BREAKING: GM is officially recalling the L87

[22BlackDenali]

Just talked to my dealership about my Escalade. According to them, no parts are available right now, no work can be done right now, the dealership cannot do anything right now. They aren't going to do anything for the moment. The guy told me to wait until I receive a letter in the mail with further instructions.

Meanwhile, I've got an alert in the MyCadillac app saying "dealer will inspect and as necessary, repair or replace the engine??!?!!?"

What the hell are we supposed to do?

I got same response. Dealers are not prepared for this.

 

[Lonny]

I got same response. Dealers are not prepared for this.

My service department guys told me they wished that GM hadn’t issued the recall until they were actually ready to DO something.

I was also told the dealer had already seen a number of blown motors.

Does anyone happen to have the link to join the class action lawsuit? And should I go ahead and change out the oil for 0W-40 on my own since GM could take months and months?

 

[Jocko PDX]

I wonder if this mess is enough to sink GM

 

[jfoj]

Understand this 0W40 is speced for the Corvette and the Camero with the same basic engine. I think the Camero lists 5W30 if 0W40 is not available. The LV3 4.3l V8 with AFM specs 5W30 engine oil. Understand 0W20 was never spec'ed because these engines needed it, it was spec'ed for these vehicles and almost everything the early 2010's on due to CAFE requirements.

So the 0W20, 5W30 or 0W40 is not going to cause problems.

The problem with 0W20 is fuel dilution thins it out to probably a 0W10 or lower depending on the situation. The L87 6.2l was recalled because either GM found out that the clearances were too great in the engine for some reason or they expected premature wear made the bearing clearances slightly larger or they have finally come to the realization that 0W20 engine oil that is fuel diluted and under great stress as not holding an oil wedge to properly distribute oil around the journals and have a thick enough oil film to protect the engine.

So does the Recall with swapping out 0W40 for 0W20 solve or correct anything, probably not. It may just keep some of these motors alive that have not seized up yet. Might give more of a safety margin for fuel diluted oil. May help if the engineers figured out the oil clearances at time of assembly were larger than anticipated.

I had oil analysis done on my 3 oil drains so for. 544 miles, 3,388 miles and 5,923 miles.
The common denominator was between 0.5% and 1.0% fuel in the oil. On the surface everyone would say, that's fine, that's normal, not a big deal. But you need to understand the big picture. Most of my driving is starting the engine and drive between 2-6 hours straight. If I do any town driving, where I live and where I go, I usually drive at least 30-45 minutes round trip without much of a stopping time. Pretty much ideal driving conditions. Then take the low mile oil change intervals of between 544 and 2,940 miles. Extrapolate out a bit, assume 7,500 OCI then I would likely be in range of 2.5% fuel contamination. AND this is under about as ideal driving conditions as you could expect. What would the fuel percentage be in the oil with 10-20 starts a days, short drives, Auto Stop/Start functioning, DFM fully functional?? Who knows, but 0W20 at the end of its life would probably not be a very good lubricant. It would be nice to see an oil analysis on a few of these 6.2l with 7,500 mile oil changes that do not operate under ideal circumstances to see what level of fuel is in he oil.

Anyway I expect that the "Recall" may be still be getting tweaks with exact wording. At last check the NHTSA has not published the "official" Recall document. Maybe GM is still "Negotiating" with NHTSA about what is the correct solution. NHTSA does not want to see any more vehicles have their engines seize at 60-75 MPH, they may want GM to replace engines, but GM will push back with what they see as a far cheaper and easier solution.

We shall see how all this pans out in the next week or so.

 

[jfoj]

I wonder if this mess is enough to sink GM

It will clearly sting. We want and need GM to stay alive to support these $75k-$120k vehicles for years to come. This means parts/hardware and SOFTWARE!!!

If they sink, with our luck the Chinese would buy them!

