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Dreaded Lifter Failure in 2021 GMC Sierra 1500

Nick Reynolds
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KARNUT
KARNUT

You can blame Covid. Like everything else. 

20L8TSierra24
20L8TSierra24

Just drive it. When you get close the the expiration of your warranty, either buy extended or trade it in.

Z45
Z45

As long as the lifters are in the engine the risk is there. Turning it off will not lessen it.  GM is willing to tolerate a certain failure rate to achieve a cafe mpg goal.   The lifter problem will t

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2021 Sierra X31 Enthusiast

2021 Sierra X31

Posted
Posted
23 hours ago, voided3 said:

To summarize, the engine has been apart twice for lifter failure (before they finally figured it out), the idler pulley and serpentine belt prematurely failed at 6300 miles, the bed was incorrectly installed crooked at the factory, and the front seats had to be removed to fix incorrectly installed/non-functioning HVAC ducting to the rear. I also have to hold it in neutral for three seconds between reverse and drive or it slams into 2nd gear on the first 1-2 shift of the day.

 

After each repair, the dealer also messed up something and I had to fix it myself: They didn't clip a heater hose back into place so it would rub on the frame going over bumps and squeak, the body shop bent the plastic deflector in front of the passenger side rear wheel so I had them send me the part to install myself, and they didn't reconnect the wiring harness for the rear seat USB ports after removing the front seats so I had to pop the bezel off and reconnect it. They also put over 500 miles on the truck test driving it across the four service appointments for the lifters and burned half a tank of gas without refueling it on the last appointment and never reimbursed me after providing a receipt. They also ran over my floor mats at some point; the front passenger side mat had a distinct Michelin Primacy tread print in it I had to scrub off with a drill brush....

 

In conclusion, there are some days I hope this piece of $#!^ catches fire on the side of the road and puts itself out of my misery. I might call the fire department to come put it out after a half hour or so, just to be safe.

 

Geez... you had a rash of problems. Funny you mention the bed issue. I noticed my bed was crooked right away. I'm OCD. I loosened all the bolts (located on bottom side of bed) and slid mine so that it was all lined up. Then the DRL light color issue, and now the lifters. So far, that's the only issues i've had. The engine issues really chap my hide. 

voided3 Enthusiast

voided3

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, 2021 Sierra X31 said:

 

Geez... you had a rash of problems. Funny you mention the bed issue. I noticed my bed was crooked right away. I'm OCD. I loosened all the bolts (located on bottom side of bed) and slid mine so that it was all lined up. Then the DRL light color issue, and now the lifters. So far, that's the only issues i've had. The engine issues really chap my hide. 

Yeah, it hasn't been a good experience at all. It was the right truck for us on paper, but man did the execution fall short.

 

I drove my parents' '03 Chevy Avalanche a few months ago for the last time, prior to them selling it recently, to compare. Even at almost 20 years old and 170k+ miles with all original drivetrain components, that thing still shifts buttery smooth, rides great (it's a coil sprung Suburban chassis so not apples to apples), runs strong, really comfortable seats, and great forward visibility. It's just night and day to our truck in every aspect and it's super depressing. I'd gladly take 70 less horsepower and four less gears if our truck could drive like that.

 

Side note, our bed it was so crooked they had to remove the plastic locator pin to get it to line up so the dealer's body shop had to do it, otherwise I would have done the same.

2021 Sierra X31 Enthusiast

2021 Sierra X31

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, voided3 said:

Yeah, it hasn't been a good experience at all. It was the right truck for us on paper, but man did the execution fall short.

 

I drove my parents' '03 Chevy Avalanche a few months ago for the last time, prior to them selling it recently, to compare. Even at almost 20 years old and 170k+ miles with all original drivetrain components, that thing still shifts buttery smooth, rides great (it's a coil sprung Suburban chassis so not apples to apples), runs strong, really comfortable seats, and great forward visibility. It's just night and day to our truck in every aspect and it's super depressing. I'd gladly take 70 less horsepower and four less gears if our truck could drive like that.

 

Side note, our bed it was so crooked they had to remove the plastic locator pin to get it to line up so the dealer's body shop had to do it, otherwise I would have done the same.


Yeah, now I do love the way my Sierra drives. 8 speed has been smooth so far. Quiet ride down the road at 80 mph. And soft ride over bumps. However, I completely agree about the downhill decline in quality and reliability we have all seen the past 20 years. I’ve had around 10 different vehicles, never have I had any of them have major engine problems, never. Granted, I don’t keep vehicles very long usually (2-3 years max). But I’ve only had the Sierra 1 year so far. It’s sad to see where we’ve gone as a country. Outsourcing people, parts, assembly, etc, all in the name of profits over quality. Car manufacturers have all been forced down this road, or face complete bankruptcy. Oh well. I’ve ranted enough. 

