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2021 Tahoe HM engine failure


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New Tahoe HM, less then 8000 miles. Engine breakdown while on small vacation. Valve lifter came apart. Repair Chev dealer waited 8 days before GM warehouse delivered all needed parts. Then while repairs were underway, they notice a lifter rod was slightly bend. Ordered part. Car out of service more then 15 days already. This fact started my procedure under Florida lemon law. Put GM on Notice as required by that law. Wonder what will happen. Understand more issues are reported on same 6.3 8 cyl. Engine.

Have had more then 15 GM cars and truck during the years. Never any mechanical problems and now suddenly this. Suppose my turn for a lemon.

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That is happening everywhere. We are doing at least one of those lifter jobs a week and sometimes 2-3. Absolutely horrible, also waiting on a 10 speed transmission that destroyed the forward planetary unit and sent chunks of metal threw out the whole transmission. That has 3105 miles on it and was ordered a week ago. Im sure the owner is so happy with his purchase.

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My guess is that they fix it and you get your truck back. 15 days down is nothing with all the parts shortages.

 

One failure in 8,000 miles doesn't make it a lemon to me.

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On 5/20/2021 at 3:53 PM, mjm-1957 said:

That is happening everywhere. We are doing at least one of those lifter jobs a week and sometimes 2-3. Absolutely horrible, also waiting on a 10 speed transmission that destroyed the forward planetary unit and sent chunks of metal threw out the whole transmission. That has 3105 miles on it and was ordered a week ago. Im sure the owner is so happy with his purchase.

Have you heard of these getting lemon law returned?

 

exact same thing happened to me. 
 

slightly concerned 

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  • 1 month later...

Well, at least here in Texas the Lemon Law say you have to allow for "Reasonable Attempts" to rectify the situation (among other conditions).  And you probably signed a document agreeing to arbitration.  So probably not as clear cut and easy to force a Lemon Law claim as some might expect.

 

My 2021 Tahoe High Country had the lifter/rod failure at a little over 7,000 miles.  Same story as all the others, dealer claimed weeks to get parts, only will repair one cylinder bank.  They fixed it and immediately I got the warning lights again, which I think are related to cylinder misfire and perhaps precursor to yet another failure.  Many references to subsequent failures in the public domain.  

 

Fortunately, I was able to convince the dealer to buy it back from me.  Lost money on the purchase price as well as sales tax etc. but feel I've dodged a major bullet and avoided quite a bit of heartache and frustration down the road.  Bought a Ford product, and will NEVER buy any GM product ever again.  And NEVER is a long, long time.

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On 5/20/2021 at 3:53 PM, mjm-1957 said:

That is happening everywhere. We are doing at least one of those lifter jobs a week and sometimes 2-3. Absolutely horrible, also waiting on a 10 speed transmission that destroyed the forward planetary unit and sent chunks of metal threw out the whole transmission. That has 3105 miles on it and was ordered a week ago. Im sure the owner is so happy with his purchase.

How do you know and was it making any noises !  I have a 2020 AT4 -6.2 engine .  The damn truck sounds like it’s falling apart 7900 miles - dealer drove it 37 miles  and heard freaking nothing !  Oh they heard one clunk . Seriously . I was 100ft away from dealership and the truck is making the noise again .  Then a new noise I heard on the way home today . 
I swear it sounds like something is horribly wrong with my truck. They said it’s fine . 

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I've had the lifters replaced twice and the head gasket once in my 2021 Yukon.  17 days in the shop across the 3 repairs.  By Florida lemon law I don't have a case.  I even took it to the Better Business Bureau and they said there wasn't much they could do.  I did write GM about it.  They're going to extend my power train warranty to 100K miles.  I already had a 75K mile extended bumper to bumper, so that didn't help much.

 

I would have thought lemon law would help since my engine had been apart 3 times by the time I hit 5,000 miles.  However since it's repaired the lemon law didn't help me.  Now I'm stuck with a vehicle that's essentially worthless.  Nobody is going to want to buy something that's been torn apart 3 times.

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How is it worthless?

 

It's still running and driving, it's worth what the market says it's worth still.

 

But if you still feel it's worth nothing I will take it off your hands for free because clearly you don't want it anymore and nobody else is EVER going to want it. Get a grip people, open your eyes to the real world and I am so glad that almost none of you are mechanics because if you bitched and moaned about stuff like this you'd never get any work done in the shop.

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It’s amusing to read some of these posts. Especially from the people who haven’t had the problem yet. Calling people winers and such. I’m old enough to have experience some of GMs experiments and been burned. It caused me to buy extended warranties and always have a spare around. Even tried out other brands. Ten speed transmissions and Frankenstein engines no thanks. Sadly my last new GM in 2014 was quietest, smoothest truck I’ve ever owned. The engine was a deal killer for me. Fortunately being and old guy iv driven some of GMs best and most bulletproof. Found one and will paint and replace parts when needed. When working I traded every two years. I drove lots of miles. My advice is buy a truck you can afford to pay off during the warranty period, regular or extended. And keep a spare around for just in case. I’ve been doing just that since the 70s.

