2014 GMC Sierra 5.3L issues

[Morpheus]

This may be more of a rant than anything.  

 

Back in 2016 I installed an Elite Engineering catch can on my 2014 GMC Sierra because all the rave and reviews were taking about how the oil mist on the dirty side of the PCV system would mess up the intake valves in the head.  I drank the Kool aid and here I am 2 1/2 years later with major problems.  

 

I'm not sure what failed on the catch can system, but something caused my rear main seal to blow out along with my oil cooler lines and the rear main seal housing plate seal.  When I contact Elite Engineering, they of course denied that their product could ever cause any issues of the sort despite many articles showing that in fact catch cans will cause shit like this to happen.  After many more articles and research, come to find out the experts have chimed in on this and have said unless I'm running a 9 second truck, there is no need or concern regarding the stock PCV system on the truck.  

 

I put my truck in a GMC service center for service on these items among others and they "fixed" the issue.  However, they failed to fix the rear main seal cover leaking.  Long story short and 4 weeks of my truck being in that shop, I'm still dripping oil in my drive way, I now have a starter solenoid harness clip thats broken and a truck that may or may not start depending on if that harness has unplugged itself.  

 

Starting in 2014, GM stopped putting a metal shim gasket on the rear main seal cover and are instructing their shops to use silicone on that.  Also, the oil pan is a two piece design meaning that the only way to seal the oil pan is by silicone as well.  Apparently, GM didn't learn their lessons from back in the day when they put 2 piece rear main seals in their motors and would blow those out at, you guessed it, where you silicone the seals together.  LMAO, man, maybe I should have bought a Ford.  Who knows...  

 

If there is anything to gain from my article, gain these things.

 

1.  Do NOT put any kind of catch can on your vehicle.  I was very meticulous with emptying the can and with taking care of my vehicle in general and here I am.

2.  Be careful who you take your truck to.  Hell, this was a very highly rated shop and I'm still having hell from these people. 

3.  Customer service is dead.  

 

Like I said, this is more of a rant.  I'm sure I'll catch some hate from this.  But, as I did, do your research and form your own opinions.  I just hope that my article helps 1 person at least.  

 

 

[HeySkippyDog]

I'm confused man. What exactly would a catch can do to blow oil seals? It doesn't increase pressure.

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[HeySkippyDog]

Only way I know to blow seals is using an awful lot more oil than the engine can take.

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[Jacoby]

Sorry OP I gotta call BS on the catch can being the culprit. 

[HeySkippyDog]

Sorry OP I gotta call BS on the catch can being the culprit. 

I'm thinking the same thing. Blown seals is a pressure issue. A catch can does not add pressure.

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[Gagliano7]

But the catch can could cause a pressure build up if isn't functioning correctly.

[diyer2]

I agree a catch can can't be the cause of blown seals.

I live in the mountains and have a catch can on my 2012.

Some of my trips cause our ears to plug up due to the elevation changes.

Now there is less atmospheric up here I believe.

One of my trips the elevation goes from 9200 feet to 5000 feet.

I would think these elevation changes would have more affect on pressures than flat landers.

 

[Ozer]

Does your catch can have a check valve that was installed backwards causing pressure issues?

I have the same can and no issues here.

[Jacoby]

1 hour ago, Gagliano7 said:

But the catch can could cause a pressure build up if isn't functioning correctly.

It’s a hollow can with an inlet and outlet. Not sure how it wouldn’t function properly. 

[L86 All Terrain]

I think GM is saying that it was his catch can, so they don't have to pay for a new engine or rear main seal. Tell them you will appeal their decision in court. The only way that could happen is if you catch can somehow got plugged and that cant happen even if filled to the top with oil, the vacuum will just draw the liquid into the intake. 99% chance they are pulling the wool over your eyes. The only other thing I could think of is if the hoses feeding the can/intake were too short or had a kink in the vacuum line, that could create a "plugged" situation. 

[MaverickZ71]

Somebody posted on here a while back about liquid getting frozen in the catch can lines and blowing out their rear main seal.  Curious that we would have not heard about this before now.  And if GM is building such weak-assed seals, that shows how much we've regressed from the 1950s when the engines were basically sealed up (no pun intended) compared to now (no PCV system) and didn't blow all of the danged seals all the time.

