Main Bearing Failure with 6.2L at 3,200 miles

ChrisYukon · Mar 4, 2024

I saw a few threads on this, but it's such a big failure that I think my issue deserves another thread.

I was an hour from home on Friday and fortunately was 2 miles from my exit, so I was in the right lanes of the freeway. The engine died, and I coasted off at the next exit. I stopped at a red light, and the truck automatically shifted into park. When the light turned green, the truck refused to move out of park, and blocked the exit that was down to one lane due to construction.

I had the truck towed to my local dealer, and got the call today - it's a "spun bearing" and I need a new engine. The dealer has submitted it for approval, and I'm told it should be "5 to 10 days."

I think the truck is fantastic - 10 times better than the '17 Yukon Denali XL that I had before. (And that I'd still be driving if a drunk driver hadn't hit that truck and totaled it.) Can't wait until I'm driving it again.

I'll post updates on the process here.

Big Mama · Mar 6, 2024

Wow! Glad you were off the highway when it happened.

gatorintx · Mar 7, 2024

ChrisYukon said:
I saw a few threads on this, but it's such a big failure that I think my issue deserves another thread.

I was an hour from home on Friday and fortunately was 2 miles from my exit, so I was in the right lanes of the freeway. The engine died, and I coasted off at the next exit. I stopped at a red light, and the truck automatically shifted into park. When the light turned green, the truck refused to move out of park, and blocked the exit that was down to one lane due to construction.

I had the truck towed to my local dealer, and got the call today - it's a "spun bearing" and I need a new engine. The dealer has submitted it for approval, and I'm told it should be "5 to 10 days."

I think the truck is fantastic - 10 times better than the '17 Yukon Denali XL that I had before. (And that I'd still be driving if a drunk driver hadn't hit that truck and totaled it.) Can't wait until I'm driving it again.

I'll post updates on the process here.

Wow - that sucks. Glad you were able to get off the highway safely. And if you can get it fixed in 5-10 days, that's probably a win. Though absolutely crazy to happen at just 3,200 miles. Is this an issue specific to the 6.2L? Seen a few posts lately about this but all seem to be with the 6.2.

StephenPT · Mar 7, 2024

gatorintx said:
Wow - that sucks. Glad you were able to get off the highway safely. And if you can get it fixed in 5-10 days, that's probably a win. Though absolutely crazy to happen at just 3,200 miles. Is this an issue specific to the 6.2L? Seen a few posts lately about this but all seem to be with the 6.2.

Seems to be 6.2L only. I came across a post on a different forum from a GM Tech that the 6.2 main bearing tolerances are all over the board and many out of spec. What's likely happening here is too large of main bearing clearances, which flow too much oil to the "up-stream" main bearings and then "down-stream" main bearings get starved of oil and metal on metal results in a very premature failure.

ChrisYukon · Mar 9, 2024

Yep. The failures seem to happen at about 3,000 miles or so, too - so that’s how long a 6.2 LS will last with bad bearings, I guess.

Another interesting note - according to the dealer, when the push button transmission sticks in park, the only work around is to have someone crawl under with a vice grip and pull the cable into neutral - but it won’t stay there, so they just use dollies to push ‘em around. Hard to believe that GM hasn’t come up with a solution to that yet.

tom3 · Mar 9, 2024

I wonder if it's core shift due to heat cycles, water splash, stress. A 0.001 shift would wreck this modern engine pretty quick. Darn shame to do a heart transplant on a brand new machine like that though.

GMCnewbee · Mar 10, 2024

Sorry for the bad news, but thanks for reporting it. You must have a great Dealer! Hope you are back on the road soon.

Marky Dissod · Mar 10, 2024

tom3 said:
Damn shame to do a heart transplant on a brand new machine like that though.

GM putting so many brand new 6.2L buyers through the ordeal of stopping traffic due to atrocious quality control,
that's the damn shame.

chrisbusnut · Mar 10, 2024

Marky Dissod said:
GM putting so many brand new 6.2L buyers through the ordeal of stopping traffic due to atrocious quality control,
that's the damn shame.

Couldn't agree more, and this is exactly why I wanted the Duramax when I bought my 24. The 6.2 is such a sweet engine and sounds amazing. I really hope they get these issues resolved with the mid cycle refresh next year. It's starting to remind me of the HT4100 debacle in early to mid 80s Cadillacs (though totally different reasons for failures on those).

Stbentoak · Mar 11, 2024

gatorintx said:
Wow - that sucks. Glad you were able to get off the highway safely. And if you can get it fixed in 5-10 days, that's probably a win. Though absolutely crazy to happen at just 3,200 miles. Is this an issue specific to the 6.2L? Seen a few posts lately about this but all seem to be with the 6.2.

What's crazy about this is, while the vast majority don't/won't/haven't had a problem yet, there is enough failures floating around to make you stop and think every day.... Am I driving one of these ticking bombs or not? And most people's outcomes won't be a 5-10 day fix.....

Main Bearing Failure with 6.2L at 3,200 miles

ChrisYukon

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Big Mama

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gatorintx

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StephenPT

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ChrisYukon

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tom3

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GMCnewbee

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Marky Dissod

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chrisbusnut

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Stbentoak

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