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GM Releases GMC Sierra And Yukon 5.3L Engine Block Contamination Fix

General Motors has released a Customer Satisfaction Program for select units of the GMC Sierra 1500 and GMC Yukon due to an issue with contaminated engine blocks.

According to Customer Satisfaction Program N242455301, certain 2024 Sierra 1500 and 2024 Yukon units may have a condition where the engine block of the naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 L84 powerplant may be contaminated. To rectify this problem, certified General Motors technicians will be instructed to inspect affected vehicles and replace the engine as necessary. Notably, this should take GM techs a little less than 20 hours to perform, depending on the exact drivetrain configuration.

It’s worth noting that it’s currently unclear how many units are affected by this engine block contamination issue. However, dealerships have a list of VINs, while affected units can’t be sold until the fix is applied. In fact, affected examples have been under a Stop Delivery order since June 13th, 2024.

Some GMC Sierra and Yukon units will require an engine block contamination fix. Shown here is a front three-quarters view of the GMC Yukon AT4.

As a reminder, the 5.3L L84, rated at 355 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque, is one of two available V8 powerplants offered on the Sierra 1500 and Yukon. The naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 L87, rated at 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque, stands as the most powerful engine across the two Big Red brand vehicles. Meanwhile, the 3.0L I6 LZ0 turbodiesel Duramax engine, rated at 305 horsepower and 495 pound-feet of torque, is currently offered for the 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 and will become available on the refreshed 2025 Yukon.

The turbocharged 2.7L I4 LB3 gasoline TurboMax engine, rated at 310 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque, is not offered the Yukon and currently stands as the entry-level powerplant for the GMC Sierra 1500.

Rear-three-quarter view of GMC Sierra 1500.

Under the body panels, the Sierra 1500 and Yukon both ride on their own variant of the GM T1 platform. Meanwhile, production of the light-duty Sierra takes place at the GM Fort Wayne plant in Indiana, and the GM Silao plant in Mexico, while the Yukon is produced at the GM Arlington plant in Texas.

Be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for  GMC Sierra news, GMC Yukon newsGMC news, GM quality newsGM business, and more obsessive-compulsive GM news coverage.

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As a typical Florida Man, Trey is a certified GM nutjob who's obsessed with anything and everything Corvette-related.

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Comments

  1. In the last few years… major engine issues
    1. Bad lifters from Mahele (sp?)
    2. Bad crankshaft bearings
    3. Incorrectly machined lifter bores
    4. Block contamination

    Is that all?

    All leading to catastrophic engine failures… since when can gm not build a small block V8?

    Reply
  2. Good grief! When is Chevrolet going to get their act together?

    First, Lifters and Push Rod Failures in the 6.2 Liter, followed by Improper Rear Main Bearings in the 6.2 causing engine seizures, and now block contamination, (perhaps casting sand?), in the 5.3 Liter.

    ‘T’won’t be long before access panels, (opening automatically in the High Countrys, of course!), in the floor pans at all seats will be installed to allow drivers and passengers to “drive” the vehicles “Freddy Flintstone” style!

    What a joke! All of this is probably the result the new DEI and ESG crap!

    Mary really ought to be ashamed of her self!

    Montana Bob

    Reply
  3. Quality control has gone down the tubes with all manufacturers. Obviously this should never happen. So easy to fix. Step up GM and be a quality advocate for the industry.

    Reply
  4. Another UNFAIR advantage of the electric vehicles…

    UNFAIR since it shouldn’t BE an advantage, but an EV buyer doesn’t have to put up with crappy automatics, unreliable CVTs,
    seized engines, and then when trying to get a warranty repair – having it be extremely delayed since GM has no parts available for all the failures.

    Reply
  5. Well ain’t that something. GM finally admitting to selling crap. What about the 100’s of thousands of transmissions that have failed under 100,000 miles to the tune of almost $8000 to replace. Or the $3000 HVAC system replacement due to poor design. Or the ghost living in the information center that changes your radio station on its own. GM has a real problem with the 2015 Suburban, Yukon XL, Tahoe, Yukon, Silverado, and Sierra. Doesn’t matter what powertrain package you have they all experience the same failures. Other automakers have figured out that if you provide a quality product you repeat customers. GM should issued a recall on the these items but GM doesn’t care enough about their clients to provide them with a quality product. It is really sad!

    Reply
    1. 100’s of thousands of failures? Yeah, that has zero truth to it. If a recall was to be issued, there would be a failure rate between 3-5%, so not being anywhere near that there are way fewer failures than the false info you want to spew. Most (if you do the math around 97%+) have no major problems. So they don’t sell crap, far from it. They have delt with some 3rd party manufacturer issues, but they eventually catch it and fix those. Every brand has issues like that, especially as things get more complicated and precise with tighter tolerances. Maybe the machine head wore out a hair too quickly causing that 1/1000th of a inch change to out of tolerance, you just never know. Toyota, has had issues, Ford and Dodge keep having issues, they all do. GM is still towards the top in mechanical reliability; but you keep trolling with false info and how you know a person who knows a person who’s had XX amount of failures…

      Reply
      1. Well, that is a slight point…. GM looks good compared to FORD , HYUNDAI/KIA, and SPRINTER.

