Dod/afm issues

[spsteve]

Got a 2007 tahoe vin 0 5.3 with 260 on the clock, recently lost cylinder 6 to a suspected lifter failure and am trying to decide on my next course

Do I do a dod delete on a 260k mile motor, can't find a local source for the right motor

Do I drop in a later model, if so what's involved

Do I break down the motor and just swap out the lifters and keep dod

Love the tahoe and despite the miles the trucks in perfect shape, not even cracked leather but I'm ballin on a budget and she's my daily

 

[OBSandaNNBS]

Got a 2007 tahoe vin 0 5.3 with 260 on the clock, recently lost cylinder 6 to a suspected lifter failure and am trying to decide on my next course

Do I do a dod delete on a 260k mile motor, can't find a local source for the right motor

Do I drop in a later model, if so what's involved

Do I break down the motor and just swap out the lifters and keep dod

Love the tahoe and despite the miles the trucks in perfect shape, not even cracked leather but I'm ballin on a budget and she's my daily

Whatever you do, Disable, Detune, or Delete AFM!!
@Marky Dissod always has great input in this category. My idea is at 260K doing a hard delete is perhaps not the best solution.
For repairing vs replacing, I guess it depends on how screwed cylinder 6 is.

A cheap Chinese AFM disabler is what I'm running on my budget.

And it's cheaper ta keep 'er!

 

[spsteve]

Yea I'm thinking maybe a non dod swap
The thing is clean as a whistle and an ltz I'm the second owner of, I love the car so I'm definitely keeping it

Im by no means a car noob, I've done my fair share of wrenching and swaps but mostly on older vehicles and hondas

 

[swathdiver]

Got a 2007 tahoe vin 0 5.3 with 260 on the clock, recently lost cylinder 6 to a suspected lifter failure and am trying to decide on my next course

Do I do a dod delete on a 260k mile motor, can't find a local source for the right motor

Do I drop in a later model, if so what's involved

Do I break down the motor and just swap out the lifters and keep dod

Love the tahoe and despite the miles the trucks in perfect shape, not even cracked leather but I'm ballin on a budget and she's my daily

If you confirm a lifter failure, you could replace the failed lifter and tray with OE parts and put it back together and tune out AFM. That will get you back up and running quick.

If you have the time, you could source a replacement LC9 or LMG or LH6 or LY5 and overhaul that engine and do a DOD delete as your budget allows then drop it in over a weekend.

Lots of ways to skin this cat. Try to stick with those early engines, 2007-2009, as they are different than later versions of same engine though making them work is not hard.

 

[spsteve]

If you confirm a lifter failure, you could replace the failed lifter and tray with OE parts and put it back together and tune out AFM. That will get you back up and running quick.

If you have the time, you could source a replacement LC9 or LMG or LH6 or LY5 and overhaul that engine and do a DOD delete as your budget allows then drop it in over a weekend.

Lots of ways to skin this cat. Try to stick with those early engines, 2007-2009, as they are different than later versions of same engine though making them work is not hard.

Its confirmed lifter failure as of 10 minutes ago, pulled the valve cover

 

[spsteve]

Ly5 is the vin j motor? If so a local junkyard has one available with under 100k for 1650

 

[Marky Dissod]

Marky Dissod always has great input in this category.

Because I'm quite possibly THE ONE & ONLY duhmass who INCREASED V4 mode's duty cycle, above & beyond GM's original intent.

Used to drive a 2012 Yukon XL SLT (leased) as a NYC livery vehicle. Mostly driven in NYC, so, to discourage myself from driving leadfooted,
I asked my tuner to make even more use of V4 mode than GM did. (GM wanted no one, not even the driver, to ever hear or feel any indications or hints of it.)
We wound up with V4 mode enabled in 3rd 4th 5th & 6th. Under about 15%TPS, V4 mode was probably in effect on level ground or a downhill.
Even without V4 mode lit in the instrument panel, I sometimes barely felt it, but no one else ever noticed or commented, so I thought we got it right.

For ONE YEAR, fuel economy improved, by about 2-3 city MpG, & 1-2 highway MpG. (Truly conservative driving / hypermiling MIGHT have yielded better results?)
FYI, oil was changed once a month / every 2500-3000 miles, as they were mostly accrued in Manhattan stop'n'sit'n'go-slow-then-stop-again traffic.
MpG benefits faded over time, even with the engine Half@$$ing itself far more than any of you might believe.

(Often wonder if Cylinder Deactivation @ 0%TPS might actually be the WORST thing ever, for both Engine Half@$$ & Cylinder Confusion ...)

Some time after the MpG benefits faded to nil, despite my increasingly daisy driving, started noticing oil consumption one summer.
By winter, the oil consumption had risen to a quart a week - as in, 1qt every 1000 miles OR LESS.

Moral of the above story: my experiences with more Engine Half@$$ than any of you have convinced me that 3.42 / 3.73 / 4.10
will let the engine spend more time in 5th & 6th gears, which will improve MpG moreso than Engine Half@$$,
AND will protect the engine from eventually coking up the rings which Engine Half@$$ directly causes.

There is, however, ONE possible benefit to Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion ...

