Cracked Cylinder Sleeve Causes & Backstory

[T F J]

Hey Guys,

New member here. I've lurked in the past as I previously had a 04 Denali I fixed up and drove 35k miles before the rust won the battle. To avoid rust, I vehicle shopped in the SW while traveling for work. About a month ago I bought what I thought was a super clean 08 Denali to replace the 04 that the seller told me had a bunch of PM done to it to go another 100k. I was a little cautious because so many things were replaced it sounded like the truck was in a front end collision (cooling system, water pump, all accessory drive componets, radiator, condesor, cv axles, wheel bearings, upper control arms and a transmission and transfer case rebuild. The truck had 177k. The seller had a well reviewed local trans shop with himself being mentioned by name in the reviews as being honest and doing good work for the best price in town.

I was in Amarillo and the truck was in Waco. I called and talked to him about it and told him I'd be long hauling it home to WI if I bought it. He told me only needed one thing which was a coil on #8 because it had a misfire, but he was positive it was a coil because he stole one off his wife's escalade and it fixed the problem, and if I was serious about buying it he would buy a new coil and install it before I got there. We made a tentative agreement, I made the 5 hour drive and he installed the new coil.

The truck still had an random misfire when I showed up, but it wasn't horrible and didn't throw any codes. He assured me it was a good truck and him and his reputation would stand behind it. It was the nicest(i thought) of 5 trucks I looked at that week so I bought it. He followed me to my hotel to drop the truck off, I took him back to his house, canceled my flight, dumped my rental car and started the drive home on Friday.

The red flags started as soon as I bought it. While remote starting the truck before leaving his house the bendix stuck a bit and ground and he acted like I was hearing things. When I returned to the hotel and reparked the truck I saw two fresh softball sized oil spots on the cement(he had a 3/4c clear gravel driveway). Before I got through the first tank of gas the dipstick blew out. I thought maybe when I topped off the oil I didn't fully seat it and kept driving. At 2nd take fillup I noticed I lost a lug nut. Grabbed the tire iron and found 4 more loose lug nuts. Kept driving and a lifter collapsed, then it pumped back up after letting the truck cool off and topping off the oil again (it was down 1qt but still on the dipstick). Then the final blow was it dumping 1qt of oil in 45 miles of driving. Blowboy filled up the intake tube with oil which ran out the air filter into the wheel well covering the truck and anyone behind me in oil.

I messaged the seller, he said something must have happened on the drive and we'll figure it out. As soon as I said I was doing a leak-down test he went silent. A few days later I did the test and sent him the results #8 was 80% leakdown. After multiple messages he got defensive and said it was't like that when he sold it. He offered $500 towards a repair and at the time I thought it was stuck rings per the TSB, so I figured that was acceptable. He never sent the money or has responded to any messages since. While trying to perform the TSB (chem soak to free the rings) I spun my endoscope camera around 360 degrees in the cylinder and saw the real cause. The sleeve was cracked. It looks like coolant is seeping though the crack.

I thought maybe this was a honest mistake and he didn't know. But while looking the truck over the "Brand new delphi rear air shocks" he stated in the ad and to my face are old aftermarket blown out units. I think he swapped the shocks from the same generation escalade he bought his wife to replace the denali during my 5 hour trip hoping I wouldn't notice. Which I didn't.

Anyways. The truck has evidence of water being in other cylinders. I remembered he had a man cave trailer home on stilts off to the side on his property and he lived next to a river. I looked up flood history and they had the worst flooding in 25 years in that area about a month after he titled the truck.

I assume they drove through high water sucked some water into the intake or severely overheated the truck at some point causing the cracked cylinder which would explain all the replaced components on a 177k mile truck. I did pull the carpet up and the door panel off. The floor was very clean(maybe cleaned), but the door still had a layer of dust in it, no water line I could find.

What else could cause a 6.2 cylinder to crack? Severe detonation?

Thanks!

T F J

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics of the truck, please.

