Engine Failure - only 76,000 miles

[NC Chevy Owner]

We have a 2015 Chevy Silverado 1500 - bought new 6 years ago.  Literally just made my last payment and the truck went into complete engine failure.  There is a misfire in #7 cylinder, then it was further diagnosed with lifter and valve damage with possible cam damage.  We stopped driving it immediately when the trucks check engine light came on and the horrible ticking started.  There was no other signs that something was wrong.  We are at a loss, no abnormal use of the truck, kept up on all maintenance.   We are looking at a $5500 to $7200 fix.  Has anyone heard of anything like this happening on a low mileage engine?  Do you know if we have any claims against the manufacturer?  FYI we did have the 5 year/100,000 mile guarantee but the truck is now 6 years old.

 

[rlcole321]

The LS engine is a good motor but with one "week" spot, the AFM system (turns of 4 cyl. under cruise condition), but unfortunately those lifters (which collapse by design to turn off the cylinders) fail and thats what happens. Sounds like thats a "Dealership" price, if you not able to repair yourself, I'm sure there are better (and cheaper) places to get it repaired, even installing a "Non AFM' cam and lifter kit and mod the software to tune it out.

[It's Tim]

1 hour ago, NC Chevy Owner said:

Do you know if we have any claims against the manufacturer? 

 

For what exactly?

Peeps have 6 year old trucks with twice that mileage and have never had a single issue, just luck of the draw.

[KARNUT]

31 minutes ago, It's Tim said:

For what exactly?

Peeps have 6 year old trucks with twice that mileage and have never had a single issue, just luck of the draw.

Not really. I had a Ram V-10 out of warranty fail. They determined it was a defect. It was close to that mileage. I only paid labor. I even used it for pulling a trailer. 

[newdude]

4 hours ago, NC Chevy Owner said:

We have a 2015 Chevy Silverado 1500 - bought new 6 years ago.  Literally just made my last payment and the truck went into complete engine failure.  There is a misfire in #7 cylinder, then it was further diagnosed with lifter and valve damage with possible cam damage.  We stopped driving it immediately when the trucks check engine light came on and the horrible ticking started.  There was no other signs that something was wrong.  We are at a loss, no abnormal use of the truck, kept up on all maintenance.   We are looking at a $5500 to $7200 fix.  Has anyone heard of anything like this happening on a low mileage engine?  Do you know if we have any claims against the manufacturer?  FYI we did have the 5 year/100,000 mile guarantee but the truck is now 6 years old.

 

 

 

Well, I don't think you have a major engine failure.  A new cam (if needed) plus all 8 AFM lifters and new pushrod and you'd be good to go.  AFM lifter failures are nothing new, and cams going from failure are much less frequent than lifter and bent pushrod.  

 

Complete engine failure would be bad rod bearings, bent or broken rods, hole in the block, etc.

 

Fix it and drive it IMO.

Edited November 3, 2021 by newdude

[Nikki3721]

Actually very common. This happened to me in my 2015 more than once. Under warranty and I still had to fight with GM tirelessly about it. A total nightmare. So unfortunately I doubt you’ll get them to put for any of it. If you keep it I would definitely get a AFM disabler. 
and to be honest, if I could do it all over again I would have dumped the truck then. That problem lead to other big issues that I also had to fight with GM and the dealership about. When I picked the truck up I made it 14 miles before it popped, went into limp mode and started puking fuel into the crank case. Towed back. Didn’t pick it up for 6 weeks as the “largest dealer in the Midwest” repaired a completely different pet than what I was told when I approved the repair (fuel injector pump, which it was, vs the fuel pump, which obviously it was not) made it 22 miles that time before I was once again stuck on the side of the road. There’s more, but I think you get my point. Unfortunately my financial situation has dramatically changed so I’m stuck with the truck for now. But I will NEVER buy another GM vehicle after this one. Complete $hit show. 

[MikeBMW]

40 minutes ago, Nikki3721 said:

Actually very common.

One anecdote does not make for a true statement as to overall quality.
This is not "common" as you'll read many on this site are quite happy with their trucks.
Certainly, the squeaky wheels always get the attention while the rest just drive along quite happily with regular maintenance, etc.

[dieselfan1]

Just because it happened to you it's common?

 

 

[KARNUT]

I asked about it recently at my GMC- Hyundai dealer. The answer was more common than in the past. It just makes sense the possibility when there’s more going on with cylinder deactivation. He also mentioned that Hyundai had a problem with their 4 cylinder in certain years. As a buyer and fan of Hyundai and GMC I never heard of it. I know several people with those. It took awhile for the GMs 5.7 diesel experiment to known as problematic. We had three all bad. I wouldn’t write it off as hysteria. There’s always denial until it happens to you. 