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On 7/17/2021 at 1:09 AM, CamGTP said:

How is it worthless?

 

It's still running and driving, it's worth what the market says it's worth still.

 

But if you still feel it's worth nothing I will take it off your hands for free because clearly you don't want it anymore and nobody else is EVER going to want it. Get a grip people, open your eyes to the real world and I am so glad that almost none of you are mechanics because if you bitched and moaned about stuff like this you'd never get any work done in the shop.

Ok, I'll admit I exaggerated when I called it "worthless."  It's worth at least scrap and probably a fair amount more than that.  However to say it's worth market value I believe is a stretch.  I get it if it's been in for a straightforward repair like an alternator or water pump.  In that case there is no degradation in value.  However mine has had the engine torn apart 3 times.  Even if the mechanic working on my vehicle were the most skilled in the world, there's a lot of precision that goes into assembling the top end of an engine.  In the factory it's done with jigs and machines.  The shop at a GM dealership does not have the same precision instruments at its disposal.  Therefore the vehicle was not put together to the same specifications it was at the factory.  If my truck and an identical truck were sitting next to each other and you knew mine had been apart 3 times and the other has had no issues would you pay the same amount for both vehicles?  I seriously doubt it.

 

Mine had the lifters replaced twice and each time there was a bent rod.  Less than a month after the second lifter job, it needed the head gasket replaced.  Head gaskets don't go out after less than 1,000 miles.  That means either the head gasket was defective or the mechanic did not put the engine back together properly.  When I took the truck in to the dealership, the Service Advisor called his Manager over.  The Service Manager listened to my truck and cringed because it was making a grinding noise. He told me it more than likely needed a new engine.  They replaced the head gasket and called it good.  Knowing that are you still willing to pay market value for my truck?

 

You can say whatever you want about me, but I'm pretty convinced my engine isn't going to last as long as it would have originally.  I've had 3 major repairs to it and although I'm not a mechanic I'm pretty convinced that grinding noise didn't help the longevity of my motor.  Now I'm going to sell the vehicle earlier than I originally would have because quite frankly I don't trust it to last.  That in itself means I won't get as much value out of it.

 

From a value perspective, this is very similar to an accident.  The truck was repaired by certified personnel with OEM parts.  However if a vehicle has been in an accident, the value inherently goes down because of fear of the unknown.  The more major the accident the more the value goes down.  Same rule applies here.  Major repairs mean the value goes down.  Could it last for 200,000 miles?  Potentially.  Will it?  I won't be the one to find out.  I don't want to take that risk.

 

When I go to sell, I agree somebody will buy it.  I won't have to give it away, and I'm pretty sure I'll get more than just scrap for it.  However to think that I can get market value for this vehicle is not something I can get on board with.  I'm convinced the value of my truck is less because of the early failures.  And yes I believe that I do live in the real world saying that.

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It's hard for me to think like you do because I am the mechanic. The engine that has been apart and the engine that hasn't doesn't really change my mind at all. Not with these vehicles anyway, I know far too much about them to know that having the engine apart and put back together doesn't change how long it could live. I'd need a magic 8 ball to tell you when and how it could die.

 

Defective OEM parts happens. Needing another headgasket after assuming it was replaced once already is surely uncommon but things happen. As far as engine assembly goes, robot and jigs aren't really needed, things fit like lego's. Like dowels for headgaskets and cylinder heads. A GM dealership has to supply the techs with the service tools just like on an assembly line for putting engines back together.  Many things are automated on engines at a plant but a human still has to put things were they belong then the robot does the torque of the bolts.

 

Also the value of the vehicle only goes down to you. A clean accident report is all anyone cared about when pricing stuff. The truck could have had engine work or a new engine or transmission put in it and the value of the truck won't drop at all. Those are both major repairs but they both return the vehicle to proper operating condition thus keeping it's value the same.

 

I don't buy new vehicles because who wants to spend $60,000 or more every few years when I can save 30-50% buying it used a few years old.

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I heard on another forum that this issue was resolved, and vehicles/engines built after a certain date shouldn't experience the lifter issues. Does anyone know the date this was addressed and which batch of vehicles was potentially at risk for lifter failure? 

 

I pick mine up tomorrow, it was built after July 5th, 2021 (No steering column lock, no start/stop)

thanks

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/19/2021 at 9:28 AM, oldguy00 said:

Hi all, new to the forum and am shopping for a Tahoe.  Just wondering, the engine failures, are they only with the 6.3 engine??

 

Thx!!

The 5.3 engines have more cases because of the # sold but the 6.2L engines have had issues too. We just bought a 21 SLT Yukon with a 5.3 being aware of the situation. 

Edited by 20Denali21
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