2012 suburban disappointment

[Miami-Dade]

the 7018 is just the parts.... the 11742 is the total.. assuming they do not suddenly "see" better and find more things

Relax. Everyone here is just looking to help you.

 

[gooffeyguy]

He's in Canada. First paragraph in first post mentioned the estimate of $11,000 CDN

 

[swathdiver]

odd tried posting the parts list and a reply... did not get through... will try again...91rs...how long i have the vehicule...?...read the first line.. here to complain.....yes because this is not normal... yes the diagnostic is not part of an inspection, but they do have eyes and if they REALLY took the time to look, would have seen things in the 10 years i have been going ....and if you think it is normal and nobody ever complains, be prepared to hear more and more "its normal" from business and companies because they know we are accepting to be "consumers" and no longer "customers"... reminds me of when my saturn vue had a tranny noise and the dealer said it was normal and would not be fixed, and that there was another customer with the same problem.. so I asked him if they would be recalling the million or so that do not have the noise, and play with the tranny so they do make the noise....they kept it and fixed it....... here is the parts they want to change...

I call Baloney Sandwich on them.

Prices are outrageous too. You can order that camshaft from Amazon for just over $200 Yankee Dollars.

Get your car out of there and run. Get a second opinion or buy a Tech-2 and diagnose it yourself like most of us here do and did. It'll save you thousands, maybe even 11 thousand dollars.

 

[Rocket Man]

You should have joined this forum when you bought your truck whenever that was ( you never did say, just said look at the first line in your first post that just stated you bought a 2012, not that you bought in IN 2012) and learned about your truck and you probably would have disabled AFM and saved a lot of potential problems with the engine as well as learned about other common problems to watch out for. Instead you wait until something like this happens and then you come here to complain. There’s no telling exactly what, if anything, is wrong with your truck. Go get a couple independent shops to look at whatever issues or concerns you originally had, which you also never mentioned. But there’s zero use in coming here to complain about something that might not even be wrong with it. Spend some time here, learn something that will help you understand what you own, and hopefully contribute to the forum. That’s what this place is about.

 

[vcode]

Before surrendering why not get a second opinion? Why not check these things out for yourself? I bet you could make these repairs yourself, if they are even necessary.

These motors have aluminum heads and cast iron manifolds and the head bolts do indeed corrode and break off over time. If you do not have a lighted check engine light, I doubt that there is anything wrong with your AFM system unless it died while at the dealer.

If you're looking for a good excuse for a new car, it's a sellers market right now.

Sellers market? Hardly. He may get $5K more for his truck, but he will pay $10-15K more to buy new.....

 

[shoplizard]

Good morning, I would like to make some comments regarding the issues on your suburban. First is the broken exhaust studs, I worked as a technician for a GM dealer for 25 years and only saw a few engines with broken studs I live in northern Montana so we experience extreme heat and cold. Second item is the lifter noise, I own a 2005 Chevy Tahoe w/155,00 miles that had noisy lifters on cold starts. After reading some responses, decided to replace the oil pick-up tube o-ring, Wow, what a change, no lifter noise on startup. My daughter has a 2010 Suburban with 160,000 miles, she kept getting a code po520 set and defeating her remote start. After replacing a few oil pressure senders I decided to replace her oil pickup o-ring. She has never had the code set since. You might think about replacing the o-ring in your engine, it may fix your lifter issue and is much cheaper than cam and lifters.

 

[Rocket Man]

Good morning, I would like to make some comments regarding the issues on your suburban. First is the broken exhaust studs, I worked as a technician for a GM dealer for 25 years and only saw a few engines with broken studs I live in northern Montana so we experience extreme heat and cold. Second item is the lifter noise, I own a 2005 Chevy Tahoe w/155,00 miles that had noisy lifters on cold starts. After reading some responses, decided to replace the oil pick-up tube o-ring, Wow, what a change, no lifter noise on startup. My daughter has a 2010 Suburban with 160,000 miles, she kept getting a code po520 set and defeating her remote start. After replacing a few oil pressure senders I decided to replace her oil pickup o-ring. She has never had the code set since. You might think about replacing the o-ring in your engine, it may fix your lifter issue and is much cheaper than cam and lifters.

It’s strange you say in 25 years as a GM tech that you only saw a few broken exhaust studs. Probably half of the members here with a 2000- 2014 SUV or pickup have at least one or two. It’s very common. I had 4 broken on my 02 Yukon. Like has been mentioned, there are at least 2 companies that make clamps that attach to surrounding unused threaded holes that hold the exhaust manifold tight when it’s impossible to extract the broken studs. My 08 Silverado only has 60k miles on it so none were broken but I removed the stock bolts and replaced them with ARP bolts because I don’t want to deal with broken studs down the line because I’m sure it will happen. Many people think they have lifter tick when in fact it turns out to be broken studs which results in a small exhaust leak that mimics lifter tick.

 

[Chooko]

I recently pulled my engine as detailed in another thread. The rear bolt on each exhaust manifold was broken. I'm not saying that this is "right" or "acceptable" or "normal" but it does seem to be very common on these vehicles. Similarly to Rocket Man, I'll be using ARP bolts when I put the engine back in later this week in hopes of avoiding this issue in the future. Again, I'm not saying that it is in some way OK because its common, but I suppose every vehicle has its problem areas and parts that are prone to failure, and exhaust manifold bolts seem to be one on these vehicles.

