I bought the 100 k powertrain warranty and mine explicitly says for ANY COVERED REPAIRS IM GUARANTEED A LOANER. THEIR LACK OF CAPACITY IS GOING TO COST THEM MORE WHEN IT SEIZES OR BENDS A ROD. I DONT WANT THAT DOWNTIME BUT THEY SEEM CONTENT TO BE THEIR OWN WORSE ENEMY AT TIMES. ANY ADVICE ON DEALING W THEM. I FELT LIKE I HAD A GOOD RELATIONSHIP W THE SERVICE MANAGER OVER 12 YEARS AND A HANDFUL OF VEHICLES. I FEEL LIKE THEY DONT VALUE MY BUSINESS AFTER A HALF MILLION IN SALES AND SERVICE.
Same here no rental no love!
I kinda like my Chevy dealer in Medford LI. But there service managers gotta go before I’d buy another truck from them. My trailboss had lifter issues around 8k I’d no parts available for 3 weeks , to be fair she did get me a loaner CAR. CHEVY 112 just needs to replace there service service manager and I believe there service team is a o k!
I think keenas1962 is right. Time for a class action lawsuit!! My 2021 Silverado with 7600 miles on it has now Been at the dealer waiting for parts for three weeks. They said there replacing lifters on both sides and have 3/4 of the lifters, wait for the other 8 which is ridiculous! Why wouldn’t GM ship them all at once??? It’s all BS. GM knew they had this issue for three years and have done nothing about it
2021 High Country Tahoe been in shop for almost two months now. Dealer installed new lifters, after a long wait for parts, and realized after starting that lifters were for the smaller engine. GM replacing the engine now. GM paying for rental car.
Just took my 2021 Trail Boss to the shop due to bad lifters. It has 19,000 miles so they’ll only replace the one side. They were nice enough to give me a rental but it’s a Chevy Spark. Oh well, better than walking I guess. Should have went with a Toyota!
My 2021 X31 GMC Sierra is back in shop after being in the shop for lifter replacement at 9200 miles .This time it is for service 4 wheel drive system,battery saver active,voltage gauge is fluctuating al of this after only driving 700 miles.GMC doesn’t care about Qaulity or customer satisfaction if they did they would have a recall with all the lifter problems these trucks are having .The government should be notified about this did they not bail out General Motors .Also this is my second 2021 Sierra my first one the lifters failed at 3600 miles and 5200 miles gmc did not help out when I bought the second one.Just goes to show is all they care about is getting the customers money.Time to buy a Ford or dodge .
I had a lifter issue with my 2020 Silverado 6.2. What a nightmare. I won’t bore you with all the details. After going round and round with GM about what they wouldn’t replace…..Almost 2 months in one of the techs figured out that engine replacement was needed. I hate to say it but replacing makes me nervous after all the comments I’ve read.
GM has put customers and dealerships in a terrible place.
It seems here that the apart from the lack of confidence with the vehicles, that the biggest complaint is the poor service at the dealers. I have to say that in NJ, I’ve had a few dealers that I deal with although I bought all 6 Tahoes from one dealer. I pick who’s schedule fits my convenience for service. All major work / warranty work usually gets handled by the dealer I bought from. I have had issues with some of my trucks but they were always covered by warranty and / or recall. My 2016 LTZ dropped a lifter at 94K miles and the dealer replaced the one bank. It worked fine until I traded it in at 126K for a 2020. My 2020 now has 36K and running fine.
My dealer and service department always make a loaner available or they pick up the rental of an Enterprise car for me.
a box of donuts, holiday gifts and little trinkets go a long way with the service department like all other service providers I use.
I know that we should expect better quality for a $70K+ vehicle today but even my washing machine and refrigerator needs service and repairs from time to time. I would suggest that you buy the extended warranty for the drive train. All dealers offer warranties up to 150K miles from CNA Insurance, etc. for an extra $1700.00
Had a 2015 Silverado LTZ Z71 with the 6.2 and 8 speed trans… my dream truck that was always properly maintained. First failed torque converter at 40k kms- got one thing done for free under warranty. Then a AFM lifter failed at 86k kms, fixed it and bought a Range Device to disable AFM- then when deciding if going to keep the truck after that the trans started shuddering again and a lifter failed again within 1000kms of previous repair. GM was completely back ordered on lifters… so there is all the proof you need that it is a BIG PROBLEM with the +2014 trucks particularly and seemingly worse with the 6.2 engines. So I did a trans flush myself and fixed the lifter in the driveway for $400 and sold it back to a dealership. Fuuuuuck GM! After being a lifetime owner and supporter they will never get a new(er) vehicle sale from anyone in my family now. Ridiculous what they are charging for this destined to fail junk and using EPA as their scapegoat. A friend has 2019 Chev 6.2 truck that has almost spent more time in the shop than he has driven it, no lemon laws here but many things have failed on his near new low mileage truck including lifters. In case anyone is wondering, its all a ploy to get your (repair) money. The gasoline quality is complete garbage these days and adding ethanol to it is just a ploy to turn older useful reliable machines into expensive junk. The $ goes into corporate pockets and offshore, and they laugh at your misfortune. I’m now driving a lovely rust bucket 4.8 truck with 314k on it that is much more reliable than the new junk
How many of you gat your truck back and now it feels like you are driving an old washer machine?, I got mine fixed about 3 months ago and since the lifter repair it feels like a washer machine, took it back only to get them to say it is normal the truck is good there is no code. I have been back 3 times because of this vibration only to get the same response…now Im just waiting to the engine to blow so the can get the codes they want to see.This is crazy..m
I am already working with an attorney, my situation more than qualifies as a lemon. NO WAY AM I JUST WALKING AWAY. GM needs to pay !
