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2009 Chevy Silverado 1500 5.3L Engine Swap

Chris1978
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Chris1978 New Member

Chris1978

Posted
Posted

Need Help!

Sorry if i posted this in the wrong spot or if i left any info out. This is my first post.

Posting for a friend but did all the work together. I need to get a reliable vehicle on a budget. Please help me make the right decision. We are by no means engine mechanics but do alot of work on our toys and vehicles.

 

History

I recently purchased a 2009 Chevy Silverado with a lifter Tic for $2000 CAD.

VIN#3GCEK13339G242303

Got it for a good deal and figured it was an easy fix after doing some research. The truck had over 200km on it (dont remember exactly). Thought it was a collapsed AFM lifter and did some research to see how to fix it. Bought a tool "machine push rod" online and sent my ECU/PCU out to have the AFM disabled. Waited for part to come in and then tackled the job. We were into it apx $300CAD at this stage in parts. This is when things went south.

 

Pulled the intake and valve cover on the side with the tick. Found the collapsed lifter was not an AFM lifter and that someone had been into the engine previously. One of the AFM pushrods and rocker had been welded!! i don't know who the hack was but they did a bad job but why even try when the parts aren't that expensive. So we pulled the head and lifters to find out that the lifter with the welded pushrod and rocker had spun in the lifter guide and the cam was finished. We ordered new lifters for the ones that were bad (yes we know know that we should have changed them all), gaskets, new cam, lifter guides, head bolts, plugs and a few other minor things. Apx another $500CDN. We purchased all the parts from rockauto except one we also pulled the oil pressure sensor from the LOMA and noticed someone had also been there and removed the screen underneath it. Installed all the new parts following manuals with torque specs best we could but only pulled the one head on drivers side. We got it all back together changed oil and a new filter. We left plug wires off and pulled the relay for fuel pump to lubricated the engine before starting. Tried for a while 8-10 times for 5-10 secs to get oil pressure but nothing would register on gage. Decided to just start it so put plug wires on and relay back in. It started right up and built up oil pressure within 5 seconds. for the most part the engine sounded good and the only issue we had was an airlock that took a little bit of time to get purged out but kept an eye on engine temp and oil pressure the whole time. once we got the airlock issue resolved we let it idle for 20 mins per the instruction with the cam. We did notice a engine knock in the bottom end but decided to leave it be as the truck hadn't been ran by us and wanted to ensure everything else worked. The owner took it for a ride and never made it more than 30 miles before it developed another lifter tick and he said the oil pressure was good at first but started getting low but didn't drop below 20 psi or 137.5kpa. I also questioned it when installing them but didn't look it up that the lifter could be installed 180 degrees off. I didn't think it would matter since the oil hole is trapped on either side in the bore so oil pressure should get their either way but i guess i was wrong and the lifter we purchased had to have the oil hole facing up.  I don't remember which way we installed them.

 

now we are unsure what to do and don't want to put anymore time or money into this engine since it has the know knock in the bottom end. From what i can tell this engine has oil pressure issues which would need to be resolved first not to mention pulling head or heads again.Looking to get a reliable vehicle out of this before winter.

 

so far my options are:

1. I have a 2006 1500 5.3 VIN# 2GCEK13T161345613 with 288,000 km runs good truck is finished that was a parts truck i have. From my research my 2009 is an LC9 Gen 4 and the 2006 is a LM7 Gen3. Havent been able to find out if i could swap them and what it will take. This is where i need the help. It looks like the knock sensor is in a different location and the reluctor on the cam is different the 06 being 24x and the 09 being 54x. Do both these trucks have a PCM and will my 06 work in the 09 and still have everything talking? Will this engine swap work and what do i need to do? Should i do anything to the 06 engine before installing it?

2. Buy a new/rebuilt engine for apx $2700 plus 8 hour drive

3. Look for a used engine but most salvage yard places i have called want $1500 for an engine with 250K.

4. Fix the existing engine in the 09?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated even feedback on what we did wrong. I don't mind constructive criticism as it only makes us better. 

CamGTP Senior Enthusiast

CamGTP

Posted
Posted

The older engine and computer will not work. The P59 computer is completely different than the E38 in your truck.

 

Like you said the cam and crank triggers are different and would require a machine shop to swap the reluctor on the crank. Then you have to drill and tap the block for the sensors and extend the wiring for those and other sensors. It's a headache to make everything place nice when doing this. Likely a custom tune would be wanted if there are weird gremlins that come up.

 

If you can do the work yourself, besides a few things needing done at a machine shop. Rebuilding your engine is likely the cheapest option. I would look over the cam bearings, get new ones done at the machine shop if needed. Dingle ball hone the cylinders, clean up the piston rings or get a new set stock set.

 

Do new main and rod bearings, new stock oil pump, replace the other remaining lifers, new gaskets and call it a day.

  • Like 1
  • 4 weeks later...
swathdiver Senior Enthusiast

swathdiver

Posted
Posted

Rebuild it and do it right this time, replacing the lifter trays is SOP.  If you are keeping AFM, replace the VLOM with the updated one and only use GM OE parts, not Dorman or Chicom garbage.  Get the updated lifters and driver's side valve cover too.  If you delete AFM and don't want to spend $400+ on a new camshaft, get an L33 camshaft, same single pattern grind as your original without AFM.  This is 3-Bolt so you'll need to adapt to it which is easy.  Send the block and heads out to be cleaned and checked for cracks before spending a nickel on anything else.  When they get a clean bill of health then start ordering up parts.  Get a shop manual and measure measure measure and check your clearances.  Might be fine with stock size bearings or things might need turning and over-sized bearings installed.

 

The LC9 in your truck uses a high volume low pressure oil pump, it pumps 1/3 more volume of oil per revolution than the pump for the iron block motors.  It is known as a Melling M365.  There is no need for anything else or more pressure.  

 

Read this until you are familiar with it and before you start, might save you a bundle of time and money:

https://www.enginebuildermag.com/wp-content/uploads/Articles/03_01_2012/986163348GMGENI_00000054947.pdf

 

 

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