2015 and 2016 Escalade w/ 6.2 engines blown

[Tomahawk18]

Hello all. My Mom has a 2016 Escalade w/ 80,000 miles. 3 weeks ago it started running rough and they took it into our mechanic. The intake lifter on cylinder 2 is stuck messing up the cam shaft and spitting metal into the engine.


Then last week, my nephew who has a 2015 w/ 101,000 miles, had nearly the exact same issue. Took it to a different mechanic and his intake lifter is shot as well. The fix... Flush the engine and fix the lifter and cam shaft and pray it works for a few grand. Or a new engine for about $15k.

What a crazy coincidence in our family. Or is it? Both mechanics stated "they see a lot of this" and "this is a well known GM issue with the 6.2".

So my question is: Does the fix sound right? Would any of you trust the flush and fix? If not, is a new engine the only other solution? Is this as common as they are saying? Hard to believe these vehicles that have been maintained pretty darn well are having catastrophic failures at such low miles.

I have the same engine in my 2016 Yukon Denali (76,000 miles). Should I be worried that I am rolling around in a $15,000 ticking time bomb?

 

[Doubeleive]

yes, they all clock out, that's why you see them dead on the side of the road all day long, should give it away to me i'll save it!

 

[Marky Dissod]

Hello all. My Mom has a 2016 Escalade w/ 80,000 miles. 3 weeks ago it started running rough and they took it into our mechanic.
The intake lifter on cylinder 2 is stuck messing up the cam shaft and spitting metal into the engine.

Then last week, my nephew who has a 2015 w/ 101,000 miles, had nearly the exact same issue.
Took it to a different mechanic and his intake lifter is shot as well.
The fix ... Flush the engine and fix the lifter and cam shaft and pray it works for a few grand, or a new engine for about $15k.

What a crazy coincidence in our family. Or is it? Both mechanics stated "they see a lot of this" and "this is a well known GM issue with the 6.2L".

So my question is: Does the fix sound right? Would any of you trust the flush and fix? If not, is a new engine the only other solution?
Is this as common as they are saying? Hard to believe these vehicles that have been maintained pretty darn well are having catastrophic failures at such low miles.

I have the same engine in my 2016 Yukon Denali (76,000 miles). Should I be worried that I am rolling around in a $15,000 ticking time bomb?

Don't know what to say about the two that are already down & out from cardiac arrest.
Should you be worried? The question you should be asking (that has nothing to do with feelings, yet will make you feel better) is:

Should I change my lifters?
Or is there something wrong with the lifter bores that is ruining the lifters?​

Answer those two questions, then you'll know what to do.

 

[B-train]

That is super ****** luck for sure. I do stand with @Doubeleive in that someone may be interested in them as they are and be willing to do the work if your family doesn't see the value in fixing them. If that's the case, throw out a suggestion here for PM about it.

I have a 2017 Denali with the 6.2L that just recently bent a pushrod due to a lifter I believe. I was able to have the shop replace the pushrod and change the oil and it's back running. 161k miles on it.

As for yours that's still running. Make sure you keep the oil changed at 5k miles or less with full synthetic and a good filter. I personally recommend not using 0w-20 and running what GM recommends for the commercial side of vehicles that use similar motors - 5w-30. It won't hurt a thing and offers more protection.

I'd also say that you should stay up on the decarboning of the valve train due to buildup from direct injection.

 

[Tonyv__]

Hello all. My Mom has a 2016 Escalade w/ 80,000 miles. 3 weeks ago it started running rough and they took it into our mechanic. The intake lifter on cylinder 2 is stuck messing up the cam shaft and spitting metal into the engine.


Then last week, my nephew who has a 2015 w/ 101,000 miles, had nearly the exact same issue. Took it to a different mechanic and his intake lifter is shot as well. The fix... Flush the engine and fix the lifter and cam shaft and pray it works for a few grand. Or a new engine for about $15k.

What a crazy coincidence in our family. Or is it? Both mechanics stated "they see a lot of this" and "this is a well known GM issue with the 6.2".

