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How to diagnose lifter failure before it really goes south?

DK91105
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DK91105 Enthusiast

DK91105

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2019 silverado, 5.3 L84, 81k miles.  Last few weeks I have been hearing a light tapping noise. I am well aware of the regular noises the engine makes and this is a new one. Ive been around engines all my life and Ive heard what excessive valve lash sounds like and this definitely sounds like it.  I put my mechanics stethoscope on and listened to the engine on both sides and the tapping sounds like its coming from the drivers side. The sound is roughly 1/2 engine speed and never goes away after engine is warmed up fully. At idle its not even audible but as soon as I pickup the RPM to 1500 it gets very noticeable and only gets louder with higher RPM. It does not feel like its down on power and no codes have been thrown.  I pulled both valve covers today looking for obvious problems. All rockers feel ok wiggling them around by hand and I cant find any excessive play in any of them. All springs and retainers are present and look to be in good condition. I eyeballed the push rods as best I could with a light and inspection mirror and I didn't see anything obviously bent  I also checked to make sure none of the rocker arm bolts were loose while it was apart.  The thing is the noise is not awful yet and hard to pickup on video but its definitely there. I want to address this before it becomes potentially catastrophic. I'm out of warranty and when I called the only GM dealership id let touch it they quoted me 6k to put the same junk lifters back in and that was if the cam was ok. I priced a whole set of parts to delete and tune out the DFM and while I can definitely swing it the labor is quite intensive and something Id rather not do unless it was absolutely necessary.  What else can I do to make sure It is lifter noise before I open it up?

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DK91105
DK91105

Well  I'm all done, back together, and running.   Here's a few final thoughts about this job now that it's all done.     If you have a decently stocked toolbox and your back is in decent sha

KARNUT
KARNUT

Man? If I tore down every small block Chevy because of a lifter tick. It’d probably been all of them. Including my current one. 

DK91105
DK91105

Well well well....  finally got it all the way down and lookie what I found.   An initial visual inspection of the lifters didn't yield any obvious clues but when I pulled the cam out....    So to fol

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64BAwagon Senior Enthusiast

64BAwagon

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Given the history on these I personally would just go ahead and delete it and move on with your life. I think theres zero chance that noise isnt something bad and the sooner you do it the better chance you have of saving the rest of the motor. 

DK91105 Enthusiast

DK91105

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On 10/27/2024 at 8:17 AM, 64BAwagon said:

Given the history on these I personally would just go ahead and delete it and move on with your life. I think theres zero chance that noise isnt something bad and the sooner you do it the better chance you have of saving the rest of the motor. 

That's my thoughts as well.  I ordered a whole delete kit from Texas speed and have begun tearing into it.  It's not a fun job so far.  

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KARNUT Senior Enthusiast

KARNUT

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Man? If I tore down every small block Chevy because of a lifter tick. It’d probably been all of them. Including my current one. 

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64BAwagon Senior Enthusiast

64BAwagon

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2 hours ago, DK91105 said:

That's my thoughts as well.  I ordered a whole delete kit from Texas speed and have begun tearing into it.  It's not a fun job so far.  

My son has a good friend thats a mechanic and has done at least 10 of them. No one regrets a delete on these. Its sad that Government pressure ruined an arguable bulletproof engine (at least the ones that got oil changes) 

DK91105 Enthusiast

DK91105

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8 hours ago, TheRiver said:

After the delete is done;  go to at least a 5w30 weight oil also.

 

LT1swap.com for the ECM.

I've already sent it to HP tuners for the unlock.   Once I get it back and it's ready to start it will have to go in and turn off the DFM and while I'm in there the auto stop / start.

 

Any reason for the weight change on the oil?

 

Yesterdays progress, remove the front accessories.   I'm not in a rush on this.  Truck is paid for and I have a spare vehicle.  I just do a few things a day and in a few weeks it will be done.  