 

[cornicekurt]

Looks like they are not technically recalling all engines but rather, doing an analysis to see if an engine qualifies for replacement. Either way good to see them following up with an acknowledgment of the issues. The annoying part for me is if this is progressive damage from using the wrong oil viscosity, then the damage is done to most engines and all should be replaced.

I agree. Doubling the weight of the oil in an engine that was specifically designed to operate with the lighter oil seems like a dart toss.

 

[Stbentoak]

My service department guys told me they wished that GM hadn’t issued the recall until they were actually ready to DO something.

I was also told the dealer had already seen a number of blown motors.

Does anyone happen to have the link to join the class action lawsuit? And should I go ahead and change out the oil for 0W-40 on my own since GM could take months and months?

I deal with 3 dealers in IN and FL ....all of them had these engine failures/lifters happening and customers waiting for engines well over 24 months ago, some waiting for multiple months for replacements to show up. The only thing this recall really did is rip off the band-aid on a long-standing issue that GM has been sweeping under the rug.

 

[KMeloney]

Doubling the weight of the oil in an engine that was specifically designed to operate with the lighter oil seems like a dart toss.

Just don't know that the bold part is true. It might be, but doesn't sound like it.

 

[cornicekurt]

Understand this 0W40 is speced for the Corvette and the Camero with the same basic engine. I think the Camero lists 5W30 if 0W40 is not available. The LV3 4.3l V8 with AFM specs 5W30 engine oil. Understand 0W20 was never spec'ed because these engines needed it, it was spec'ed for these vehicles and almost everything the early 2010's on due to CAFE requirements.

So the 0W20, 5W30 or 0W40 is not going to cause problems.

The problem with 0W20 is fuel dilution thins it out to probably a 0W10 or lower depending on the situation. The L87 6.2l was recalled because either GM found out that the clearances were too great in the engine for some reason or they expected premature wear made the bearing clearances slightly larger or they have finally come to the realization that 0W20 engine oil that is fuel diluted and under great stress as not holding an oil wedge to properly distribute oil around the journals and have a thick enough oil film to protect the engine.

So does the Recall with swapping out 0W40 for 0W20 solve or correct anything, probably not. It may just keep some of these motors alive that have not seized up yet. Might give more of a safety margin for fuel diluted oil. May help if the engineers figured out the oil clearances at time of assembly were larger than anticipated.

I had oil analysis done on my 3 oil drains so for. 544 miles, 3,388 miles and 5,923 miles.
The common denominator was between 0.5% and 1.0% fuel in the oil. On the surface everyone would say, that's fine, that's normal, not a big deal. But you need to understand the big picture. Most of my driving is starting the engine and drive between 2-6 hours straight. If I do any town driving, where I live and where I go, I usually drive at least 30-45 minutes round trip without much of a stopping time. Pretty much ideal driving conditions. Then take the low mile oil change intervals of between 544 and 2,940 miles. Extrapolate out a bit, assume 7,500 OCI then I would likely be in range of 2.5% fuel contamination. AND this is under about as ideal driving conditions as you could expect. What would the fuel percentage be in the oil with 10-20 starts a days, short drives, Auto Stop/Start functioning, DFM fully functional?? Who knows, but 0W20 at the end of its life would probably not be a very good lubricant. It would be nice to see an oil analysis on a few of these 6.2l with 7,500 mile oil changes that do not operate under ideal circumstances to see what level of fuel is in he oil.

Anyway I expect that the "Recall" may be still be getting tweaks with exact wording. At last check the NHTSA has not published the "official" Recall document. Maybe GM is still "Negotiating" with NHTSA about what is the correct solution. NHTSA does not want to see any more vehicles have their engines seize at 60-75 MPH, they may want GM to replace engines, but GM will push back so

Agreed. Need some additional protection beyond current 60k powertrain

Exactly! You’re not selling me a car for 80k that you know may have a bad motor then at 70k the engine blows up so I get to kick rocks?

 

[cornicekurt]

GM’s notice of recall states (twice) that the recall should only be performed on vehicles in dealer inventory (only).

Not true. Those on the lot can’t be sold. Those on the road are under recall.