IMO, how it cracked is more or less irrelevant at this time. That definitely sucks, but it is not the end of the world for you and your truck. Cracked cylinder liners can be replaced on your motor, as discussed here: https://www.google.com/search?q=can...zNDUyajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Is that cost effective versus finding another 6.2 motor, either from a salvage yard or rebuilt? I don't know,
but other members of this Forum much more knowledgeable than me in this area will chime in.

 

[rdezs]

I'm afraid to ask.... How much did you pay for this vehicle?

Look inside the coolant reservoir for a brown residue. That would most likely indicate he put a block sealer in hoping it would work till he sold it. (Indicating he knew it had a crack in the engine somewhere)

Every time you start the vehicle it probably had water in the cylinder. The starter was the first clue. Water does not compress well, so yeah, cracked liner. Probably needs new connecting rods as well. Might even have a crack in the heads. You're talking the whole tear down and rebuild with block work.

Options are to shop for a used 6.2, preferably 120,000 miles or less. A better option that's more affordable would be a low mileage iron block 6.0, which you could easily bump up the horsepower with a cam.

Another reminder to everyone that it's buyer beware out there. A lot of unscrupulous sellers.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Options are to shop for a used 6.2L, preferably 120,000 miles or less.
A better option that's more affordable would be a low mileage iron block 6.0L, which you could easily bump up the horsepower with a cam.

If you want better MpGs instead of more peak power, you could use 243/799 or earlier 706/862 holy port heads.

 

[j91z28d1]

brutal. I hate scammers.

I have heard of people going to court over stuff like this but it's a hassle and you're out of town. but at least leave a bad review and call out the shop name. he 100% knew what he was doing.

I'd probably find a used ls of some sort, cut your losses and sell it for cheap. sounds like you have a lot of stuff to fix on that one.

 

[T F J]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics of the truck, please.

IMO, how it cracked is more or less irrelevant at this time. That definitely sucks, but it is not the end of the world for you and your truck. Cracked cylinder liners can be replaced on your motor, as discussed here: https://www.google.com/search?q=can...zNDUyajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Is that cost effective versus finding another 6.2 motor, either from a salvage yard or rebuilt? I don't know,
but other members of this Forum much more knowledgeable than me in this area will chime in.

Thanks for the welcome. Here's a pic from the listing. I was going to post the ad, he never deleted it which I thought was weird... Maybe he doesn't know he can. I haven't left a review yet, I'm going to be calling a laywer on Monday. I don't want to say something in the review that could hurt my chances of having a case.

 

[T F J]

I'm afraid to ask.... How much did you pay for this vehicle?

Look inside the coolant reservoir for a brown residue. That would most likely indicate he put a block sealer in hoping it would work till he sold it. (Indicating he knew it had a crack in the engine somewhere)

Every time you start the vehicle it probably had water in the cylinder. The starter was the first clue. Water does not compress well, so yeah, cracked liner. Probably needs new connecting rods as well. Might even have a crack in the heads. You're talking the whole tear down and rebuild with block work.

Options are to shop for a used 6.2, preferably 120,000 miles or less. A better option that's more affordable would be a low mileage iron block 6.0, which you could easily bump up the horsepower with a cam.

Another reminder to everyone that it's buyer beware out there. A lot of unscrupulous sellers.

More than I should have, less that I could have. It was $6,500. If the trans and trasfer case hold up long term it still wasn't a horrible price. I bought it thinking I'd still be above water even if I had to put an engine in some day. But I was thinking a couple years down the road.

I didn't notice any discoloration. Coolant looks pretty standard, but I'll check again.

I'm looking for a 5.3 to swap in. This is a road trip truck and occasional tow rig, the regular fuel along with better economy should pay for the 5.3 in about 30k miles.

Buyer beware indeed. I'm not sure what the answer is. I'm pretty vehicle and mechanically savvy, but how far are you going to go buying something with age and mileage on it? Other than the random miss, the truck didn't run or drive bad. After I got home, it took me 4 hours to do the leak-down test on all 8. Is a person supposed to do that on every vehicle they want to buy? How many private parties are going to let you do that in their driveway?

