Doublebase

Interesting to hear that the starters are still on back order, this summer when my 2018 starter took a dump, local part stores couldn’t get them.

Mine is not showing a lot of misfires either, have your friend look at the fuel trim adaptives , both long and short term adaptives. Mine was reading -25. That tells me I have an injector probably leaking a bit and the computer is trying to compensate by taking away fuel. I also turn on the fuel economy portion of the digital readout on the dash and I can see the fuel economy gauge kind of going up, then down...like the computer is trying to correct it. I really need to keep an eye on this, I don't smell fuel, which is a good thing...and I've pulled my oil dipstick, it doesn't smell like fuel but then again maybe it does? I can't really tell - I do think it's strange that I'm at 5,000 miles of my interval and I'm still at the "full" mark. That never happens, I always use some oil between changes and have to add. Not this time. Makes me wonder if I have fuel in there. I might change my oil today and track it.

From everything I've been reading it sounds like an injector. I'm having a similar situation going with cylinder number 5. Not as bad as yours yet, but I'm getting a slight misfire occasionally when going up a hill on the highway. Only one check engine light so far, it cleared up on it's own in minutes. The light flashed. Came on. Then went out, but I did feel the misfire. I have hooked the scan tool up and see a misfire her... a misfire there on every cylinder on occasion. Looks pretty normal. But twice the cylinder five acted up when on the highway (going up a hill, giving it some gas, etc). 7 misfires once, then 14 the second time. Fuel trim was in the negative...-24 long term fuel trim. That was checking it after five miles of driving, cold start, probably 20 degrees outside. I wish I had checked it when it warmed up but I was too busy watching the misfire counter. Pulled the spark plug, it looked great. Moved the coil to another plug. Still got some misfire hits on cylinder 5. But if you are getting the rough idle upon start up...from what I've read that's a sign of the injector. I'm going to try to run super through it for a few weeks...maybe put a fuel additive in it. Don't think it will help. Cylinder 5 is right under where the PVC valve dumps into the intake. I run a catch can...part of me thinks the cold weather is dumping liquid vapor right into cylinder 5, but I doubt that too. I have 45,000 miles on my 2018 Silverado 5.3 - not real happy to be honest - expected much more from this vehicle than this. This thing is babied and well well cared for. I'll see how it goes. I'll try to live with it until it gets worse...and who knows? Maybe it won't get worse, but from what I've been reading, these injectors are the real story behind these engines...probably more so than the AFM failures and torque converters. Doesn't look like too bad of a job to do, but when you're in there you might as well do all 8 injectors...what's that going to cost? $480? $600?

Wow, that looks pretty bad. Only 78k miles? I've seen some other pictures on here and they look bad too. I do 5,00 mile oil changes too...and run a catch can. When I reach 70k miles I'm planning on pulling the intake off and doing a manual cleaning...wondering how it'll look (not sure how much help the catch can is actually giving).

Personally I'd just change it out under the severe service interval or less (I'm a little anal and did mine at 26K miles and I drive that much in a year, so I'll just do it every year). But for all of the gloom and doom around here we hardly ever hear about rear end failures or transfer case failures...so that should tell you something...in the world of "these trucks are bad", you don't hear about these components failing. And you know there are people on here who beat the ever living tar out of these things.

Well, i dropped my pan and changed the filter at 40,000 miles...cleaned the magnet. To my surprise the thing actually seems to be shifting a little smoother now (probably my imagination). I'll just do simple drain and fills from here on out, once a year or so. Magnet was fairly "clean", filter looked "good". If you ever change your filter, do yourself a favor...leave the little filter gasket in the transmission and don't try to replace it...it's a royal pain to get the old one out.

Yeah and mine still does it, I'm at 42,000 miles now. No change, no big deal I guess.

