GM Releases Valve Lifter Service Update For V8 Engines
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General Motors has issued a service update for 2021 model year full-size truck and SUV models that are being shipped to dealerships and may be affected by valve lifter problems.
The problem: affected vehicles may have or may be prone to experiencing a broken valve lifter lock pin spring. This problem only affectes vehicles equipped with the naturally aspirated 5.3L L84 V8 or 6.2L L87 V8 gasoline engines.
The hazards: this problem does not pose a safety hazard, however a broken valve lifter long spring can lead to various engine problems. As we reported in a previous article that addressed these widespread GM V8 engine valve lifter issues, affected vehicles may produce a service engine light, along with a misfire, peculiar engine noise and engine damage.
The fix: dealership technicians are instructed to replace both banks of cylinders in affected vehicles. These repairs must be performed upon arrival at the dealership and before the vehicles are sold to customers.
Affected vehicles:
- 2021 Cadillac Escalade
- 2021 Cadillac Escalade ESV
- 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe
- 2021 Chevy Suburban
- 2021 Chevy SIlverado 1500
- 2021 GMC Yukon
- 2021 GMC Yukon XL
Affected components: valve lifter, valve lifter lock pin spring.
Number of affected vehicles: it’s currently not clear how many vehicles were delivered to dealers in need of a valve lifter repair.
Owners should: this service update is for dealerships only and only affects vehicles that are en route to or have already been delivered to GM dealerships. No action is required by owners.
GM Authority has reported on these V8 engine valve lifter problems in the past, including an article outlining how GM dealers address the issues on customer vehicles. If you own a 5.3L L84 V8 or 6.2L L87 V8-powered GM vehicle, it may be worth reading up on these problems.
Contacts:
- GM service update number: N212353840
- Chevrolet Customer Service: 1-800-222-1020
- GMC Customer Service: 1-800-462-8782
- Cadillac Customer Service: 1- 800-333-4223
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline: 1-888-327-4236
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Stop using substandard engineering and parts to build an engine! Seriously, these things breaking down for lifters is all over social media and it’s a black eye on the company….again. Garbage in garbage out. But hey at least Mary got a leadership award despite all her vehicles breaking down.
Let’s be clear. This was a supplier issue that seemingly met manufacturer specifications for these 2021.
For legacy issues maintenance is key. The old.boys who say “synthetic oil is a crock; causes leaks” are then the one with issues. I literally hit 200,000 pulling onto my street tonight with mine and zero mechanical issues in my truck. Outside of routine fluids, brakes, tires, I 9nly had to replace my coolant reservoir cap which broke. $7 replacement. And it was the oring that swelled/became dislodged.
My truck is rated to tow 9300lbs and has towed 12,000. I towing 5,000+ frequently. It gets beat up on land development sites daily which is more off roading than most people who claim to “offroad” actually ever do. It sees dead cold starts at -5 for 3 months of the year and gets hit with heavy salt for 4 mont-s of the year.
Maintain a machine. And the machine will work. Put Big Macs and disease ridden women in it and it’ll die young.
The 1 in 100,000 trucks with AFM that had issues I bet you trace back maintenance on them and there would be key markers that lead to it.
I can assure you that maintenance was wholly unrelated to the valve train failure in my 2016 6.2 with 170k miles. 100% Mobil 1 synthetic with premium filter at every change. Never towed anything. Virtually exclusively highway miles – 21 mpg average over those 170k miles, and with the original brakes. Yet I had to replace the engine because the #3 intake lifter rotated modestly and scrubbed the associated cam lobe. $7k to replace a cam and lifters in a 170k engine that had made metal, or $11k for a new engine with a 100k warranty; not a hard decision. But a painful one just a few months after having to replace the 8L90 at $4.5k out of pocket. I’ve spent more on repairs on this truck than all vehicles I’ve owned, combined, including boats.
“21 mpg average over those 170k miles,”You might have averaged 12mpg and changed the motor out 3 times in 170k and been on par.