[Frankielozano214]

Happened to my truck at 71000 miles when I bought it, I bought new non afm/dod cam,

lifter, lifter tray, head gasket, head bolts, oil blockers and did a tune. Haven’t had a problem since then beside the condenser which I also fixed

[dzsmith]

19 hours ago, dieselfan1 said:

Just because it happened to you it's common?

 

 

dude...this is absolutely common. I would say greater than 5 out of 10 5.3 v8 truck owners i know with trucks from 07-2021 have had lifter stick because of AFM. some under 100k and some over. doesnt matter. its a ticking time bomb. Most people now days do not keep vehicles past them being payed for so 5 years or so. i have a 14 and i have had every single common failure on that body style so far except the lifter one. TCC shuddder, bad welds in the condenser, over pressurizing the radiator from a faulty thermostat housing, fuel pump, fuel module, .....all 02 sensors have failed and been replaced at some point and 2 cats. all of this within 130k and i maintenance my vehicle on the dot. yeah these trucks suck.....the QC isnt there. I do agree the 5.3 is a good motor outside of AFM...but AFM will fail. its when not if.

[Grumpy Bear]

8 hours ago, dzsmith said:

dude...this is absolutely common. I would say greater than 5 out of 10 5.3 v8 truck owners i know with trucks from 07-2021 have had lifter stick because of AFM. some under 100k and some over. doesnt matter. its a ticking time bomb. Most people now days do not keep vehicles past them being payed for so 5 years or so. i have a 14 and i have had every single common failure on that body style so far except the lifter one. TCC shuddder, bad welds in the condenser, over pressurizing the radiator from a faulty thermostat housing, fuel pump, fuel module, .....all 02 sensors have failed and been replaced at some point and 2 cats. all of this within 130k and i maintenance my vehicle on the dot. yeah these trucks suck.....the QC isnt there. I do agree the 5.3 is a good motor outside of AFM...but AFM will fail. its when not if.

 

You do know that there is nothing special about the AFM parts to the 5.3 right? 6.2 and 4.3 use the same system and parts save the 4.3's VLOM casting but the parts on that casting are the same as the others. All have the same oil pumps and related parts as well. As far as the rest of this rant....I have 150,000 on mine with two very minor repairs. A weepy pinion seal I could have let go forever and a warps plastic heat shield around the starter that made noise. CadillacLuke has 200K on his without lifter failure. 

 

Somewhere between 'can't get out of the driveway' and "flawless" the truth is the same for them all. Hardly over a 50% failure rate. Hint: stating a statistic without a verifiable source does not make a statement a fact nor true. 

 

Ya got a lemon. 

[KARNUT]

There’s some people who drive a lot especially Hwy miles that probably will be fine. Then there’s people who drive them like there’re an endangered species that will be fine. The ones who don’t drive in the winter. Don’t start them up unless there’re going at least 100 miles. Never drive over 55. The normal people who drive a mix Hwy and shorter trips. The majority. They will experience the most failures. Both GM dealers in my area say the failures are more than normal. The problem is with the exception of Toyota they all are. To pretend otherwise is foolish. It comes from trying new things like cylinder deactivation and twin turbo engines. Toyota is finally trying new advancements we’ll see how they do. Let’s be real.

[dzsmith]

On 11/7/2021 at 8:42 AM, Grumpy Bear said:

 

You do know that there is nothing special about the AFM parts to the 5.3 right? 6.2 and 4.3 use the same system and parts save the 4.3's VLOM casting but the parts on that casting are the same as the others. All have the same oil pumps and related parts as well. As far as the rest of this rant....I have 150,000 on mine with two very minor repairs. A weepy pinion seal I could have let go forever and a warps plastic heat shield around the starter that made noise. CadillacLuke has 200K on his without lifter failure. 

 

Somewhere between 'can't get out of the driveway' and "flawless" the truth is the same for them all. Hardly over a 50% failure rate. Hint: stating a statistic without a verifiable source does not make a statement a fact nor true. 

 

Ya got a lemon. 

The failure rate is high....man. my bosses truck didnt have a lifter stick until 160k.....Another guy i work had one stick at 120k, my uncle had one stick at 90k and another guy i work with had one also stick at less than 100k.....its pretty common. by the way my uncles was the 6.2...i will admit you dont hear about it as much on other afm engines besides the 5.3 but thats mostly because 99% of gm truck owners i know have the 5.3....and i dont know a single 1500 gm driver with a 4.3 not one.

[KARNUT]

I don’t know many Chevy owners I’m an outlier in the group. Chrysler-Ram is another story. About 1/2 of those experienced cylinder deactivation related problems. Most with lifter failure one with oil usage. All under 100K miles, two under warranty. All married couples with second vehicles of a different brands no problems in the same time period.