I mean, there are some people that actually prefer it, I wouldn't worry about it too much at all. I've considered going to the 5W30 when my warranty is up. Tell you what you could do if you're really that concerned...drain 3 quarts or so and fill it up with 0W20. Good for 5,000 miles, easy. IMO

I've driven both the 4.3 and 5.3...I currently own a 5.3. I think there is a noticeable difference in power between the two in everyday driving scenarios...passing, flooring it, pulling out onto the highway. The 5.3 has more "pep" and it just feels more "snappy". I've read many posts on this thread alluding to "slug", when describing the 4.3...I understand what they are saying when compared to the 5.3, but I don't agree when compared to other vehicles in normal driving situations. I think the 4.3 is fine. I think it is "capable" for everyday driving situations, maybe not as snappy and peppy as the 5.3 in passing situations, or situations where you're towing, but I think the 4.3 is fine. I also think the 4.3 feels much smoother when driving/shifting. I was actually shocked comparing the V6 to the V8 in terms of shifting/V4 engagement and overall driving smoothness. I'm averaging 24.5 mpg in my double cab 5.3 4x4 V8...that's pretty damn good, but I imagine I could do even better with the V6 (and enjoy the everyday smoothness of that power plant). But I definitely think the 5.3 has more power - I can feel it - it is useful at times, but not needed in my daily 80 mile round trip commute. In hindsight I probably should have went with the 4.3 - I don't tow, I don't drive "fast" and I don't need the power. But the 5.3 is impressive and fuel efficient, nonetheless.

While I agree with most of this, one thing I do worry about is my transmission because of the AFM (specifically the torque converter clutch and premature wear). I'm at 40,000 miles now with my truck, my lifetime average in the truck is 24.5 and if it weren't for having to drive through four months of cold winter every year it'd be probably close to 26. I'm easy on the gas pedal, coasting is my friend, I'm probably in cruise control 50% of my yearly 26,000 mile commute...but I am having a problem keeping this thing from shifting too much. I have experienced the shudder going up a hill twice now - so I do understand when it might happen and how to avoid it - so that's not my issue. I'm not annoyed by the occasional harsh shift, an occasional clunk, an occasional shudder up a hill once in a blue moon...I'm more concerned about wear and tear. And it's not a tranny temp thing...my tranny probably spends 3/4's of the year at 180-185 degrees. It's the constant shifting, converter lockup, converter release. I worry my clutch materials are going to wear away too quickly and I'll be putting a transmission in this thing by 120,000 miles or sooner. Maybe I have nothing to worry about? I mean, how much are these trannies anyway? How much will they be 5 years from now? Probably not that much...probably only a 3-4 hour job. But it'd not an ideal situation and something I'd like to avoid. I did a simple drain and fill at 25,000 miles....fluid looked fine. I'll be doing a pan drop and filter replace at 50,000 miles. I'll be proactive with this thing the whole way (probably do simple drain and fills every 25,000). So it's not the lifters I'm worried about really, it's the transmission...and if that proves to be a non issue? Well then I have a full sized 4x4 truck with a V8 that I'm averaging almost 25 mpg in...my wife's 2008 Honda CRV is having trouble doing that. I'll take this truck over an Eco Boost any day of the week. I'd rather have the Silverado and not worry about timing chains, nightmare water pump replacements, turbo inter coolers, cam phasers, worse valve buildup, worse fuel economy.

That's the problem with these frames, unless you strip all of the GM frame wax off, paint, then apply some sort of corrosion inhibitor...it just isn't going to work. Everything else is just band aids. All you can really do is try to slow it down...do preventive maintenance...keep that metal covered in something...and do it frequently. I actually Fluid Film my truck twice a yea - - and even then it's not enough - I still do some touch ups when I do my oil changes...and believe me it needs it. There's always a little piece of bare metal exposed and I'll just cover it up with some white lithium grease (it seems to stick well and hold up). Just keep up with it, it's not a one time set it and forget it, thing, it takes some work. And that's true for ALL trucks...painted frames, rubberized coated, you name it...they all rust. It's just a matter of how much it bothers you and how much you're willing to slow the rust down. Right now my truck is only two years old...I'm still in love, but that will stop some day. I won't be so anal about treating that frame and believe me it will quickly rust. Good thing is, the frame has so much metal on it that in all honestly it will take probably 20 years to rust through to the point where you'll need repair (and you can repair these things professionally - a welding shop can handle probably 90% of these frames safely).

If you live in Nova Scotia and have no rust, whatever it is you're doing is working.

Yeah I’d put it back into 2wd for sure.

Yeah I use the seafoam or CRC and run it right through the catch can hose, don't know if it helps, kind of doubt it...but I always say when regarding truck maintenance...if it makes you feel good, do it. Plain and simple. There's a certain satisfaction in thinking that what you are doing is helping and I think that is important in long term car ownership...it keeps you going, it's pride of ownership. And sometimes it really does help in the long run.