In 170k miles that AFM engine might have saved you 3,000 gallons of fuel and you are complaining.I doubt that there are many V8 engines out there that would last 170k without the AFM.For the life of me I cannot understand why anyone could complain about this.Do you know of any other 6.2L engine that can average 21mpg?A Subaru will only get 19mpg.
John,
I get 32MPG with my Subaru.
It doesn’t cost 7k to replace a cam and lifters in those either.
The company that just serviced my transmission on my 2003 Yukon Denali said that she see a LOT of 2020-2021 GM products coming in under 80,000 for a complete transmission changeout to the tune of $7200.
My 2021 Yukon Denali spent the last MONTH in the dealership. They had to take apart the engine and send the heads off to the machine shop and have them drill out a lifter spring and something else… Now my engine makes a different noise. 26,000 miles is when it all started. First, it was there for a week and the lifters were changed out. A week or so later, it failed again and it was there for a month and they said they changed out the lifters, changed the CAM, and the finally, off to the machine shop. I leased it and it’s still under warranty. I don’t think I want to keep it because I can’t trust it that it won’t strand me again, especially while towing my trailer. Bums me out big time. Lemon laws exist for this reason.
Well I don’t know $7200 about a transmission. I paid 4800 labor and transmission included with 100k mile warranty. But I pull heavy loads daily. Regret not getting a 2500. But I changed it at 119,000 miles and the engine runs strong no issues. It’s a 2019 Silverado
I seen this other idiot complaining that his AFM engine was burning a half quart of oil every 5,000 miles but it was saving him 40 gallons in fuel.
Responding to “John Brennan” comments:
The AFM didn’t save me (or anyone else) “3,000 gallons of fuel.” The EPA gives it one mpg one the highway; my personal experience is that I lost 0.4 mpg when I turned off the feature in the new engine – 20.6 mpg vs. 21.0 – approaching 50k miles on the new engine now – we’re not talking about a tank or two. Using the (bigger) EPA numbers, AFM “saved” $1,215 in fuel (@ $3/gal.) over 170k miles. I would have rather paid for the gas than the engine.
Cam & lifter replacement in an AFM LT engine requires head removal and oil pan removal (to remove/replace what we used to call a timing chain cover) – which necessitates the engine’s removal from the vehicle. I shopped five shops and was quoted from $6,800 to $8,000. I’m sure YOU would do it for less, but I don’t trust your judgement. Whether or not this carries over to a DFM LT engine is beyond my scope of knowledge.
I’ve owned six LS/LT engines. The first (2000 5.3) went 250k miles without being tocuhed, and used 0.25 quarts of oil every 5k miles when I sold it. My first 5.3 AFM, by 100k miles, was burning over 1 quart per 1k miles. My second (simultaneous to first) 5.3 AFM began burning 1 qt/1k at 180k miles. My (only) 5.3 LT is “good” at 140k miles. I’ve already descirbed my 5th/6th experiences. Relative to GEN-I small blocks, 250k miles with only a water pump replacement was common. An LS without AFM can easily do that, too.
This comment makes the 161st on this topic. A few pipe smokers like you say “oh, there’s nothing wrong, just idiots that don’t know (fill in the blank).” Well I know what a lot of the other 160 on here know: We’ve dealt with catastrophic failures of AFM/DFM valve trains in non-abused, well-maintained, relatively low-milage vehicles – repeatedly – and we never had these problems in non-AFM/DFM engines. This year alone two friends have had failures in 2021 GM 5.3’s – the second one “did it right” and drove it until it took a crap (with just 3k miles on the odometer) and forced a new engine from GM, not a repair to one lifter bank. The first one is back in the shop again as I type.
There’s a problem. It dates back to the debut of AFM in 2007. It’s not about a “bad batch” of this part or that part from a particular supplier. Not everyone experiences it in a single vehicle. But, if you own enough of them, or for long enough, clearly the odds are you will experience a valve train failure in an AFM/DFM equiped LS or LT engine. That’s why I’m done with them. They don’t save enough gas to compensate for their maintenance and repairs that will *likely* be required.
very well said. Thank you
Supplier issues or not….Unreliable engines should not have ever reached consumers. GM selected the supplier and are responsible for assembling the engine and vehicle. They should have caught this before it was an issue.
