I've been watching the number of lifter failures increase since the introduction of DFM in the 2019 pickups. It's pitiful the way GM charges for these vehicles and does the least possible for their customers when they break.
General Motors V-8 engines are no stranger to lifter problems. Owners of GM V-8 engines with Active Fuel Management (AFM) have dealt with stuck and collapsed lifters for years. But it seems a new round of lifter woes are hitting GM truck engines with relatively low mileage.
The GM lifter problems affect both the 2019-2021 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups as well as their GMT T1XX platform SUV siblings, the Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade.
GM lifter problems are hitting V-8 truck engines with relatively low mileage. And, while there's a fix, there is no recall.
pickuptrucktalk.com
You won’t get an argument from me with regard to the hamfisted way GM has dealt with this issue. On the other hand people sit back and make generalizations regarding the “lifter problems”, like these lifters are just waiting to fail. That is just flat wrong. GM has built over a million of this latest generation engine, they see what is reported by one person as a “bent lifter” in a 2022 model and immediately say, “ ah ha!, see they are still failing!” They don’t fail like that, so likely the service writer probably didn’t understand what the tech said about the problem, but right away, we have ongoing lifter failure issues, at least on the internet.
I have a 2007 Yukon I bought new. I never knew about the “AFM lifter problem” until I got onto the internet and read how bad it was and how I should replace my cam and lifter with a non AFM variety. I went to my trusted service advisor, the same guy I have always gone to when I started with this dealer and asked him what I should do about my AFM lifters, as my engine was well into six figures and likely was about to have AFM lifter problems.
My service advisor said, “yeah, I have heard about those issues…. BUT, I have never seen a failed AFM lifter”, “just keep maintaining it like you do and start worrying about other things.” My dealer is the biggest GMC truck dealer in the state. Now, this was way before the 2021 MY bad lifter debacle and he got a PhD on the subject when they started to show up on one of his biggest fleet customers who bought a slug of early 2021 trucks that they maintain.
He has replaced a bunch of lifters on a lot of trucks that were produced during the bad lifter window period. They have never had a single lifter they have replaced come back in to be redone, zero.
The internet is an echo chamber of bad data flying around, the badder the misinformation, the more it is repeated.
Again, that doesn’t absolve GM from lousy customer service on the issue, but frankly, can you blame the people running GM?