The manifold is basically a vacuum cleaner, having said that, perhaps the grooves the oil was stuck in were deep enough to not be touched by the vacuum or turbulence of in rushing air? But you have 8 cylinders going down on the intake stroke creating vacuum, drawing in air from those runners. I mean when that throttle plate snaps shut, there's a pretty strong pull in that manifold going on...but then again you may be right if there was that much oil in there just pooling around.

I would think that most of the oil you saw in your intake was relatively fresh and often replenished whenever you used your car. When the engine is running there is a lot of vacuum and turbulence inside that manifold, wet oil should be sucked into the cylinders and burned. A product like Seafoam or CRC intake cleaner, is not designed to clean oil out of a manifold, but rather carbon deposits left by the oil and byproducts of combustion...and in all honesty I don't think it's even doing much of that (if anything at all). Carbon deposits and varnish need continuous application of a solvent to remove deposits. A one time application every 5,000-10,000 miles is not going to do much of anything. But yet I still do it...probably because I like to fool myself that it's doing something (it makes me feel good, lol). In all honesty, some carbon deposits are very hard to remove and require much more than a solvent - usually carbon needs to be sand blasted or scraped off of a surface - the only cleaner I've seen remove carbon is the types used in dunk tanks, and it's very caustic. You place the part into an agitator filled with a corrosive cleaner, close the lid and let the machine agitate the fluid/part for 30-40 minutes. Nasty stuff.

I feel for people that suffer the collapsed lifter on both the Ram and Silverado/Sierra, it could happen to me some day, but for all of us with failures...I hate to break this to you/us, it's not all that common. They have sold nearly 3,000 million of these things since 2014. There literally is millions of these engines and these systems driving up and down the highway in GM vehicles every single day...most not having any issues...most not even knowing other people have had issues. I work in the trade, we see these trucks quite frequently...I have only seen one with a failed lifter and it was a 2010 older DOD engine. That truck now has over 200,000 miles on it and is driven to absolute death on a daily basis. I have seen oil consumption in the 2014-2018's, in fact I see it in every single one that comes in - some a little, some a lot - but I see it in every single one we service. Just this week five of them came in for oil changes, all five were at least a quart low (6,000 mile intervals) and one had nothing on that dipstick. What i tend to see in these trucks is the following... Leaking Condensers Leaking radiators Actuator stuck in 4wd Oil consumption Starter motor failure I can't stress it enough...the AC condenser failure is so frequent that I'm a bit shocked. It's become kind of a running joke...truck comes in for service...we joke...order a condenser. (And I own a 2018, so the joke is usually pointed at me). But if the AFM does fail?? We aren't talking the end of the world here. I cracked my tooth eating lunch six months ago...I guarantee that tooth cost me more than what people can fix these thing for at an independent service station. Break a tooth and get yourself a crown...walk out that door an hour later and you're $1,800 lighter in your pocket. And if that doesn't convince you that AFM failure will not be the end of your world or your truck's life, check this out. Two and a half years ago I bought a mountain bike, I spent $2,300 on this bike (on Black Friday clearance). Since I've owned this bike I have spent $2,800 in repairs and maintenance. Two months in the rear hub broke - they covered it under warranty - then it broke again...they wouldn't cover it. I was told it would just keep breaking because it was a low quality hub...a $2,300 dollar bike with Walmart quality hubs. So I had to buy a new hub...it was $150, but to install it would cost me another $200 because it needed to be laced into the rim. So I went out and spent $450 on a new rim and hub instead. Then I needed a new cassette (another $120). Then the front fork blew out - that was $750 installed. Then the rear derailleur grenades - that was $120. I needed a couple new tires - that was $220. Then the suspension pivots eventually wore out - that was $150. Then the bottom bracket wore out - that was $50 (good price actually). Three tuneups in 3 years was $300. Brake pads, wheel trues and pedals, another $300. I've had to replace the grips several times...another $50. Oh and my chain has been replaced three times and my front sprocket...add another $200. I bought snow tires ($240). Oh, and I needed a surprise tuneup because the cable stretched...cable and tuneup $130. I know there's more, I just can't even remember all of it. And this is for a bike^^^^. If i have to spend $1,000 in parts for a total AFM rebuild kit, I'm good. I can install it myself...I can't however work on my bike (which really sucks). And believe me I've tried - I don't have the tools and I don't have the patience. It's an art. But don't get me wrong, I don't want my AFM to break - when it does I'll probably come on here and complain about it - but then hopefully I'll settle down and fix it. I average almost 26 mpg in a full sized 4x4 truck. We can't get that mileage out of my wife's Honda CRV.