It’s causing even more damage to GM’s brands. And they can’t afford any hits.
First of all you need to stop spreading false information. These engines are far from unreliable and you need to do some research as opposed to reading some online forums with a few disgruntled owners that whine while trying to make it sound like 50% of these trucks have this issue. There are three parts to this.
First, the bad batch due to a supplier issue. That happens across all brands, a 3rd party supplier misses a batch or run of bad parts. It sucks but happens from Kia to Mercedes.
Two, maintenance. That goes a long way. Running incorrect oil or going outside of the service intervals has been known to cause some issues.
Three, rogue issues. It is a mechanical engine assembled by robots and humans, there will be rogue issues. It sucks when it is a something a little more major like an internal engine component so people throw a fit. What is the difference between a starter going out or a lifter? Both make the truck undriveable, but those guys (who most know nothing about the actual interworking of an engine) just hear it is internal and they start to whine and smear like it is some huge issue yet it is covered by warranty when done in the first 5 year and 100k and you move on.
All brands have those, the Hemi also has some of the same rogue issues and noise on the forums. Toyota has had bad batches of parts. These engines are far from unreliable. Yes there will be those that fail at 170k on occasion, but those are few and far between and honestly that starts to get up there in life. The one guy talks about cruising on the highway most of it, that keeps the revs and heat low so it probably had some other related babying impact by not getting run hard or hot (yes cycle play a big role in things). The C5 Z06 had issues long term when owners of them that never ran them hard leaving power, oil consumption and other issues on the table.
Either way I know a few people past 200k on these motors with out issue, we have had a few of ours go past 100k+ without issue. Most don’t have issues and you never see them on the forums or comment sections, only those few that have issues and want to whine and complain and try and smear them or owners of other brands trying to troll. Don’t make a mounting out of a mole hill, the failure percent is probably less than 1% with the millions of the engines they make a year…
The vehicles refereed to have not even had there first oil change or maybe there first oil change. new vehicles
Ummm they are unreliable.
You want to know how many times my 2002 GMC Sierra’s 5.3 LM7 engine has been torn apart? ZERO.
Only spark plugs, oil changes and an O2 sensor are the maintenance my trucks engine has required over 20 years.
So what. The article is about 2021 with bad components.
This is not about any defective engines,it is about some defective lockpin springs from a suppliers that have not even gotten to the customers yet.”Owners should: this service update is for dealerships only and only affects vehicles that are en route to or have already been delivered to GM dealerships. No action is required by owners.”
John, You are wrong. it is NOT for dealership only. I am one of the victim consumers whose lifters failed TWICE before odometer even reached 17,000 miles on brand new 2021 GMC SIERRA 1500 DENALI 5.3L V8. It was regularly serviced by authorized GMC dealer. My friend has same issue with his brand new 2021 GMC SIERRA 1500 AT4 6.2L V8 before odometer reached 10,000 miles, lifters failed TWICE. Both vehicles owned by professionals, never off road. No action required by owners, until owners are stranded on the road.
My 2021 GMC AT4 6.2L is in the shop right now for lifter failure at 14k. I tried to get the dealer to replace the lifters on my last service at 10K and they would not do anything preventative and said they can’t cover it under warranty until something happens. However; I could have it done at MY COST. Well we will se how much damage was done as I limped it to the dealer.
Evan, I have a 2008 5.3 LT, I changed the plugs and wires at 120k, never touched it since. 145k later, running fine. Best wishes.
2021 Escalade lifter problem with 21 miles. The truck was misfiring, smoking. Shaking and every light was lit on the dash, check engine, traction, stability control, transmission. ESP, auto lock. Couldn’t drive the vehicle. What a shame. Bought it brand new and now I will have a canibilized truck. Truly upset GM didn’t recall sooner.