  • 3 weeks later...
edktm Enthusiast

edktm

Posted
Posted
On 3/16/2022 at 9:10 PM, 2021 Sierra X31 said:

2021 Sierra SLT here, 5.3 Liter... 25,000 miles on the clock. Was driving home from work the other day, stop and go traffic and stop lights. I start to take off from a stop light and I hear a loud "tap, tap, tap", the truck loses power and continued to make the loud tapping noise. I knew it was bad right away. Limped it along until I could get it parked in a parking lot. As I made my way to the parking lot, the computer started flashing a bunch of codes. I quickly got it parked and shut it down. Called a tow truck and had it towed to my local dealership. They looked at it the next day and let me know that there was a intake valve lifter failure on cylinder 7. Subsequently, the collapsed lifter also caused other damage and bent a pushrod.  I immediately asked the tech to please replace ALL lifters in the engine. He told me that per GM, they aren't allowed to do that unless the truck has 8,000 miles or less. So, I had no choice. They replaced only the lifters on the bank of cylinder 7. I'm extremely disappointed that with a brand new truck i've already had a catastrophic valvetrain failure. I'm sure they are sourcing half or more of the engine parts from CHINA. Now I just am driving and expecting any minute that i'll have the other side of lifters fail. Not to mention, I don't even know if they installed parts that are actually sound, or if they are no different and will fail again. Finally, after the lifters were replaced, now my truck idles more rough, and I can feel more vibration coming from the engine at different RPM's. Just really sucks. This was also my first GM product... so this leaves a really sour taste. 

This is F'd up... If this happens to my daughter while towing a horse trailer GM will pay...

Oscar Cabrera Enthusiast

Oscar Cabrera

Posted
Posted

Hi All, new to the forum here and excited about purchasing my first truck!

I have put a deposit down on a 2021 RST with 5.3L Vortec with DFM (I verified this on the sticker that it has DFM). I also checked the build code on the door jam and it says Feb 2021. The car has about 11k miles and from the carfax report it has 3 service records inlcuding oil changes. Car was first bought in michigan and it made it to my local MA dealer via auction. It is CPO and I feel pretty good about that but now to the lifter spring question. There is a service note on that model and the manufacture date fits inside the service manufacture date to replace potentially faulty lifter springs.

Question is, do I raise this to the dealer before delivery and ask that it be done or just drive the car off and be ok with the fact that I have an extended CPO warranty for 100k miles and 6 years (I am unlikely to reach both as owner). I am not sure how I feel about techs fidling with thiese parts of the engine for an essentially brand new truck but also concerned to just be left stranded one day (something which could happen with any car) but this is a specific known issue. Any advise is appreciated.

Steve-2019 Enthusiast

Steve-2019

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Oscar Cabrera said:

Hi All, new to the forum here and excited about purchasing my first truck!

I have put a deposit down on a 2021 RST with 5.3L Vortec with DFM (I verified this on the sticker that it has DFM). I also checked the build code on the door jam and it says Feb 2021. The car has about 11k miles and from the carfax report it has 3 service records inlcuding oil changes. Car was first bought in michigan and it made it to my local MA dealer via auction. It is CPO and I feel pretty good about that but now to the lifter spring question. There is a service note on that model and the manufacture date fits inside the service manufacture date to replace potentially faulty lifter springs.

Question is, do I raise this to the dealer before delivery and ask that it be done or just drive the car off and be ok with the fact that I have an extended CPO warranty for 100k miles and 6 years (I am unlikely to reach both as owner). I am not sure how I feel about techs fidling with thiese parts of the engine for an essentially brand new truck but also concerned to just be left stranded one day (something which could happen with any car) but this is a specific known issue. Any advise is appreciated.

 

I know you're new here (Welcome), but you don't need to post this same question more than once here on the forum. 😉

Dirk Dingle Berry New Member

Dirk Dingle Berry

Posted
Posted
On 3/17/2022 at 1:06 AM, brewtus said:

Just curious - what was your build date?   If it were me I'd be sending this one down the road.  Wouldn't feel comfortable with only 1/2 of the lifters replaced as they all obviously came from the same batch.

How much would it cost to have the other bank of lifters replaced?

Dirk Dingle Berry New Member

Dirk Dingle Berry

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 3/17/2022 at 1:16 PM, 2021 Sierra X31 said:

 

Yep, found it. Thanks. Looks like my build date is also 11/2020... so you and I are in the exact same boat. As far as demanding they replace both sides, that's going to go nowhere. That would mean the dealership would be taking around a $2000 hit. 

 

I actually just got back from dealer again today. I had them change the oil (they were supposed to when lifter was replaced) and look at why the truck is now idling rough after they replaced one bank of lifters. The shop foreman drove the truck, acknowledged that it does idle rough. He wants me to drive it 2,000 miles first, since it was a major repair, and see if it still persists. If it does, they are going to look into it further. We all know it's not going to correct itself. So, I will be taking it back in 2000 miles from now. 

IMG_1712.jpg

 

I noticed your truck was made in Mexico.    My 2018 Sierra SLT 1500 was made in Mexico.   My 2022 GMC Sierra AT4 1500 is made outside  Ft. Wayne Indiana.   GMC moved some 1500 production from Mexico to Ft. Wayne.    

I have never heard of foreign auto production moving back to US.   I guess the Mexico plant now has a union.

Edited by Dirk Dingle Berry
new info

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