2016 5.3L no power

Silvern Sentry · October 5, 2016

The reality is even the 6.2 + 8speed will not yield much power for what the OP is saying. He is right there is no low end power and there is not meant to be. The 5.3 in M1 will provide plenty of low end power but no gear no gasser will provide peak power anywhere below 4k RPM.

If you want your truck to ROAR at 2k RPM you need a diesel there is no way around it. They are still made for low end power ... well more like they can maintain that power curve between 2 & 4k RPM because of diesels longer stroke. That is my understanding of power in todays engines and this counts for most production vehicles. Not even the Vette with Supercharging is made for low power they just throw in a tuning for better fuel / air mix and sucks gas in low RPMS.

bassJAM · October 5, 2016

I gotta admit, I was underwhelmed when I test drove a Sierra with the 5.3. I was expecting "American V8 Power!!" but compared to my 05 Nissan Frontier with 285 hp the GM was a dog. I'd floor it, and wait, and wait, and slowly would get up to speed. I have to think, like other's have said, the transmission tuning has a lot to do with it. The one I was in had the 6 speed.

Immediately after driving the Denali I went across town and drove a Lariat with the 2.7 ecoboost. Ford does tune the engines better for daily driving, that truck would scoot!!

I still haven't driven a 6.2. Hopefully it isn't as good as people say it is, I'm not sure my wallet can afford one!

tmo · October 6, 2016

I gotta admit, I was underwhelmed when I test drove a Sierra with the 5.3. I was expecting "American V8 Power!!" but compared to my 05 Nissan Frontier with 285 hp the GM was a dog. I'd floor it, and wait, and wait, and slowly would get up to speed. I have to think, like other's have said, the transmission tuning has a lot to do with it. The one I was in had the 6 speed.

Immediately after driving the Denali I went across town and drove a Lariat with the 2.7 ecoboost. Ford does tune the engines better for daily driving, that truck would scoot!!

I still haven't driven a 6.2. Hopefully it isn't as good as people say it is, I'm not sure my wallet can afford one!

So you know if it was the 3.08 or 3.42 gear ratio? That has a pretty big effect on low end torque.

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bassJAM · October 6, 2016

So you know if it was the 3.08 or 3.42 gear ratio? That has a pretty big effect on low end torque.

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The GM was 3.42. The Ford had 3.55. So almost identical gearing.

redwngr · October 6, 2016

Does the truck have adjustable pedals?

Are they set high enough to get full pedal travel? (try them closer, if it's a 'memory truck, save the new position)

Are you able to push through the extra pedal resistance near the end of pedal travel? (maybe this is also a pedal position or floormat issue)

Are you trying it with traction control and/or stabilitrac shut off?

diyer2 · October 7, 2016

In my short time on this site, the complaint about the 5.3 being a dog is getting old. I bought my truck to be a truck. The comfort and gadgets are great compared to the old days. It tows great, it's quiet, easy to travel in and roomy.

As far as the power goes, I have no complaints. I didn't buy it expecting it to set me back in the seat.

I bought it to tow, haul and travel in with my boat in comfort.

Buy a muscle car.

Knotsure · October 7, 2016

At the very least buy the big motor or the off-road hot rod edition of said truck. Unless something is/was wrong with the OP's truck the 5.3 is fine. When I get to 100000 miles, I will try a reprogram and see what it can really do.

Jason

DanMan_S · October 7, 2016

At the very least buy the big motor or the off-road hot rod edition of said truck.

Jason

Sadly GM doesn't make that very easy. No SLE with a 6.2L is a deal breaker for me. Ford will put the 3.5L Eco in an XLT, and with Ram you can get the Hemi in nearly every model. What's wrong with getting the biggest engine and most aggressive gearing in a stripper truck with a cloth bench?!

Heck, every time I tried to order a 6.2L Sierra, I was told it was on constraint so I finally gave up and am still rocking my 2009.

Knotsure · October 7, 2016

They only offer the 6.2 in the high trim models? That does kinda suck. I don't have any ford or dodge experience so I can't chime in there. My dad seems to like his 3.5 L twin turbo king ranch f-150, although he says he gets 11-12 mpg. He was a GM guy for the longest time but had a tundra he liked and now his ford. Both trucks he was getting 10-12 mpg. I personally still love the Silverado and am enjoying my 14 z71 5.3 along with the 16.5-17.5 mpg for my work commute. I hope you figure it out for you. First world problems, right?

