2008 Sierra 1500 5.3 Lifter Failure. What Would You Do?

[GuyGene]

I feel ye pain clean. When to trade, when to fix'er up. I've been there many times. Wish I could help, but I don't know either. Whatever ye do, keep up posted.

[cleaner]

$2100 to replace a lifter? Or even all the lifters and the camshaft?

 

$2100 to pull one head replace the 8 lifters under that head, supply gaskets, fluids, and labor.

[cleaner]

Okay guys, here is what I am thinking now and need a little more help. I have decided to fix the 5.3 AFM engine in my truck. Going to have all lifters and cam shaft replaced. I am also planning on getting a black bear tune.

 

My questions are as follows:

 

1. Do I have the cam and lifters replaced and then have the tune done or do the tune first and then have the cam and lifters done?
2. Which Black Bear tune package do I go with?
3. Looking into Crane Cam and lifters, Which grind do you recommend? My truck is used mainly on pavement in 2wd 99% of the time. I do occasionally pull heavy trailers long distance.

On a side note, I cant get anyone from Black Bear Performance to respond to emails. How do I get in touch with them? I want to give them some money!

 

Thanks for all the feedback! I have learned a ton on this forum. Great web site!

[02suburbanZ71]

1- get cam/lifters THEN tune. 2- inperson or autocal 3- not sure call compcams. They have good products you might want a custom cam. 4- BB is slow to respond, period. I emailed them like 3-4 weeks ago and still no reply about a re-tune

[cleaner]

1- get cam/lifters THEN tune. 2- inperson or autocal 3- not sure call compcams. They have good products you might want a custom cam. 4- BB is slow to respond, period. I emailed them like 3-4 weeks ago and still no reply about a re-tune

 

Thanks Oscar!

[servantsalesmen]

Replace all 16 lifters! Don't just do 8 of them. These engines have two valves per cylinder and doing 8 lifters would get you half way and you would be putting a nice new cam into a motor with old lifters.

[cleaner]

Replace all 16 lifters! Don't just do 8 of them. These engines have two valves per cylinder and doing 8 lifters would get you half way and you would be putting a nice new cam into a motor with old lifters.

 

Thanks Peter. I am planning on replacing all 16 lifters as well as the cam. I initially planned to just pull the head related to the one bad lifter and replace the the 8 lifters underneath the head and be done.

[servantsalesmen]

Good luck with the repair! Hope it goes smoothly. And as for the black bear tune if you have not done much homework on them, they are well worth it. Search this site a little and you will see nothing but praise for the guys at black bear.

[chupe442]

Okay guys, here is what I am thinking now and need a little more help. I have decided to fix the 5.3 AFM engine in my truck. Going to have all lifters and cam shaft replaced. I am also planning on getting a black bear tune.

 

My questions are as follows:

 

1. Do I have the cam and lifters replaced and then have the tune done or do the tune first and then have the cam and lifters done?
2. Which Black Bear tune package do I go with?
3. Looking into Crane Cam and lifters, Which grind do you recommend? My truck is used mainly on pavement in 2wd 99% of the time. I do occasionally pull heavy trailers long distance.

On a side note, I cant get anyone from Black Bear Performance to respond to emails. How do I get in touch with them? I want to give them some money!

 

Thanks for all the feedback! I have learned a ton on this forum. Great web site!

[email protected] Jenna, Justin, or Jared will get back to you.. I know the shop was down for trip last weekend (or the weekend before) so they would be a bit backlogged with emails ect.

 

I would think that unless they will be in your local area for a show (for a live tune), your best bet would be the autocal. You keep the handheld and will be able to change back to factory tune or either of the other fuel tunes they provide for you or your given request. Me, I requested AFM off, removal of most of the Torque Managment, and clean up transmission shifting (no more hunting for gears). You could buy the autocal used (has got to be originally from Blackbear though) through the this forum used selling threads to save a few bucks. I am not so sure I would go that route again as the instructions are pretty fun to begin with and initial setup was not as fun and easy as I would have liked (not the most computer savvy as I thought I was..) Good luck!

[TooTall1]

This is what I'd put in if I were you: https://www.texas-speed.com/p-717-dod-afm-delete-kit.aspx . You also would need a way to turn off the electronics for the AFM after installation, which I'd use a Diablosport Intune 1000 to do this with. With the AFM delete kit and a good cam, you'll get many happy miles out of your 5.3L.

[Ryan00TJ]

This is what I'd put in if I were you: https://www.texas-speed.com/p-717-dod-afm-delete-kit.aspx . You also would need a way to turn off the electronics for the AFM after installation, which I'd use a Diablosport Intune 1000 to do this with. With the AFM delete kit and a good cam, you'll get many happy miles out of your 5.3L.

I agree here. When I was racing the LS1 motors, TSP made great stuff. Just don't forget to budget $$ for a 4L60 tranny rebuild if you add a larger cam, rev higher and stress the allready weak and OLD 4L60.

[mymaggiebell]

i know that blackbear recommends comp cams.....which would make sense you get them (blackbear) to tune it!!

[Bad Bowtie2]

1- get cam/lifters THEN tune. 2- inperson or autocal 3- not sure call compcams. They have good products you might want a custom cam. 4- BB is slow to respond, period. I emailed them like 3-4 weeks ago and still no reply about a re-tune

 

Oscar, fellow member(s), sorry if I am slow to respond. Work has been KILLING me here lately.

 

I have 3 & 6 year old kids at home, so during my limited "down time" at work is usually the time I get to get on my auto sites. I am a member of more than one website, as I'm sure most of us are.

 

I guess the last time I was on here was when I made my comment above- Again sorry.

 

Oscar I see no private message from you on here either. Or maybe, if you emailed my on my personal "yahoo" account it went to my spam folder by acident & was deleted??

 

Again sorry guys, I have to live life 1st (work), then I "play" 2nd. I mean no offense...

 

[Snow White]

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cmb-09-0026

 

agree with others.

1. Replace lifters, cam, pushrods, new valley cover, rocker arms (afm engine has unequal grind, afm cylinders have less lift than non-afm cylinders, so you can't use the old cam)

2. tune

3. add oil catch can

[rhavermann]

I am dealing with this exact same issue right now. Does the sound from the drive train sound like a rattling noise? My mechanic tried to diagnose the noise and thinks it is the sound of the cam lobe knocking against the failed lifter. He said I would most likely need a full lifter and cam replacement and the affected cylinder could potentially be shot from wear.

 

I agree that Blackbear is a great tune, I have had one since I upgraded to larger tires, but I am confused why people think this will prevent the lifter issue from occurring (or maybe I misunderstood). I had Justin from Blackbear turn off the AFM and still had this issue. I think GM used a bad batch of lifters and knowingly did nothing about it. It is not the AFM.

 

I took my truck in for that rattling noise while it was under warranty, dealer did a full fuel system clean which did not fix the issue (they ended up saying it was probably an exhaust leak and not a big deal). I am now going to take my truck back to the dealer (with 65k on the odo) and try to have them fix it under warranty. I have been trying to get in touch with Justin for over a week to take off the tune before going in. The last thing I want is the dealer to say the tune caused the lifter failure.

 

***Anyone know how to reflash the engine / get in touch with justin / whether or not the dealer can see the tune during diagnostics?

 

Thanks!