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2008 5.3l AFM "Blown" Lifters & Camshaft $$$$

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Old March 13th, 2014, 3:44 AM
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Not as much as you can do on your own. In my experience these customer service reps troll the forum for issues and attempt to facilitate them with your local dealer. This is a GM corporate issue and not the dealers responsibility to eat the cost. Some dealers work with you but the liability should be on GM who has done nothing.
Old March 13th, 2014, 3:55 AM
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Originally Posted by GhostZ71
Not as much as you can do on your own. In my experience these customer service reps troll the forum for issues and attempt to facilitate them with your local dealer. This is a GM corporate issue and not the dealers responsibility to eat the cost. Some dealers work with you but the liability should be on GM who has done nothing.
I agree 100%. The dealers do a great job at selling GM's vehicles. They'll usually fix whatever they have to fix. GM just isn't living up to their end of the deal by pushing out high quality vehicles in all cases. This is why I've been contacting as many people as possible who are very high up the corporate ladder with GM. Who knows? Maybe I'll qualify for After warranty assistance (AWA) or something.
Old March 13th, 2014, 6:15 AM
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Default Wish You KNEW before Buying Truck, Right?

Originally Posted by shalamigri
I just experienced the SAME issue as the person who started this thread:
the check engine comes on
truck runs rough (hard shift from 1st to 2nd gear)
acts like it has a serious miss and receive the messages:
Service Stabilitrac & Traction Control.

My truck is a 2007 Chevy Silverado 5.3 L AFM with only 69,000 miles. I noticed I was burning 1 qt. of oil every 2000 miles or so at around 25,000 miles of owning the truck. I also took the truck in for an issue where I'd lose oil pressure and would have to shut the engine down for a few minutes and then restart. I started off with conventional oil, but started using synthetic when I started having these issues.

I took the truck in for the oil consumption issue back in 2009, but they told me that it was within's GM's standards.

The truck is at the dealer now and they've told me that I need a new camshaft and lifters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so glad edmunds has this forum, so we can openly discuss and share issues about our trucks.
Wish this hadn't happened to you too - and I wish I had known about this forum and found out about the AFM problem before purchasing! When will this problem be found out by the general truck buying population?
Also hope someone from GM will help you financially. $4 to $6 Thousand USD is tough to come up with for a repair that's not your fault!
Best of luck.
Old March 13th, 2014, 10:51 AM
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Originally Posted by in2pro
Without sounding like I am defending GM and the issues with the AFM,
Know that these technologies are needed to meet government MPG requirements...
The AFM can give you up to 8% better MPG but still allows you to have the HP and torque of a large V8 when needed.... its new tech so its going to have its pitfalls...
not exactly new technology - GM tried this back in 1981 on the Cadillac 8.6.4 - it too was a disaster and put that Cadi on the top of many "top 10 worst car" lists.
Old March 13th, 2014, 10:53 AM
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Originally Posted by GhostZ71
Not as much as you can do on your own. In my experience these customer service reps troll the forum for issues and attempt to facilitate them with your local dealer. This is a GM corporate issue and not the dealers responsibility to eat the cost. Some dealers work with you but the liability should be on GM who has done nothing.
I too think they are trolls - when having issues like these you need to remember that the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

GM has to know this is a huge problem - not being a safety threat I don't think they have a legal obligation - only to their customers to rectify and step up to the pump and take care of the problem and their loyal customers.

I think all manufactures are the same way so jumping the fence will get you nowhere.

Last edited by Pugly; March 13th, 2014 at 10:55 AM.
Old March 19th, 2014, 2:05 PM
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Has anyone had any luck getting the lifter issue resolved yet? My wife has a 2011 Silverado it is in the shop now for the second time, the first time was at 42,000 miles they said to drive it and see if it gets worse or does it all the time. I took it bad Monday it is really loud in the mornings now they want us to drive it some more, so I asked him is that how you do maint. drive it to failure he said they can't pin point which lifter it is. I told him it sounds like you don't have very good techs if they can't trouble shoot. I am going to pick it up this evening and drive it till it breaks, that is awesome. Now I have to wait until it strands my wife and son on the side of the road. This was my first chevy truck, I have always had fords, I bought is because I had heard so many good things about ls engines, now I don't know if that was a good idea or not.
Old March 19th, 2014, 5:46 PM
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Hi everyone and sorry for the experiences everyone had . I to fell victim to the gm AFM lifter fail . my truck that I just bought 4 months ago a 2009 Silverado 1500 4x4 with the 5.3 vortec has 70000 miles on it and a failed set of lifters on the number 3 cylinder . told by dealer that its covered by warranty but they will only replace the 2 lifters that are damaged along with a new camshaft . this is assanine becouse they have the engine apart and only replace 2 ? Wonder how long before another fail happens . iv always been a gm man but I've had a 07 Silverado and a 09 and both had AFM and both burnt or lost a quart of oil between changes . the 09 I didn't even have long enuf to have a oil change done on it before the fail happened. So now I sit without a car for a week or so wondering how I'm going to get to work over a truck this should a never happened with .
Old September 4th, 2014, 7:51 PM
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Default Failed lifters/damaged camshaft

08 Crew Cab,

Started truck after work and heard bad knocking sound from engine. Took to dealer and out of warranty. Told me it would cost $4K to fix. Told them to call GM to get them to pay for repairs. They know about this issue.I ended up paying $1200 and GM covered the rest. No one with issue should have to pay full repair cost. Will not be buying another Chevy Truck.
Note: You can change the oil to your hearts content and this failure will still happen. I only used high quality synthetic oil since I bought the truck new.The question now is how long will the repair last?
Old September 4th, 2014, 10:07 PM
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Originally Posted by skeeterhawk
08 Crew Cab,

Started truck after work and heard bad knocking sound from engine. Took to dealer and out of warranty. Told me it would cost $4K to fix. Told them to call GM to get them to pay for repairs. They know about this issue.I ended up paying $1200 and GM covered the rest. No one with issue should have to pay full repair cost. Will not be buying another Chevy Truck.
Note: You can change the oil to your hearts content and this failure will still happen. I only used high quality synthetic oil since I bought the truck new.The question now is how long will the repair last?
Welcome to the forum...
I keep waiting for the fail to happen on my 07, I too have used full synthetic since day one..I have thought about preempting the failure and just replacing the lifters now...
pulling the heads is a bit of work but its do-able, its having to remove the cam and install new cam bearings that make it the PITA fix....
I have seen a full set of AFM lifter sets for about $225... cheap fix for a weekends work, but again the cam changes everything...
Old September 5th, 2014, 3:54 PM
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How many miles were on your 2008? I have a 2008 Burb with 170,000, has the 5.3 with AFM oil burn issue. I've just been monitoring it, stays pretty constant at about 1 qt every 2000 miles. so every 3000k I just add the .5 quart leftover in my 6qt container. I'm near the bottom of the hash marks at oil change time.

Originally Posted by skeeterhawk
08 Crew Cab,

Started truck after work and heard bad knocking sound from engine. Took to dealer and out of warranty. Told me it would cost $4K to fix. Told them to call GM to get them to pay for repairs. They know about this issue.I ended up paying $1200 and GM covered the rest. No one with issue should have to pay full repair cost. Will not be buying another Chevy Truck.
Note: You can change the oil to your hearts content and this failure will still happen. I only used high quality synthetic oil since I bought the truck new.The question now is how long will the repair last?


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