Lifter Failure Question

Grumpy Bear · June 23, 2023

8 hours ago, KARNUT said:

When we built a better mouse trap we got copied. When we used the better mouse trap to do better work we got costumers. That seems to be lost on GM. Changing oil every weekend isn’t possible for everyone. Imagine the wait times if everyone did that. I’ll just buy the better mouse trap.

Sage wisdom. Catchy too!

IF I owned the V8 it wouldn't be filled with 0W20 warranty be damned. Lots of things are lost the GM and a few others to.

Dad was the King of short OCI...until he got on SS and Medicare. Now he's on the extended OCI train and Supertech. $$$$ talks at this point in his life. He knows it won't last as long but at 95 he's not finding that an issue. He'd rather spend it on a KC Royals Ticket.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Grumpy Bear

diyer2 · June 23, 2023

Shorter OCI's as you all know are my norm. Clean oil is better oil IMO.

MaverickZ71 · June 30, 2023

On 6/23/2023 at 9:29 AM, Grumpy Bear said:

Sage wisdom. Catchy too!

IF I owned the V8 it wouldn't be filled with 0W20 warranty be damned. Lots of things are lost the GM and a few others to.

Dad was the King of short OCI...until he got on SS and Medicare. Now he's on the extended OCI train and Supertech. $$$$ talks at this point in his life. He knows it won't last as long but at 95 he's not finding that an issue. He'd rather spend it on a KC Royals Ticket.

God bless him. This current Royals team is almost unwatchable! Seems like the good ol days of 2014-15 were 30 years ago. Nothing that a new owner, front office, coaching staff, roster, and farm system wouldn't seemingly fix, BEFORE they're worthy of a new stadium . . .

alrockaz · November 4, 2023

157 days later and the truck is back. Wow, that was a journey. The last delay was waiting for Holley to release their newest product, which is a handheld tuner with the ability to unlock the ECM and TCM on these newer trucks. Before this product, you had to send your ECM to HP Tuners or Holley (and presumably others) and it was hundreds of dollars just to unlock. Programming was on top of that. There were issues updating the tuner and he spent six hours getting it unlocked and tuned, with a lot of that time on the phone with Holley. Even without the challenges it would have probably been at least a two hour process. We got one of the first couple of dozen that were produced so I'm sure there are programming bugs to work out.

Heads were cleaned and rebuilt and all of that buildup from the direct injection engines is gone. Only driven it a bit so far but will drive it more today and change the oil again tomorrow just in case there are any tiny metal bits from the new parts in the engine - lifters, pushrods, camshaft, valves, valve seats.

The unlock for these ECMS is eight HP credits ($400) plus shop labor when applicable, and you need to have a certain version of HP tuners, and maybe specific equipment as well.

New Holley tuner https://www.holley.com/products/tuners_and_programmers/handheld_tuners/diablosport_intune_i3/parts/8225-R

NorthernX31 · December 5, 2023

Well today the truck started a light knock from the engine which got erratic and then set off a check engine light and some other fault warnings. I started this post because I was concerned about lifter failure and now I'm wondering if this is what is happening to my truck. Its at 97,000 kms. One of the codes was a P0301 mis fire cylinder 1. The light knocking continues and there is a random metallic knocking sound that happens. I called Road side assistance and they'll be coming to get the truck. I'll update once I hear from the dealership.

20L8TSierra24 · December 5, 2023

Well that really sucks. I responded earlier in the thread and my lifers on my l87 were all done at 8400 miles. Now, it's making noise again at 20. GL & glad it was still within the warranty.

GMCustomerService · December 11, 2023

On 12/4/2023 at 11:22 PM, NorthernX31 said:

Well today the truck started a light knock from the engine which got erratic and then set off a check engine light and some other fault warnings. I started this post because I was concerned about lifter failure and now I'm wondering if this is what is happening to my truck. Its at 97,000 kms. One of the codes was a P0301 mis fire cylinder 1. The light knocking continues and there is a random metallic knocking sound that happens. I called Road side assistance and they'll be coming to get the truck. I'll update once I hear from the dealership.

