Everyone loves the LS engine family, and for very good reason. They took much of the loved and long running small block chevy and brought it into the modern world. They are everywhere in all kinds of forms, from 4.8 liter versions in work vans and trucks to 6 liter and larger versions in race cars and big trucks. Great design, great performance, and great availability. Unfortunately they DO have one or two issues as well.
This customer has put tens of thousands of miles on his truck for work and personal use but recently had a sound coming from the engine bay and a loss of power. Giving it to a local dealership near his house to be checked out they quickly came back to him with 2 options, one cost a bit over $6,000, the other a bit over $10,000 if the first option didn’t work. That’s when he reached out to us, we reached out to our transporter at Next Level Transportation ( to get the truck brought us.
So here we go, what will we find? Is it dead in the water? Was the previous shop’s diagnostic correct? Is our customer 4 to 5 digits deep in repairing his GMC Yukon?
Oh! And Merch!! LucoreAuto.MyShopify.Com
source
Yes please round two. I gotta hand it to you, you ate your humble pie with grace, would of been easy to redo the video after seeing your mistake but I truly and absolutely appreciate your honesty and transparency. 10k still seems really high would think a rebuild could be done for half that. 6k for cam and lifters seems high as well considering how fast heads come off ls motors.
Most if them have lifters problem
maybe you shouldn't try to film in the wind…. jus sayin… audio is terrible
Huge fan, but it’s not an LS it’s a 5.3 TL L83. The lifts are known to fail, he got lucky it only bent the rod and is still going. It will fail again and can cause more damage. As others have said it’s best to do the dod delete kit with new lifters and rods and save it before it ruins the cam and more. Keep up the good work.
Sounds like dude was just trying to cover his ass, put a cam in that old engine that’s possibly been chewing on metal, or drop in a fresh one, it’s not the mechanics fault that the repair is expensive, you want to talk about doing it right, put the fresh motor in, anything else is sacrifice in quality of repair in favour of cheapness of repair
I’m interested to hear about the P0430 code. My Acadia has that currently and trying to decide what to do. Car runs fine.
Rich, Dod the AFM/DOD Delete. As long as he's not living up here in one of the 7 counties (That I Do) that has E-Check (WHAT A FUCKING CROOK OF SHIT THAT IS) He'll be fine for getting his plates.
I use a range afm disabler on my 08 suburban. I know it doesn't remove the problem entirely like a delete kit but for the money I can't complain. 228k miles and truck runs beautifully
The push rod was bent but by who?
From another YouTuber Mechanic I follow he says the dearlerships lie to you on purpose so they can make money off ya. Find an honest mechanic / shop & always get a 2nd opinion. Honest knowledgeable mechanics are hard to come by. Now you understand our loyalty to you guys & wanted to help fund the shop.
Sure put a lot of money in vehicle already. I would put a little more in and change the oil right away. Good luck!
My truck has 288k runs great. Its an 07. Never left me stranded. On its 5th set of tires. Its a Tundra!!!!
Your snapon won't save current vehicle codes etc? My cheaper Autel does. I can record all codes, info and live data and save it for later. Also, I do not go to dealerships. I had to take my 2nd gen RAM to a dealership to get keyfobs made. My truck wouldn't start and no one could program the key without the propriatary DRB-3 Scan tool. Only this dealer in my area had one. So it cost me 480 total in towing. Got it there and they tell me there is a electrical problem and couldn't program the key. Sent it to another guy, 70 bucks and everything was fine. Because he used the right tool. This was the only time I ever TRIED to use a dealership and got scammed even then.
Don't feel bad about telling it like it is in fact dealerships should only be able to do warranty work by law .
Right on Rich. A 6 dollar pushrod fixed it. I worked for a GM dealership in Clearwater Florida for 3 years and I seen enough lies and deceit, that was the first time and the last for me. ,
thanks for posting this. The entire usa needs to be more accountable and honest.
It will bend that pushrod again. I have two in the shop now waiting on lifters. Very common. We get a couple a month in the shop with bent push rods. Lifters and VLOM replacement is the fix for it. When u take it apart, the lifter is actually going to be broken. If you fix it now, you got a good chance the cam is gonna be ok. I have replaced just the pushrod to get travelers home but its not repaired. It will bend it again.
