Jay Ratliff

Yes, always remove the fill plug first, for this reason.

315k miles, on my 2nd battery.

I'm at 315k miles on my L83, dod/afm still operable. It "uses" about 1.5-2qts per 5k miles. I use Valvoline 5w30. I top it off at 2,500 miles between changes I had to replace the valve cover gaskets a while back, the passenger side was leaking and soaked the starter.

I run an auxiliary cooler on mine. I installed it under the cab, in the return line to the trans, and it has a fan on it that runs constantly. I also have the superior thermal delete installed. I rarely see trans temps go over 170 anymore (usually in summer stop and go traffic or towing). Most of the time they are 135-150 once all is at operating temp. In single digit ambient temps it takes a while to get much temp in it, but it will eventually get into the 120's. No issues, and over 120k miles on this transmission so far, original fluid to this unit still looks and smells new.

So my third radiator is leaking. These things aren't exactly easy to replace, and I'm sick of doing it. Does anyone make a good radiator to put in them, that won't start leaking in a year? Every one I've had ends up leaking where the tanks are crimped on. My current one has been leaking for a year now, I just fill it with water every couple of days, or couple hundred miles, whichever comes sooner. And I'm not buying cheap ones. Both of the replacements came from NAPA. I could warranty this one too, but am ready to spend more money if I can get a quality unit. Thanks

I had a '98 Silverado with the 4.3 in it. Traded it off when it had 268k miles on it and would have driven it anywhere without worry. Have a friend who had pretty much the same truck at the time, only his had the 5.7 in it. From a dig he couldn't put more than a truck length on me until I shifted into 3rd gear, then he'd start driving away. The 4.3 is, in my opinion, about the best pushrod v6 ever made.

All of them were under warranty to one extent or another. First under 100k mile extended warranty, they wanted to put a used one back in it but I paid the dealership the balance to put a crate unit in, which came with its own 100k mile GM warranty. That one got me to 187k miles before it crapped the bed. I offered to buy the billet converter myself but they wouldn't have it, said they had to do it GM's way or nothing at all. So I was stuck. So this trans has about 116k miles on it o far, but running it much cooler than the previous two so we'll see how long that lasts. I kind of thought the motor would be next and I'd deal with the transmission upgrades at that time, but it has yet to happen. But yeah, in Texas we don't get much salt on the roads so mine is still rust free. I've managed to keep it pretty nice for it's mileage too. Obviously, it sees a ton of hwy miles. I think it's been to about 31-32 states so far.

I generally wouldn't resurrect such an old thread, but I have to come back and brag a little bit. So from the above post, in the past year I have replaced the valve cover gaskets, they got bad enough that oil leaking from the passenger side soaked the starter. But I did find the driver side tick, it wasn't a lifter at all, but the plug on #1 had backed out. Of course it can't turn much with the wire on it, but it did just enough to sound like a tick on the compression stroke. Easy fix. Most recently did work-around on the dreaded P0420 and P0430 codes that have been intermittent for the last year or so, but constant since about October. Let's just say park plug anti-foulers worked magic, lol. So I got it passed emissions inspection yesterday. The guy inspecting it had to take a second look at the mileage, he thought it was 30k and change at first, then saw it was really 300k+. He was even more amazed that it is the original engine with DOD/AFM still active. Good oil changed often helps, I guess. I did go to 5w30 oil a few changes back. Oil pressure was a few psi lower than it had been all its life, now it's back up to where it used to be with the specified 0w20 and doing just fine. Even better that it's the same oil the LS3 in my Camaro uses, so easier to manage inventory in the garage. But I have decided my path forward. Next week I'm going to pick up an L83 pull-out with 50k miles on it and wrap it up in the shop. At the first sign of failure I'll swap it into the truck and then start the build on the one that in it now. I'm now more curious about how far I can get this one to go. Anyway, 302k miles and still going strong. She's nickle and diming me on bolt-on parts but the heart still beats strong.

