2007 5.3 AFM collapsed lifter victim :'(

[Daniel Clark]

Video of my engine tick along with the cylinder 1 lifter not lifting. 

What do you guys think I should do next? I've watched many of "Crazed Performance Repair"''s youtube videos on fixing the same. 

I'm thinking of starting by pulling the intake, loosening the rocker arm, and taking a rod and trying to punch loose that collapsed lifter, then torquing down the likely undertorqued VLOM bolts. If it gets fixed, great. If not, head pullin' time.

What do you guys think?

 

[Jsdirt]

I highly doubt whacking it will fix anything. These lifters are poorly engineered junk - replacement is the only option. Sucks the heads have to come off to do so - listed at over 20 HOURS labor, wtf. Such are the joys of LS ownership. Seems like yesterday changing a lifter was a 1 hour job, tops! 

 

Hopefully the lifter didn't spin and wipe out the cam. Also, cam bearings, especially #2,  are notorious for walking out of their bores.

 

Given all these (yep, there's more ...) known issues, WHEN this happens to my truck, I won't even bother rebuilding it. I'll grab a crate engine from a reputable engine builder (NOT GM) and install that. I'm tempted to even go back to an old school big block - at least I know those engines will do what they're supposed to, trouble free, for hundreds of thousands of miles, and can be rebuilt quickly and easily when needed. In 20+  hours I could rebuild TWO of those, turn-key!!