 

[viven44]

@Vladimir2306 @KMeloney

Check this out

DFM is capable of disabling as little as one and as many as seven of the engines’ eight cylinders, creating multiple “operation patterns.” Take it with a grain of salt though as the article while written by GM Authority staff may not be considered official.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/02/little-known-chevy-silverado-tahoe-suburban-trick-disables-dfm/

 

[DunzoDenali]

I agree. Why then would some be recalled and some not if it wasn't a defective design or process at a specific supplier. Changing oil may just be cheap insurance but of course not addressing the root cause. I wish GM would come out and tell us the ryme or reason as to why some are being recalled and some are not. You would think anxious customers/owners would be owed at least this.

Good luck getting any answers out of them (or even consistent answers out of them)

 

[cornicekurt]

0W40 will also become fuel diluted just like 0W20, it just has a far bigger safety margin, before the viscosity gets equal or below the viscosity of fresh 0W20 oil.

Again, it has a lot to do with how the vehicle is used. Too many Soccer Moms running too many short trips in the colder months and even the warmer months, but the Soccer Mom mobile maybe gets enough miles for a single oil change a year. If I would have run my kids to school they are all within 1-2.5 miles from my house. So just think about how this would impact any vehicle much less something like these trucks that take 30 minutes of driving for the oil to fully warm up.

Far different than most trucks that actually get worked and have miles put them. Some trucks are play toys, many are working trucks.

I would love to see the distribution of engine failures of SUV's vs Pickups. My gut tells me based on reports I have read is probably around 4-5 SUV to pickup, but this is my gut based on reports I have read. Maybe the distribution is equal to the number of SUV to Truck sales? Who knows.

My wife totes kids to and fro all day every day. All short trips within our area. She drives 3 miles to work and 3 miles home. Soccer, lacrosse, hockey, swim meets. 2023 High Country Tahoe. I’m certain that motor is toast.

 

[cornicekurt]

If it were me I'd be doing a 0w40 swap this weekend. It is the easiest thing end user can do to improve their odds against a failure.

Without the added notation

It doesn’t. The owners manual says 0w20 and so does the oil cap.

Thats my point. I’m not putting 0w40 in this thing and having GM change their mind during litigation with NTSB. Then they tell me I shouldn’t have run that heavy oil in my vehicle and since I did I can go kick rocks

 

[cornicekurt]

Agreed. Need some additional protection beyond current 60k powertrain

I’m not sure I’m going to be happy with 100k on a known to be faulty motor. Most vehicles are running strong beyond 200k. Now that I’m grown up and bought an 85 thousand dollar vehicle I’m looking at an engine swap at 100k? No way!
I’m curious as to how much that would actually cost if I had to come out of pocket for it. Brand new crate motor for a Tahoe High Country. Labor and parts?

 

[vcode]

Understand this 0W40 is speced for the Corvette and the Camero with the same basic engine. I think the Camero lists 5W30 if 0W40 is not available. The LV3 4.3l V8 with AFM specs 5W30 engine oil. Understand 0W20 was never spec'ed because these engines needed it, it was spec'ed for these vehicles and almost everything the early 2010's on due to CAFE requirements.

So the 0W20, 5W30 or 0W40 is not going to cause problems.

The problem with 0W20 is fuel dilution thins it out to probably a 0W10 or lower depending on the situation. The L87 6.2l was recalled because either GM found out that the clearances were too great in the engine for some reason or they expected premature wear made the bearing clearances slightly larger or they have finally come to the realization that 0W20 engine oil that is fuel diluted and under great stress as not holding an oil wedge to properly distribute oil around the journals and have a thick enough oil film to protect the engine.

So does the Recall with swapping out 0W40 for 0W20 solve or correct anything, probably not. It may just keep some of these motors alive that have not seized up yet. Might give more of a safety margin for fuel diluted oil. May help if the engineers figured out the oil clearances at time of assembly were larger than anticipated.