She's over 275k miles. Oil pressure isn't bad, just not what it used to be. Very light tick at idle from around cylinder #1 for the last thousand miles or so, doesn't seem to be getting any worse, yet. It does it at operating temp after a run on the hwy when dod is cycling on and off. If I keep it in town town under 50mph it never does it. Needs valve cover gaskets, not a biggie. Up to about 80k miles on the current transmission (its 3rd), which is a GM reman'd unit with the dreaded OEM JMB converter. Previous converters failed at 97k and 187k. Radiator tank is weeping where it meets the core. And there's a few other little items to deal with as well. Time to show her some love, again. So here's what I'm thinking..... Yank the engine out and do a DOD delete with OEM grind cam and LS7 lifters, and all that's involved with that. Putting a new oil pump on it, GM or Melling. The motivation behind pulling the engine to do this is, besides it being easier to do the engine work itself, I'm planning on swapping out the torque converter with a billet unit. I probably won't take much to turn this into a full rebuild/refresh should the internals look sketchy in any way. And of course a tune at the end to disable DOD/AFM and a few other minor changes I want to make, but no real performance changes. Looking to keep it pretty much as-is, just freshen her up a bit. Anyway, anyone with experience on this endeavor please chime in with any advice or constructive criticism that's pertinent. Thanks

Now I'm not picking on anybody here. Who could have known, right? But I almost spit tea on my screen when I just read this response from 2013.

I have no experience pulling the engine/trans from these trucks, yet. Will be pulling mine before too long as it's getting close to yours on mileage, on my 3rd transmission. But I will offer this piece of advice....If the new(er) combo has the OEM converter I'd swap it out now. Nothing good will come from leaving it in there and it's a lot harder to do once it's all in the truck.

I'm doing all of the same research for my '18 L83 right now, for different reasons. It's why I clicked on the thread. My truck has a few more miles than yours, 275k in fact. Still on the OG engine with DOD/AFM and all. I love Valvoline. I have fought the transmission issue these trucks are plagued with, twice now. I'll just say this on that subject.....Get that converter out of there. Keeping the temp down should help, and even some good tuning, but eventually that converter will fail and take the transmission out. My first one went at 97k (in extended warranty, cost me $1,100 for a crate unit instead of LKQ), second one at 187k (in crate unit's warranty, tsb done at this time with the 145degree trans-stat). Within 1k miles on number 3 I deleted the stat and added an aux cooler with a fan on it under the truck. I rarely ever see my trans over 155 degrees anymore, usually runs around 130-140. I still want the oem converter out of it since it's getting up there where the others failed. But I digress. On the dod delete, I'm on the fence between BTR and Texas Speed on where to source the kit. Each being within about $50 of one another and reputable companies. Given the mileage on mine I'll be doing an oil pump, at least, and going thru the whole thing if something in the bottom end looks terrible. I am going to take the engine out on mine for the work, I also want to change the converter so it just makes sense. But I can certainly see the advantage of doing a simple cam swap/delete job while its in the truck. Although it's so much easier to work on out of the truck. So it's all preventive for me at this point too, it's just a race for me to get it done before inevitable happens. I'll be going back with an OEM grind cam myself. I did look at the numbers on a few stage 1&2's and just didn't see enough torque gain in a usable rpm range to justify the added costs involved for my needs. If I wanted it to go faster, then yes, but that's what my Camaro is for. Honestly, for money spent I'd bet a simple rear gear swap would be more practical for my use. But she's been a good truck so far, transmission issues aside, so I'll be showing her some love pretty soon.

I replaced my rear pads at about 100k when they were getting pretty thin. At 260k miles now, and will be doing all four rotors and pads this weekend. Fronts are still factory, I'm shocked they lived this long. Starting to get some vibration on braking and figured they're all due.

I took several blades out of mine a while back. The motor will have arms connected directly to some blades, the rest will be driven by arms from the primary drive blades. I removed all secondary blades, about half of them, leaving only those connected directly to the motor. I was experiencing slight temp spikes on the hwy, I guess the blades would cycle closed, temp would spike, then they'd cycle open to drop the temp. Got tired of seeing this happen, and it doesn't happen any more since the mod.

Update: Currently at 260k miles and counting.