2015 Silverado 5.3, engine failure at 482 miles

BigBadSierra · October 7, 2015

Well GM should have given you a vehicle to drive regardless. I would go after them for the rental money.

This is why they have warranties on them. If an engine has an issue it will fail almost right away. Someone or machine most likely didn't tighten all of the Crank or Piston bolts so they backed off and boom.

Friend had an F150 they had to pull off of the carrier because the engine was DOA at the lot.

He just refused delivery and had them re-order it.

sjgi48 · October 9, 2015

Dealer pulled the oil pan off on Tuesday. A bolt (either extra or the self removing type, no one is sure and the remains are only generaly identifiable as a bolt) floating around the bottom end seems to have been the issue. After lying dormant, said bolt got sucked into the works and collided with a bunch of stuff, apparently ruining a few of the big ends of the connecting rods and even breaking a few piston skirts for good measure. No one can believe that the engine kept running at all. Though way down on power, it did run and would even restart , and it was not all that loud. I will say that the failure felt major, anyone who has ever blown an engine will know what I mean, but the truck kept moving long enough to get the half mile, up hill, to where there was somewhere to get off the road.

I would not mind having the blown engine, it would make a great coffee table base (like the old British Top Gear set up).

It has been interesting, but no fun to have the truck expire before the temp tag. It will get a new engine, but will take two weeks.

Britt Lifsey · October 9, 2015

That's a crazy thing to have happened....

crewl1 · October 9, 2015

Dealer pulled the oil pan off on Tuesday. A bolt (either extra or the self removing type, no one is sure and the remains are only generaly identifiable as a bolt) floating around the bottom end seems to have been the issue. After lying dormant, said bolt got sucked into the works and collided with a bunch of stuff, apparently ruining a few of the big ends of the connecting rods and even breaking a few piston skirts for good measure. No one can believe that the engine kept running at all. Though way down on power, it did run and would even restart , and it was not all that loud. I will say that the failure felt major, anyone who has ever blown an engine will know what I mean, but the truck kept moving long enough to get the half mile, up hill, to where there was somewhere to get off the road.

I would not mind having the blown engine, it would make a great coffee table base (like the old British Top Gear set up).

It has been interesting, but no fun to have the truck expire before the temp tag. It will get a new engine, but will take two weeks.

Wow that is wild. I wonder if the 'inspected by' tag will be followed up on...

redwngr · October 10, 2015

Statistically, early failures like this one are referred to as 'infant mortality'.

There always seem to be a few.

Chadwilliam1 · October 12, 2015

Good luck op but I would push for a different truck.

pm26 · October 14, 2015

Statistically, early failures like this one are referred to as 'infant mortality'.

There always seem to be a few.

And realistically they are referred to as shoddy workmanship.

Chadwilliam1 · October 16, 2015

Parts fail. Every part is not created equal.

sjgi48 · October 18, 2015

New engine is in truck and truck is running again as of Friday 10/16. Now working on getting the truck from Colorado to Kansas. GM is willing to ship it but thinks three weeks is an acceptable time frame for this to be accomplished. Needless to say I fell that a 10 hour drive can and should be accomplished much quicker than three weeks.

redwngr · October 18, 2015

Maybe they will pay you the freight and you can pick it up yourself.

Stex · October 19, 2015

I would argue with GM. They can ship it covered pro hauler for less than $500. GM needs to make this right. Get to area manager and your dealership should get in on the argument . Bad PR for GM.

sjgi48 · October 26, 2015

Got the truck back today. GM shipped it from dealer in Colorado that repaired it to a dealer in Kansas close to me. Runs like it should, so far so good!