Stuck pushrod, what’s next?

[yfz162]

So my 2007 Suburban suffered a seized pushrod the other day on an intake valve.  The engine started running rough and developed a noticeable ticking sound so I decided to investigate.  A compression test revealed cylinder 1 was dead, zero compression lol.  I pulled the valve cover and had a buddy crank it over and found the intake valve rocker wasn’t rocking at all.  I pulled off the rocker and pushrod and found the push rod was gummed up pretty bad.  Cleaned it up, lubed and placed back in the head and noticed it had a lot of back and forth play in the guide.  Anyway, replaced rocker and cranked over and I had movement.  At this point, do I need to look at this cam?  Pulling off the heads for a fresh valve job and guides is a given.  Just curious if the cam could be damaged?

Thanks!

[Jsdirt]

Did you buy this one new, or used? How many miles on her?

 

If it's stuck from gum/sludge, be ready for a whole laundry list of problems coming your way. That indicates poor maintenance by the previous owner. What will happen next, is the screens will plug, starving the lifters and VLOM of oil (misfire central), and sometimes causing false low pressure indications in the cluster gauge, which will trigger all kinds of warnings.

 

Not helping matters, even if the engine was well taken care of right from day one, GM used the cheapest of the cheap in sourcing manufacturers for its valve train components (and many other parts throughout the vehicle, as you'll soon learn). Lifters seize, cams spall, cam bearings wear out prematurely, valve springs break, pushrods bend, and the list goes on. If it has less than 100k on the clock, these problems are right around the corner. If over 130k roughly, the valve train has already been worked on. 

 

My '07 I bought brand new has 97,366 miles on it - in addition to the rear differential that just failed, this engine started burning oil at 50k miles, and started showing signs of cam bearing failure around 70k miles. Just a matter of time before either the cam bearings or lifters fail completely.

 

I would take a hard look at the condition of this engine. You may be replacing it, rather than just a cam.

[yfz162]

Actually my brother in laws recent purchase and it has 180k on it.  I told him we may be pulling an engine from a salvage yard!!!

[yfz162]

So, if a guy wanted to just get a salvage yard pull what would be the best option for an 07 Suburban 1500 with the all aluminum 5.3?  Or, how complicated is it to switch to a AFM or GLOM eliminator kit?  Looks like the oil pump, cam and lifters will need changed as well as the tune?

thanks

[Doug_Scott]

One thing everyone needs to keep in mind is that not all engines will have these issues, and not most will have these issues, I would even go so far as to suggest that a relatively low percentage of vehicles sold will have these issues. The basic maintenance required is so simple and basic that some owners take that to mean it is not that important to perform at required times.  If you are told by ads on tv over and over how the specific brand/grade of oil being advertised is good for some long or extended time, some listeners will take that to mean oil changes are not important, so they end up not bothering to change it until long after someone told them how to reset the oil life monitor because that monitor does not "measure the oils life". 

 

Engines from 10 to 20 or more years were built like a Timex watch.  Very basic and sturdy.  Engines we have now are built more like Rolex watches.  They don't take a "licking and keep on ticking".  It will take a couple of generations od drivers before old generations ideology have died away. My mother bought a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL that was traded in at a local VW dealership.  It had just been driven up from Pasadena California. I was a teenager anf headed straight to the glovebox looking for the owners manual.  The manual was about 4 inches high, 8 inches wide, and a 1/2 inch thick.  It covered all options and even included all engine specs, even including the 3x2bbl 406 and the 2x4bbl 427 engines. There was half a page of instructions on how to use the optional lake pipes, with a picture of the right side pipe installed the car. Car owners would read those manuals, and would follow the recommended maintenance schedules.  Drivers even today know what the oil change interval was on those cars. The only part that did not make it in pass down from generation to generation, you only needed to change the filter every other oil change.  Those were the "Timex" cars. 