        Reply
      2. I am curious as to what engine issues Ford has? Havent seen one of those in a long time.

        Reply
        1. The biggest joke from FORD as far as I’m concerned has been that 1,000 cc ‘Internationally the most awarded engine’ with something like 170 awards by self-appointed know-nothings.
          The double overhead camshafts are run by a ‘In-Oil’ timing belt that looks to me very meager seeing as the work it has to do , which delaminates at 45,000 miles for basically a $2-3,000 overhaul.

          The small car GM engine (3 cyl, turbo, 1,500 psi fuel injection) seems very similar to this engine, and states the first oil change should be at 7,500 miles, along with a changeout at 150,000 miles.

          Since the powertrain warranty is only good for 60,000 miles, I wonder just how long toward that first maintenance changeout will be… All that crap in the oil at 7,500 miles what with a precision turbo is also just asking for trouble. I’d change the oil for the first 2 times at 2,000, 3,000 and then 5,000 mile intervals after that.

          All you have to do is watch the oil analysis videos on YT to know that a 7,500 mile wait for the INITIAL oil change is laughable.

          Reply
  6. Man, you got to love had bad this is getting. I bought a 2023 GMC Denali Ultimate. Loved it until the engine failed and left us stranded in the mountains at 7k miles. I lemon lawed the vehicle and bought a 2024 GMC Denali Ultimate as I did not want a new vehicle that had been messed with outside of the factory. I made 6k miles before that engine failed. They replaced the engine last month. It lasted 1k miles and now it’s in the shop waiting for another engine. That’s three 6.2 engines for me in two years! I’m done.

    Reply
    1. I have to admit this is an amazing story lol

      I don’t think anyone would blame you for being done. People may think that luck doesn’t exist but it does. Sometimes a person just doesn’t have good luck with a particular brand but exceptional luck with another. It happens and there is no point in fighting lol.

      Reply
      1. Yes, I really like the GM products, just can’t believe my luck on this. I would be stupid to try yet another GM truck at this point. Sad, I just don’t like anything else as much.

        Reply
        1. You can get an HD. A used 6.0L L96…

          Reply
      2. It can also be user operation or a lemon.

        Reply
    2. The build dates of the faulty engines were likely in 2023…..
      Wait until MY27.

      Reply
  7. All under Mary’s watch This is why she gets the big bucks ..

    Reply
  8. This is reminding me of Toyota tundra engine

    Reply
  9. This is absolutely crazy. I’ve always been a fan of the GMC Sierra and Denali.. And I finally got one 2019 GMC Sierra set. 5.3 RW. For my work truck because 1 it looks great with my logo on a good looking truck and they are comfortable and surprisingly get good gas mileage (depending how you drive it). 1 year in and I start getting shuddering in the transmission along with wierd shifting and some hard shifting both up and down. Starting doing my research as I always do come to find out.There is two big class action lawsuits against gm for both 8L90 and 6L transmission supposedly being built and released with the wrong/incorrect ATF Fluid. Finally after digging deep and ready to get rid of it. I was told to do a transmission exchange (not flush) mind you I just hit 89k. With 10qts of Mobil 1 Syn. LV ATF HP. Along with gen acdelco Gasket & Sump Filter. Also this is sold as a kit which I bought and spoke with the gentleman and says he has sold hundreds and hundreds of these because of this exact problem. So I just did it 2 days ago and I can say it has been a tremendous difference. I have not had a shudder once nor a mis-shift. I did have one kinda hard down shift, but not sure if it was because of the traffic I was in or what. But I can say so far it has worked. I’m just astonished that after all these years, So many problems as ridiculous as this are happening. I’m still
    Not Is sure if I should just go ahead and get rid of it and cut my losses now. Because no manufacturers going to do anything about it. Being a 2019 with 90k. And Iam a mechanic by hobby. So iam not clueless. But Let me.
    Tell you it was a pain even changing the A.T.F. We couldn’t even get the pan completely out from underneath The tranny from the exhaust , or else you have Loosen the collectors and pray that Everything stays in place or prepare to possibly replace the donuts. There was a Bunch of silver shavings all over the 2 magnets in the bottom pan. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️. Not sure what else to do. Hope this helps someone people. And if anyone has any helpful info for me Iam all ears.

    Reply
    1. So if you would have done what is generally considered “normal” maintenance and changed the fluid and filter every ~50K miles you would have never had an issue right?

      Reply
  10. Well not from my understanding and what I’ve researched if you were to read an research the articles and lawsuits that are going on it is exactly the same issues iam having.. Also since I bought it Certified pre-owned. I would’ve thought it had already been serviced, but apparently not. Because I maintained all my vehicles properly. And considering these are a sealed unit. It is not the most easiest thing to do for most people. So there is no telling weather it would’ve done the same or not. Point is that it’s has already been stated that the wrong ATF was used. But I never new about it till i actually started having problems and researched it.

    Reply
  11. My family has bought GM products for years but I’m seriously thinking of changing. The primary reason is quality in the product, and a failure to support and address the problem issues.

    Reply

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