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I have a question for the tech guys in the group. Have a 2017 suburban, with the big 5.3, 66,*** miles. I am experiencing some runablity issues that I am trying to diagnose. Symptoms include: -A rough idle when warm and in gear. It always starts good, and is smooth when warming up. -A hesitation when pulling away from a stop. The truck responds well initally, but then sort of falls off a bit. This is also noticeable when at speed on the freeway, if you give it just a touch of pedal, it feels like it loses a bit of power, but then comes back when lifting off the gas a bit. -When approaching a hill while cruising, if one gives a bit of throttle to compensate, it will begin to dog out a bit and can regularly feel like it is misfiring. I have had 1 instance of a flashing check engine light when giving a bit of throttle to compensate for a hill when it was not completely warmed up. The plugs were replaced as a health and inspection check, but they all like normal. I have not noted anything unusual with scan data that I can discern. Fuel trims are correct and no check engine light. I ran an injection balance test, and found some interesting information. All of bank 1 pressure drops were significantly different from bank 2. I did this yest at warm idle, then did another test at around 850 rpm, which yielded similar results. A little research led me to tsb notice N182198000, could this be 4 failing injectors, all on the same bank? I am not a parts cannon guy, and I'm not sure if this is covered under my used car warranty. I worry about dealer services, because I'm not sure they always take the time to accurately diagnose before throwing parts around. Thanks for any help, and sorry for the long post. Trying to be as accurate and descriptive as can. I will try to attach the results of the injector balance test as well.

my fuel gauge on my 2005 silverado is not working. i replaced the fuel pump with one i got at 1A auto, but the gauge still does not work. sometimes it is stuck at E, other times it is stuck at F. the pump i got from 1A is supposedly the right one for my 2005 silverado 1500 rwd 5.3L ... anybody have any suggestions for me? i've seen some references to 'bad ground wire' in other forums, but nobody gives any details on what wire/connection/location, how to find/fix, etc. ... adv-thanks-ance.

There have been multiple threads/posts on what fuel to feed the 6.2 beast. Since GM only recommends premium fuel, it’s become a gray area and most people don’t like gray areas. Not surprisingly, there are passionate opinions on either side. I for one am a facts guy and prefer to go with actual numbers rather than some romantic notions of what someone thinks. It turns out this experiment has already been done for the L86 engine. Our engine is the L87 but it makes the same power and torque as the L86 and it seems the only difference is the addition of DFM for the L87. Summary below 1. Knock: No audible knock was observed with regular fuel. 2. Power: Reduction in power was average of 0.7% which evaluates to 2.94hp. I was actually quite surprised by this, I was expecting more. If you claim you can tell a 0.7% difference, then more power to you. 3. MPG: The biggest gain was fuel economy. They recorded an average of 7.1% reduction in mpg with regular. If you live in an area where premium fuel cost is less than 7.1%, then by all means go for it. Where I live, premium is $15 more on a $45 regular fill-up. I’m not here to tell you what fuel to feed your 6.2 but if you prefer numbers like me, then maybe this can help you make an educated decision. Will probably get some flak for this but that’s ok. AAA Report

"Opinion ‘Car Talk’ host: Independent auto shops deserve the right to repair your car September 28, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT (Washington Post staff illustration; images by iStock) Ray Magliozzi is one half of NPR’s show “Car Talk,” a longtime independent repair-shop owner, a Dear Car Talk columnist and a car reviewer on CarTalk.com. When your car breaks, what do you do? Okay, after you utter a certain word? You have to decide where to take the car to get it fixed, right? You really have two choices. You can go to the dealership or an independent repair shop. However, some car manufacturers don’t want to share key information for diagnosing and fixing cars with independent shops — and that’s something that’s not only bad for repair shops but also bad for you. As a radio host who has advised thousands on their car problems and as an independent shop owner myself, I know all too well that car owners benefit when they have more choices. Congress is considering a national “right-to-repair” law, and lawmakers need to pass it to protect your rights as a consumer. Story continues below advertisement Back in the old days, when people were still switching over from traveling by mastodon, you repaired cars with your eyes, ears, nose and hands — and, if you were desperate, a Chilton repair manual. Now, you often repair a car by first plugging a computer into the on-board-diagnostics port and seeing what the computer tells you is broken. So, what’s the problem? Carmakers and their dealerships want to maintain control of modern diagnostic tools, which forces customers to come to them for repairs. Even though independents are willing to pay to license these tools, dealers see an advantage in exclusivity. Dealerships have always had certain advantages. They have better coffee in their waiting rooms. Heck, they have waiting rooms. They have clean restrooms that don’t double as auxiliary air-filter storage. They also work on your particular make of car all day, every day. So they might be familiar with an oddball problem because they’ve worked on 4,000 Camrys. Story continues below advertisement Independent shops are small businesses, run by individuals — some of whom are terrific people and mechanics and some of whom will blame your car troubles on demonic possession and give you essential oils to fix it. But independent shops have their own advantage: price. Their labor and parts costs are usually much lower — hey, who do you think is ultimately paying for the dealerships’ coffee and fancy couches? Some research has found that dealers, on average, charged as much as 20 percent more than independent shops for the same repairs. This article was featured in the Opinions A.M. newsletter. Sign up here for a digest of opinions in your inbox six days a week. There’s also the matter of distance. Not every town in the United States has a stop light, let alone a dealership for every car brand. There are 16,752 franchised car dealers in the United States, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association, but there are nearly 240,000 repair shops — meaning that for a lot of people, an independent shop is the only nearby option. Story continues below advertisement At Car Talk, there are times we’ll strongly recommend an independent shop for standard work like brakes, shocks, the engine and regular service. And there are times we’ll recommend going to the dealership, like when you have a particularly rare problem that might be unique to your make and model. But at the end of the day, you should take your car to the dealer to be fixed because you want to not because dealers have hoarded all the key information. Beyond the information needed to diagnose and fix your car, dealerships also want to maintain control of your car’s telematics. What are telematics? Well, now that everything is connected to the internet, your car can notify your dealer when your car needs an oil change or has a blown sensor. Using the software they’re denying to independent shops, the dealer can then diagnose the trouble code, call you and schedule a repair. Most modern cars already have this ability. Car manufacturers point to the importance of keeping your car’s data safe — including your location, say — as a reason to deny independent shops access to these tools and codes. They are right about the need for data security, but part of privacy is that you should be the one to decide who has access to your data. Story continues below advertisement At least 17 states have laws on the books stating that your vehicle’s data belongs to you. Many independent repair shops will need to invest in tools to keep customer data secure, but just because they’ll need to invest doesn’t mean they can’t compete with dealers. Lack of choice — and competition — is never good for the consumer. So consumer groups and independent shops are promoting what they call right-to-repair legislation, guaranteeing consumers more choice by requiring automakers to license their data with independent repair shops. The voters in my fair state of Massachusetts approved just such a law in 2020. In 2021, 27 states introduced or passed similar legislation. Beyond those state laws, there’s a national push to protect consumers and independent shops. H.R. 6570, a national right-to-repair bill, has been sitting with the House Energy and Commerce Committee for months. My Car Talk colleagues and I know not everyone will support right-to-repair laws. Dealerships won’t like the level playing field. Mechanics might not like how much work they’ll actually have to do. Still, this is an issue everyone else can get behind. If you own something, you should be able to choose where to repair it. "