Husband bought me 2021 tahoe because he said 2002 suburban was to old to be reliable. Guess what I’m driving while the pos is in the shop for lifters and cam shaft. ETA for parts ???
They are junk. GM is a joke and can’t fix issues with these new models. I had tp lemon-law out of my 2019 and my 2020 has some of the same issues. GM does not care about their customers these days. I’ve owned 6 Silverados and this will be my last.
My 2021 Silverado with 8,029 miles failed 330 miles from home with dog, horse in tow, etc. on November 24, 2021. Lifters replaced one side only. Will drive it home today. I am going to sue to have ALL lifters replaced with non-defective pins.
These are defective parts from a supplier and these vehicles are being repaired before they are delivered to the customers if you had read this correctly and as far as your claim your ’19 and ’20 having the same issues I seriously doubt that.In other words I am saying that you are lying for some weird reason.We have not been seeing many issues at all with them.”Owners should: this service update is for dealerships only and only affects vehicles that are en route to or have already been delivered to GM dealerships. No action is required by owners.”
John Brennan, no action required by owners because they are not repairing sold vehicles. And these DFM lifters have been faulty since last year. almost all 2020’s and ALL 2021’s have faulty lifters. its a design flaw, not supplier issue. I see it first hand. Every day. they will all fail at some point
Totally agree I’ll never own another one a $7,000 plus repair hit’s really hard
Right “incorrect oil or going outside the service interval”. Explain how the majority of these engines lifters fail under 8k miles. Mine was 4K miles, well under service interval and the oil installed by the manufacture.
My right side failed at 5k and left side failed 2 weeks later after getting it back from the dealership. I asked why didn’t they replace them both and said GM stated they needed to replace the one that failed not both. I’ve only have my vehicle for 5 months is a 2021 Sierra 1500. My first truck and having buyers remorse.
This same thing can happen to any brand and does.Everybody is being forced to squeeze every ounce of fuel mileage.UPS trucks get beat up hard and they are getting 400-500k out of those 6.0 L and they are the best gas engines ever.The AFM and 0W20 oil has been an issue but they get awesome fuel mileage and they still average a very long life although a few may have problems.
GM sells 10 trucks for every Tundra It’s like 200,00 to 20,000 and go to any Tundra complaint forum.
Me & my friend both having the same issues. It’s with the dealership as we speak to replace left side lifters, right side were replaced before 4 months. 2021 GMC SIERRA 1500 DENALI 5.3L V8 with barely 17,000 miles. Without vehicle TWICE for a month each in just one year. What a joke GMC is? This is my first and last any GM vehicle. I am going to sell it as soon as it get fixed this time. Going back to my original Lexus brand.
Commonsense ain’t so common, and you have zero.
200,000 miles on a 2021? I highly doubt that. Did you read the article? This is only regarding 2021 model year vehicles with DFM, which was supposed to be the best engineered fuel management system ever.
You need to stop being obtuse and face reality.
These are unreliable engines with widespread problems and a long list of complaints from customers dating back to at least 2007. Cylinder deactivation is likely one of the reasons GM dropped their standard 100,000 mile powertrain warranty.
The way GM has elected to prioritize 1 MPG improvement in their CAFE ratings at the expense of their customers is particularly insulting to those of us who owned T400 or earlier GM trucks. We know that they are capable of making reliable engines. They simply decided not to. And clearly thought that their pickup and SUV owners were too dumb or unsophisticated to realize that they are being screwed.
You can make excuses for these terrible leadership decisions and shoddy products all day long. Those of us who have owned them know that GM is peddling hot garbage right now. They don’t make a single light duty gas engine that I trust anymore.
I have first hand experience with a 5.3L with AFM. AFM is why there is a 2021 Toyota truck in my driveway now instead of a another Chevy. I spend my money on something that I know will work for years.
Amen.
i have a 2019 with lifter and bent push rod issues..is there recall. im out of my warranty.