My mistake was not pulling the filler cap. The guy and his google reviews had me so confident it was what he said it was, I had my guard down.

 

[T F J]

brutal. I hate scammers.

I have heard of people going to court over stuff like this but it's a hassle and you're out of town. but at least leave a bad review and call out the shop name. he 100% knew what he was doing.

I'd probably find a used ls of some sort, cut your losses and sell it for cheap. sounds like you have a lot of stuff to fix on that one.

I'm exploring the court option. I have to be able to prove fraud though, that's going to be an uphill battle. I'd be better off going the Deceptive Trade Practices Act route vs small claims.

Any other truck will still be a roll of the dice. If the transmission is actually good in this one, I'd put a good engine in and replace the shocks and air pump.

 

[j91z28d1]

that's not horrible price if the body is clean and tpi like it.


a engine source over a looked the parting out hybrid ones.. aluminum 6.0 with Cathedral port heads. it's basically an ls2 with a weird cam shaft grind. but you'll probably want to replace lifters and cam in any used motor you find if it has afm anyways. I've seen whole trucks part out for cheaper than people want for a 5.3 these days because the hybrid battery died and they are tired of issues.

 

[T F J]

Thanks for the tip. I didn't realize thosed 6.0 engines were aluminum blocks.

I'm going to look at oil starved 5.3 tomorrow that's been all torn apart. Basically I'm just going for the block so I can get that out to a machine shop to bored oversize and have cam bearings installed. I'm going to build a engine so I know what I have. I'm done playing marketplace(ran when, guy said, seemed ok) roulette. It's a gen IV non AFM, non VVT engine out of a Colorado. I think I will use the vvt parts from the 6.2 to have that functionality, and I'll try to find a stock 5.3 truck cam in good used shape to put in it with new LS7 lifters.

I actually dragged home a parts truck with a supposedly rebuilt 5.3 with 10k miles on it a couple of weeks ago for so cheap I didn't care if the engine wasn't as good as I thought it would be.... and it wasn't. This time #1 had scoring from before the rebuild and it was leaking down 22%. It also appears he didn't have new valve seals put in as the cylinders were all carboned up to the point it looked like it had 300k on it and oil was creeping in from the valves. I was just going to put new valve seals in and run it, but after getting his "break in oil" out of it(i noticed motor honey on the oil cap and that was his excuse), the engine makes intermittent engine noise. I'm going to throw valve seals on and put that engine and trans in my old jeep which stays local for weekend drives.

 

[Geotrash]

Thanks for the tip. I didn't realize thosed 6.0 engines were aluminum blocks.

I'm going to look at oil starved 5.3 tomorrow that's been all torn apart. Basically I'm just going for the block so I can get that out to a machine shop to bored oversize and have cam bearings installed. I'm going to build a engine so I know what I have. I'm done playing marketplace(ran when, guy said, seemed ok) roulette. It's a gen IV non AFM, non VVT engine out of a Colorado. I think I will use the vvt parts from the 6.2 to have that functionality, and I'll try to find a stock 5.3 truck cam in good used shape to put in it with new LS7 lifters.

I actually dragged home a parts truck with a supposedly rebuilt 5.3 with 10k miles on it a couple of weeks ago for so cheap I didn't care if the engine wasn't as good as I thought it would be.... and it wasn't. This time #1 had scoring from before the rebuild and it was leaking down 22%. It also appears he didn't have new valve seals put in as the cylinders were all carboned up to the point it looked like it had 300k on it and oil was creeping in from the valves. I was just going to put new valve seals in and run it, but after getting his "break in oil" out of it(i noticed motor honey on the oil cap and that was his excuse), the engine makes intermittent engine noise. I'm going to throw valve seals on and put that engine and trans in my old jeep which stays local for weekend drives.

Bummer this happened. All I can do is say what I know I would do in your shoes. I'd find a low mileage L96 out of an HD pickup and drop it in. It's literally a drop-in replacement and it has an iron block. It'll start right up on the L92's tune, and you can have a final tune done by Blackbear.