Jason

DanMan_S · October 7, 2016

They only offer the 6.2 in the high trim models? That does kinda suck. I don't have any ford or dodge experience so I can't chime in there. My dad seems to like his 3.5 L twin turbo king ranch f-150, although he says he gets 11-12 mpg. He was a GM guy for the longest time but had a tundra he liked and now his ford. Both trucks he was getting 10-12 mpg. I personally still love the Silverado and am enjoying my 14 z71 5.3 along with the 16.5-17.5 mpg for my work commute. I hope you figure it out for you. First world problems, right?

Jason

Yeah, SLT or LTZ at a minimum. Otherwise you can only get the 5.3L.

Knotsure · October 7, 2016

Yeah, SLT or LTZ at a minimum. Otherwise you can only get the 5.3L.

Well BOO

Jason

BDDenali · October 7, 2016

I can tell you a lot of the no power is your torque management. I have a steep driveway and going up it slow was just ridiculous. Felt like I had to stomp the gas to get up it. After installing the 87 octane tune from diablo and the firm shift which reduces torque management it really seems like a whole different truck.

That torque management is bullshit. It reduces your torque at takeoff by 30 % I mean that's freaking huge! And again when it shifts.

My truck used to bog down shifting from 1st to 2nd horribly. I had no idea this tuner would make that kind of difference.

And I think turning off afm and torque management made more difference than the tune

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I have a 2015 Sierra with the 5.3 and I had the exact same problem. It would not pull a hill to save it's life. I also put the Diablosport Trinity on it and did the 87 octane tune but did not see the firm shift tune. Is this part of the 87 octane tune or is it actually separate? On the program screen, it only gives me the options of Diablotune, 87 Octane tune, Economy tune, and the stored original tune. It definitely did what I wanted it to with the 87 octane tune. I now have been running 91 or 93 octane and put the Diablotune in it and it is even better.

djxn40 · October 7, 2016

I have a 2015 Sierra with the 5.3 and I had the exact same problem. It would not pull a hill to save it's life. I also put the Diablosport Trinity on it and did the 87 octane tune but did not see the firm shift tune. Is this part of the 87 octane tune or is it actually separate? On the program screen, it only gives me the options of Diablotune, 87 Octane tune, Economy tune, and the stored original tune. It definitely did what I wanted it to with the 87 octane tune. I now have been running 91 or 93 octane and put the Diablotune in it and it is even better.

I haven't ever used the trinity but on mine to tune the transmission is the tcm. You can adjust perimeters of the transmission by selecting tcm.

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Chief9 · October 7, 2016

Diyer2 gets it!

BDDenali · October 7, 2016

I have a 2015 GMC Sierra Denali with the 5.3 wishing I would have gotten the 6.2. I bought it new in August 2015. With less than 10,000 miles, the 6spd transmission went out. At multiple times at a stop light, when the light turned green, I had no gear. It was like it was in neutral and then all of a sudden it would find 1st gear and slam forward.

Every day when I get home I back into my driveway. When putting the truck in reverse, no reverse. The truck would begin to roll forward like it was in neutral and then slam into gear to go back.

I took it to a local dealer and they had no clue what was wrong with it. They had to involve GM tech support and they wasn't for sure what was wrong with it, but had them throw a bunch of parts at it. The first attempt didn't fix it and the second did, but still they are not sure what part actually fixed the problem. They basically used my truck as a guinea pig versus putting a new transmission in it. And it took them 3 weeks to fix it. And still it felt like it shifted funny and stuttered in between gears especially on down shifting. And what was the most aggravating as another person posted it would not climb a hill for nothing.

I put the Diablosport Trinity tuner on it and downloaded the 87 Octane tune to it and it fixed everything. And it is getting better gas mileage as well. I still want more power so I would have to agree with the OP that the 5.3 isn't efficient enough as stock and lacks the power that is expected. With the tuner I added, I've proven that GM could have given it more power and still keep the mpg or better.