GM sells 10 trucks for every 1 Tundra.Go to any complaint board about Tundra’s and as far as AFM only being a 1 mpg increase is wrong too.Another fellow on here is complaining that his 6.2L with 170k miles on it averaged 21 mpg.These are defective parts from a supplier and were not even delivered to any customers yet if you had read this correctly.This is just an opportunity for you to mouth off.”Owners should: this service update is for dealerships only and only affects vehicles that are en route to or have already been delivered to GM dealerships. No action is required by owners.”
amen. there are hundreds of thousands of these out in the field and GM ignores all these customers. There needs to be ATTORNEY GENERALS FROM EVERY STATE ON TOP OF THIS PROBLEM!!!!
I doubt many of these idiots even own one of these trucks and are probably Tesla stockholders taking pot shots.Tesla is dead last on all the reliability charts and they are butt hurt.They are all over YouTube saying anything they can possibly say to pump their stock prices up.
John Brennan, seems like you own most of the GM stocks. Idiot defenders like you can’t make brand new 2021 GMC vehicle owners any more pissed off than they already are. Thousands of faulty built vehicles were sold to consumers by GM even after knowing they are defective and why? Just to make stock holders like you happy. I am in favor of class action law suite against GM and it’s dealers. Dealers should hold accountable also as they knowingly sold the vehicles even after having multiple vehicles in their warranty repair shop with the same issues over and over.
You know what you are talking about.These other people on here are just being malicious and did not even read this story correctly.This is not about any defective engines or designs it is only about some defective lockpin springs from a supplier that have not even reached the customers yet.”Owners should: this service update is for dealerships only and only affects vehicles that are en route to or have already been delivered to GM dealerships. No action is required by owners.”
My 2021 Yukon Denali lifters/“bent pushrod” failed at approx 26,000 miles. I took possession of it mid 2020-before the lifter bulletin to dealerships. The dealer replaced the full banks of lifters but it happened again a couple hundred miles later. It’s been in the shop over two weeks this time. Even if they change the cam, the issue still remains and is unreliable. I tow a trailer and no longer have peace of mind that this vehicle won’t strand me and my family. My 2003 Denali is almost at 250,000 miles and I feel so lucky it has only stranded me once due to fuel pump. I’ve maintained it meticulously and when I turn in the 2021 for lemon law, I will keep driving the 2003. It’s too bad-the 2021 has a huge cargo area and is gorgeous inside and out. Just a crying shame. It was my first brand new vehicle. ;(
I received a 2021 from Karl Chevrolet and it is setting in shop right now with a cracked head and busted lifters at 12,000 miles. So obviously they didn’t fix this truck before it was sold to me.
If no owner action is required why is my 2021 Tahoe with 6949 miles on it in the shop to get the lifters replaced ????
This same thing can happen to any brand and does.Everybody is being forced to squeeze every ounce of fuel mileage.UPS trucks get beat up hard and they are getting 400-500k out of those 6.0 L and they are the best gas engines ever.The AFM and 0W20 oil has been an issue but they get awesome fuel mileage and they still average a very long life although a few may have problems.
Amen
Doesn’t GM make their own lifters at Grand Rapids? Not a supplier issue…
The lifters are made in Grand Rapids, the springs are made by a supplier that provides them to Grand Rapids
The spring is not the problem, it’s the lock pin that retains the spring.
Trust me, this issue is the spring. The spring had a tiny crack in the wire that would after around 5000 miles shear off and break in half. This would cause the lockpins to stick in and the lifters to fail
” broken valve lifter lock pin spring.”
we have had multiple vehicles with lifter failure before the first oil change was due.
And after the second one you still purchased more of the same?
Bingo, the failure rate is less than 1% with the millions of these they make a year. Maintenance and how they are ran make a difference. Babying it 100% of the time is never good either, you want some of that fluid flowing fast and hot on occasion. Think what hot water does to your dishes versus cold with stuck on food and on low vs high pressure. Run them hard, let them circulate fast and hot and helps clean out little particles that collect and gets them filtered.
