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Well since the TL sold and I have a large amount of cash at hand something had to break, right!? The truck decided to throw a P0305 (Cylinder 5 Misfire). Thought nothing of it, changed the plugs (8 AcDelco), Wires (Acdelco) and swapped the coil pack to cylinder 3 to see if the misfire would follow. Would be easy and simple if the issue was resolved, NOT. Truck still threw the P0305 and knew it was something worse. Hopped on the web and did some research. 07+ chevys have this thing called Automatic Fuel Management / Displacement on Demand (AFM/DOD). Dumbest shit I ever heard of! The computer shuts 4 cylinders off when cruising thru town or down I-94. Suppose to help with emissions but in the end it costs owners thousands of dollars. The motor has 4 sets (8) lifters that are suppose to mechanically collapse when engaged into 4cyl mode. Well sometimes those cylinders don't get pumped back up and cause all sorts of issues. Off to the Dealer I go for more diagnostics. I hate going to the dealer for anything and reasons like below are why.
I took my truck to a dealership to have their "professionals" do some tests to pinpoint the issue. No testing (compression test or leak down test) was performed and they end up charging me $135 only tell me there is something internally wrong and want $140/hr to tear it down to inspect. Well no shit there is something internally wrong, that is why I brought it to them. That's a boat load to inspect before knowing what is wrong so I got a second opinion. I did ask what a cam job was at the dealer and they told me its a 20 hour job. Did the math on labor alone and told them they were fucking nuts. The truck would be at the bottom of the lake before I paid that!
Took the truck to my buddies performance shop where they performed a leak down test this morning and said it passed with flying colors. Knowing that the bottom end was healthy I pulled the trigger on a Stage 2 AFM/DOD & VVT Delete from Brian Tooley Racing (BTR) to rebuild the top end. Truck will get a Stage 2 - 3 Bolt Cam, 16 - LS7 Lifters, GM Lifter Tray Guides, LS6 Beehive Valve Springs, LS Hat Valve Seals, 3 Bolt Cam Gear, Timing Chain Dampener, Timing Cover (VVT Delete), all new seals/gaskets, Heads Milled to ensure flatness and a Valve Job. Followed by a Motor and Trans tune by their Master Tuner.
A little annoyed that I have to do this 9 months after buying the truck. The dealer I purchased it from told me I am SOL since I opted out to buy their warranty. Didn't even offer to help at all with knocking some labor off. Another reason I hate Dealerships...
I should pick up a few ponies with the stage 2 grind. Dyno sheet will be posted when I get it. Wish I was adding a supercharger for the cost this repair will run me but hopefully I won't have any issues for at least 2 years.
Cylinder 5 Plug looked original so all new plugs won't hurt any.
Rockers were all tight, so no sign of a collapsed lifter. Springs weren't broken, so no luck there.
Valve cover looked good to the shop. Normal spray on the bottom side of it.
Shop called with good news, but per usual followed up with bad news....
Good news, they found the culprit! Bad news, motor needs new cam bearings... So they will have the shop that is doing the heads come and press the old ones out and press new ones in. Due to the material ground off the cam they need to drop the pan to clean it out, clean the pick up tube and replace the oil pump. Will also have the trunnion bearings replaced.
Motor is being pulled today. Shop can only reach front 3 of 5 cam bearings with motor in truck. They gave me the option to only do those 3 or pull the motor to replace all. I chose to pull motor and do it up 100%. Not spending all this money to only do 60% of the job.
Lets hope that will be the last thing to do before rebuilding it and tuning it.
For those of you who know Old Red had to be retired back in Feb. of 2019 and was quickly replaced with a newer 2010 Silverado LT Crew Cab. Thought I would have the reliability of this truck but fuck was I wrong! Enjoy the ride and feel free to send me donations to ease the pain...
Great truck before it fucked me sideways...
Blacked out the front and rear bow ties.
Toyed with the smoked headlights. Eventually went back to the OEM ones because these cut down the light output tremendously. It did look good but I want clear lenses so I will replace these one day with blacked out housings and clear lenses.
After 9 months of ownership things started going sideways.
Always liked this body style, up to about 2012 (IIRC) when they chromed the entire bumper (not remembering if full body-color was still an option) & replaced the black plastic in the lower bumper with gray/silver painted plastic.
Sorry to hear about all the trouble it has given you. Hopefully it is pretty solid going forward.
A coworker of mine had the same exact truck and it was a nightmare for him. He wanted to get it lemoned, but it never worked out for whatever reason and he just ended up trading it in.
Maybe it’s cause I just woke up and am dumber than I usually am.
If I’m reading this correctly, you had an issue with the heads and had the motor pulled, but didn’t take the opportunity to do a heads/cam upgrade?
Just tell the wife/girlfriend that it’ll get better gas mileage and it needs to be done anyway
It is getting a cam upgrade but that is about it. Would love to do heads but the cost of this repair has snowballed and I need to draw the line somewhere for a reliable daily at this point. If I were to trade in I would lose my ass on it, more than I am already. I may be able to sell it for close to my loan payoff if I were to explore that option just to get out of this thing. We will see how I feel about it after this work is completed.
I opted for the Stage 2 Grind to avoid having to dig into the Transmission and replace the torque converter and other parts to make it reliable. Plus the added mileage loss for a daily wouldn't be good. Would sound great but I will save that for my weekend cruiser when I build one some day.
