wesd

I wouldn't even consider gas for this mission profile. Not for one second. In general, having had gas and diesel HD trucks, I wouldn't consider a gasser HD because in regular times the resale is terrible. Especially towing a 5th wheel, do you want to stop and get 30 gallons of gas every 200-250 miles? My 2500HD Duramax gets 11.5 MPG towing, down from 13 MPG since I went with bigger AT tires. I was lucky to get 7-8MPG when towing the same trailer (30' bumper pull) with my gas HD (2017 F250 6.2). I had to stop about every 3 hours, where now I can stop every 5 hours. Makes a big difference when traveling long distances. Never mind the constant shifting of the gas engine to stay in the power band.

Still have one for Cadillac?

Took a look and didn't see anything around it. Oil level looks fine. Drove around town today seems to be at 30 PSI when moving, hair over 20 at idle. I rarely get over 3000 RPMs

About 600 miles since last Wednesday. Took truck on a 6 hour road trip yesterday. Oil looks good, coolant level is good, no visible sign of leaks or anything thus far. Very satisfied with that. However, one thing looks off - oil pressure. When cold starting in AM (5w-30, full synthetic) goes straight to 40 PSI. When engine is warm, at idle it's just a hair over 20 PSI. Running down interstate at 1750 RPM (75 MPH), it's 25 PSI. All readings are per dash gauge. Seems to be smooth and running fine, but this is about half what it was when it was new. I noticed on hard acceleration the gauge does move up some, but not like it used to. Did not plug the AFM towers, outside of the o-rings on the new valley cover. Kept in place high-volume oil pump, and did no mods to the pressure relief valve. I put a new screen in the oil pressure sensor area, the old one was pristine. Also, I did replace the cam retainer plate with a new one. Anything I should be concerned about?

Finished. Fired right up, had a little valvetrain noise but let it idle about 10 minutes, then drove from my shop to my house (4 miles) and by the time I got home it was quiet again like it used to be. Good oil pressure, drove just fine. Was much smoother (idle wise) than it had been, but I also put in new plugs and cleaned the carbon from the cylinders. Exhaust manifolds were a pain to install until I put a jack under the crosspipe, and lifted it just a hair, then the bolts went right in.

Head cleaned up

Pic of timing mark

Cam, lifters in, and valley cover changed. Worst part was getting the VVT Cam phaser lined up with the timing marks on the crank, because I couldnt' see them with the oil pump being there, and I couldn't pull the oil pump without dropping the oil pan, and so on. So before I pulled the cam, I set cyl1 to TDC (and cyl6) as well - easy to verify without heads. Timing mark on the cam phaser was at 6 oclock. Removed phaser, then cam. Did not adjust crank, again verified easily with the pistons. Installed cam in block, phaser on, mark showed off one tooth. Adjusted one and it points down to 6 PM again. Buttoned back up and hopefully I got it right. Heads go back on next with manifolds and radiator and then will fire her up.

Interesting about the varnish but nothing I'm going to worry about. As long as it goes back together fine and runs for another 90,000 miles I'll be satisfied. Got notification that my ECM is on the way back from LT1Swap, so should be all done early next week.

Most was oil on there. I could wipe it clean with a rag. What's the shellac/varnish from? No damage to pushrod or lifter that I saw...Will take another look at it before reassembly. I couldn't tell if it was collapsed, because it seemed the same size as the other long ones. Here's the heads. The left head is bronzed, I assume from the PCV.

Torn down. Easy to see where the #6 lifter was chewing on the cam a bit. Looks good internally. Hope it goes back together no problem.

Got all the exhaust bolts out easy, no PB needed. Didn't break a one. It's torn all the way to the heads at this point, been a piece-of-cake and hope it continues to be. No sludge and valvetrain looks new, all pushrods and rockers very good shape. Haven't seen the cam yet.

About to get started on this...any suggestions for how to get into the engine compartment without breaking my back? Was thinking of pulling wheels and letting it sit on the rotors? The front end sits up so high, and the engine is so far back in the bay, I'll be standing on a stool hunched over.

