2013 Tahoe LS top end noise

[Just00Jake]

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@Just00Jake i take it that you reused you VLOM and camshaft?

 

[Geotrash]

I'm sorry for leaving so much time between updates, I had to leave town for work for a month. This is where I stand currently. I've changed all of the lifters out and I know I'm going to get hell for it but I replaced everything as it was. Meaning I left the AFM intact and replaced the lifters with what came out. I got it all back together and it didn't want to stay running. I was getting backfire out of the exhaust and had to feather the that pedal to have a chance to keep it going. I couldn't keep the pedal in one spot, it would go for a few seconds and go up or down.After I'd keep it running for 5 minutes it would try to run consistently but I'd have to hold the throttle where it needed to be or if I let go it would die. And I swear I hear a ticking still. I'll attach a video. And by the way the number 1 AFM intake lifter was a little soft and I found loose pins in it, I'll put up a picture. Anyways if you remember right it idled fine before I did any work, it just had the lifter noise. I checked everything, I had 2 other people check everything to see if I'd missed anything. I'm pretty sure all of the injector plugs are correct because the wire is only so long for each. I sprayed break cleaner and my intake and no leaks were evident. I pulled the valve covers and checked the torque on all of the rocker arms they were good the lifters are nice and tight. So I pulled my intake assembly and sealed the intake gasket with rtv just to make sure it was sealed because I had oil marks on the bottom side of the intake gasket and then I figured after doing that top end clean, and then any loose stuff from cleaning the heads and pistons, I figured I must have clogged the fuel injectors and since that's the only thing that's not new on my top end I installed new injectors but want holding my breathe. Nothing has changed. I'm currently getting p0300(was p0307 at first but now just 300 so far) p0219a, p0219b, p0521. I'm at the point that I want to take it for real diagnostics and be done with it by I feel like it's something stupid. Don't forget I got the p0219a & p0219b after doing the top end clean. Any words of wisdom or should I try to find a decent shop that's not a 4 week wait? Thanks

Man...so frustrating! After all of that work to still have a problem.

Did you change the cam? And if so are you 1000% sure that you got the timing marks lined up perfectly? If you didn't change the cam, did you inspect all of the lobes carefully? If your cam was damaged at all, then that would be the most likely source of your tick. Did you reconnect the MAF (easy one to forget)? Is the brake booster hose to the intake in good shape?

Those pins are the needle bearings from the roller. Chances are you have some of them in the oil pan too. Not a bog deal because they won't make it through the pickup tube screen, but...

 

[Just00Jake]

Man...so frustrating! After all of that work to still have a problem.

Did you change the cam? And if so are you 1000% sure that you got the timing marks lined up perfectly? If you didn't change the cam, did you inspect all of the lobes carefully? If your cam was damaged at all, then that would be the most likely source of your tick. Did you reconnect the MAF (easy one to forget)? Is the brake booster hose to the intake in good shape?

Those pins are the needle bearings from the roller. Chances are you have some of them in the oil pan too. Not a bog deal because they won't make it through the pickup tube screen, but...

I did not change the cam but it looked fine. Neither of the 2 were stuck open though. I did plug in the mass air flow sensor, all of my grounds are hooked up and the brake booster is hooked up. The thing that gets me is that there were none of these issues before and all I did was change the lifters. I feel like I had to have done something wrong on the reconnecting since the mechanical parts seem to be functioning since I can get it to idle after warming up. Rough idle but better. I just don't have the computer to do a lot of the diagnosis. I've got a glorified code reader. After pulling the intake and reinstalling it I feel like since nothing changed that is all fine. I don't know.

 

[Just00Jake]

@Just00Jake i take it that you reused you VLOM and camshaft?

Yes why do you ask?

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@Just00Jake The cam and lifters are usually the damaged in a lifter failure, also the VLOM is usually the cause of a lifter failure.

 

[Just00Jake]

@Just00Jake The cam and lifters are usually the damaged in a lifter failure, also the VLOM is usually the cause of a lifter failure.

Ok I'm paying attention... And I appreciate the input. Before you explain this to me so that I can understand it, I wanted to throw a few things out there. My bad lifter wasn't an AFM cylinder if that matters, so I thought the standard vlom cause didn't person to me. I thought that was only if it were those. Also my lifter was collapsed so it didn't necessarily ride the cam but not sure if that matters. I also looked at the can and took pictures and it looked fine to me but I'm not an expert by far. Also every video or article that I read showed a full lifter replacement because of a bad lifter and only 1 out of 20 replaced the cam and this guy decided he was going to do it before he looked at anything. But like I keep saying, I don't know anything for facts on this I'm just learning from all of you and videos etc. I have not had anyone tell me yet that the cam should be swapped.I've done just about everything as far as working on cars so mechanically I can manage but I know nothing at all about this type of system. And like I said I appreciate the education and your time and by no means an I trying to debate what you're saying I'm just letting you know what got me to where I am as far as this issue. Honestly I don't feel like I'm anywhere very far with this.

 

[donjetman]

Lifter trays should be replaced too.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@Just00Jake No worries man we are here to help, If I didn't want to help I would just stop responding lol.

So you tore the engine apart and took the cam and lifters out and found a bad lifter and the cam looked alright?

The bad lifter in your picture is a AFM lifter it just failed in a way that you haven't seen before. What probably happened is the lifter collapsed and was banging against the cam until the roller part of the lifter shattered. Similar thing happened to me but my lifter didn't shatter like that.

I would say your problem still lies with your lifters.

While you could reuse some of the lifters I would recommend rebuilding the engine with non-AFM parts. New lifters, lifter trays, new cam, new valley cover.

 

[Just00Jake]

@Just00Jake No worries man we are here to help, If I didn't want to help I would just stop responding lol.

So you tore the engine apart and took the cam and lifters out and found a bad lifter and the cam looked alright?

The bad lifter in your picture is a AFM lifter it just failed in a way that you haven't seen before. What probably happened is the lifter collapsed and was banging against the cam until the roller part of the lifter shattered. Similar thing happened to me but my lifter didn't shatter like that.

I would say your problem still lies with your lifters.

While you could reuse some of the lifters I would recommend rebuilding the engine with non-AFM parts. New lifters, lifter trays, new cam, new valley cover.

I see what your saying. The lifter that broke around the roller was cylinder #2 a non AFM lifter, the#1 was the AFM lifter that lost the pins. And actually no I didn't remove the cam. I checked it through the holes after pulling the lifters. Like I said I watched a lot of videos and read up on whatever I could get ahold of and I didn't see anyone touch the cam so aside from inspecting it I didn't bother it. I understand your point about going non AFM and I was trying to get it back on the road with a budget and not get creative especially since I was just learning this stuff. Let me ask you, how do you think it was running fine with the lifter noise and after I replaced the lifters it's all of the sudden but running? That's what is stumping me