Engine Tick - 2015 GMC Sierra 5.3

20165.3Eco · October 3, 2018

Greased mine up with some thick dielectric grease last night. Its probably 80% better than it is at its worst. I am going to play with the boot more and see if I can get it to be 100% gone.

Jonty711 · October 3, 2018

2 hours ago, 20165.3Eco said:

Greased mine up with some thick dielectric grease last night. Its probably 80% better than it is at its worst. I am going to play with the boot more and see if I can get it to be 100% gone.

It would seem that the TSB is onto something, but they need to amend it to include earlier years.

Sierra Dan · October 3, 2018

3 minutes ago, Jonty711 said:

It would seem that the TSB is onto something, but they need to amend it to include earlier years.

That was my next question. Does this also involve 14 and 15 models...….???

Jonty711 · October 3, 2018

19 minutes ago, Sierra Dan said:

That was my next question. Does this also involve 14 and 15 models...….???

The current TSB is only 17 and 18's

20165.3Eco · October 3, 2018

They did put a steering column in mine under warranty. (dealer was awful). I had a steering noise they diagnosed as the column but I figured it out after it still made noise after replacement. Was the steering angle sensor.

Seems as if they could have disturbed the boot assembly in a way that made it worse. The truck was dead quiet prior to about 40,000 miles when they did the column.

20165.3Eco · October 5, 2018

Anyone found more info on the repair side of the TSB ? I looked up the seal and it looks like a 25-35 dollar part pending where you price it. Totally worth no ticking if it comes to that.

Side bar, I tried compressing my seal towards the end with a clamp and it must have a fairly stout collar inside the rubber as it wouldn't collapse with a reasonable amount of pressure. I think there may be a secondary seal or lip inside behind the shroud on the steering shaft.

Worst case, we could make a dynamat piece that would attach to the seal or the shaft to take up the gap between the seal and the shaft and block more noise.

20165.3Eco · October 8, 2018

UPDATE:

My truck didn't seem to respond as well to grease as others. It shaped up quite a bit when I tried it but over a few days it returned to almost normal. I think it was getting hot by the exhaust manifold and leaking out. I had dielectric handy with a good dispenser to get up inside that but I think it may be a little less heat resistant than white lithium.

This morning I made up a little cover to test. Where I work we have hundreds of plastic pipe caps laying around. I cut one to a "close" id to match the steering shaft. I slit it up the side to go over the shaft then zip tied it to the end of the steering boot where the shaft goes inside. This isn't permanent but I could see something that was designed properly helping here.

I think it does 2 things. The ID of the plug is slightly contacting the OD of the shaft. It A) keeps it from bouncing around down there and B) helps block noise just because an extra piece of material is there. I oriented the slit in the cap to the drivers side away from the engine.

This is the quietest the truck has been since it started making noise. I feel the dealer probably boogered up my boot a bit while changing out my steering column. Also, I hope the TSB listed above will maybe spark an updated steering boot we can buy to replace the original design (time will tell).

I will keep driving it as is and report back if the noise comes back or stays away but on my initial test drive it seemed to be completely immune to all types of bumps/throttle application etc.

Jonty711 · October 8, 2018

7 hours ago, 20165.3Eco said:

UPDATE:

My truck didn't seem to respond as well to grease as others. It shaped up quite a bit when I tried it but over a few days it returned to almost normal. I think it was getting hot by the exhaust manifold and leaking out. I had dielectric handy with a good dispenser to get up inside that but I think it may be a little less heat resistant than white lithium.

This morning I made up a little cover to test. Where I work we have hundreds of plastic pipe caps laying around. I cut one to a "close" id to match the steering shaft. I slit it up the side to go over the shaft then zip tied it to the end of the steering boot where the shaft goes inside. This isn't permanent but I could see something that was designed properly helping here.

I think it does 2 things. The ID of the plug is slightly contacting the OD of the shaft. It A) keeps it from bouncing around down there and B) helps block noise just because an extra piece of material is there. I oriented the slit in the cap to the drivers side away from the engine.

This is the quietest the truck has been since it started making noise. I feel the dealer probably boogered up my boot a bit while changing out my steering column. Also, I hope the TSB listed above will maybe spark an updated steering boot we can buy to replace the original design (time will tell).

I will keep driving it as is and report back if the noise comes back or stays away but on my initial test drive it seemed to be completely immune to all types of bumps/throttle application etc.

Can you post a pic of what you made?

20165.3Eco · October 8, 2018

Keep in mind this is extremely crappy and only for testing theory. I would like to build some sort of split collar from plastic or aluminum that clamps onto the steering shaft or the boot and stays stationary or spins with the shaft. Also, something more solid could House some pre cut sound deadening material.

Spastik Monkey · October 8, 2018

I wonder if someone could do a polyurethane boot.

20165.3Eco · October 9, 2018

Morning update:

Put about 70 miles on the truck last night/this morning. Highway and city crappy streets. Still completely quiet.

I can hear the slightest of engine noise at 1000-1200 rpms high load I.E. right before it would downshift to a lower gear but its likely only audible by the best of ears so it doesn't bother me at all. I presume with a nicely built piece and some deadening material on the part it would be basically silent.

tyler.frost92 · October 13, 2018

Lmao, no way I would have ever thought in a million years that greasing a steering shaft would cure a throttle/load dependent noise. But I had to try. The ticking has never been more quiet.

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Jonty711 · October 13, 2018

1 hour ago, tyler.frost92 said:

Lmao, no way I would have ever thought in a million years that greasing a steering shaft would cure a throttle/load dependent noise. But I had to try. The ticking has never been more quiet.

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I know. It's crazy!! I just got an idea, and voila, here we are!

dalek77 · October 16, 2018

Welp, sprayed white lithium grease around boot and..... it friggen works. Not one tick..... I was thinking about taking a piece of high heat sound proofing material and wrapping it around part of the steering column. Should absorb any reverbaration up the column.

What do you guys think?

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kport08 · October 16, 2018

On 10/8/2018 at 6:36 PM, 20165.3Eco said:

Keep in mind this is extremely crappy and only for testing theory. I would like to build some sort of split collar from plastic or aluminum that clamps onto the steering shaft or the boot and stays stationary or spins with the shaft. Also, something more solid could House some pre cut sound deadening material.

This is awesome!