This is certainly not what we like to hear, NorthernX31. Please know, customer satisfaction is extremely important to us. Our team would be more than happy to take a closer look into the concerns with your 2020 GMC Sierra. To do so, please send an email to [email protected] with ATTN: NorthernX31/GM Trucks in the subject line.

Please include your contact information, VIN, a brief description of your concern, and the name of your preferred dealership. We look forward to hearing from you. To learn more about GM’s Privacy Policy, please visit https://www.gm.com/privacy-statement.html. The information you provide may be monitored and recorded and is subject to the GM Privacy Statement.

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NorthernX31 · December 22, 2023

The dealership called and confirmed that the lifters are the cause of the sound. There's also one or two bent pushrods. Parts are on order but they're being shipped to Alberta from the US. On the bright side, these repairs will be covered under warranty. On the down side, I'm now without my truck for at least a few more weeks. I sure hope the new lifters aren't destined for the same fate.

I've heard others have had the DFM eliminated to try to prevent this from happening again. Any ideas?

Bikerjon · December 23, 2023

23 hours ago, NorthernX31 said:

The dealership called and confirmed that the lifters are the cause of the sound. There's also one or two bent pushrods. Parts are on order but they're being shipped to Alberta from the US. On the bright side, these repairs will be covered under warranty. On the down side, I'm now without my truck for at least a few more weeks. I sure hope the new lifters aren't destined for the same fate.

I've heard others have had the DFM eliminated to try to prevent this from happening again. Any ideas?

Very sorry to hear this. It is possible to eliminate DFM. However it involves camshaft and lifter replacement and probably reprogramming the ECM. All of these items are not "Original Equipment". Therefor they are not covered under warranty. Someone posted on this forum recently who had DFM eliminated on his engine. He spent over $9000.00 out of pocket and the repair took 6 months or more. You may be better off letting the dealer replace your cam, lifters and pushrods with OEM and just live with DFM IMHO.

NorthernX31 · December 25, 2023

I was looking at the Pulsar LT as an option to eliminate DFM. I am not looking at putting a ton of money into the engine to do this.

diyer2 · December 26, 2023

I would suggest more frequent oil changes.

NorthernX31 · December 26, 2023

10 hours ago, diyer2 said:

I would suggest more frequent oil changes.

What frequency are you suggesting?

diyer2 · December 27, 2023

You have to decide how often you change oil.

Me, I like clean oil. I use Amsoil OE in our daily driver, a 2019 Hyundai Santa FE. I'm doing 4k oil changes.

customboss · December 28, 2023

On 6/23/2023 at 8:29 AM, Grumpy Bear said:

Sage wisdom. Catchy too!

IF I owned the V8 it wouldn't be filled with 0W20 warranty be damned. Lots of things are lost the GM and a few others to.

Dad was the King of short OCI...until he got on SS and Medicare. Now he's on the extended OCI train and Supertech. $$$$ talks at this point in his life. He knows it won't last as long but at 95 he's not finding that an issue. He'd rather spend it on a KC Royals Ticket.

Grumpy can you find the link to the 2.7L L3B tiny roller lifters that GM had on their service warning? Not a TSB but maintenance warning. I can't think well enough to find it.

SierraAT · December 28, 2023

Lifters just went out on my 2017 6.2, 115k miles. Total cost to repair was $5,600. The performance shop that did the work said they do the DOD delete 8-10 times a MONTH. Some of those are jobs are pre-emptive.

If you buy a late model GM, you should set 5k to the side for the high probability that your lifters are going to go with the potential of further damage happening as well, I had a pushrod that was also bent. The AFM/DOD system is pure Democrat inspired climate change virtue signaling bullshit.

Edited December 28, 2023 by SierraAT