Arrg, broke down with a dreaded lifter/bearing failure on my ‘23 GMC Sierra

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This whole discussion has got me thinking... I have a 94 Chevy K1500 with almost 250K miles on it. 5.7 engine and tranny have been really good. My smog guy exclaims every time that my engine is like brand new. Passes with flying colors every time. But... the rear seal is leaking quite badly--I've put Blue Devil in it every oil change which only slows it down for a short time. The AC compressor has tanked and there are some electrical gremlins with the lights and dash. BUT IT RUNS AND DRIVES SO WELL inspire of those things.

I was given an estimate of around $4000 to fix the oil seal and one shop basically said junk it--not worth fixing.

But as @two-bit posted; The devil you know vs the devil you don't know. Right?! I kind of like the devil I know!
 
RunThruDaJungle said:
This whole discussion has got me thinking... I have a 94 Chevy K1500 with almost 250K miles on it. 5.7 engine and tranny have been really good. My smog guy exclaims every time that my engine is like brand new. Passes with flying colors every time. But... the rear seal is leaking quite badly--I've put Blue Devil in it every oil change which only slows it down for a short time. The AC compressor has tanked and there are some electrical gremlins with the lights and dash. BUT IT RUNS AND DRIVES SO WELL inspire of those things.

I was given an estimate of around $4000 to fix the oil seal and one shop basically said junk it--not worth fixing.

But as @two-bit posted; The devil you know vs the devil you don't know. Right?! I kind of like the devil I know!
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At 250k, that would be a hard check to write for a rear seal. Tough call.

We wrote a $6k check to rebuild the automatic transmission in our ‘96 F250 PowerStroke, which was almost as much as we paid for the truck used, but it only had 130k miles on it, and these routinely go 300k, so we figured it was worth it.

We’d loaned it and a large gooseneck trailer to a church camp to evacuate horses during the Caldor Fire, and they fried it. But the E4OD is a weak transmission anyway, and needs to be driven with care. so we couldn’t really couldn’t blame them, and we took the opportunity to upgrade components and add a big cooler.
 
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Expensive repairs on older vehicles are painful, but when you compare shelling out a significant amount of dough for repairs several years into ownership to something like $800/month for payments on a new vehicle, if you like what you're driving and it's otherwise serviceable, it's awfully tempting to get it fixed.

The toughest part is finding a skilled repair facility that you can trust and that will stand behind their work. (Unless -- of course -- you are a @Rocket or a @Greaser007 [or any one of the other master mechanics around here], and then you don't have to worry about the risks of farming the work out...)

All that said...
 
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RunThruDaJungle said:
Whew! even admits he talks too much haha1

@Lookout Ranch and @Joe B you nailed my dilemma!

I have been looking up YouTube video and on the OBS forum with the idea of trying it myself.
It might be cheaper to do an engine swap but that could be getting the devil I don't know.
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The hardest part about the rear main on yer truck is gonna be get the trans out and back in !
If you have a good trans jack, thats half the battle.
You could pull the engine, but i prefer heavy objects close to the ground when possible.
Not sure what your set-up looks like for doing things like this.
But with enough cussing, borrowing, and friends. It "could" get done in a weekend.
 
Update on my '23 GMC Sierra.
GM has finally agreed to a "re-purchase" of the truck. Since they are unable to fix it, they are going to buy it back. The engines are still on a national back-order and unavailable.
This moves our case to a new department, and we have not yet heard from them about the exact process, what the numbers will be, and how long it will take to process the buy-back. We are supposed to be contacted next week to start the paperwork.
At least something is now happening, it's been 2 1/2 months since the engine failed.
I saw this vid last night, apparently NHSTA has begun an investigation as of January 17th into these engine failures, potentially effecting over 877,000 vehicles built between 2019 and 2024.
I'm feeling fortunate that they have agreed to a buyback. Just hoping that the settlement is fair.
 
If it helps any... the first generation Ford F150 ecoboost engines are notorious for high mileage timing chain and exhaust manifold issues. I replaced the chains and phasers myself last fall (around $1500 in parts) and had the dealer replace the manifolds ($4500). The motor runs great now, knock on wood! So I get in the truck two weeks ago, fire it up, and literally every dash light suddenly glows for a brakes issue. I have the Forscan software on a laptop and isolate the issue to the "ABS/HCU" unit, which controls braking and traction under non-normal conditions. A little box, located just under the air cleaner. The Ford price for a new replacement is $2,000.00 Sheeeeeiiiitttttt...... I'm trying the wrecking yard approach. Those run about $150. These trucks are just dang expensive.
 
Pete said:
Update from the repairing dealer.

They finally got the truck into the service bay after waiting 5 weeks and had a look. They said the noise is coming from a lifter, but they pulled the pan and rods 1 and 2 have bad bearings and have severely overheated. I'm assuming the bad lifter took out the cam which sent metal into the bearings. I don't think they are even going to dig into the lifters at this point.

They are ordering a new engine, which is on back-order with no ETA.

I am pursuing a buy-back through GM, and should have an answer on getting the buy-back approved within the week. Not getting my hopes up though, I'm assuming they will deny and drag this on for months.

In the pics below, you can see rods 3-8 are normal coloration, and rods 1 and 2 are burnt black, with heat discoloration on the crank around them. Black sludge in the oil pan, the oil had about 1500 miles on a fresh dealer service.

Looking at the burnt rods, I'm surprised it didn't seize and put a window the block.


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Damn that got HOT!!!
 
RunThruDaJungle said:
This whole discussion has got me thinking... I have a 94 Chevy K1500 with almost 250K miles on it. 5.7 engine and tranny have been really good. My smog guy exclaims every time that my engine is like brand new. Passes with flying colors every time. But... the rear seal is leaking quite badly--I've put Blue Devil in it every oil change which only slows it down for a short time. The AC compressor has tanked and there are some electrical gremlins with the lights and dash. BUT IT RUNS AND DRIVES SO WELL inspire of those things.

I was given an estimate of around $4000 to fix the oil seal and one shop basically said junk it--not worth fixing.

But as @two-bit posted; The devil you know vs the devil you don't know. Right?! I kind of like the devil I know!
Click to expand...
I'll fix it for 3K! LOL Damn service fees have gotten STUPID! Glad I'm a mechanic.
 
And my 350 Mexi crate motor with iron heads just keeps on tickin'...
Sorry to see all these hassles for you Pete.
Joe B said:
All that said...
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And boy can that guy "say"! Man, he could talk the ear off a brass mule! 15 minutes to say something that could have been covered in 5. Watching that guy was painful, just wanted to slap him!
Bottom line: Quality is just getting harder to find.
 
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