I had oil analysis done on my 3 oil drains so for. 544 miles, 3,388 miles and 5,923 miles.
The common denominator was between 0.5% and 1.0% fuel in the oil. On the surface everyone would say, that's fine, that's normal, not a big deal. But you need to understand the big picture. Most of my driving is starting the engine and drive between 2-6 hours straight. If I do any town driving, where I live and where I go, I usually drive at least 30-45 minutes round trip without much of a stopping time. Pretty much ideal driving conditions. Then take the low mile oil change intervals of between 544 and 2,940 miles. Extrapolate out a bit, assume 7,500 OCI then I would likely be in range of 2.5% fuel contamination. AND this is under about as ideal driving conditions as you could expect. What would the fuel percentage be in the oil with 10-20 starts a days, short drives, Auto Stop/Start functioning, DFM fully functional?? Who knows, but 0W20 at the end of its life would probably not be a very good lubricant. It would be nice to see an oil analysis on a few of these 6.2l with 7,500 mile oil changes that do not operate under ideal circumstances to see what level of fuel is in he oil.

Anyway I expect that the "Recall" may be still be getting tweaks with exact wording. At last check the NHTSA has not published the "official" Recall document. Maybe GM is still "Negotiating" with NHTSA about what is the correct solution. NHTSA does not want to see any more vehicles have their engines seize at 60-75 MPH, they may want GM to replace engines, but GM will push back with what they see as a far cheaper and easier solution.

We shall see how all this pans out in the next week or so.

Would be interesting to see some results from folks using 0w20 in less than ideal conditions. Gotta be some out there.

 

[cornicekurt]

Yes this is the band-aid up to 2024, whatever damage the engine has suffered from 0W-20 is there to stay. I think it would be safe to say that anyone that has a 2021-2024 6.2L is well advised to pay attention to this recall and determine what they want to do next.

This is specific to the 6.2.... so I'm not commenting on other engines like the diesels or the 5.3. Shoot, I don't plan to change what I am using on our 2024 5.3, will continue to use 0W-20 until GM makes a recommendation otherwise.

As far as 2025 goes, I would guess they have applied the actual fix on their end, we don't know what that was yet. To be honest, and from personal experience, these corporations are quite dumb when it comes to doing the right thing so I wouldn't be surprised if nothing has changed in the 2025 year model but they haven't made the recommendations yet from internal politics (fleet avg economy, etc).... I have worked in several in engineering functions, and one shouldn’t be surprised how poorly they communicate within the company, and how much the 9-5 employees care to do anymore, or afraid to do the right thing. A whistleblower is nice to have from time to time.....

I agree with that plan. I’m not going off spec on my oil because I read it in a forum. That’s all I need is a tech telling me that the heavy oil is the reason my motor is shot.

 

[viven44]

Called my local dealership to ask if they'd use 5W-30 on our 2024 w/5.3........ Negative.

Asked them about the 6.2 and they said "we know nothing, you probably know more about this than we do"... I told myself "Even though you didn't mean it really, you are probably correct about that"

They are apparently turning away people from performing the recall as they are not equipped yet to do it.... I asked them "don't you have 0W-40 and an oil cap?" and they said Yes but GM supposedly hasn't really told them much yet.

The lady did go into predictive mode and said "we don't know if this will be replacing Engines or just Rods/Bearings in some cases"... full conjecture. She probably was just guessing from what she'd heard.

 

[cornicekurt]

I am literally sitting in my 2022 Tahoe with my flashers on at a stoplight and a failed engine. I just was googling about this and found that the truck was recalled two days ago. The tow truck is on its way. I sure hope GM is going to replace this engine for free!

Good luck.

 

[cornicekurt]

Ha, did you even read the bulletin?)) Cars that are owned by the owners do not fall under it)) Only unsold cars that are at dealers fall under it))) So you can not wait for an invitation))

It’s not even called a recall if it’s in the dealership inventory, it’s just a cease sales and or deliveries, so I’m not sure what that screenshot represents.