[Cliff R]

This topic hits close to home for me. One of my very best friends has been doing GM leased trucks for at least 10 years now. He "trades up" every few years, and never hits 30,000 miles on any of them. Well, that came to a screachig halt recently. The last two trucks he had both bit the dust. The first one out of knowhere all the dash lights come on and it "lunched" something. Towed to the dealership, gone for weeks, supposedly they replaced the cam, lifters and head gaskets. He doesn't get very far with it and it lights up the dash again, back to the dealership.

It's gone for weeks, then he ends up with a completely different truck. This one is the fancy version with that comes lifted with the big wheels and tires, sort of GM's answer to the Ford Raptor at a glance. I don't say much to him about all this, but did ask about why he traded up again. Claims the engines head gaskets were installed incorrectly and it needed a new engine, and he was close enough to the end of the lease he just washed his hands of it and got a new fancier model.

So just a couple of weeks ago we go over for "Taco Tuesday" and there sits a brand spanking new 2500 Duramax in the driveway. I guess the new fancy gas truck developed some MAJOR issues. First the transmission took a chit, then right after he got it back it developed cam/lifter issues just like the last one. He washed his hands completely off the lease deal, turned that one in and bought the new Duramix outright.

So his failure rate with the newer 5.3 powered 1500 trucks was 100 percent in the last few years.

I'd add here that my brother owned a Suburban with AFB, older model from around 2007-2008. It was fine for about 130,000 miles then started using a quart of oil every 1000 miles. Turns out the AFM had caused piston ring issues with the center 4 cylinders. He traded it off on a Navigator and never looked back.

We were in the market for a new full size SUV and I've always been GM and have owned several Tahoe's and Suburbans. Not sure if it was a good move or not but we bought a Ford Expedition instead. Not sure how all that is going to work out but so far so good. Just turned over 37,000 miles the other day and zero issues so far.........

[72projectbird]

All my AFM stuff is deleted out. Absolute garbage.

[critter]

I've not posted over here in years but you got my attention with this one, Cliff. 2009 GMC Sierra. Collapsed lifter at 50K miles. Tore it down and eliminated that AFM crap. Same truck is now sitting on 157K miles and no issues since.

[Sirrotica]

My daughter just visited me this past week, and I was talking to her about how the frame had a slight rust spot on my 97 K3500 that I needed to take care of.

Even though I hate the pig block engine in it, it's the original engine that uses no oil at 270,000 miles. She told me" Dad, you could afford to update your truck, instead of fixing the old one". Naw, I'll just reinforce the frame with double channel and keep driving it. I'll also need to build a new stake body for it as one of the previous owners had everything from the rear of the cab to the trailer hitch sprayed with rubberized bed liner. It seperated from the metal and formed pockets which held water, and salt. This is exactly why this frame is bad, and my 93 K3500 is still solid with even more miles on it. Moral, don't used bed liner for undercoating.

After all the comments about the late model trucks, I'll just keep fixing the old ones I have that are paid for. Keep my "unneeded" by pass oil filters on my stuff, and keep on truckin.

Come to think of it, a by pass oil filter would catch all the crap on the newer LT engines with the cylinder cancelling system, maybe making it live longer. It's not going to fix sub par parts, but it could help stop the oil screens in the block from plugging starving the moving parts fron restricted oil. It's no picnic to pull the top of the engine apart in a light truck to get at the oil screens in the block, leaning over the fenders to work on the engine isn't my idea of a fun time.

The guys that told me that by pass oil filters had no place in new cars, might have been wrong.......... I'll keep using the by pass system in everything I own, and never have to worry about running over oil change deadlines. I know the oil is as clean as it was when I put it in.

The proof is, that the OEM filter system, along with suggested oil change inervals, isn't stopping things from getting clogged, causing further damage. New A/C oil filters leave a lot to be desired in cutaway examination over the older filters. I was using Purolator Boss filters, but the conglomerate of Mann and Hummel bought Purolator, and Wix, and have cheapened the filters in the name of profit. The filters aren't any cheaper, just the parts inside.

