2020 Silverado Traillboss Custom 5.3 V8 WTF!

Gus M · December 31, 2020

First off let me start with this truck was awesome until it wasn't. I live in the Los Angeles area and it rained yesterday which its Los Angeles so not much rain. Either way I happened to be in a parking lot when my truck suddenly stalled. Heard some clanking noise and it shutdown. Come to find out today somehow water got in the air intake and hydro locked my motor and made a rod crack the block. I literally was in a parking lot, maybe a couple inches of water at any given time. Has this happened to anyone else? Today the dealer told me this isn't GM issue but it is mine for driving in the rain... Seems odd that a truck designed for off-roading "trailboss" can't simply drive in the rain in Los Angeles. I reached out to GM and they have started a claim, just seeing if anyone else or if anyone knows of other instances like this. I bought this truck this March and has only 9k miles on it. I've only ever owned Chevy's so i'm hoping GM steps up and does the right thing. Seems to be some flaws in this design, this would make sense if i was under water but his wasn't the case. Not sure if anyone has had similar problems

SamDSJR · December 31, 2020

Hydro lock has been covered by my insurance company before (Geico.) Just tell them you drove through a puddle and not that you were "driving in the rain."

The reason the dealer is telling you no is because they don't believe you - they think you took a TrailBoss for a swim in a local river. Lawyer up.

Gus M · December 31, 2020

Thanks for the input! Good to know

Gangly · December 31, 2020

Most individuals with hydrolocked motors find themselves in that position as a result of misuse, abuse, or neglect for their vehicle. Not all, but most. I personally have NEVER seen a truck engine hydrolock from driving in rain, or even when forging through 2 foot of water when done in a responsible manner. However, I have seen people acting a fool and do serious damage to their engine and wiring harness in less than half a foot of water. With regards to having enough water in the combustion chamber to lock a piston's movement resulting in a thrown rod through the block, it would be near impossible for you to get that much water into your engine unless you drove through water at such a depth that it would be sucked into your intake, or you plowed through water at such a speed that you sprayed your entire engine compartment with HEAVY amounts of water and it got sucked into the motor. However, given current engineering designs of intake systems, that would be extremely difficult to do.

The first thing GM will do is pull your On-Star GPS history and see where you have been. Unless you payed cash for the vehicle, they will also go through your HID data and check for any data in their as well.

I know it sounds bad, but if you take a logical approach to how this can happen, it doesn't look good for you. The dealership is in their right to act as they did, and I would react the exact same way if it were me and would put the blame on you. Hopefully you have some way of proving your innocence in the matter and don"t get stuck with the bill. You might could check for blown head gaskets, or holes punched in the cylinder walls by dropped valves that might allow coolant into the chamber. Regardless, good luck with your endeavors.

stevejones · December 31, 2020

Any modifications to the stock intake? CAI? If yes, that'll hurt your position, I would think...

Rodek · December 31, 2020

I know this doesn't help your current situation but If you haven't considered one, get yourself a good dashcam. When I'm in my truck the cam records video and audio. It quite possibly could have caught what happened to your truck and you would have some proof.

Gus M · December 31, 2020

26 minutes ago, stevejones said:

Any modifications to the stock intake? CAI? If yes, that'll hurt your position, I would think...

None at all, completely stock.

Gus M · December 31, 2020

41 minutes ago, Gangly said:

Most individuals with hydrolocked motors find themselves in that position as a result of misuse, abuse, or neglect for their vehicle. Not all, but most. I personally have NEVER seen a truck engine hydrolock from driving in rain, or even when forging through 2 foot of water when done in a responsible manner. However, I have seen people acting a fool and do serious damage to their engine and wiring harness in less than half a foot of water. With regards to having enough water in the combustion chamber to lock a piston's movement resulting in a thrown rod through the block, it would be near impossible for you to get that much water into your engine unless you drove through water at such a depth that it would be sucked into your intake, or you plowed through water at such a speed that you sprayed your entire engine compartment with HEAVY amounts of water and it got sucked into the motor. However, given current engineering designs of intake systems, that would be extremely difficult to do.

The first thing GM will do is pull your On-Star GPS history and see where you have been. Unless you payed cash for the vehicle, they will also go through your HID data and check for any data in their as well.

I know it sounds bad, but if you take a logical approach to how this can happen, it doesn't look good for you. The dealership is in their right to act as they did, and I would react the exact same way if it were me and would put the blame on you. Hopefully you have some way of proving your innocence in the matter and don"t get stuck with the bill. You might could check for blown head gaskets, or holes punched in the cylinder walls by dropped valves that might allow coolant into the chamber. Regardless, good luck with your endeavors.

Makes sense, unfortunately its my word against whatever they can find to help or not. I'm still waiting on GM to get back as they have appointed me a case and someone to look into this. Crossing my fingers on this, i have had 3 Silverado's within the past 20 years all new at one point and never done anything different in any of them. This happened to be my first 4x4 off-road truck so sucks that this would occur in a parking lot and not off-road. Either way this sucks! Thanks for the feed back.