Excellent! I love this stuff! The thing I love is that you drive it, you enjoy it and you document. Keep it up. The best thread I've ever seen (besides this one) was a Lexus GS350 thread, back when I owned a Lexus LS 460...the guy drove for work and he was meticulous with his ownership and maintenance. He eventually sold his GS with 300,000 plus and bought the LS460, but he didn't keep it long. Since the last time I checked in on this thread (less than a month ago) I've put 3,000 miles on my truck. I've done an oil change (Rotella Gas Truck 0w20 synthetic). It's my second oil change using this oil - the only reason I'm using it is it's price, it's rebates and it's solid reviews on bob's the oil guy. It has a very high moly content for a shelf brand oil - overall I'm happy with it - just received my rebate check yesterday for $20...so I spent $44 for two 5 quart jugs, and received $20 back...$24 for 10 quarts of synthetic is too good of a deal for me to pass up. I recently purchased Iron X to remove some of the rail rust on my paint, it really was starting to stand out out on the white. I never even knew such a thing existed, as I've always had darker colored cars. This product works amazing! The only problem is that the smell of it is so bad - I don't think I've smelled anything this bad in my life - the reviews mentioned it, but I just didn't believe it. But it just works...no clay baring, no scrubbing, the rust is gone in minutes. Keep up the good work, grumpy, love reading about pepper.

I'm in a similar boat as you with my truck...80 mile daily round trip commute, probably 60% highway, the rest country back roads. I easily average 25.5 for the week (500 miles) and when I fill up it often says 660 plus miles till empty. The thing that hurts my gas mileage is the colder weather (bellow 40 degrees) and the short errands on the weekends. Other than that the truck has been absolute magic since new (2018 with 35,000 miles now). I don't know if I'll commute forever in this thing, or eventually buy a commuter car, but for right now I'm loving it...sit higher up, comfortable, good gas mileage and I never have to worry about weather/snow/bad road conditions. But at the pace I'm going I'll have 280,000 miles when the thing is ten years old. So I'll have to make some decisions at some point.

Well I haven't read through this entire thread but I can tell you that at 33,000 miles, went out to my truck one day this summer and...one click, nothing, wouldn't start. Tried jumping it. Tried hitting the starter. Nothing. Had it towed to the dealer and of course it started right up! Dealer said that they were able to duplicate the problem and replaced the starter...haven't had a problem since. 2018 Silverado. Funny thing is, this all happened after a rain storm we had the night before, but there was no evidence of any water damage to any wires or anything.

I think the piece that the line attaches to at the manifold is an orifice. I believe it unscrews. At least it looks that way on the 5.3

I've actually had some good luck with a cheap Chinese can, plenty of baffling, does a nice job. These cheap brands - at least some of them - have done a nice job copying the better products. But yeah you won't get the bracket, you'll have to buy your own hose and clamps...not as nice as the expensive ones...not as big, no quick disconnects, etc. But they sure catch oil. I wonder if the ports are easier to get to on the 4.3, with the port being in the rear instead of the front?

There's no catch can for the 4.3? I always figured any catch can would work with 3/8's hose and a couple clamps. My thought on catch cans is this...they don't hurt anything as long as you empty them. And they probably help.

I see a lot of rusted rotors on a lot of different vehicles, especially the rears...pretty common for them to get pitted and then just corrode from the inside out. Nasty. As for the uneven pad wear, I agree with everyone else...caliper pins probably need a little attention. I find that the more you drive a vehicle, the less rust you get on the rotors...the pads will throw the moisture off a rotor when it rotates and the heat generated from braking will do the rest. A vehicle that sits is the worst thing. The people I see with the 80-100 mile daily highway commutes have the best looking brakes (but the worst looking windshields and paint up front).

Free oil changes till 40,000 miles? Where did you get that, because GM will only give you two "free" oil changes within the first two years? That's a great deal. personally I'm so OCD that I can't stand having them do it, did it once, don't think I'll go back for my second one. Plus I know they use cheap bulk oil (I worked in dealers for years). My dealer didn't no even want to do my oil change when it had 5,000 miles...they kept telling me it was too soon...that I needed to wait until my light went off or it hit 7,500 miles. I told them no, I want to do it now. I don't let it go past 5,000 miles...not with a direct injection engine.