I’m curious. How do you know the failure rate? A failure rate of 1% would be pretty high ( 1 in every 100 vehicles). Are there some statistics that are kept on failure rates of GM engines? I think only GM would know. These forums usually are biased to those that have had problems and are not a good source to determine failure rates. I have a 2022 Tahoe and have been following these forums and can’t determine just how prevalent the lifter problem is.
I dont know if there is a real chart up there anywhere but the 3 chevrolet dealers I work with nearby and 2 GMC dealers all have similar results of 1 in every 400 to 500 fail.
AFM 5.3 engines in 2006 and up are junk and self destruct after 100k miles. Due to lifter problems. GM needed and needs to recall all of these engine. Non AFM 5.3 and 6.0 seem to not have these issues. Even synthetic oil did not save them.
Or put Big Macs and disease-ridden men in there and it’ll die young just as well
Other than that ignorant statement my Denali gets treated the same way yours does and you have a point…maintain it and it will remain maintained…
wrong. every AFM lifter is bad by design. before the engine is ever even filled with oil. the internal lock springs fail constantly. and its FAR more than 1 in 100,000 when GM is ordering Dealers to replace lifters on every new truck they receive before they can be sold
My 21 Tahoe with 5.3 at 2200 miles lifter failure then again at 5200 miles never toed or driven over 70 mph its a grocery getter
I was thinking the same thing about my 2021…a $90K grocery-getter!
Considering GM delivered 765,000 trucks in 2021, I would say it’s far more prevalent than “1 in 100,000. There’s a lot more than 8 trucks with AFM lifter problems. A LOT more.
Let me clear this up !!!!!!! My brand new 2022 Chevy Silverado Trailboss with 11,484 miles on it just broke down from lifter failure. The only maintenance that was done on my vehicle was the first oil change at 7,000 miles at the dealership. Then the dealership could not find me a rental so they put me in a uhaul !!!!!!! I am currently waiting for them to replace the lifters. I don’t even want this vehicle anymore. People need to be aware of this issue !!!!!!!! I thought what I saw on youtube was bad, it’s a whole lot different when it happens to you
Had to replace LT engine in my 2015 Tahoe at 133K. Lifter failure. 0-20w Mobile one oil and WIX filter every 4K miles.
It appears that Lifter/rod problems have been around for a while and maybe caused by multiple issues – defective parts on some 2021’s as one set of issues but possibly DFM on others…. Or maybe defective or out of spec material/parts issues are compounded and magnified by the DFM technology as well???? Not sure fixing or replacing the parts would solve DFM related issues if indeed DFM has any part to play (besides defective lifter/rod material). I wonder if I should invest in a DFM deactivation module on my yet to be delivered 2022 6.2L or just walk away from my $1000 deposit and shop another brand??? I usually keep and drive my vehicles for 12-15 years and 200,000 miles and honestly always push maintenance intervals – doesn’t sound like GM can handle my bad habits!! Comments?
Personally, I would not buy a DFM-equipped vehicle. I bought two AFM-equipped vehicles after GM swore they’d addressed their issues; they hadn’t. Ultimately, doing so cost me a replacement engine (my dime, not GM’s). I would absolutely consider the diesel engine, but I absolutely would NOT consider the 5.3 or 6.2.
Regarding maintenance…it’s irrelevant: They fail when they’re ready to fail. You see the comments here about 1k, 2k, 10k mile failures. Those are not maintenance-induced. I had an earlier (LS-based) AFM start drinking oil at 30k miles, another at 180k. I had a later (LT-based) AFM engine eat a cam at 170k miles – all meticulously maintained and not abused.
My advice, for what it’s worth, is this: If you MUST have a gasoline engine, shop elsewhere.
Why isn’t Sierra on the list?
The Sierra isn’t on the list because GMC is their “premium” brand. You pay more and you get a better product (at least that’s what they want you to believe).
2020 Sierra AT4 6.2 engine replaces at 4000 miles
I had the same vehicle.
for two days. 350 on the odometer
spent the next 60 days at the dealership
sold it back to GM, only took them 3 1/2 months to get my money back
and they wouldn’t cover the interest on the loan over that period of time.