 

[swathdiver]

Ly5 is the vin j motor? If so a local junkyard has one available with under 100k for 1650

You could replace those two lifters and the tray along with new head bolts, fluids, etc. for WAY less than that!

You don't have to specify only the LY5 if sourcing an engine, you could get any of the others and make them work. Around here they were $500.

 

[spsteve]

You could replace those two lifters and the tray along with new head bolts, fluids, etc. for WAY less than that!

You don't have to specify only the LY5 if sourcing an engine, you could get any of the others and make them work. Around here they were $500.

Yea but with 260 on the clock how many of the others aren't fsr behind in failure

 

[swathdiver]

Because I'm quite possibly THE ONE & ONLY duhmass who INCREASED V4 mode's duty cycle, above & beyond GM's original intent.

The Avalanche guys used to get 26 mpg on the highway in the early days of AFM.

 

[spsteve]

Ls motors haven't been 500 in the philly area in about 15 years

 

[swathdiver]

Yea but with 260 on the clock how many of the others aren't fsr behind in failure

Right, you have lots of options. Establish a budget and then seek the option that gives you the best bang for your buck. Like I said, there's lots of ways to do this depending on your budget and how much down time you can spare.

 

[swathdiver]

Ls motors haven't been 500 in the philly area in about 15 years

I see! LKQ is very proud of their supply of engines! Ebay has way better deals!

 

[spsteve]

Right, you have lots of options. Establish a budget and then seek the option that gives you the best bang for your buck. Like I said, there's lots of ways to do this depending on your budget and how much down time you can spare.

I think I'm gonna 2 stage this
Stage 1 replace cylinder 6 lifters and tray
Stage 2 find a low mile motor and dod delete and maybe upgrade to a more aggressive cam and build over time for when it inevitably fails me again

Can prolly have the motor ripped apart and rebuilt in a few hours and I'm looking at basically just the lifter tray 2 afm lifters
and top end seals

 

[Marky Dissod]

There is, however, ONE possible benefit to Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion ...

At some point my 5.3L's cooling system suffered a leak, which went from roughly 'pinhole' to 'uh-oh' in a few days.
Y'know how most of us know that a loss of coolant means you've about 1-2 minutes before warping the heads?
I'm ok affirming that using the extra V4 mode by driving GINGERLY gave me about an extra 5-6min protection,
just enough to get me to a much safer spot to get flat-bedded.

Still think it's better to physically delete / remove Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion ...
BUT
if you're gonna use a tune to disable Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion,
seriously consider leaving it enabled OVER 230F, an impossible coolant temp under nearly any condition with a properly operating cooling system.

Under any normal operating condition I can think of, I stopped believing in leaving Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion enabled long ago.

 

[spsteve]

I see! LKQ is very proud of their supply of engines! Ebay has way better deals!

Its a shame had a friend at lkq years ago but hes not around no more

 

[spsteve]

At some point my 5.3L's cooling system suffered a leak, which went from roughly 'pinhole' to 'uh-oh' in a few days.
Y'know how most of us know that a loss of coolant means you've about 1-2 minutes before warping the heads?
I'm ok affirming that using the extra V4 mode by driving GINGERLY gave me about an extra 5-6min protection,
just enough to get me to a much safer spot to get flat-bedded.

Still think it's better to physically delete / remove Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion ...
BUT
if you're gonna use a tune to disable Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion,
seriously consider leaving it enabled OVER 230F, an impossible coolant temp under nearly any condition with a properly operating cooling system.

Under any normal operating condition I can think of, I stopped believing in leaving Engine Half@$$ / Cylinder Confusion enabled long ago.

Will prolly find someone else with hp tuners to just disable it, I'm a firm believer in ill stop in the middle of the highway and push it before I overheat it, lost a 383 stroker in a camaro to overheating, never again

 

[swathdiver]

I think I'm gonna 2 stage this
Stage 1 replace cylinder 6 lifters and tray
Stage 2 find a low mile motor and dod delete and maybe upgrade to a more aggressive cam and build over time for when it inevitably fails me again

Can prolly have the motor ripped apart and rebuilt in a few hours and I'm looking at basically just the lifter tray 2 afm lifters
and top end seals

Don't forget the head bolts and head gasket. When doing an AFM repair, it is SOP to replace the VLOM since the solenoids getting out of time is what usually kills the lifters. However, if you have AFM turned off, take care of that later, no need to waste money on a new one when you'll be using a flat valley plate later.

 

[spsteve]

Don't forget the head bolts and head gasket. When doing an AFM repair, it is SOP to replace the VLOM since the solenoids getting out of time is what usually kills the lifters. However, if you have AFM turned off, take care of that later, no need to waste money on a new one when you'll be using a flat valley plate later.

Arp still the way to go for head bolts?

 

[Marky Dissod]

Because I'm quite possibly THE ONE & ONLY duhmass who INCREASED V4 mode's duty cycle, above & beyond GM's original intent.

Avalanche guys used to get 26MpG on the highway in the early days of AFM.

NYC has some 'highways' where the speed limit is 35MpH or 40MpH or 45MpH, never over 50MpH in NYC.
The few times I spent on those, I could easily achieve 25MpG often.

Cylinder Deactivation's greatest 'enemies' are increases in weight and drag area.
CARS would spend FAR more time using these features than SUVs / pickup trucks.