The bean counters are still driving the bottom line, allowing bad engineering, and less than stellar new parts into GM vehicles. If I were GM (or any vehicle manufacturer) I wouldn't want to depend on our current federal gov't to bail my ass out again......LOL

Build a better product, and it will sell itself. This has been, and always will be true. GM used to do this, and had market share for decades, no one in the ivory towers seems to be able to see why GM lost such a large part of new vehicle sales starting in the 70s, and how to get the company back on track.

[dataway]

I've noticed on YouTube flurry of recent engines failures on brand new vehicles of various brands. Makes me wonder if this is the downstream result of thousands of disgruntled workers from the strikes that took place a short while back ... about now a lot of those vehicles and engines would be on the roads.

Or the result of management filling assembly line positions?

Many of the failures looked like blatant and obvious mistakes that should not have been made during assembly as opposed to part failures.

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by 242177P

Yep. The V8 sucks 4

[71GP76TA]

I have a 2018 Sierra 1500 4x4 that I bought new. The truck has almost 74k on it now. I do have a pretty heavy foot and drive it kinda hard but don't beat it. It has the 6.2.. 8 speed trans and the max tow package. So far the engine has been great no issues as of yet. I plugged an AFM eliminator into the OBD port a while back. I change the oil every 5k. At about 58k the trans started getting clunky downshifts. I took it in at 59k and they installed new clutches and a couple other things under warranty. I bitched stating that it was nothing more than a band aid and they were just trying to get it out of warranty. Here we are 15k later and I just noticed that the trans is starting to show signs of clunky downshifts again. I'd like to buy a new truck but do not like all the crap they are doing to them now... start/stop etc.. Not a fan of the pricing either..

[Cliff R]

I personally would NOT buy a GM gas powered truck in any configuration until they completely get rid of AFM and DFM. It's a recipe for DISASTER. I have dozens more stories from folks having MAJOR issues with these trucks, and have been PM'd and even a couple of phone calls to the shop from folks on this Forum about it that don't want to go public with their issues.

Related we have a local guy here who is self employed and runs a small business selling custom made pool cues. He also buys later model Chevy and GM SUV's and trucks that need cam/lifters replaced and AFM deleted. He gets them dirt cheap, makes the repairs, cleans them up nicely, and flips them for a nice profit. I was over there a couple of months ago to pick up a pool cue and he had three of them torn down in his shop.......FWIW.......

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

I personally would NOT buy a GM gas powered truck in any configuration until they completely get rid of AFM and DFM. It's a recipe for DISASTER. I have dozens more stories from folks having MAJOR issues with these trucks, and have been PM'd and even a couple of phone calls to the shop from folks on this Forum about it that don't want to go public with their issues.

Related we have a local guy here who is self employed and runs a small business selling custom made pool cues. He also buys later model Chevy and GM SUV's and trucks that need cam/lifters replaced and AFM deleted. He gets them dirt cheap, makes the repairs, cleans them up nicely, and flips them for a nice profit. I was over there a couple of months ago to pick up a pool cue and he had three of them torn down in his shop.......FWIW.......

True but, there are many problems with other manufacturers across the board. So, one picks his poison


Hemi cam and lifters, ford 5.0 block issues, cam phasers, toyota main bearing problems causing a stop sell bulletin, kia dealers with crate engines in stock to the ceiling, etc.


But, gm has been using these lifters for 17 yrs or so and refuse to make a change. That is mind boggling.

[Cliff R]

Agreed, I took the plunge and moved to Ford with our new ride. We wanted a full size SUV and for a long time a Suburban was at the top of my list. I went with an Expedition instead. A little less money, a LOT more power, and we've been logging 22-23mpg's fully loaded down on long trips. I bought it slightly used and just turned over 37,000 miles with zero issues.

As much as we like it, I also took the plunge for a Ford extended warranty to 100,000 miles even though it has some of the original warranty left on it. If nothing I'm it helps me sleep better at night. I'll make sure to report back if/when we have any major issues with it, but right now really liking the power, ride, quiet interior on the highway, and a LOT more power than one would ever need.

If the Expedition pans out I'll be looking at an F-150 with the 3.5 twin turbo gas engine/10 speed transmission at some point to replace my 2013 Nissan Xterra.......