Chevy Spaz

I have a 2005 Chevy Silverado 1500 with a 5.3 Liter flex fuel engine and an automatic trans with the towing option.

The engine has about 95,000 miles on it. It recently started having a tick which I am fairly certain is a lifter gone bad. I have always changed the oil when the hours meter on the panel says it's due. I removed the valve covers and inspected the rockers and rods all of them seem to be ok. It was very clean under the valve covers.

I think the next step is getting into the engine and changing the cam and lifters.
My questions are:
How much do I have to take off to change the cam and lifters?
Has anyone done this and how hard would you rate the job?
If you have done this have you used an aftermarket cam and lifters?
What Kind and how well has it worked for you?

Doug Roberts

Dont fix it it ant broke lol every 5.3 I see has a tick
wait till its louder and there's no question what's wrong

country_09

all 5.3s from 99-06 i've seen develop a lifter tick at some point. Mostly on cold start ups and then it goes away after about 5 min. once it has time to heat up. If you absolutely feel necessary to change the cam and lifters, it took me and my bro about 12 hours(all night) to do a cam swap on him 5.3

elkhornsun

The tick is from inadequate lubricant and comes from sludge that is clogging a port. One easy solution is to drain the oil, run an engine flush for 10-15 minutes, drain the engine, and put in fresh oil and a new filter. Good idea to lift one end of the truck to drain all the oil out of the pan after the flush.

If do a lot of short distance trips where the engine never fully heats up the oil needs to be changed more frequently to keep the internals clean or pay the premium for a synthetic.

JK23112

I have 102,000 miles on my '04 Silverado 5.3L V8 (not a "flex fuel" engine) and it has a tick for about thirty seconds when I start it first thing in the morning. It goes away very quickly, so I don't worry about it. Being a pushrod (OHV) engine, this is not unusual.

I use Mobil-1 5w30 and change the oil & filter every 3,000 to 3,500 miles -- so I know that it is not an "oil" problem at all. My friend has an '02 with 175,000 miles and his has done this since it was brand-new. Nothing to fear here. The 5.3L is a darn good engine and should give a long lifetime of reliable service.

I've always been a "Ford guy" with trucks and this is my first Chevy -- and I don't regret it for a minute. Keep good care of your truck and it shall provide good service for you - year after year after year.

Chevy Spaz

Thanks for the information guys. I've been busy so it took a while to get back. I have had a slight tick for a long time and it was barely perceptible. Most of the time it couldn't even be heard. But one morning when I got in the truck and started it up the tick was loud and it didn't go away. I have seen lifters go a bit dry and not want to pump up. Frequently a little extra RPM's with no load will raise the pressure and get them back par. Not this time.
I do regular oil changes and run full synthetic 5-30, which is the recommended weight. After looking under the valve cover it shows. Nice and clean! However I did try taking off the rockers and spraying B-12 chemtool into the pushrods then doing an oil flush, just in case something was clogging the engine oil passages. After that the tick was still there and it is loud. Loud enough that I did think lifter or rod??? I crawled under the truck and it was quieter than from above so I am still thinking lifter.
I worked in an automotive machine shop for a long time so I am comfortable with getting into the engine. I was just wondering about the time and a few specifics.
Especially whether the heads have to come off and if you can do just lifters or you have to do lifters and cam.

I guess I guess I am going to find out.

Again, Thanks for the info Guys!