badtothe bone
Full Access Member
I experienced this problem way back in 2002 with a Avalanche with a 5/3 - Cast Iron Block and Aluminum heads.
The dealer I went to for repairs had the engine apart several times. We worked with the zone office out of Pittsburgh PA and the manufacturer provided me with a loaner Avalanche while they looked at the problem.
As a matter of fact, I had 3 different Avalanches, because GM refused to junk my vehicle under the lemon law. I spent more time in 6 different dealerships then what it took the Mexican's to put it together.
At 30,000 miles the engine started to use oil. Not just a little oil, but it got to the point of where it was using a quart of oil every 200 miles.
The engine in my 02' Avalanche was the test engine for problem solving.
It had the Mexican heads and GM paid for 16 new valves, 16 new guides, 16 new seats and a improved design valve seal.
In the end, it was determined that the design of the piston was at fault and that it would cost GM millions of dollars to repair the problem and that it caused no harm to the engine and to just keep driving it. At 150,000 miles, I finally traded in the Avalanche on a 2009.
Because I worked for several machine shops and a close personal friend of mine owns a engine shop. I can tell you with all honesty that when you bore a engine, you usually bore it to the size of the pistons and not to a standard number. The manufacturer will tell you what size the bore should be as per their instructions, how much the piston is expected to grow at operating temperature.
We usually bore it out to within .003 and then we hone it to the exact size within 1 or 2 ten thosandths.
Replacing the pistons would have solved the problem, but with 35,000 miles, the last time the engine was in for service, they felt that they had spent more money then what was alloted for that vehicle. Basically they were going broke trying to fix it.
GM also paid to replace the rear drive shaft due to a howl at 55 MPH.
They replaced all the bearings in the rear differential - which moved the howl up to 65 mph.
They rebuilt the front axle 3 times because of leaks, and then discovered that the leak was not caused by faulty bearings or seals, but by the synthetic oil in the differential.
They replaced the door speakers at least 3 times.
They replaced the radio once, the heater controls once, the instrament cluster once.
They refused to replace the cladding when it faded. My claim was the first for that condition.
They replaced the tailgate latch one time - because it would not stay closed in the cold weather.
They replaced the console lid when it refused to latch.
They replaced the saddle bag lid when it refused to latch.
They replaced the mid gate drain grate - when it refused to retract when you droped the mid gate.
They had to drill drain holes when the water leaked into the cabin.
They fought with leaky seams in the firewall.
The hinges were so bad that when you opened the back doors - it sounded like something from a spooky movie.
Calipers and rotors - more then you could count.
NO Brakes!
When I got rid of it, the rocker panels were rotted out because the people at the factory that assembled the cab did not open the drain holes when they put the seam sealer in the C pillars next to the floor and in the winter it was so full of water that the carpets in the truck were soaked and when you turned on the heater, the moisture from the carpets would steam up the windows so bad - you couldn't see out of them.
If there is something that could go wrong to a Chevy Truck, i have pretty much seen it all.
The dealer I went to for repairs had the engine apart several times. We worked with the zone office out of Pittsburgh PA and the manufacturer provided me with a loaner Avalanche while they looked at the problem.
As a matter of fact, I had 3 different Avalanches, because GM refused to junk my vehicle under the lemon law. I spent more time in 6 different dealerships then what it took the Mexican's to put it together.
At 30,000 miles the engine started to use oil. Not just a little oil, but it got to the point of where it was using a quart of oil every 200 miles.
The engine in my 02' Avalanche was the test engine for problem solving.
It had the Mexican heads and GM paid for 16 new valves, 16 new guides, 16 new seats and a improved design valve seal.
In the end, it was determined that the design of the piston was at fault and that it would cost GM millions of dollars to repair the problem and that it caused no harm to the engine and to just keep driving it. At 150,000 miles, I finally traded in the Avalanche on a 2009.
Because I worked for several machine shops and a close personal friend of mine owns a engine shop. I can tell you with all honesty that when you bore a engine, you usually bore it to the size of the pistons and not to a standard number. The manufacturer will tell you what size the bore should be as per their instructions, how much the piston is expected to grow at operating temperature.
We usually bore it out to within .003 and then we hone it to the exact size within 1 or 2 ten thosandths.
Replacing the pistons would have solved the problem, but with 35,000 miles, the last time the engine was in for service, they felt that they had spent more money then what was alloted for that vehicle. Basically they were going broke trying to fix it.
GM also paid to replace the rear drive shaft due to a howl at 55 MPH.
They replaced all the bearings in the rear differential - which moved the howl up to 65 mph.
They rebuilt the front axle 3 times because of leaks, and then discovered that the leak was not caused by faulty bearings or seals, but by the synthetic oil in the differential.
They replaced the door speakers at least 3 times.
They replaced the radio once, the heater controls once, the instrament cluster once.
They refused to replace the cladding when it faded. My claim was the first for that condition.
They replaced the tailgate latch one time - because it would not stay closed in the cold weather.
They replaced the console lid when it refused to latch.
They replaced the saddle bag lid when it refused to latch.
They replaced the mid gate drain grate - when it refused to retract when you droped the mid gate.
They had to drill drain holes when the water leaked into the cabin.
They fought with leaky seams in the firewall.
The hinges were so bad that when you opened the back doors - it sounded like something from a spooky movie.
Calipers and rotors - more then you could count.
NO Brakes!
When I got rid of it, the rocker panels were rotted out because the people at the factory that assembled the cab did not open the drain holes when they put the seam sealer in the C pillars next to the floor and in the winter it was so full of water that the carpets in the truck were soaked and when you turned on the heater, the moisture from the carpets would steam up the windows so bad - you couldn't see out of them.
If there is something that could go wrong to a Chevy Truck, i have pretty much seen it all.