 

If your engine has a build up of sludge at the top of the heads, you can be assured that someone didn't follow proper maintenance guidelines on your vehicle.  Sludge while being very slippery, is very deadly to the engine. The engine oil has a couple of very basic jobs.  One is to trap dirt,  and suspend it to be taken to the filter. If it gets too much trapped dirt, it ends up being left behind on surfaces that are only just getting a small amount of cleaner oil.  That is the sludge you find. 

[Jsdirt]

17 hours ago, yfz162 said:

So, if a guy wanted to just get a salvage yard pull what would be the best option for an 07 Suburban 1500 with the all aluminum 5.3?  Or, how complicated is it to switch to a AFM or GLOM eliminator kit?  Looks like the oil pump, cam and lifters will need changed as well as the tune?

thanks

Whatever you grab, make sure you grab EVERYTHING with it - harness, computers, and even the transmission if possible. Will make life 400% simpler that way.

[Jsdirt]

17 hours ago, Doug_Scott said:

One thing everyone needs to keep in mind is that not all engines will have these issues, and not most will have these issues, I would even go so far as to suggest that a relatively low percentage of vehicles sold will have these issues. The basic maintenance required is so simple and basic that some owners take that to mean it is not that important to perform at required times.  If you are told by ads on tv over and over how the specific brand/grade of oil being advertised is good for some long or extended time, some listeners will take that to mean oil changes are not important, so they end up not bothering to change it until long after someone told them how to reset the oil life monitor because that monitor does not "measure the oils life". 

 

Engines from 10 to 20 or more years were built like a Timex watch.  Very basic and sturdy.  Engines we have now are built more like Rolex watches.  They don't take a "licking and keep on ticking".  It will take a couple of generations od drivers before old generations ideology have died away. My mother bought a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL that was traded in at a local VW dealership.  It had just been driven up from Pasadena California. I was a teenager anf headed straight to the glovebox looking for the owners manual.  The manual was about 4 inches high, 8 inches wide, and a 1/2 inch thick.  It covered all options and even included all engine specs, even including the 3x2bbl 406 and the 2x4bbl 427 engines. There was half a page of instructions on how to use the optional lake pipes, with a picture of the right side pipe installed the car. Car owners would read those manuals, and would follow the recommended maintenance schedules.  Drivers even today know what the oil change interval was on those cars. The only part that did not make it in pass down from generation to generation, you only needed to change the filter every other oil change.  Those were the "Timex" cars. 

 

If your engine has a build up of sludge at the top of the heads, you can be assured that someone didn't follow proper maintenance guidelines on your vehicle.  Sludge while being very slippery, is very deadly to the engine. The engine oil has a couple of very basic jobs.  One is to trap dirt,  and suspend it to be taken to the filter. If it gets too much trapped dirt, it ends up being left behind on surfaces that are only just getting a small amount of cleaner oil.  That is the sludge you find. 

Will all due respect, Doug, I think you've been out of the loop too long. All the techs I chat with regularly see these engines come in regularly for upper end (valve train) failures. It's a know failure point today in everything from 2007 all the way up to present. I've heard from body shops that the '17-up trucks have crap injectors which are failing regularly. Par for the course today. From what I've seen and heard, this is a bigger problem than anyone will lead you to believe.

 

Everything today is built using the lowest bidder. Engines and drivelines used to be off limits for cost cutting back in the day  - not so today. Mine started burning oil at 50k miles ... on synthetic. Amsoil's testing of its Signature Series oil has proven it's pretty much the best you can buy today. I started running that at 40k, and ran Royal Purple from break in up to then. Definitely not a lubrication problem - it's an ENGINE problem - as in, quality of parts and/or manufacturing practices. Piston rings are crap in the '07 up engines. Before 2007, they were a great engine - I see them all the time with anything from 250k -375k miles, without anyone ever being inside the engine. GM was in trouble in '07, if you remember - they cut corners to attempt to save their asses.