So far the list of parts going in will be:
-Brian Tooley Racing (BTR) Gen IV Truck DOD Delete Kit
-Chevrolet Performance Valley Cover 6.2L
-New GM Lifter Trays
-BTR Head Gaskets
-(16) Delphi LS7 Lifters
-BTR Head Bolts
-BTR Exhaust Manifold Gaskets
-BTR Truck Cam Kit (Stage 2)
-BTR Stage 2 Truck Cam
-LS6 Beehive Valve Spring Kit (.560" lift)
-LS Hat Valve Seals
-BTR Trunion Upgrade
-Melling High Volume Oil Pump
-Clevite Cam Bearings
-AC Belt
-Chevrolet Performance 3 Bolt 4 Pole Cam Gear
-Chevrolet Performance LS2/LS3/LS7 Timing Chain Dampener
-ARP Cam Bolts
-Chevrolet Performance LS3 Front Timing Cover
-VVT to Non VVT Plug and Play Adapter
-Front Crank Seal
-Front Timing Cover Gasket
-Water Pump Gasket
-Valve Cover Gasket
-Intake Manifold Gasket
-Oil Pan Gasket
-Oil Cooler Block Off Gasket
-OEM Rear Cover Gasket
-OEM Rear Crank Seal
-Resurface Heads To Ensure Flatness & Valve Job
-Polish Rocker Arms To Remove Rust/Residue Caused by Misfires
-Oil Pan Cleaned
-Pick Up Tube Cleaned
-Transmission Flush and Filter Change
-Custom Dyno Tune (Motor and Transmission)
The last thing I haven't given the green light to do is replace the Crank Bearings. That is another expensive task that will need the short block sent out to an engine builder to complete. Waiting on the quote today for that job, but I am leaning towards doing this 100% instead of taking the risk that the ground away material may have gotten to the lower bearings and have them fail, soon, down the road.
Really wish I had my hands on this project but the shop won't allow that.
Curious, Steve...
How much of a bath would you have taken at Carmax?
What were the symptoms? Undriveable?
I'm just scared of you sinking so much into it that will do nothing for resale.
Just thinking out loud...literally problem solution shit in my head.
Curious, Steve...
How much of a bath would you have taken at Carmax?
What were the symptoms? Undriveable?
I'm just scared of you sinking so much into it that will do nothing for resale.
Just thinking out loud...literally problem solution shit in my head.
Well for starters I will never deal with Carmax. Their offers to buy are comical. Dealer I purchased from wanted to give me 10-11, quite comical as well, if it were in the same condition it was when I bought it, which it isn't with the engine knock it had.
Symptoms started with the obvious check engine light for P0305, cylinder 5 misfire at first. Then P0300, multiple misfires, showed up. Could feel it missing as you drove it. VERY rough idle at stop light. Felt like I had a Chevy 572 Big Block with only one side bolted down. Developed an intermittent chirp/squeel (bad bearing of some sort, or lifter on cam). Internal tap/pop sound when in drive/reverse and foot on the brake.
Honestly for what I will have in this thing at the end, I will have to drive it til it rots out since I haven't paid much off of the loan having it only 10 months now. For the short drive I have to work and normal use throughout the week I should be able to get another 10 years out of it before I hit 225k, at 105k now before full rebuild. The next big ticket item would be a trans at some point in the future.
Gotcha.
I should have known you had already exhausted all possible options.
I'm sorry for your troubles, man...that's a rough and tough pill to swallow.
Sorry to hear all the troubles man. So all these modifications/maintenance is so hopefully no more issues occur plus added performance? I just know others who put a decent size cam in the ls motors get terrible gas mileage. Either way I hope all goes well-after this headache is over get to work on the bike and have some fun this spring
Gotcha.
I should have known you had already exhausted all possible options.
I'm sorry for your troubles, man...that's a rough and tough pill to swallow.
Yes, I have gone down every possible path and have come to the conclusion this will need to stay or I lose even more.
Originally Posted by 90foxnotch
Sorry to hear all the troubles man. So all these modifications/maintenance is so hopefully no more issues occur plus added performance? I just know others who put a decent size cam in the ls motors get terrible gas mileage. Either way I hope all goes well-after this headache is over get to work on the bike and have some fun this spring
Yes, the cam/lifters will delete the AFM and tune to turn off the deactivation in the computers while picking up some horses. Stage 2 was added performance without sacrificing MPG and added costs for additional parts (torque converter, etc). I hope so too!
Originally Posted by teh CL
Man, that's a tough pill to swallow.
Should be pretty bulletproof once it's done. Who's doing the tuning?
It has been and continue to take blows every time I talk to the shop, granted I keep saying yes shove it in further (no lube), but I want to make sure nothing goes over looked. The shop that is doing the assembly, aside from the lower crank bearings, is Late Model Throttle out of Waukesha, WI. I know the owner through a friend of mine. Him and his staff have been extremely helpful throughout this situation and have been giving me the advice and help I need to make good decisions without forcing me to do anything. They have done many quality builds over the years and have a great reputation from multiple people. They just got a new 5 axis machine and now have the ability to do anything!
It's easy getting carried away for some piece of mind, ask me how I know..
Tell me about it. Started at $3500 for the tear down and replace, somehow morphed into over 2 times that now! Part of me wants to source a blower now if I am going all in...
01-06-2020, 01:51 PM
will need to ask a Senior mod.. like @Yumcha or 
if you' dare 
