2015-2019 5.3 any good?

[Rick37]

I am in the market for a used Tahoe. I currently own a 2004 Tahoe with 220k miles. No problems, but want to upgrade. I have heard so many people complain about the DOD/AFM and a/c issues with the newer Tahoe's. Are they even close to being as reliable as the 2001-2006 5.3 Tahoe's?

 

[Rdr854]

I have a 19 Suburban and previously had 08, 16 and 17 Suburbans. As far as reliability, I did not have any major mechanical issues. All of the Suburbans have the 5.3 motor with AFM. I had one instance where my 08 Suburban had an issue with oil consumption and had to add oil in MS on my drive from DC to TX. The truck had about 80 K miles on it and the dealer in TX could find nothing wrong. I had no further consumption problems while in TX or on my way back to DC. My local dealer did an oil consumption test and found nothing. We had the truck for another year and had no further mechanical issues.

As far as the 2015-2020 Suburbans go, they are nice trucks. My recommendation would be to get a 2019 or 2020 Tahoe or Suburban if it is in your price range. The AC issues that affected the earlier model years should not impact these two model years. I recognize that it is currently a seller’s market so prices are out of this world.

 

[swathdiver]

I am in the market for a used Tahoe. I currently own a 2004 Tahoe with 220k miles. No problems, but want to upgrade. I have heard so many people complain about the DOD/AFM and a/c issues with the newer Tahoe's. Are they even close to being as reliable as the 2001-2006 5.3 Tahoe's?

AFM is way more reliable in this generation but it really comes down to maintenance. Did the previous owner change the oil in a timely fashion? Dirty oil, the wrong oil, is AFMs worst enemy.

 

[Tahoe14]

Welcome and good luck with your search. We sure need a sticky for this subject like "what did you do to your Tahoe/Yukon today" with as many of these posts that we have had in the past several months.

 

[tsuintx]

AFM is way more reliable in this generation but it really comes down to maintenance.

This. Times eleventybillion.

AFM is something to be aware of, but since you really can't avoid it, it's just something you need to have to learn to live with. Disabling AFM via tune or Range device is your best bet to give yourself some piece of mind. Catch can is another thing to do to manage stuff. Not related to AFM, but removing the junk the PCV system would circulate back into your intake gunking up stuff.

What comes to the AC, yes, that was a problem at the beginning, but I'd imagine most of them have already been taken care of at this time. Seems like a lot of the failures are happening quite early. Again, something to be aware of and to verify with the seller.

Finally, in case it swings you one way or another, Apple Carplay/Android Auto were not available until 2016. For some it makes a difference, for some it doesn't. For us I think it was better not to have it since my wife and technology don't really go together to begin with. Less things for her to mess up or have issues with and for me to fix or straighten out.

 

[petethepug]

Early 2015 with 6SP vs the 8SP paired to the 5.3L will avoid the trans problems. Carmax is snatching all them up and selling them up to $40k LOL!

Check out CarGuru’s on a nationwide search. It will reveal all the private party sellers using internet sales tools. Those are the individuals you want to purchase from, even if they’re 1000 miles away.


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[fozzi58]

2017 here coming up on 60k. The 5.3 is probably one of the most reliable motors ever built. GM sticks that thing in everything and there are probably a million of them in junkyards cause the engine will outlast whatever its installed in.

The more I get involved in the car community, the more I find out that the 5.3 is being put into every car imaginable. Besides every pre-LS GM (think GTOs, Square Bodies, G, W & F bodies), they are getting installed in Foxbody mustangs, Nissan 240's, Mazda Miata's, and some nut job is even putting one with a manual trans into a Dodge Caravan.

As stated by others, look for the 6speed trans. Find someone that took care of the car with oil change records. Not that its problematic but if you want to increase the reliability, you can get an ODB adapter that will disable AFM & DOD which will extend longevity even more.

 

[ReaperHWK]

2017 here coming up on 60k. The 5.3 is probably one of the most reliable motors ever built. GM sticks that thing in everything and there are probably a million of them in junkyards cause the engine will outlast whatever its installed in.

The more I get involved in the car community, the more I find out that the 5.3 is being put into every car imaginable. Besides every pre-LS GM (think GTOs, Square Bodies, G, W & F bodies), they are getting installed in Foxbody mustangs, Nissan 240's, Mazda Miata's, and some nut job is even putting one with a manual trans into a Dodge Caravan.

