2014 Sierra 1500 5.3 Standard Lifter Failure

[desertcomm]

First of all, I owe you guys.  Had a ticking noise, and through this forum guessed that it was likely a collapsed AFM lifter.  After getting $4k-$6k quotes to repair, watching a LOT of YouTube, and reading on this forum, I decided that if I was going to spend that kind of money I’d rather delete the AFM altogether.  So, DIY, here I came.  I think I made the right call.

 

Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and did NOT find a collapsed AFM lifter.  Instead, I found a stuck roller lifter in Cylinder 3.  Wouldn’t pull out, so I had to knock it back into the block and fish it out with a magnet after removing the cam.  Pics are what I found.

 

My questions - what would cause this, and what would you do after finding this?

 

TIA!

[CamGTP]

The metal on the camshaft failed and the roller took a beating because of it. You did the only thing can do at the this point, replace the camshaft and lifters with new parts.

 

This was/is still a fairly common on the older LS engines too, a lobe gets wiped out and takes the roller with it.

 

Here's a pictures of a different camshaft lobe that failed.

 

[desertcomm]

Thanks, CamGTP!  I'm not a mechanic, so once I saw this I got concerned that I might have a bigger issue.  I was having nightmares of needing to pull the pistons.

 

Time to put it back together!

 

I appreciate you guys sharing with us noobs and DIYers - thanks again!

[rlcole321]

DIY'er Rule!!, thanks for the pic.!, what did you use to delete AFM system and what cam kit did you use?

[desertcomm]

ricole321 - I purchased the Stage 1 AFM delete kit from Gwatney.  Pricey, but the most complete kit I could find. Staff have been super helpful as well.

 

Comes with cam, lifters, holders, head and water pump gaskets, phase adjuster, cam cover, cam bolt, plugs for the oil towers, new head bolts, two tubes of RTV….and I’m sure I’m not listing everything.

 

Will need a tune, so looking at their remote tuning service.  Again, expensive, but I don’t want to play around and screw this up after this much work.

Edited April 30, 2022 by desertcomm