frankycjr

What is : GM Smart Care plan issued, extending warranty on listed engine components to Did you have to pay for it or did GM add that in ?? If Gm added that I need to talk to me dealer

GM did not want to replace Piston and Rings at first with my vehicle, I aksed the service manager to go back to district manager and explain to them that since they were partially tearing down my engine anyways and that I wanted to minimize the number of times the engine was taken apart that I was requesting everything to be done at one time. I also insisted that it was a known fact that the piston and rings would need to be changed and that a cleaning with fluid sitting at the top of the piston was just a waste of time. I had to wait a few weeks but they finally came to their senses and agreed to do it the correct way. I was ready to call GM corporate myself and fiel BBB complaints if they did not do eveyrthing at one time. I'm lucky in that the dealer I go to does do very good work, but not everyone is so lucky. in the end if you can get them to do it all at once you'll be much better off for it. I also changed filter and oil after about the first 500 miles jsut to make sure no metal pieces would get circulated through.

I'm not sure I can say it's completely fixed yet, since I've only put a small amount of miles on the engine so far. I will say my dealer was very helpful in getting GM to approve to do ALL the fixes at one time and not piece meal it. I also need to change the plugs as well since they were dirty. The dealer did clean them, but I want new.

It's been a while since I updated my status. I've had new lifters, pistons, rings, valve cover and umbrella installed on my 09 Crew Cab. I've since put about 6000 miles on the engine. the oil was down one dimple on the dipstick. Now since this is regular oil it may be normal usage not sure. I plan on switching over to Mobil 1 in the next few days and will monitor things from there. I will also not that my MPG went from around 14.5 to about 16 . I'll have a much better reading on that once we hit summer and I don;t have the truck warming up all the time.

I've put about 4k miles on it so far, not a drop of oil burned, my MPG is at around 15.5 according to the DIC and I've calculated closer to 16MPG by hand as I track how muhc gas I pump into the truck. It did take lots of time to get GM to do the right thing. The truck runs great now, now I just need to replace a lower tranny line and a lower oil cooler line as they are both seeping fluid

I received a copy of the work slip, and noticed a few things of note. One was that along with the new valve cover they also installed an oil regulator cover along with the oil pan deflector. All my spark plugs did have some oil film on them, the dealer cleaned them and did not replace them, I wish they had replaced them since I will do it myself now. After about a tank and half of gas my MPG has increased from 13.6 to about 15.7 according to the DIC. I'll have real number on my next fillup. I expect to be doing an oil change this week just to be sure that any metal shavings and assembly lube are removed from the engine. All in all very happy so far with the engine.

Go my truck back yesterday. The Service manager agreed with me about changing the oil after about 500 miles to make sure any metal shavings are taken out of the system. He suggested switching to synthetic at around 5000 miles to allow everything to break in properly. So far the truck is running better than ever. There were some minor drive ability issues that were corrected with the new valve cover and cleaning of the intake. When stopping completely there was a slight engine racing condition that is gone, when taking left turn from climbing a hill there was a dead spot when I went to apply the gas pedal that is gone. Climbing hills there was a condition where the engine had a slight sputter that you could feel, that is no longer there. Overall I am very happy with what the dealer has done and the way it is driving. All the gauges are reading nice and normal with nothing spiking. I am considering changing the plugs, but have not decided yet on that. Any one used the Bosch Platinum plugs with the 4 prong open design ?? If so did you notice any increase in gas mileage ? I don't have the paperwork from the dealer yet that details all the work, but will have it by Friday.

Should be getting back my truck today. Looking forward to taking it for a nice drive. I'll send out updates as I get some miles on the truck

I always make them give me a similar truck to mine to drive when they have mine in the shop. I've considered turning off the AFM, but will probably wait until Warranty has expired first. Enjoy the ride on the bike

My truck goes in Monday to get everything done. Hopefully I have back by Friday, but I want it done right more than having it back quickly

I'm getting about the same MPG with my 5.3 right now, I'm really hoping with the fixes for the oil burn problem my MPG goes up. My 1999 Silverado ext cab got 15MPG on average for the 13 years I owned it and that also had the 5.3 engine, but only a 4spd tranny and 3.73 gears in the rear. I may have to bite the bullet and get 17" rims and run a narrower tire to get my MPG back, and get better snow traction as well.

That's a good point @Wolfmanjohn, so I'll still change the oil after 1000 miles, I'll just use conventional oil and ask the dealership when I can make the switch to Synthetic. What kind of MPG's do you get with your truck, mine is almost exactly the same except that it has the chrome clad 22" rims

Just heard back from my Service Manager at the dealership, and GM is going to pay for the replacement of the piston and rings as well. They are ordering the parts and will have me drop the truck off once they all have arrived. It's taken a while, but the dealership did a great job in diagnosing the problem and getting GM's buy in to do things right the first time. Once I get the truck back I'll run it for about 1000 miles and switch it over to Synthetic. I'm hoping my MPG goes up as well.

I have seen this document. In my case GM is replacing the lifters so the engine is being torn down anyways. On top of that, putting a cleaning solution on the top of the pistons is not going to clean the oil control rings. The first 2 rings should keep 90% of the cleaning fluid on top of the piston. I prefer for this to be done right, and the right way is to replace the piston and rings with the other fixes so that the issue is completely resolved. Plus how does the oil being consumed and burned affect the fuel injectors, O2 sensors, spark plugs and catalytic converters ?

@service1956 which TSB do the dealers now have and what are they required to do ??I'm still waiting to hear back from the Service Manager whether GM has agreed to replace the piston and rings as I have demanded, in a nice way Can you provide a copy of the TSB or the TSB number ? Thanks Frank