Important...afm Failures

98 Z71 SLT · July 28, 2009

At the Dealership, Customer came in with a 2008 Yukon 4x4, 42xxx miles on it, with a dead cylinder.

Tech, 2 stalls down from me, gets to inspect the truck. 5.3 V-8, all stock.

Determines #6 cylinder no compression, constant misfires.

Pulled passenger cylinder head off, and found this...

AFM lifter internally exploded-can shake lifter and sounds like marbles inside...

After it exploded internally, it tore the lifter guide block (plastic)

After it tore the guide plate, it wiped out the camshaft also...because the lifter started to rotate on its own...these lifters are NOT supposed to rotate.

I have a pic of the carnage...can somebody with photobucket pm me your e-mail...I'll send right away...

2000DV4.8 · July 28, 2009

Why not just make your own photobucket? It's free...

2000DV4.8 · July 29, 2009

The picture:

VMax2007 · July 29, 2009

Are we all supposed to panic now or what?

Shit happens, that's what the 5yr/100K warranty is for.

66nova · July 29, 2009

Crap, I am going to sell my truck now.

Seriously though, I have seen very similar issues a number of times on non AFM engines/lifters.

I guess I am at a loss of as to the "Important" part.

alaska511 · July 29, 2009

No kidding.

98 Z71 SLT · July 29, 2009

Update...

Yukon, in shop, is now getting a New Cam, 8 New AFM lifters, 8 Stock Lifters, and all new gaskets to seal it up.

What is *important* about this??

All we ever saw was horror stories and wive's tales about AFM...now here's the real proof.

Here's the main part of all this stuff: GM had minimal, if any, extensive R & D time in these AFM systems. Simple Enough.

VMax2007 · July 29, 2009

Update...

Yukon, in shop, is now getting a New Cam, 8 New AFM lifters, 8 Stock Lifters, and all new gaskets to seal it up.

What is *important* about this??

All we ever saw was horror stories and wive's tales about AFM...now here's the real proof.

Here's the main part of all this stuff: GM had minimal, if any, extensive R & D time in these AFM systems. Simple Enough.

So, ONE failure is "proof"??? Hmmm, ok then.

Bowtie2Sierra · July 29, 2009

Definitely interesting and thanks for sharing the information. However, this doesn't seem to be common so isn't cause for concern IMO.

rckt442 · July 29, 2009

That's exactly what happened to me. I had all of my AFM lifters replaced under warranty due to valve train noise and one of the new lifters came apart shortly after I left the dealership. It wiped out the cam lobe and had to have the cam replaced along with all new lifters, gaskets, etc. The cylinder heads have to be pulled to get the lifters out (not sure why). That means all new gaskets, head bolts (torque to yield style), etc. times 2 for me. The crappy thing about it is that its starting to make noise again, after only 10k miles on the new parts.

2000DV4.8 · July 29, 2009

Update...

Yukon, in shop, is now getting a New Cam, 8 New AFM lifters, 8 Stock Lifters, and all new gaskets to seal it up.

What is *important* about this??

All we ever saw was horror stories and wive's tales about AFM...now here's the real proof.

Here's the main part of all this stuff: GM had minimal, if any, extensive R & D time in these AFM systems. Simple Enough.

If this is such a huge issue though, why is this the first time pictures are surfacing?

Just food for thought.

Stevens03 · July 29, 2009

I'm not worried. But thanks for the info,...

rckt442 · July 29, 2009

Update...

Yukon, in shop, is now getting a New Cam, 8 New AFM lifters, 8 Stock Lifters, and all new gaskets to seal it up.

What is *important* about this??

All we ever saw was horror stories and wive's tales about AFM...now here's the real proof.

Here's the main part of all this stuff: GM had minimal, if any, extensive R & D time in these AFM systems. Simple Enough.

If this is such a huge issue though, why is this the first time pictures are surfacing?

Just food for thought.

I'm not sure why, but the reason I never posted on mine was due to all of the negative bs that people here gave me over complaining about my issues.

2000DV4.8 · July 29, 2009

Update...

Yukon, in shop, is now getting a New Cam, 8 New AFM lifters, 8 Stock Lifters, and all new gaskets to seal it up.

What is *important* about this??

All we ever saw was horror stories and wive's tales about AFM...now here's the real proof.

Here's the main part of all this stuff: GM had minimal, if any, extensive R & D time in these AFM systems. Simple Enough.

If this is such a huge issue though, why is this the first time pictures are surfacing?

Just food for thought.

I'm not sure why, but the reason I never posted on mine was due to all of the negative bs that people here gave me over complaining about my issues.

I'd be complaining in your situation also. My point though, is that if it was a common occurrence, pictures probably would have surfaced before now. If you look at how many people are on this site with trucks that have AFM, an extremely small percentage of them have any issues (you're actually the only member with first-hand experience that I can remember).