Me – $650
Got off cheap
My 2021 high country Tahoe actually received this fix last year back in November. Is this simply a late report or is GM finally sending out the public notice? Dealerships were already aware as I couldn’t buy mine until after it was fixed.
Had the fix last year as well ‘21 LT Trail Boss @ 4,000 miles and was livid GM was still knowingly selling these engines without a fix. This article is saying dealers have to fix them before they are sold. Finally doing the right thing.
I just spoke to a service rep at a Chevy dealer today . If you can believe it , she told me this service bulletin was only for a very specific time frame of vehicles shipped in October and November of 2021. I don’t remember what the exact dates were , but it was only about 1 month of vehicles that were in transit or on the lot during that time frame. I bought my truck on December 6 th and she said my truck was outside of the time frame because they received it in October , before this “in transit “ service bulletin was released. I don’t know whether to believe them or not.
My 2021 GMC had to go in the dealership for the valve problems at 10,000 miles
Its about time, GM, These bad lifters went on way too long… This is going to be an expensive recall,
Can’t even get a pushrod v8 right anymore.
Oh my.
You can, it’s called the L8T 6.6L devoid of this non-sense Gretta tech that saves drops of fuel.
The supplier is at fault here. At least they are trying to fix them before they get into the customers hands now. Not all will have the issue but if you do, they do take care of it.
Is this really a separate issue from the lifter problem engines were having that were built between Sept of 2020 and March of 2021? Yikes…this has been quite a large issue it seems if that’s the case. It’s kind of embarrassing really.
No, same issue, article is saying GM is FINALLY stepping up and doing the right thing before they sell it to a customer and actually fixing them first. I found it pretty disturbing, knowing how widespread the issue was and they were still selling them all year with a smile on their face.
Its been over a year of the same issues lol wow
Apparently they are not stepping up at all . I spoke to a dealer today and they told me this service bulletin was only for some vehicles that were in transit for a about 1 month during October and November. She gave me specific dates and said if my truck didn’t fall in those dates then you are on your own.
She said there’s nothing wrong with it…drive it until it blows up. Then tell her that her bulletin was wrong.
The primary element that, traditionally, made these engines immensely more durable, efficient and compact that OHC variants – and GM has screwed it up.
Sometimes I think it’s all on purpose…in an effort to make us WANT electric vehicles that they will promote as more reliable.
What makes you think they can produce reliable electriq (see what i did there) cars?
It’s all outsourced to the lowest bidders.
I don’t think they can make reliable electrik (see what I did??) cars. I only think they can market them as such, and because they’re “different” than what’s been having all the the problems, many will buy in.
Like their BOLT fire-starter. EV’s are a fraud and so is Barra.
You are probably too young to remember the OPEC embargos.
Let’s be clearer.
supplier’s of these components don’t have their name on the vehicle.
GM is responsible for reliable, quality sourcing.
GM has the responsibility to select sources that are capable; and verifies they can meet the requirements – not because they have the lowest bid and can meet the delivery schedule.
In the end, It says GMC, or Chevrolet, or Cadillac on the badge.
The parts from gm suppliers are built to gm specs.and should undergo gm QC testing to the point of failure.
.They own the problems, most parts are supplier acquired today, they are basically assemblers and make a small amount of parts in-house.
I am a spring maker by trade. I have made untold millions of springs. WHO is this spring supplier? Who else are they making parts for ?
So pop the I6.
I have a 2005gmc and my lifter make ing noise iam I in the recall I have the 5.3 let know please thank you
A 2005 you have, correct? No, your truck would not be part of this issue…just the 2021 models with Dynamic fuel management lifters.
Your 2005 is probably one of the better engines, prior to any AFM/DFM technology.
A 16 year old vehicle and you have issues and you want gm to fix it for free?
Good luck with that.