20241028_193633.jpg

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DK91105 Enthusiast

DK91105

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I think I'll be purchasing a catch can before this truck is back running again.   Take a look at the buildup on the valve stem, all 8 intake valves look the same.   This is 81k miles with an impeccable oil change maintenance schedule.   I had a VW once that was direct injected like these engines and at about 65k miles on it, it started running so rough it was hardly drivable until it was scraped off.   The buildup on the valves was worse than this but not a whole lot more. This for sure 100% hurts performance.  

20241029_164606.jpg

Edited by DK91105
Hexa Fox Enthusiast

Hexa Fox

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I installed an Elite Engineering catch can on mine soon after purchasing it. I would like to think it helps as it seems to catch quite a bit of crap.  Mine is a 2017 and I just broke 33,000 miles. I have been having problems with the transmission which is what I am working on now. I'm hoping I can get closer to your mileage before I consider doing this. Please let us know how it goes. 

 

The people that have successfully gotten through the deletes only have good things to say. However, I have watched a lot of videos that involve horror stories. That is probably due to human error but it still makes me nervous. I have worked on vehicles my entire life but if I decide to do this it will probably be the most involved thing I have ever done. I was also looking at the kits from Texas Speed. So you are opting to replace everything right? Lifters, camshaft, push rods etc? 

Gangly Senior Enthusiast

Gangly

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Your doing good, keep it up. 

 

I assume you are pulling the camshaft since you took the front end accessories?  I only pulled the alternator and idler to pull my heads, but I didn't have a reason to pull the camshaft.

Gangly Senior Enthusiast

Gangly

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2 hours ago, Hexa Fox said:

I installed an Elite Engineering catch can on mine soon after purchasing it. I would like to think it helps as it seems to catch quite a bit of crap.  Mine is a 2017 and I just broke 33,000 miles. I have been having problems with the transmission which is what I am working on now. I'm hoping I can get closer to your mileage before I consider doing this. Please let us know how it goes. 

 

The people that have successfully gotten through the deletes only have good things to say. However, I have watched a lot of videos that involve horror stories. That is probably due to human error but it still makes me nervous. I have worked on vehicles my entire life but if I decide to do this it will probably be the most involved thing I have ever done. I was also looking at the kits from Texas Speed. So you are opting to replace everything right? Lifters, camshaft, push rods etc? 

Its usually a horror story if you wait until you hear the lifters before swapping everything.  By that time, metal is usually running through the engine and its a matter of time before you get a complete failure, even when replacing the cam and lifters.

DK91105 Enthusiast

DK91105

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4 hours ago, Hexa Fox said:

I installed an Elite Engineering catch can on mine soon after purchasing it. I would like to think it helps as it seems to catch quite a bit of crap.  Mine is a 2017 and I just broke 33,000 miles. I have been having problems with the transmission which is what I am working on now. I'm hoping I can get closer to your mileage before I consider doing this. Please let us know how it goes. 

 

The people that have successfully gotten through the deletes only have good things to say. However, I have watched a lot of videos that involve horror stories. That is probably due to human error but it still makes me nervous. I have worked on vehicles my entire life but if I decide to do this it will probably be the most involved thing I have ever done. I was also looking at the kits from Texas Speed. So you are opting to replace everything right? Lifters, camshaft, push rods etc? 

 

I've been working on stuff my whole adult-ish life.  Done engine swaps, builds, etc... other than that previous experience though I know nothing about these engines and every nut and bolt is a learning curve.  Absolutely zero clue how to take any of this apart besides a little intuition about how I think it should go.  ALSO I'm a YouTube certified master mechanic.  🙃  anytime I'm up against something iffy I just Google it and watch a video.  

 

Replacement items are lifters, cam, all gaskets etc...  don't think pushrod replacement is necessary.  

DK91105 Enthusiast

DK91105

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Here is a bunch of stuff that's about to get deleted.   Delete kit comes with a bunch of block off plugs with o- rings to get rid of all this.   

20241029_164432.jpg

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