5.3 Liter Engine Replacement

MattHutch · April 5, 2019

Hi all,

First post. Just wanted to share this story and get feedback and see if others have had a similar experience.

At approximately 70,000 kms I started noticing an engine tick. At first I assumed it was some sort of direct injection noise. It got worse. Eventually I lost almost all power and I brought the truck in to the dealer for servicing. I was told that I had a bent push rod on cylinder #4. That was replaced and nothing else. I questioned why this happened and I was told it is common.

At 85,000 kms the tick returned/got worse. Again I brought the truck to the dealer. Eventually (after a few arguments) they decided to replace valves/lifters on the 4 AFM cylinders, and they found another bent push rod. When I went to pick up the truck, the noise was still there.

They completed further diagnostics and found scuffing on 2 pistons. They called GM and they said to replace the engine. Full engine replacement!

Any thoughts, comments on this? I haven't got the truck back yet - waiting on engine to be replaced.

Matt

Mike GMC · April 5, 2019

I would say GM is treating you very well. A complete new engine is not something you hear of them authorizing often.

JimCost2014 · April 5, 2019

19 minutes ago, MattHutch said:

Hi all,

First post. Just wanted to share this story and get feedback and see if others have had a similar experience.

At approximately 70,000 kms I started noticing an engine tick. At first I assumed it was some sort of direct injection noise. It got worse. Eventually I lost almost all power and I brought the truck in to the dealer for servicing. I was told that I had a bent push rod on cylinder #4. That was replaced and nothing else. I questioned why this happened and I was told it is common.

At 85,000 kms the tick returned/got worse. Again I brought the truck to the dealer. Eventually (after a few arguments) they decided to replace valves/lifters on the 4 AFM cylinders, and they found another bent push rod. When I went to pick up the truck, the noise was still there.

They completed further diagnostics and found scuffing on 2 pistons. They called GM and they said to replace the engine. Full engine replacement!

Any thoughts, comments on this? I haven't got the truck back yet - waiting on engine to be replaced.

Matt

Broken push rod on cylinder #4 on my 16's 6.2. GM replaced the engine in it for me at no cost, happened at 23000 miles. I hope your dealer has good techs for the swap, mine did not and truck ended up being a full buy back because of problems that arose after installation of new engine.

JimCost2014 · April 5, 2019

4 minutes ago, Mike GMC said:

I would say GM is treating you very well. A complete new engine is not something you hear of them authorizing often.

I think they will only do it if they find damage to the cylinder walls.

MattHutch · April 5, 2019

4 minutes ago, JimCost2014 said:

Broken push rod on cylinder #4 on my 16's 6.2. GM replaced the engine in it for me at no cost, happened at 23000 miles. I hope your dealer has good techs for the swap, mine did not and truck ended up being a full buy back because of problems that arose after installation of new engine.

What problems did you encounter?

Jacoby · April 5, 2019

Not much to say. A new motor that’s awesome. Them saying a bent push rod is common is worrisome

JimCost2014 · April 5, 2019

13 minutes ago, MattHutch said:

What problems did you encounter?

Well, it became a pissing match, the new engine had failures of the cam-gear, oil pump, and a few other things I can not remember right now. Truck just stopped running on the freeway in rush hour traffic, last straw for me. I think that they damaged the motor when they put it in, by not either following the "learn" steps, or not making sure the wiring was correct on all of the connections. Even after 4 weeks of them fixing the new engine that they screwed up, it ran like crap, so I started the procedure of the buy back and got into a new truck (my 18).

Sorry to sound so negative, but it was overall a crappy experience, that did finally end up with a positive, my 18.

Mikebtte · April 5, 2019

I have delt a lot with lot with varying warranty manufactures over the years and its sad, but they only have to do what will fulfill the warranty they provided. Example would be Cummins. If an engine failed and the cheapest option was to rebuild or use a short block, you got the cheapest option. Sometimes a replacement was approved and that replacement was not always a new replacement. Often times a rebuilt replacement was offered. I say that because you may want to make sure you receive a complete new engine and not a referb engine. Nothing wrong with a rebuild as it can be better than a new at times, but you may end up with a reman short block or long block. Ask a lot of questions as warranty pays dealers very little to complete work and often times they pay less than book time. Dealers hate warranty work.

Sierra Dan · April 5, 2019

Everything Mechanical is designed to fail at some point. Whether newer or older.

This is something we do not have full control over or are limited in what we can do to prevent such failures.

I think people tend to forget this. Even as humans, we are designed to fail from the minute we enter the world.

Fortunately for you GM replaced the engine for you at no cost.

JimCost2014 · April 5, 2019

8 minutes ago, Mikebtte said:

I have delt a lot with lot with varying warranty manufactures over the years and its sad, but they only have to do what will fulfill the warranty they provided. Example would be Cummins. If an engine failed and the cheapest option was to rebuild or use a short block, you got the cheapest option. Sometimes a replacement was approved and that replacement was not always a new replacement. Often times a rebuilt replacement was offered. I say that because you may want to make sure you receive a complete new engine and not a referb engine. Nothing wrong with a rebuild as it can be better than a new at times, but you may end up with a reman short block or long block. Ask a lot of questions as warranty pays dealers very little to complete work and often times they pay less than book time. Dealers hate warranty work.

It will not be a complete new engine for the OP, they reuse a lot of parts off of the original. Which is what I believe led to all of the problems that I had with the new engine.

Mike GMC · April 5, 2019

47 minutes ago, Sierra Dan said:

Everything Mechanical is designed to fail at some point. Whether newer or older.

This is something we do not have full control over or are limited in what we can do to prevent such failures.

I think people tend to forget this. Even as humans, we are designed to fail from the minute we enter the world.

Fortunately for you GM replaced the engine for you at no cost.

It is true that nothing lasts forever. However, I don't think I would call that being designed to fail. It's symantics I guess, but you make it sound like they intentionally designed it to fail in certain ways or at certain times. I disagree with that.

Sierra Dan · April 5, 2019

Didn't mean to make it sound intentional.

It would be in any automakers best interest to produce a quality product that will last, rather than set a predetermined failure point just beyond warranty

to in fact warrant the sale of more new models.

My point was some of these DI EcoTech engines are good, some are bad. Unfortunately the OP had a bad one.

Ozer · April 5, 2019

Get it all done and fixed and then see how much they will give you for a trade in on another truck. Thats what i would do.

Snowcamo · April 5, 2019

Get the engine swapped and then go elsewhere and have the cam lifters and pushrods swapped. You'll have a solid engine then.

Kylebr1 · April 5, 2019

I have heard of this issue multiple times with trucks around the kilometers you are stating . Because of the DOD displacement on demand it puts a lot of stress on the lifters and push rods .

I have 95,000km on my 5.3 L83 in my 2016 sierra and i have had my DOD turned off since 15,000 km and have noticed zero issues in this time as well as better throttle response and power i would highly recommend doing so . I had it done with Hp Tuners for a reasonable price .