2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 engine failure

docsol · November 1, 2016

Here is the scenario. 2014 Silverado 1500 with 99,000 +/- miles on it taken to the dealer. Code shows oil pump. Mechanic takes the oil pan off and sees a lot of metal. Technician tears the engine down and GM denies warranty claim stating the Vacuum pump disintegrated and that led to the engine failure. Vacuum pump was only warrantied to 36,000 miles. I'm no a mechanic, but how in the world can a vacuum pump cause an engine to fail?? Thoughts?

newdude · November 1, 2016

Engine oil does lubricate the vacuum pump. If the pump let go, it could have started pumping metal debris back into the oil/lubrication system thus taking out the oil pump. The vacuum pump is bolted right to the driver's side of the engine block where it receives it's feed of engine oil.

We've seen trucks with bad vac. pumps. They sound like a bad lifter tick when they start making noise, and they can start to pump engine oil into the brake booster lines from the vac. pump.

If the tech had a sharp pencil, he could have tried to right that up as the oil pump failed, and then as a result of the pump failing, took out the vac. pump. GM might have still shot that down as well though. Unfortunately, its too late to sharpen that pencil up.

Might not hurt to contact GM customer assistance and see if they can get a case opened and possibly lead to splitting repair costs with you seeing as a part that is lubricated by the powertrain (which the powertrain is still under warranty) took out the warrantied powertrain item.

O_J_Simpson · November 1, 2016

You skipped the most important step in major warranty claims. Always slip the tech a bottle of Crown before the tear down. Good things will happen on that $30 investment.

MikeNH · November 1, 2016

That's such crap. Start contacting the customer service and complain on their social media pages, that sort of thing usually helps reach the right people. I'd be livid if they tried to back out of a warranty claim on something that is clearly on them.

Haus_Z71 · November 2, 2016

That's such crap. Start contacting the customer service and complain on their social media pages, that sort of thing usually helps reach the right people. I'd be livid if they tried to back out of a warranty claim on something that is clearly on them.

I check in to GMC's Facebook page quite often. A lot of people would complain there and a rep would reach out to them. However, very recently they just turned off visitor comments! You can no longer leave any comment there. I'm

Nathan79 · November 2, 2016

Write a letter to the CEO. That's crazy.

GMC2015 · November 2, 2016

WOW! That's just messed up. So what's the point of the engine warranty if my vacuum pump fails past 36,000 miles? Please tell me you aren't accepting this at all...

BigBadSierra · November 2, 2016

I would be filing a claim with GM and fighting this one.

docsol · November 2, 2016

Thanks all for the feedback. Issue isn't dead.

KUUG · January 31, 2017

Did you get your issue resolved? What motor do you have?

I took mine in last week, 2014 5.3 with 73,XXX miles. Same exact issue, they said it was a couple other things and then ended up finding out it was in fact the oil pump. They dropped the pan today and found shavings. GM has approve to tear into the motor; I was told that they will be rebuilding the motor and possibly getting a new block. Just got the news today so we will see what they find.

docsol · January 31, 2017

Did you get your issue resolved? What motor do you have?

I took mine in last week, 2014 5.3 with 73,XXX miles. Same exact issue, they said it was a couple other things and then ended up finding out it was in fact the oil pump. They dropped the pan today and found shavings. GM has approve to tear into the motor; I was told that they will be rebuilding the motor and possibly getting a new block. Just got the news today so we will see what they find.

Same year and engine as yours. GM denied the warranty but they have a "Customer Assistance" program they offered and replaced the motor. I had to pay some cash which was about the same as what I was going to shell out for a 100,000 mile service. All in all I was satisfied.

Sierra 5.3 · January 31, 2017

I check in to GMC's Facebook page quite often. A lot of people would complain there and a rep would reach out to them. However, very recently they just turned off visitor comments! You can no longer leave any comment there. I'm

Tag them in posts. Use Twitter and any other social media. The more media presence you get the more inclined they are to stop the compliant and fix it.

15_silverado · February 1, 2017

Others have said the vacuum pump is only needed when the truck is in V4 mode to compensate for the lack of vacuum needed for the brake booster when in V4 mode.

If you have AFM tuned out; running in V8 mode all the time, you can safely delete the vacuum pump.

Well with seeing all this BS I would like to delete the vacuum pump.

Questions,

Does the pump run all the time regardless of what mode your in; V4 or V8?

If it's only active/running in V4 mode, and you had AFM disabled; running V8 all the time, would you be in no risk of the pump being able to grenade and cause debri going into the engine oil, causing engine failure?

Or could the pump still grenade even if you were running in V8 mode all the time?

If so, what is necessary to delete the pump? Are there already vacuum lines in place for running in V8 mode?

docsol · February 1, 2017

Others have said the vacuum pump is only needed when the truck is in V4 mode to compensate for the lack of vacuum needed for the brake booster when in V4 mode.

If you have AFM tuned out; running in V8 mode all the time, you can safely delete the vacuum pump.

Well with seeing all this BS I would like to delete the vacuum pump.

Questions,

Does the pump run all the time regardless of what mode your in; V4 or V8?

If it's only active/running in V4 mode, and you had AFM disabled; running V8 all the time, would you be in no risk of the pump being able to grenade and cause debri going into the engine oil, causing engine failure?

Or could the pump still grenade even if you were running in V8 mode all the time?

If so, what is necessary to delete the pump? Are there already vacuum lines in place for running in V8 mode?

The pump runs all the time. I had a gander at the pump when the mechanic tore it down. There is what appears to be a part that looks like a large tongue depressor (don't know how else to describe it) that spins inside the housing. In my case, it appeared that the spinning object ate away the inside of the housing resulting in metal shavings being deposited in the oil.

newdude · February 1, 2017

Others have said the vacuum pump is only needed when the truck is in V4 mode to compensate for the lack of vacuum needed for the brake booster when in V4 mode.

If you have AFM tuned out; running in V8 mode all the time, you can safely delete the vacuum pump.

Well with seeing all this BS I would like to delete the vacuum pump.

Questions,

Does the pump run all the time regardless of what mode your in; V4 or V8?

If it's only active/running in V4 mode, and you had AFM disabled; running V8 all the time, would you be in no risk of the pump being able to grenade and cause debri going into the engine oil, causing engine failure?

Or could the pump still grenade even if you were running in V8 mode all the time?

If so, what is necessary to delete the pump? Are there already vacuum lines in place for running in V8 mode?

Its bolted to the engine block and has oil fed to it. Not exactly easy to delete. Pump could fail V4 or V8 as its running all the time and is driven off of its own belt via the crankshaft.