$2000 bucks for shocks and struts !? . . . that's insane , KYB loaded struts (meaning they come with new coil spring and upper mount as an assembly, ready to bolt on) are $275 at autozone. Rear shocks are $125 for KYB premium units. That's $800 bucks for all four units. So , they charged $1200 for labor ?!! . . . outrageous.
You should replace all of them …
Rich tell him to buy a range obd2 plug. It prevents the lifters from collapsing and switching to 4 cylinders. I have a 2015 with 5.3 and had range after owning for a year and now have 200k and no problems bc lifters won’t collapse ever
Glad that your a honest man but if it were me I'd recommend a DOD delete…but again that's something a shop can't really recomend either but for longevity would last longer just wouldn't cut back to 4cyl anymore or be flex fuel
There we be a round 2 it will take out the cam shaft and will need the engine replaced. The lifter and cam will send metal through the engine. Definitely should replace the lifters and pushrods and inspect the cam when the heads off. The dealership diag was the correct one but probably wasn’t explained correctly to the customer buy a less then knowledgeable advisor. The service advisors get it wrong and don’t listen to the technicians. Luckily the system we use the techs can write a book explaining the issue and options. And cover are butts from a bad service advisor
Intriguing, a bent push rod all of a sudden makes no valve train noise. A stuck lifter suddenly decides to "unstick" after bending said pushrod. Hopefully the camshaft is fine. Waiting to see the outcome of this little conundrum….
My 2017 Chevy Silverado engine went out at 90K and the trans at 113K both have been replaced
As a retired GM dealership service employee,last 41 years as a service advisor,I have worked with both techs and other advisors who were just like you talked about Rich. Sad world we like in now. Purchased a 2015 Tahoe with 96k from original owner last year and first thing I did was an AFM delete.
5.3 LS with DOD is the motor that made me not join the LS fan club. Had a massive failure of a 2008 5.3 at 73k and the lifter tick, cam issue at 83k. Trucks are waaaay too exspensive for these low mile engine failures.
Who the F%$k takes there vehicle to a dealership!!!!!!!!!
My Audi dealership wanted to replace my engine for $45k. I declined, towed it home, replaced the starter, and drove it another 3 years. That's why they call them stealerships
That's really horrible for the customers sake that an actual dealership is doing things like this ive done quite a few of these repairs I've got one of my own I'm doing it's a 2011 Tahoe and normally this arm is about the worse thing that happens with these engines when even taken care of properly I'm doing the afm I feel doing this makes the engines waaaayyy better and last alot longer good luck hope you prove the dealer to be wrong worse case have to do a cam and lifter swap kit in it still waayy less then a whole new crate engine
I run my own shop and see misdiagnosed vehicles all the time. It's refreshing to see there are still some honest shops and people out there. Keep up the good work!
I can’t believe the pushrod was that bent & it ran so good, I would not have believed it either!
Crazy how we have ( 3 ) 5.3s in our shop now ( #7 stuck lifters)…! Seems as though the valve lash would've been heard in your diagnostic trip…or running in the shop ??? Strange , at best !
Nice job Rich!! You run a nice honest shop. Pretty rare these days! Can't wait to see if it's fixed
Got to have a reputable person look at this or someone that actually knows what the hell they are doing haha
Matter of time before lifter fails again wipes a cam lobe. Lifter bleeding off.
Btw your 383 stroker is being built now for the 92 Chevy I talked to you about
They won’t lose their job because dealerships love those types of tech. Makes them more money
Of course they tried to finesse em out of 16k. They're the Stealership!!!!!
I work on these lifter concerns weekly at a local Columbus area GM dealer. If the pushrod is bent, at some point that lifter collapsed and let the pushrod come out, get wedged, and bend. See it every week. It needs afm lifters and replace the vlom on these older ones. Don’t replace the vlom and there is a good chance it will be back with another lifter concern. Vloms are on backorder right now. Waiting in 4 of them for lifter concerns. Have a 5th getting towed in tomorrow, but it’s a newer one where GM says to just replace the lifters and guides on the affected bank. Don’t have to replace the oil solenoids on these newer engines, as of now.
Ive got a 95 5.7 . never fails in any fashion
AFM Delete, solve the customer problem. I repaired so many of those when working for GM the lifter well stick bending the push rod while doing the Delete the customer can put a bet cam in it at the same time if they want. You guys are great man.