So my question is: Does the fix sound right? Would any of you trust the flush and fix? If not, is a new engine the only other solution? Is this as common as they are saying? Hard to believe these vehicles that have been maintained pretty darn well are having catastrophic failures at such low miles.

I have the same engine in my 2016 Yukon Denali (76,000 miles). Should I be worried that I am rolling around in a $15,000 ticking time bomb?

My 6.0 chewed my cam up bad. I just rebuilt it without flushing it. Put another 40k miles on it before I sold it. I’d definitely take the rebuild risk before I dropped 15k on an engine.

 

[Trey Hardy]

Hello all. My Mom has a 2016 Escalade w/ 80,000 miles. 3 weeks ago it started running rough and they took it into our mechanic. The intake lifter on cylinder 2 is stuck messing up the cam shaft and spitting metal into the engine.


Then last week, my nephew who has a 2015 w/ 101,000 miles, had nearly the exact same issue. Took it to a different mechanic and his intake lifter is shot as well. The fix... Flush the engine and fix the lifter and cam shaft and pray it works for a few grand. Or a new engine for about $15k.

What a crazy coincidence in our family. Or is it? Both mechanics stated "they see a lot of this" and "this is a well known GM issue with the 6.2".

So my question is: Does the fix sound right? Would any of you trust the flush and fix? If not, is a new engine the only other solution? Is this as common as they are saying? Hard to believe these vehicles that have been maintained pretty darn well are having catastrophic failures at such low miles.

I have the same engine in my 2016 Yukon Denali (76,000 miles). Should I be worried that I am rolling around in a $15,000 ticking time bomb?

Its a common issue I told my dad this when he got his 09 if he diddnt atleast get the afm disabler if not a tune it would eventually let loose he got it at 75,000 once it got close to 100,000 it dropped a lifter and boom. We put new lifters cam oil pump and gaskets in his truck and it’s running good now. My Tahoe has 400,000 I’ve had a lifter stick twice and got it free before serious damage occurred but I eventually plan to rebuilt and dod delete another 5.3 I got to swap into it.
Bare minimum get the range device better yet get a custom tune cutting it off within the computer if not your looking at 3500$ or so to mechanically delete it. My Tahoe had 247,000 miles when I first got it and every time it dropped to 4 cylinder mode it sounded like a bomb just a tune got me another 150,000 out of her and she’s still going but these newer ones aren’t as kind from what I’ve seen on here.

 

[JMH1980]

Hello all. My Mom has a 2016 Escalade w/ 80,000 miles. 3 weeks ago it started running rough and they took it into our mechanic. The intake lifter on cylinder 2 is stuck messing up the cam shaft and spitting metal into the engine.


Then last week, my nephew who has a 2015 w/ 101,000 miles, had nearly the exact same issue. Took it to a different mechanic and his intake lifter is shot as well. The fix... Flush the engine and fix the lifter and cam shaft and pray it works for a few grand. Or a new engine for about $15k.

What a crazy coincidence in our family. Or is it? Both mechanics stated "they see a lot of this" and "this is a well known GM issue with the 6.2".

So my question is: Does the fix sound right? Would any of you trust the flush and fix? If not, is a new engine the only other solution? Is this as common as they are saying? Hard to believe these vehicles that have been maintained pretty darn well are having catastrophic failures at such low miles.

I have the same engine in my 2016 Yukon Denali (76,000 miles). Should I be worried that I am rolling around in a $15,000 ticking time bomb?

That's wild...
I have a 2016 XL Denali that was purchased used with 75k miles on it.
Not even 3000 miles later lifter chewed up the camshaft.

At the time I didn't have the funds or the down time available to do a mechanical delete... Also the vehicle was still under warranty. The dealer did a complete top end rebuild. Cam, all 16 lifters and corresponding parts. Now that it's out of warranty, I'll be doing the full delete at some point. It now has 106k miles and runs just fine. But I do always have the thought in the back of my mind about it failing again.

 

[tom3]

If we still have this Tahoe (and I'm still alive) I'm thinking I'll have all the lifters replaced and clean the valves while the heads are off as a preventive maintenance thing at about 75k miles. I do drive a lot around town in L5 mode too.