Yep. I’m just waiting for lemon law to play out. I’ve already been to the dealer 4 times. I’m done with this POS
Another one for you. Lifter went out on my family road trip. Mileage was 5800. Since it was on a Sunday stealership would not give me a loaner because service dept was closed they said. Had to pay for rental car to finish the road trip. Very upset with this. Truck was fixed but it doesn’t feel right anymore to me.
GM should just give up on cylinder deactivation technology and only use VVT and add port injection along with the direct injection. The 3/4 and 1 tons and the vans don’t even have this problem. If your truck is out of warranty, spend the money and delete the system ASAP. There’s aftermarket companies like Texas Speed and Performance that offers AFM/DFM delete kits to solve the problem. For 4.3 V6 Silverado/Sierra owners, a GM van cam and lifter swap is offered by GM themselves.
The new 6.6 gas burner in the 2500 doesn’t have fuel management gets bout 12 mpg. Old tappy get bout 19 mpg and that’s local with engine crapping out fuel management works if you can get it too work. But it’s not worth the trouble may be time to walk away from pushrod engine. Or wait, you could put good parts in it, dang why didn’t think of that
Just got rid of my 2018 Silverado with the 5.3.
Had lifter issues at 25000 miles. It had 34920 miles when I traded it. Started having transmission issues. I didn’t trust it any longer.
Everyone I know that have bought chevy’s years 2019 through 2021 has had there trucks in the shop with lifter issues around 9000 miles. So when the power train warranty runs out who pays for the repairs. Bet it’s not GM.
Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of a Hemi.
Well, my right bank lifters went on my 21 Silverado, 6.2 at 7900 miles. After some persistence and help from my dealer I got a CCL, component coverage letter. It’s a 6 year warranty,100,000 miles from date of repair. Transferable as well. While I would have rather not have to pursue it I guess it’s somewhat of a victory. It’s still ridiculous that a vehicle with a msrp of all but $61k should ever have this type of failure. The irony of this is the same day my dealer went to GM, GM called me and told me I wasn’t eligible because I didn’t have enough miles on my truck. What an asinine excuse. Anyway three days later my dealer calls and tells me I was approved. Just got the letter in todays mail.
GM did approve the lifters to be replaced on both sides of my 21 Silverado. I waited to call GM about the CCL letter till after I got my truck back. Obviously the dealer went to bat for me which they should have, myself and my family have been buying GM vehicles from them for over 45 years.
4400 miles on my z92 Silverado
Driving it today and had misfires that lead to a bent pushrod and collapsed lifter. Should have never traded my ram in for this garbage who knows how long this repair will take and what headaches to follow, heads gotta come off and all. Total incompetence from a once trusted American auto manufacturer.
My father and I both have 2014’s with the 6.2 and both had catastrophic valve train failure at 106K miles just off warranty. GM didn’t cover a penny for the $6000 in repairs. Seems like GM should have a recall for this issue. These ecotech engines are garbage.
They know they valve train is crap hardened pushrods and morel lifters problem solved they can do better they choose not too and government will let them do what they want
Warranty isn’t any good if it is gonna be on side of road or without vehicle to drive my Tahoe 2021 has been three times for lifters just got it back and already ticking again at 13500 miles they gonna piece meal it till. It gets out of warranty then it’s your problem. I been patient with GM DEALER has gave my wife a Tahoe to drive every time and has been solid but they can only do what GM Tells them too with warranty I do Cummins warranty myself. However with Cummins it is always at the discretion of the mechanic. If I had seen the same car three times for same issue it would have got an engine at this point but what do I know I’m just a glorified part swapper
I got a 2016 GMC Yukon Denali beginning of October. Went in the shop for a stuck thermostat, less than a week later, in the shop again for a bent rod. Its been in there for 7 weeks now waiting for a part that is on back order. I know nothing about parts but the guy called it a “v loom” anyone I talk to has no clue what that is. The guy at the shop said the vendor still has no ETA for delivery. So I have no clue when I will get my Yukon back. I have a 3 year warranty on it. So I am stuck with a car payment on a vehicle I can’t even drive. I am soo pissed!!