Trudat

I was told that my vehicle was ready for pick-up. Got to the dealership and a I asked the service rep if Chevrolet Customer Care contacted them in regards to the case. The service rep went Customer Experience manager, came back, and told me that Chevrolet Customer Care decided not to do anything in regards to the vehicle - no assistance. Not even assistance with a down payment on a new vehicle. I saw my life with GM flash before my eyes. Before this incident, I thought about trading this vehicle in at 2 years and buying a Escalade. Now, that is scrapped. GM made their decision and now it's time for me to make mine. I paid what was due and after a series of questions, I didn't leave the dealership with confidence that will not happen again. This reminds me of the problems that I had with Chevrolet Corsica (water pump, tension belt spring, thermostat, radiator). Anyone that had one knows. These were reoccurring, inexpensive fixes that I didn't mind doing. The engine problem takes this to a whole new level. They are expensive. My plans were to drive to NY in a week. If I was traveling by myself, I wouldn't mind, but I have to think about it differently since I am taking with my family. Way too much thought processing for the month of December. Any recommendations?

fparkin

Buy a programmer ,shut off afm and enjoy the truck my 2008 got over 100k so far so good https://www.diablosport.com/products/i2.html

regulator21

i have the same issue with my 08 silverado 5.3L
i have just under 100k miles i drive it 30 miles a day on highway to work. Truck never worked hard

don't understand how this can happen at 100k when i keep up with every single maintenance item and is always dealer maintained (Chevrolet dealer )paying well over what i could by bringing it elsewhere.

in tough times and cannot be without a vehicle and now that its paid off i was hoping that it would last at least 200k because it legit looks brand new...
any ideas on what to do??

Trudat

This is what I found about the problem with the 5.3L AFM engines developed from 2007 to 2011 (Maybe more years but my research led to this) . From what I understand, and correct me if I am wrong, this engine has 16 lifters - 8 AFM and 8 Reg lifters. The problem with the engine comes from the AFM lifters. One of the AFM lifters will unlock, "mechanically collapse" or get stuck causing a misfire in 1, 4, 6, or 7. This usually happens when the engine starts. So with that said, I can't afford this problem happening again. I am buying a Diablo tuner and disabling AFM. I think they can fix the camshaft and the lifters but they cannot fix the AFM. That's why I received no assurances on my last repair.

Thanks fparkin for the recommendation.

fparkin

all programmer does is keep the motor in v8 so lifters don't have lack of oil being in the v4 mode or afm mode lifters and cam don't get proper oil and this wears lifters and cam lobs out

JonCich

Would love some opinions on my 2008 5.3 Suburban. I am in the midst of having the lifters inspected and rebuilt. Do I have a ground to stand on with 106,000 miles? I read in an early post that the 100,000 mile warranty was extended to 120,000 miles. The quote is estimated at $3,000. I could cry!

Trudat

Be prepared to pay. You can get GM Customer Care involved if you have another vehicle to drive because it may take a while to determine if they will do anything. If you call them, then be prepared for questions like where do you get your vehicle serviced; Have you owned it since new or is it pre-owned; How many GM vehicles you owned since this one; and most importantly, extended warranty information. Do this before you authorize repairing your vehicle.

Deadyote1

My 08 is sitting at the dealership getting it's 5.3 engine replaced (stabilitrack error) with only 90k miles. What makes my tail of woe different is I had the heads casket replaced (at the dealership under warranty) due to the stabilitrack error. Roughly 8 months later the stabilitrack popped up again and had the Pistons replaced (under warranty, less than 5 yrs old) by the dealership, 30k miles ago.
The dealership stated my total bill 6.5k. WOW

I've been driving a Chevy Silverado Z71s since 1997.

08Suburban

Deadyote,

Very similar to our situation. Multiple repairs under warranty, two cams, but at 106k when it happened again (less than 10k after the last head rebuild and camshaft replacement by GM under warranty) GM told me to pound sand. The lifter was wedged in the bore requiring a $7k engine replacement. GM said that because I didn't have my 95k mile transmission service they wouldn't do anything.

fparkin

sad GM doing this to people they should pay part of the bill