Hello I have a Silverado 2011 5.3L flex fuel it seems that my fuel pressure is low I went to AutoZone to get the scanner it reads: -P0174 System to lean Bank 2 -P0171 System to lean bank 1 -P0174 System to lean bank 2 -P0171 System to lean bank 1 -P0174 System to lean bank 2 -P0171 System to lean Bank 1 it seems the best fix was changing the fuel pump. i changed the fuel pump yesterday but it struggles to turn on after a few hours after it has been on for a few minutes it will turn on normally, there seems to be no way to check the pressure on this truck I checked for any leaks in the fuel lines can any one help me?

I have 2014 Silverado and went to the gas station one morning and out of nowhere started smelling gas inside of the truck. Long story short, went to look underneath truck and had a 3x3 ft size puddle of fuel underneath truck on ground. Looked to see where it was coming from and looks like it’s coming from back side of motor. Can anyone help or recommend any action to take from this?

Had a 2018 Sierra 2500 for a loaner while my 1500 was having warranty work done. We got a couple 0 degree days here in St Louis during the polar vortex and the 2500 went into limp mode and wouldn't allow me to go above 25 mph. CEL came on and a message popped up "Reduced Engine Power". I was 30 miles from the dealer that loaned it to me and they sent someone out and gave me a 2019 Silverado 1500. Next day they towed the 2500 back and found the diesel fuel had "gelled" from the cold temps. Curious, is this common in diesels? I let it warm up for at least 5 minutes before driving as I know diesels need a little more warm up time than gas engines. How could it idle and drive up to 25 mph with the fuel "gelled" as the dealer put it? Didn't shake or sputter, just had the rpm limiter kick in at 25 mph.

Got in my truck one morning, instantly started acting like it was out of gas, backfiring, loud as hell, weird gas smell, stalling out, then ultimately not starting at all. I've replaced: spark plugs and throttle position sensor and changed the oil. The shop replaced: Crankshaft position sensor, battery, terminals, fuel pump, replaced and or reprogrammed the ECM. Now they are saying it's the timing. I'm at my wit's end with this truck I'm not convinced it's the timing considering he's been wrong on everything else. I'd like to think it's fuel related, but to be honest I'm totally clueless as to what's going on at this point.

I have a 2020 GMC 2500 AT4 Duramax Diesel. Fuel economy is normally 18-20 mpg local and 21-25 mpg highway. I've noticed multiple times that if I completely fill the tank up, that my instantaneous fuel economy and average drop significantly. Instantaneously runs about 8-12 mpg and my average over the last 50 miles drops down to 11-13 mpg. Then suddenly after about 25-50 miles of driving, it will jump right back up to good fuel mileage. If I never completely fill the tank, this doesn't happen. Dealer says they've never heard of this, but I don't trust dealership feedback. Previously I had reported multiple times that DEF fluid levels were completely wrong and erratic and they said there were no reports about it. Then miraculously there was a software recall that fixed it.

So I have a 2014 Silverado with the 5.3 and if I don't let it idle while fueling I can't start it for atleast 20-30 minutes (whether I put half a tank or full tank) I had the fuel pump changed and that temporarily fixed it for about 3 months. So then I changed the injectors and fuel sensor there was no change and no check engine light. Probably unrelated but its saying gas cap open when its closed and has started messing up on shift points with a weird whine almost like its stuck in tow-haul with an engine brake when I start slowing down. I don't know how else to explain it other than that. Transmission was replaced by dealer at 78K it's sitting at 115K now and if I could I'd drive it off a cliff at this point but SW Texas has no cliffs. I've heard possibly torque converter, whole transmission, or simple computer problem and was wondering what y'all might think. Why I ever switched out of the Duramax and Allison I don't know but lesson learned.

Hey All, Just curious what type gas so you all use for these trucks? I'm running 89 but I didn't know if these trucks perform better with one type over the other, any added performance or mpg boost with one? I want to see if I'm wasting the little extra I pay for 89 if 87 is the same thing.