Just today a full AFM delete package from Scroggins Dickey Performance Center arrived. Has a 6.0 VVT camshaft, Delphi LS7 lifters, and necessary gaskets. Called and spoke with someone on the phone about what the recommended and I was pleased with the package and the pricing. Need to take a look and see what specific tools I need to disconnect fuel lines and hoses - probably some type of spring clamp removal tool. Any recommendations? Also I've been reading about exhaust bolts breaking, any special thing there? I'll buy ARP bolts if needed. Will start project as soon as Sunday. Gotta ship the computer off somewhere to have AFM disabled. I'm not too interested in performance tuning so buying a tuner is not in the cards right now. This truck drives around town and to hunting camp, got a Denali HD for any real work.

Just got off the phone with Chevrolet customer care. They suggested buying an extended warranty from a dealer and using that to get the engine repair completed.

I was hoping to retain VVT, do you have a recommendation? I'd like to keep it as stock as possible, without AFM of course. I value low end torque over high RPM, hate revving her over 3000 RPM. Rarely have.

Thanks swath, that's a big help. Yes, I am going to do the rebuild myself. Not looking forward to it. Going with a stock non-AFM cam, power and performance is fine as is. Will use all GM/ACDelco parts. Hoping that a cam lobe is not wiped out and passed metal all through the engine.

At least every 5-6k miles. Always used good stuff, synthetic blend 5w-30. Thing that hurts the most about it is that the truck still looks brand new - I'm not ready to replace it yet - and if the dealership was reasonable on the cost of the repair I'd prefer them handle it. Was ready to order a '22 Suburban but now I'm rethinking whether I want to stick with GM V8 engines given the push rod issues. I've bought 6 new GM cars and trucks in the past 12 years. Never had a problem until now.

With only 85,000 miles on it, my 2011 5.3 Z71 4x4 crew, bought new and babied its whole life, with a Range AFM Delete module since 2017, has a stuck lifter on #6 with a misfire at idle and a helluva racket coming from inside the engine. Minus the misfire, she's running ok. Dealer wants around $9k to fix, new cam + new lifters. Will be pulling it home from the shop and tear it down myself. Going to do a full AFM delete, new cam, new water pump, oil pump. ECM reprogram. Hoping I don't have to pull the block out. Pretty disappointed as I drove my last three Chevy trucks to 200k without any internal engine failures.

I plan to buy something in 2022, either a 22/23. Very much disappointed in the console shifter. I don't really need another pickup so leaning towards a Suburban - the button shift at least doesn't waste space.

Current situation is a once-in-a-generation deal, with prices inverted (used higher than new, due to tight supply on new). I sold my extra truck back in May because the offer was unbelievably strong. I'm in the hobby farm market and tracking the sub/compact tractor market inventory situation. There's a Kubota dealer down the street, he had zero inventory from around June to mid-April. They were stressed because they can't sell what they don't have. Drove by yesterday, they've got at least 15 tractors in the showroom and various stage of prep. Plenty of implements too. Hard to call the crisis of no inventory over nationally, but at this particular location one could certainly buy and take immediate delivery of a product that was not available just 3 months ago. Think about that. The truck market will very likely soon be the same.

Nice. I'm going to buy a Suburban Z71 as soon as I find the right truck and the right price. You've got the same color I want. Did you get the sunroof or the digital gauges? I won't buy one with a roof, but I prefer the digital gauges. The Z71 is the sweet spot in the Suburban lineup.

When I bought my '19 Denali HD, it was parked next to a '19 1500 Denali. I actually liked the K2 interior better - the center stack, the knobs instead of buttons, and the gauge cluster. Calling GM 5 years behind is spot on. Anyone who disagrees should go drive a F250 Lariat. See what you get with the Lariat (= LT/LTZ) value package. It's pretty sad how far behind GM is on these things. Adding a console shifter isn't the solution, either. I'm considering a new Suburban Z71, but the gauge cluster holds me back. It's the one thing I'm constantly looking at! The Expedition XLT has a much better interior!

Keep anything "Google" out of my truck. And keep the console shifter too. A truck should have a truck shifter on the column. I might deal with shift buttons although I won't be happy to do so.

Good luck with the Ram. I've never owned one but we rented one (2019 Rebel) and drove it all across Texas back in 2019, and I was smitten with it. Drove great, very comfortable, would strongly consider one if I was in the market for a 1/2 ton. I wasn't big on the red accents on the dash, it caused some glare but puled and wrapped in carbon fiber weave and it would be very nice. Driving the new Rams and then the current GM twins (and also the K2) feels like the Ram is at least two generations ahead.