As stated by others, look for the 6speed trans. Find someone that took care of the car with oil change records. Not that its problematic but if you want to increase the reliability, you can get an ODB adapter that will disable AFM & DOD which will extend longevity even more.

GTO's all have LS motors, LS1 in 2004 and LS2 in 2005/2006. Fbodies got the LS1 in 98.......

The reason people use the 5.3 is cost, LS motors are aluminum block where the 5.3 is iron. Also, SOME people like to use a good iron block is they plan to make HUGE boost levels and are worried about breaking the LS alumimum blocks. But a good alumium block built with forged pistons and rotating assembly should be good up to 1500hp anyway...... Maybe more.

 

[Tk59194]

Wife drives a 2016 Suburban and I drive a 2018 Tahoe. Love them both.

 

[Red Chevy]

The 6SPD transmissions on the newer trucks seem to make it ~150k miles and then the converter conks out and takes out the trans if you don't catch it quickly. Lots of documentation on the service side about this, although it isn't nearly as widespread as the 8SPD issues since it's more of a high mileage problem. I'd put TC upgrade on my "maintenance" list lol.

 

[freods]

I bought a 2016 LT Certified with 26,000 miles on it two years ago. It has 48,000 on it now. Shark fin leaked and was repaired under warranty. Fuel injector malfunctioned and was replaced under warranty. AC went out and condenser, rear evaporator and lines leading to rear were replaced under warranty. All that in year one. Year two the truck runs like a dream with 0 issues. Just back from a 1200 mile trip with no issues.

 

[BlaineBug]

I am in the market for a used Tahoe. I currently own a 2004 Tahoe with 220k miles. No problems, but want to upgrade. I have heard so many people complain about the DOD/AFM and a/c issues with the newer Tahoe's. Are they even close to being as reliable as the 2001-2006 5.3 Tahoe's?

It's a powerful motor. I can't imagine how much quicker a 6.2 is with nearly 1 whole extra liter of displacement is! (0.9!)

 

[cardude2000]

AFM is way more reliable in this generation but it really comes down to maintenance. Did the previous owner change the oil in a timely fashion? Dirty oil, the wrong oil, is AFMs worst enemy.

I had stuck lifters at like 20k and always changed my oil more frequently than the schedule called for.


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[WillCO]

68K on my 2016 with zero issues - but this is an ineffective way to gather data for your question. You're on an internet forum where you will get n=1 responses from a group of people in which problems are overrepresented compared to the overall owner population.

The 5.3 is a massively used engine, as someone above said. It's in literally millions of cars, well understood, doesn't break much, reasonably easy to fix when it does, and not terribly expensive to service.

I do somewhat fear the secondary market for any vehicle that might in the interpretation of a previous owner be fit for heavy towing or anything you might call "work." You can't really be sure what these trucks might have been subjected to and it's possible to screw up any piece of machinery if you set yourself to it.

 

[Rdr854]

I had stuck lifters at like 20k and always changed my oil more frequently than the schedule called for.


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What year is your truck?

 

[cardude2000]

What year is your truck?

2016

Edit: just realized you were asking about 5.3. My 6.2 had lifter issues. I don’t believe my 5.3 did but that was a bunch of years ago so I can’t recall.


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[TahoeFL2017]

I bought a 2017 LT 5.3 and the only issue was the ac, fixed under warranty.

Previous car was a Hemi Charger 5.7, and I am still amazed at the power when I stomp the gas in my Tahoe

Friend of mine was telling me to get the 6.2, and I'll agree it's a Beast, but I don't need anymore HP, other than a tune after 60k miles when my warranty expires.

So I'm a happy 5.3 owner, and yes I know that having 53k miles on a 2017 is kinda laughable lol I just don't drive much....

 

[FrankU]

The LT 5.3 is the next gen small block. Newer is better. More refined more bugs worked out . More torque, HP & fuel mileage.

 

[K2 Kaiju]

2016

Edit: just realized you were asking about 5.3. My 6.2 had lifter issues. I don’t believe my 5.3 did but that was a bunch of years ago so I can’t recall.


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You sure its a 16?

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[cardude2000]

You sure its a 16?

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Pretty sure. Could be a 17. I burn through vehicles fast don’t pay much attention. She’s a looker though.