[TXGREEK]

This may be more of a rant than anything.  
 
Back in 2016 I installed an Elite Engineering catch can on my 2014 GMC Sierra because all the rave and reviews were taking about how the oil mist on the dirty side of the PCV system would mess up the intake valves in the head.  I drank the Kool aid and here I am 2 1/2 years later with major problems.  
 
I'm not sure what failed on the catch can system, but something caused my rear main seal to blow out along with my oil cooler lines and the rear main seal housing plate seal.  When I contact Elite Engineering, they of course denied that their product could ever cause any issues of the sort despite many articles showing that in fact catch cans will cause shit like this to happen.  After many more articles and research, come to find out the experts have chimed in on this and have said unless I'm running a 9 second truck, there is no need or concern regarding the stock PCV system on the truck.  
 
I put my truck in a GMC service center for service on these items among others and they "fixed" the issue.  However, they failed to fix the rear main seal cover leaking.  Long story short and 4 weeks of my truck being in that shop, I'm still dripping oil in my drive way, I now have a starter solenoid harness clip thats broken and a truck that may or may not start depending on if that harness has unplugged itself.  
 
Starting in 2014, GM stopped putting a metal shim gasket on the rear main seal cover and are instructing their shops to use silicone on that.  Also, the oil pan is a two piece design meaning that the only way to seal the oil pan is by silicone as well.  Apparently, GM didn't learn their lessons from back in the day when they put 2 piece rear main seals in their motors and would blow those out at, you guessed it, where you silicone the seals together.  LMAO, man, maybe I should have bought a Ford.  Who knows...  
 
If there is anything to gain from my article, gain these things.
 
1.  Do NOT put any kind of catch can on your vehicle.  I was very meticulous with emptying the can and with taking care of my vehicle in general and here I am.
2.  Be careful who you take your truck to.  Hell, this was a very highly rated shop and I'm still having hell from these people. 
3.  Customer service is dead.  
 
Like I said, this is more of a rant.  I'm sure I'll catch some hate from this.  But, as I did, do your research and form your own opinions.  I just hope that my article helps 1 person at least.  
 
 

Thank you very much for bringing this up and for your honesty, I too have been contemplating on having one installed on my 6.2. If it makes you feel any better, a couple months ago, while outside on the AutoZone parking lot looking under my hood I ran into an employee of AutoZone and he’s running a catch can too, raves about it and on a recent visit to stock up on detailing spray he warned me against using it cause his warranty was eradicated due to the damage the catch can “apparently” did to his truck. My truck only has 16k miles on it but I’ve sworn that if I ever have major issues that are caused by crappy engineering and can’t be fixed then I’d go out and purchase the newest twin turbo Raptor without having to lift or modify.

Good luck to you and definitely wish you better future experiences


Sent from above

[garagerog]

1 hour ago, MaverickZ71 said:

Somebody posted on here a while back about liquid getting frozen in the catch can lines and blowing out their rear main seal.  Curious that we would have not heard about this before now.  And if GM is building such weak-assed seals, that shows how much we've regressed from the 1950s when the engines were basically sealed up (no pun intended) compared to now (no PCV system) and didn't blow all of the danged seals all the time.

Engines in the 50's were hardly "sealed up", back then they had a downdraft tube open to the atmosphere to vent crankcase gases. That all ended in the early 60's with the first anti-pollution device, the PCV. Those external PCV's located in a valve cover were pretty much foolproof compared to the internal PCV's of today's engines. For those of you to young to have ever seen a crankcase downdraft tube, watch a tractor pull sometime, at the end of a run you'll see those motors belching a copious amount of smoke through generally twin downdraft tubes.

[lordathey]

I have had an elite engineering can installed since 23,000 miles and now have 55,000. No issues and I drain it once a month, which is probably too long, but sometimes I forget :). 

[njk4o5]

most the guys on here with over 100k on these motors, myself included, do not have a stupid catch can.

 

Waste of $$