Think I need an injector

Doublebase · January 12, 2020

Been getting this kind of bogged down thing going on when going up a hill on the highway. You can feel it kind of sputtering before it corrects itself and gets going. Last week it happened and the check engine light started flashing - engine immediately smoothed out and it was fine - light went out in less than 20 seconds. Pulled the code, cylinder five misfire.

I pulled the plug, plug looks great. Was worried it'd be covered in oil because it is the cylinder that is right underneath where the PCV inlet on the manifold is, but it was clean. I swapped the coils with cylinder five and drove it with a scanner, checking for live data. Random misfires would pop up here and there...not much going on with number 5 until I climbed a hill, then 7 misfires. It happened again the next day, 14 misfires while going up another big climb.

I didn't really watch Fuel trim closely. i checked it once in the morning after ten minutes of driving in 19 degree weather...it was -25. That can't be good. Fuel economy has dropped some, but I attributed that to the cold weather driving (my fuel economy always drops in cold weather).

It's a 2018 5.3 Silverado with 45,000 miles. Bought new. Oil changes every 5,000 miles. Easy daily highway commute, no towing, no plowing. Easy life.

I guess the question i have is...is this the injectors? And more importantly, has anyone tried aftermarket injectors? Like the ones I keep seeing on amazon and Ebay for short money - I want to replace all 8 if I'm going in there - I imagine replacing all 8 with OE injectors would run my close to a grand...I don't want to spend a grand on a truck that just came out of bumper to bumper warranty, that I'm still making payments on. And let's just say that I don't exactly have much faith in the OE injectors at this point anyway. I'm not opposed to buying aftermarket and having to do this jog again in another 45k miles, I just don't want to do this job in say, 500 miles because the injectors were a scam and total garbage. Anyone have any experience with these aftermarket injectors??

Doublebase · January 12, 2020

Something else I'd be interested in would be a company that sells injectors with a warranty.

KARNUT · January 12, 2020

If it was me I’d run cleaner through it. And only top tier gas. I’d be concerned about the cylinder deactivation part of the equation. May not be as prevalent as it may appear here but something to think about.

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Doublebase · January 12, 2020

2 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

If it was me I’d run cleaner through it. And only top tier gas. I’d be concerned about the cylinder deactivation part of the equation. May not be as prevalent as it may appear here but something to think about.

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I only use top tier fuel. I put a bottle of seafoam in the tank and I've been running super for the week. Will see how it goes. Truck doesn't run terrible. No rough idle. Check engine light hasn't come back on since the "event". I'll give it another week or so...see if it improves or doesn't come back. Not real confident based off what I've been reading about injectors.

dtnel78 · January 12, 2020

Haven't bought new since 04 and still rocking my 4.8 Tahoe with 129k original miles.

Anyways back to what I was getting to is doesn't GM have a 100k powertrain warranty covering the engine? If so I'd see if they're covered and if so have them checked before touching the engine.

Don't buy the cheap eBay ones. If you buy Rock Auto and have issues then you have to send them back. In this situation I'd get em from my local parts house that stocks acdelco. The parts will come with a warranty, just ask the parts house first.

Have you had a fuel system cleaning done by a shop? If you don't have the canister to put the cleaner in and induce it into the fuel system while shutting fuel from fuel pump down then I'd find a shop that could do a real fuel system flush.

45k miles seems low unless those year models have those issues.

I'd definitely check the live data on the oxygen sensors and make sure they're functioning correctly as well

Here's some addl information to maybe help you with possibly drilling down the issue.

Fuel filter if available on this vehicle, air filter, clean throttle body, MAF sensor cleaning with proper cleaner are a few things that come to mind.

Have someone who's got access to factory data check TSB's for the symptom as they're one thing to be ruled out before throwing the parts cannon as there could very well be a software update recommended for this condition. Vehicles are getting more and more complicated in the diagnosing procedures, ways to address issues, etc..

Here's the link I was speaking of if it helps any as some people have this stuff nailed down good already which very well may be your case.

https://www.aa1car.com/library/what_is_fuel_trim.htm

Let us know how it turns out for you.

Doublebase · January 12, 2020

5 hours ago, dtnel78 said:

Haven't bought new since 04 and still rocking my 4.8 Tahoe with 129k original miles.

Anyways back to what I was getting to is doesn't GM have a 100k powertrain warranty covering the engine? If so I'd see if they're covered and if so have them checked before touching the engine.

Don't buy the cheap eBay ones. If you buy Rock Auto and have issues then you have to send them back. In this situation I'd get em from my local parts house that stocks acdelco. The parts will come with a warranty, just ask the parts house first.

Have you had a fuel system cleaning done by a shop? If you don't have the canister to put the cleaner in and induce it into the fuel system while shutting fuel from fuel pump down then I'd find a shop that could do a real fuel system flush.

45k miles seems low unless those year models have those issues.

I'd definitely check the live data on the oxygen sensors and make sure they're functioning correctly as well

Here's some addl information to maybe help you with possibly drilling down the issue.

Fuel filter if available on this vehicle, air filter, clean throttle body, MAF sensor cleaning with proper cleaner are a few things that come to mind.

Have someone who's got access to factory data check TSB's for the symptom as they're one thing to be ruled out before throwing the parts cannon as there could very well be a software update recommended for this condition. Vehicles are getting more and more complicated in the diagnosing procedures, ways to address issues, etc..

Here's the link I was speaking of if it helps any as some people have this stuff nailed down good already which very well may be your case.

https://www.aa1car.com/library/what_is_fuel_trim.htm

Let us know how it turns out for you.