 

[gooffeyguy]

I didn't know GM used studs to hold the exhaust manifolds to the heads. I thought they used bolts

 

[Rocket Man]

I didn't know GM used studs to hold the exhaust manifolds to the heads. I thought they used bolts

They are indeed bolts. Which once the heads are broken off turn into studs. Short little worthless broken studs.

 

[shoplizard]

I suppose you are right there may have been more broken studs out there that I didn't see since my expertise was mainly transmission and electrical. Most of the mechanical engine service and repair went to someone else. I do remember a few in the early 2000's, neither of my 53's with over 100,000 have any broken broken exhaust bolts, but both of them had less engine noise and few problems after I replaced the oil pickup o-ring.

 

[swathdiver]

Sellers market? Hardly. He may get $5K more for his truck, but he will pay $10-15K more to buy new.....

Didn't you make my point? Since that was written, times are a changin'!

It’s strange you say in 25 years as a GM tech that you only saw a few broken exhaust studs.

Likely because that repair is most usually done at home or at a local garage instead. Dealership wanted $2500 to replace a broken exhaust bolt on my daughter's truck. I paid a local garage $525 to replace the gasket on the passenger side manifold. None of the bolts broke but he resurfaced the exhaust flange smooth to get a good seal.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Go on social media etc and find a decent local shop with a good reputation. They would be a good second opinion especially at those crazy prices.
FYI I was quoted just approx $3300cdn for afm delete at a local shop with plenty of dod delete experience and satisfied customers ( I'm doing the delete with a family member and C$1100 of parts due to finances) Rear bolts/ studs on exhaust manifold snapped off with previous owner...
The stealership is not your friend.

 

[salisburyv]

i have an exhaust leak on my 2013 5.3l. i finally was able to get it on a lift and inspect it myself. Sure enough, there are 3 broken exhaust studs. 2 on pass side, 1 on drivers side. at the rear of the engine at the firewall. i hate hearing it, I'm OCD about the way my vehicles run and sound. But $1250 (mostly labor to repair the broken studs) is not in the budget. So i'm dealing with it till i have the funds. it is a sellers market, i have been offered $8k more than i paid for it. Granted i've made it look pretty good, but it didn't cost $8k to get there. Find a good independent shop, might be inconvenient to get there, but well worth the money.

 

[Rocket Man]

i have an exhaust leak on my 2013 5.3l. i finally was able to get it on a lift and inspect it myself. Sure enough, there are 3 broken exhaust studs. 2 on pass side, 1 on drivers side. at the rear of the engine at the firewall. i hate hearing it, I'm OCD about the way my vehicles run and sound. But $1250 (mostly labor to repair the broken studs) is not in the budget. So i'm dealing with it till i have the funds. it is a sellers market, i have been offered $8k more than i paid for it. Granted i've made it look pretty good, but it didn't cost $8k to get there. Find a good independent shop, might be inconvenient to get there, but well worth the money.

You can easily use clamps on both the passenger side ones. The rear driver side is possible but very difficult to get the clamp on. They use the threaded holes that are already in the heads. Dorman makes some, and there are other manufacturers. There was such a need for a solution for GM’s broken exhaust manifold bolts that people came up with these. Search for Dorman 917-107 and 917-108. There’s two different designs depending on the location of the broken bolts. These work really well.

 

[gooffeyguy]

You can easily use clamps on both the passenger side ones. The rear driver side is possible but very difficult to get the clamp on. They use the threaded holes that are already in the heads. Dorman makes some, and there are other manufacturers. There was such a need for a solution for GM’s broken exhaust manifold bolts that people came up with these. Search for Dorman 917-107 and 917-108. There’s two different designs depending on the location of the broken bolts. These work really well.

I noticed about 2 weeks ago that the driver's side rear-most bolt head on mine is gone. That's the only one currently. I'm tempted to buy new ARP manifold bolts/studs and proactively swap them all out, but wonder how many will break when removing them.

 

[Rocket Man]

I noticed about 2 weeks ago that the driver's side rear-most bolt head on mine is gone. That's the only one currently. I'm tempted to buy new ARP manifold bolts/studs and proactively swap them all out, but wonder how many will break when removing them.

I did that on both my trucks. None broke that weren’t already broke and missing the heads. Not saying none of yours will, but I found all of mine easy to remove.

 

[donjetman]

3 of the 4 corners of my engine have broken exh man bolts and I put bridges on them yrs ago. <$200
Exhaust Manifold clamp, back driver side – APDTY brand # 028218,
Exhaust manifold clamps, frt driver side & back pass – APDTY brand #028253

 

[gooffeyguy]

I did that on both my trucks. None broke that weren’t already broke and missing the heads. Not saying none of yours will, but I found all of mine easy to remove.

What replacement bolts did you use?

I see ARP has about 8 different selections for LS engines... Stainless steel, chrome moly with black oxide coating, 3/8" or 10mm head, 20mm or 30mm length.

 

[Rocket Man]

What replacement bolts did you use?

I see ARP has about 8 different selections for LS engines... Stainless steel, chrome moly with black oxide coating, 3/8" or 10mm head, 20mm or 30mm length.

134-1102, black oxide 6 point on the 02 and 08. They work on all LS series engines.