Gus M · December 31, 2020

4 hours ago, SamDSJR said:

Hydro lock has been covered by my insurance company before (Geico.) Just tell them you drove through a puddle and not that you were "driving in the rain."

The reason the dealer is telling you no is because they don't believe you - they think you took a TrailBoss for a swim in a local river. Lawyer up.

Another thing is this has onstar so they can easily see where I was, trust me would of been fun if i was in a river. hahaha

TNTSierra · December 31, 2020

This is very interesting because when Chevy introduced the Trailboss they had all kinds of magazine companies flown out to their testing facilities for the Trailboss and they all threw that truck through the obstacle course with a HUGE mud pit crossing. This is strange.

Here are 2 videos

Nothing happened to these trucks. From what you wrote. This is worse treatment then what you went through.

Gus M · December 31, 2020

I've seen these videos. Believe it or not this is what gravitated me toward the Trailboss to begin with, videos like this. Such a messed up situation, i've had 3 Silverados in the past 20 years all new at somepoint and my first 4x4 off-road truck breaks down in a parking lot... Still can't believe it

Silverado4x4 · December 31, 2020

1 hour ago, Gangly said:

Most individuals with hydrolocked motors find themselves in that position as a result of misuse, abuse, or neglect for their vehicle. Not all, but most. I personally have NEVER seen a truck engine hydrolock from driving in rain, or even when forging through 2 foot of water when done in a responsible manner. However, I have seen people acting a fool and do serious damage to their engine and wiring harness in less than half a foot of water. With regards to having enough water in the combustion chamber to lock a piston's movement resulting in a thrown rod through the block, it would be near impossible for you to get that much water into your engine unless you drove through water at such a depth that it would be sucked into your intake, or you plowed through water at such a speed that you sprayed your entire engine compartment with HEAVY amounts of water and it got sucked into the motor. However, given current engineering designs of intake systems, that would be extremely difficult to do.

The first thing GM will do is pull your On-Star GPS history and see where you have been. Unless you payed cash for the vehicle, they will also go through your HID data and check for any data in their as well.

I know it sounds bad, but if you take a logical approach to how this can happen, it doesn't look good for you. The dealership is in their right to act as they did, and I would react the exact same way if it were me and would put the blame on you. Hopefully you have some way of proving your innocence in the matter and don"t get stuck with the bill. You might could check for blown head gaskets, or holes punched in the cylinder walls by dropped valves that might allow coolant into the chamber. Regardless, good luck with your endeavors.

I agree with this as I don't think were hearing the whole story here. The intake entry point is located on top of the plastic cover (cant remember the name of the cover) between the underside of the hood and inside the grill now you would have the ingest a whole hell of a lot of water to get to the entry point of the intake to the motor and total saturate the air cleaner with water that it couldn't absorb anymore then get sucked into the motor. The air cleaner is made of thick paper material and will act like a sponge trapping water to a point unless totally saturated and it would take a lot. Sorry but I don't believe this story at all.

I have mud run a lot many years ago with open air cleaner elements that sit on top of the carb puddles so deep that the motor was covered with mud and water and only once did I hit a deep water hole and staled the motor due to the open air cleaner getting soaking wet with water and it never made it past the air cleaner and into the carb it just clogged the filter, this is with a 750 Holly 4 barrel and they suck a lot of air with the secondary's open.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Silverado4x4

Jay P · December 31, 2020

I wonder if the intake air tube is not properly attached to the air box. If that hole in the bottom of the air box is wide open I could see a lot of water entering the air box.

Jay

Gus M · January 1, 2021

Where would that be located? The truck is still at the dealer but im trying to find any flaws... Can't believe this at all

Gus M · January 1, 2021

1 hour ago, Silverado4x4 said:

I agree with this as I don't think were hearing the whole story here. The intake entry point is located on top of the plastic cover (cant remember the name of the cover) between the underside of the hood and inside the grill now you would have the ingest a whole hell of a lot of water to get to the entry point of the intake to the motor and total saturate the air cleaner with water that it couldn't absorb anymore then get sucked into the motor. The air cleaner is made of thick paper material and will act like a sponge trapping water to a point unless totally saturated and it would take a lot. Sorry but I don't believe this story at all.

I have mud run a lot many years ago with open air cleaner elements that sit on top of the carb puddles so deep that the motor was covered with mud and water and only once did I hit a deep water hole and staled the motor due to the open air cleaner getting soaking wet with water and it never made it past the air cleaner and into the carb it just clogged the filter, this is with a 750 Holly 4 barrel and they suck a lot of air with the secondary's open.

Say what you want but i know what the circumstances were, unfortunately it will be hard to prove this so im exhausting all options before i seek legal help. Hoping GM will make this right and we can figure this out.