2016 Yukon lifters being replaced what about the VLOM?

[Gregs_MN]

I know another lifter thread. I swear this one is different and looking for help fairly quickly...

Our 2016 Yukon 5.3 is at the dealership again for lifter failure/replacement within 2 years. We are at 104000 miles now and it was at around 75-80K the last time we had this done. Thankfully all the work that has been and is being done is covered under a power train warranty when we purchased the vehicle.

My question is that the dealership is waiting for the VLOM to be delivered/available (Part number 12697806). They have advised that this a only a suggested replacement part when doing the lifter replacement and said since they replaced it 2 years ago when they did this the last time that it does not need to be done.

Is this true?? Should I tell them they need to wait until the part is available? GM does not have any timeline on when they will be delivered - I have personally called 20 + dealerships in numerous states to check inventory and they are all reserved and not for sale...

My only fear is that they just want our vehicle out of their shop and not keep us in the loaner vehicle any longer because they don't know when the part will come in. If they don't replace that part now hopefully it doesn't have any issues in the 45K miles when our warranty runs out...

I know this is a second question but would a AFM/DFM disabler like the Range Technology plug in device help in the future with this problem?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Marky Dissod]

From their point of view, given a dealership's motives, you're probably right.4

Between now and when the warranty expires, deactivating V4 mode (at minimum) is a good idea, especially given that your engine has suffered multiple V4 mode lifter failures.

Better still, would be to disable V4 mode permanently by having it tuned out in your pcm.

Best, would be to also physically DELETE the V4 mode lifters and replace them with V8 mode lifters.
Think this also requires removing the VLOMA and replacing it a more passive non-variable counterpart (although I'm not sure why this would be necessary if V4 mode is programmed out AND all the lifters are V8 lifters?).

V4 mode lifters tend to fail much sooner than V8 mode lifters, even if the lifters NEVER use V4 mode.
How much sooner is impossible to guess because there are far too many variables involved.

TLDR:
a V4 mode disabler is a good idea.
Disabling V4 mode with a tune is even better.
Best is making V4 mode physically impossible.

 

[Gregs_MN]

*** Update ***

I had the dealership replace the lifters without the VLOM per their advice that it would be fine.

Got the truck back Thursday and within 5-10 miles the check engine light came on so we turned around took it right back to the dealership. They couldn't look at it then so thankfully got another loaner and they called this morning and said the check engine light was because the Catalytic Converter is done/failed and will need to be replaced and that the powertrain warranty will not cover this replacement....... WTF

They said that it is common for this to happen after lifter failures. With a little research it seems that others have had similar experience after lifter failure/replacements. If this is the case this should be a GM issue and they would need to cover this CAT replacement.

 

[Gregs_MN]

To follow up in case anyone cares I replaced my cats with Manga Flow OEM replacement part # 52642 along with new OEM O2 sensors from RockAuto (half the cost compared to Autozone) and everything is working great no CEL and running smooth.

​

 

[Bigkevschopshop]

Hopefully it had the updated VLOM installed prior. At your place in mileage I would consider a disabler or a tune to turn it off, unless your powertrain is lifetime etc. At that point I would drive it and just keep the oil changes all documented and about 40% oil life remaining when you change it. Just to stay on top of things.

Glad you got it done, thats weird the cats were wiped out. Yeah you can get alot better deals on Rock auto than VATOZONE! You can also hit amazon and do even better sometimes if you know your part numbers etc.

 

[Gregs_MN]

Hopefully it had the updated VLOM installed prior. At your place in mileage I would consider a disabler or a tune to turn it off, unless your powertrain is lifetime etc. At that point I would drive it and just keep the oil changes all documented and about 40% oil life remaining when you change it. Just to stay on top of things.

Glad you got it done, thats weird the cats were wiped out. Yeah you can get alot better deals on Rock auto than VATOZONE! You can also hit amazon and do even better sometimes if you know your part numbers etc.

They did not replace the VLOM this time but they did just over a year ago when the same lifter issue was dealt with. Hopefully this part will still be good for awhile. I have 40K let on the warranty and have installed a disabler, so hopefully this all helps.

 

[salisburyv]

they should've covered the cats as secondary damage due to the lifter malfunction. it was dumping raw unburnt fuel to the cat. that's not your fault. also, what's the emissions warranty on those? they usually mirror the powertrain.

 

[SpyShops212]

You should not be paying for new converters. You could call GM and see if they will assist. You might get lucky and maybe they would pay half at least. I would demand they change the vlom again. Maybe they didn’t change your vlom the first time. Ask your adviser what if your recently replaced vlom is defective. What I would do in a situation like this is go to the dealer when you check your Cadillac app and see that your truck is being worked on. I would tell my service adviser I left my wife’s Diamond ring in the truck. Your service guy will take you to your truck and that is where you get to see what is going on. Give the guy a $20 or $50 who is working on your truck and tell him to have lunch on you.

 

[Gregs_MN]

Well back with an update.... Took the Yukon in for an oil change in the morning to the stealership that has done all the work on this truck and was advised all is good.

Later that afternoon check engine light came one so I swung back by the shop to see if they could tell me whats going on and low and behold the new CAT (replaced in June) has gone bad... Could the Magnaflow really have gone bad that fast?

P0420 code

 

[L8T BURB]

Well back with an update.... Took the Yukon in for an oil change in the morning to the stealership that has done all the work on this truck and was advised all is good.

Later that afternoon check engine light came one so I swung back by the shop to see if they could tell me whats going on and low and behold the new CAT (replaced in June) has gone bad... Could the Magnaflow really have gone bad that fast?

P0420 code

Having just came from a lifter failure in my 2015 Suburban with the 5.3, I can say that my catalytic converters failed very quickly once repairs were completed on the engine.

I know this sounds bizarre, but it may be worth looking at having the cats deleted, and keeping your stock muffler and resonator in place. There isn't much difference at all in the sound, but you'll need a tuner to completely turn off the o2 sensors. You may run into some difficulties finding a shop to do this modification, but shop owners willing to do this mod do exist, they're just getting more scarce.