Friend with GMC 5.3 problem.

[RayIN]

$3K to change an oil pan gasket?
Do they have to pull the engine to do it?
I think I have seen YT videos changing it it a few hours.

Ya, the local GM dealership service dept. said the motor had to be raised up about 4" to remove the oil pan.
BUT, they also said it was leaking at the oil filter mount; this mount is machined into the pan LR corner.
When I got home I put the truck on ramps and checked tightness of pan bolts; all were quite loose according to my ¼" snap-on torque wrench. The 2 bolts below the rear main were finger-tight.
I asked the dealer why the inspecting tech did't find those loose bolts, he replied "well the tech would have discovered them when he began to remove the pan". That's when I loudly said BS! and told him motor oil is cheap by comparison.
I'm still hung up on him saying the 5.3 normally begins leaking oil around 80K miles.
I thought about pursuing this and ask for the GM, but I felt my BP rising already, and I used to have a short fuse anyway.

 

[David in KY]

I'm at 106,000 miles on my 5.3L 2016 Sierra. No leaks or engine valve ticking.

Post warranty, I avoid the stealerships, in favor of smaller, local shops.

 

[JPRambo]

I have a 2013 silverado with a 5.3 and 151000 miles. No tick no oil leaks. I have used marvel mistory oil a bunch of times and shift to M5 .

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Bought one of the cheaper Amazon versions of the range and installed it on my wife's 2011 GMC Yukon Denali with the 6.2 and when we traded it in last year it had over 250k on it and not 1 problem with the motor, I am convinced shutting off AFM is a good thing, I used a Flashpaq tuner to turn it off via the trucks computer on my 2012 Silverado with a 5.3.

 

[dodge man]

He got the repair estimate, $5800.

 

[dodge man]

A picture of the bent push rod.

 

[AntiqueIron]

I have a friend with a GMC pickup with a 5.3 engine, 55,000 miles. It’s a 2017. He called and then stopped by, said he had a ticking sound. Yes it’s pretty distinct and I listened around with mechanics stethoscope and it was loudest on cylinder number 6, passenger side, when held to the exhaust manifold.

The first thing I asked was does it drop down to 4 cylinders, yes it does. I knew they could be problematic. He took it to a local mechanic who is busy and said it’s not good and take it to the dealer. The dealer said we see this a lot, it probably has a valve spring in a bind and a bent push rod. They are tearing into it. Worse case it might need a cam.

My question is I know they make something you can plug into the OBD port and turn off the cylinder deactivation. Do these work well and do they help eliminate future problems?

I’ve been told they reduce the occurrence of lifter issues, but don’t eliminate em.

If he’s gonna have the top end off the motor, I’d get an AFM delete kit-cam and lifters and be done with it.

 

[Snobdds]

Where's @5030

He loves talking about this topic.

It's not like him to be absent for so long...

 

[BravoXray]

Where's @5030

He loves talking about this topic.

It's not like him to be absent for so long...

You're right, I haven't seen him clogging up threads for a while. Maybe he got banned here to. He got kicked off OTT a while back.

 

[dodge man]

I got the idea 5030 had health problems too.