Are you changing your oil regularly? The only thing that can cause lifter knock on the awesome 2000s LS engines is not changing your oil regularly.
Clean oil won’t lead to lifter knock at start up.
I’m normally not one to complain against innovation but this cylinder deactivation system has been a headache for many people since day one. The Gen 3 and gen 4 4.8Ls were the pinnacle of GM engineering and were damn near bulletproof. I’m in line for a 2022 Sierra and I’m probably gonna go with the duramax option even though I’m not a big diesel guy
And Mary was $23 million dollars last year. 😂 She should be kicked to the curb.
For the amount of money makes she should embarassed to take it. Maybe donate some to chip manufacturer.
I just paid $5,000.00 to replace leftside lifters in my 2016 sierra. Five years and three months old, 93,000 miles.
Pursuing Marty’s of Kingston where I purchased vehicle brand new with 5 year 100,000 mile warranty.
I had brought vehicle in at 1,000 miles complaining about vibrations and growling caused by left side lifters.
Marty’s said that I was three months outside my warranty when lifters failed,
they will not honor warranty.
When they told you the price of fixing half the problem you should of took it to knowledgeable independent tech and fixed the problem permanently.
You got sold a 5 large band-aid.
I’ve got a pre-AFM / DFM Sierra. I’ve been waitin, waiting, waiting until it was “Safe” to buy a new Chevy truck.
Looks like I’ll be driving it till I die.
The question is… Will they have the parts to do the repairs? Will those with (now) used vehicles be at the top of the list OR the bottom? So … Dealer 1st or Customer ? I’m betting on customer Dead Last.
This issue or issues very similar to this has been going on for a long, long time. We had brand new 2006 Impala SS that used AFM. Took excellent care of it, oil and filter changes all on time. And after only 35K miles started to have oil use issues. And spark plug fouling about 20K miles later.The dealer provided what they thought was going on, a several page GM TSB (service bulletin)that spelled out a number of things that could cause it, but mainly “nicked” valve stems that could be caused by a lack of lubrication when AFM was active. The TSB indicated changing heads would repair it, along with a newly modified oil pan, and an oil check valve of some kind. But GM would not cover the TSB repair in a passenger car. Only Chevy or GMC pickups. Crazy!
But Fords pickups have cam-phaser issues that continue to plauge their engines, and RAM has transmission and rear end issues.
Pick your truck, and pick your problems!
GM has ignored these engines for a while. Just not as many value-added updates, and far too many changes that compromise the design. The 5.3L has been needing a power boost for a while, but instead it gets really shoddy, expensive, and unreliable add-ons that save a small amount of fuel but guarantees a very expensive repair before 100,000 miles.
They took what was one of the most reliable engine lineups in the world in 1998-2006….and completely ruined it.
Engine durability is no longer a selling point of GM trucks…and that’s a real shame.
Finally!
To many owners trading them in for Rams?
RAM has it’s own share of MDS failure (their version of AFM). Google Hemi tick. Pop in on some forums. They love AFM/DFM/MDS just as much.
I currently purchased a 2021 chevy silverado crew cab WT,5.3 gas motor,
Purchased date was august 2021,
How could i tell if my truck falls in the valve lifter defect??
You will know it when you hear it.
Push the blue on-star button.
I have 2018 sierra,6.2 11,ooo miles,cam and lifters ,, 24,000 , reman engine,same lifter problems,,,don’t they ever learn??????
Same can be said for you.
Stop buying these trucks and GM will either have to wise up. Or file chapter 7
Lmfao I have a 2019 Silverado and this just happened in July at 91,000 kms truck was in for 9 weeks as global shortage of head gaskets. Still have issues. 4 new truck since 2014. Where to turn? What to buy next?
This is accurate. I was without my 2021 Sierra for a month due to collapsed lifters and the head gasket shortage.
If you want a good reliable and affordable truck then get a 2000s GM truck.
There are still plenty of them around with under 70,000 miles on them.
My buddy who lives in the northwoods of WI. said a tech told him that these repairs were being done with parts sourced from NAPA.