Lifter Issues on ‘21s Being Delivered to Dealers

[Quark]

So strange to me that there are so many negative people. I totally understand the anxiety of not knowing if you are going to be one of the unlucky ones that has a lifter problem, but why knock GM for FINALLY stepping up with the best solution. Clearly they have felt enough pain about all these post production failures and are losing existing/potential customers left and right.

Ive worked for years in customer service and this to me is an example of a company trying to go above and beyond BEFORE they have a dissatisfied customer. Has anyone left space for the possibility that they truly believe the engines built after April are problem free but because of all of the posts on blogs like this one they know there is a lack of confidence in a 2021 Tahoe/Yukon no matter when it was built?

I think the guy that sold his Tahoe even though he doesn’t have a problem proves my point. No trust in the product. In order to regain the trust they are saying “hey we think we have it fixed from the factory, but to make sure we don’t have anymore issues we are going to replace the parts (all of them mind you, not just one bank) before the customer ever even takes delivery. Sadly this just goes to show you can’t make everyone happy, but I’ll give them credit for trying.

Too little too late they are only doing this to move the few stigmatized '21s off the lot. If they really cared about the customers they would have been doing this since June. Or before, the lifter problem has been with the Silverados since 2020 I believe. An extended warranty should be a basic courtesy for owners having problems it would show GM believes in the vehicles and give the owner a sense of relief. Better than kicking them to the curb.

 

[20Tahoe21]

Too little too late they are only doing this to move the few stigmatized '21s off the lot. If they really cared about the customers they would have been doing this since June. Or before, the lifter problem has been with the Silverados since 2020 I believe. An extended warranty should be a basic courtesy for owners having problems it would show GM believes in the vehicles and give the owner a sense of relief. Better than kicking them to the curb.

Exactly. If ALL of the units being shipped now require both banks of lifters to be replaced before they are worthy of sale to the public then they need to step up and do a recall and replace ALL lifters on all units already sold instead of waiting on each owner with a bad set of lifters to get stranded on the roadside and then begrudgingly replace them after a lengthy wait for parts. Another thing to consider is how do we know the lifters they are using as replacements are any better than the ones already installed? If GM wants to get their consumer's confidence back that need to make a detailed news release with a reason for the problems so far and what they are going to do moving forward. I have owned only GMs for the last 35 years but this fiasco has me doubting if I want to continue being a customer. I don't know about everyone else, but when I pay $60k to $80k for a vehicle, I expect it to be basically trouble free for at least a 100k miles if maintenance is done as required. Not knowing whether I am going to make it to my destination or not should not be a consideration.

 

[NYisles1]

Exactly. If ALL of the units being shipped now require both banks of lifters to be replaced before they are worthy of sale to the public then they need to step up and do a recall and replace ALL lifters on all units already sold instead of waiting on each owner with a bad set of lifters to get stranded on the roadside and then begrudgingly replace them after a lengthy wait for parts. Another thing to consider is how do we know the lifters they are using as replacements are any better than the ones already installed? If GM wants to get their consumer's confidence back that need to make a detailed news release with a reason for the problems so far and what they are going to do moving forward. I have owned only GMs for the last 35 years but this fiasco has me doubting if I want to continue being a customer. I don't know about everyone else, but when I pay $60k to $80k for a vehicle, I expect it to be basically trouble free for at least a 100k miles if maintenance is done as required. Not knowing whether I am going to make it to my destination or not should not be a consideration.

People keep wording it that way but it’s not all units being shipped to dealers. It’s all affected 2021s. That may still just be units with
motors built by April. Again, I’m not defending GM for how they’ve handled this with customers - they should bend over backwards to satisfy a buyer dealing with an engine problem.

 

[Stbentoak]

If this is potentially an AFM/DFM/timing software issue, what good does replacing parts do? Are the parts REALLY proven defective or are they just the symptom of a higher up issue?
A platinum warranty should be the minimum acceptable result of ANY lifter issue to salvage any credibility….

 

[20Tahoe21]

People keep wording it that way but it’s not all units being shipped to dealers. It’s all affected 2021s. That may still just be units with
motors built by April. Again, I’m not defending GM for how they’ve handled this with customers - they should bend over backwards to satisfy a buyer dealing with an engine problem.

Okay. Using your "affected 2021s" that they are supposedly addressing, wouldn't it be nice if they would share their obviously secret method for determining which are "affected 2021s"???? VIN? Engine build date? Assembly plant? Faulty lot of parts? What is the key to determining what "affected 2021s" are? Share that important info with the many customers who paid thousands for a vehicle they can't trust so they can determine where they stand. My guess is they don't know what is going on and are just posturing to look like they are addressing the issues.

 

[Shrubs2K2]

Cross-posting in this thread as I saw it after the other thread:

Their Corporate response to me in addressing my lifter failure at 12,995 miles on my 21 Denali, which stranded me 400 miles from home is “we’re sorry you were inconvenienced and understand your frustration. Please accept 200,000 My GMC Rewards points to feel better.”

My repeated requests for an extended powertrain warranty were denied as was my request to have the remaining lifters in the engine replaced. I’ll get a sweet deal on some OEM GM accessories though, oh boy!!! I emailed a link to the GM Authority to the rep handling my case and said my demand still stands I get an extended powertrain warranty. Have any of you here with lifter failures received an extended warranty?

I declined the points to keep all my options open at this time. IMO, the points are a joke. My plan is to finish my letter to GM Corporate this week and will send a courtesy copy to the dealer where the service manager will not return my call. GM Customer service will not even return my call to get my case #!!

 

[rog2867]

That GM bulletin is from a year ago, those were the instructions then. Not now. Here is the current bulletin from last week.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2021/12/gm-releases-valve-lifter-service-update-for-v8-engines/

 

[wsteele]

People keep wording it that way but it’s not all units being shipped to dealers. It’s all affected 2021s. That may still just be units with
motors built by April. Again, I’m not defending GM for how they’ve handled this with customers - they should bend over backwards to satisfy a buyer dealing with an engine problem.

I think this is right. GM had a bunch of vehicles that were "mostly" assembled that were waiting for back ordered parts to be completed. I think the "affected vehicles" are ones built with engines assembled in the then "bad lifter window" but sat undelivered while they waited for the back ordered parts.

The engines in question had two component issues. Lifters that had an improperly heat treated lock pin spring that when it broke, caused the lifter to fail. It also covers another completely different issue of valve springs that were improperly heat treated and were also subject to failure. At least, that is what my guys locally are telling me.

It is kind of stunning that someone at GM didn't say, "hey, with all those trucks we have stored waiting for final parts assembly, why don't we cycle them through and replace the suspect lifters and valve springs, while we are waiting for the chips to finish the bells and whistle components?" Ah no, let's just wait and when we finally do get them completed and shipped to the dealer, we will have them do it at double the price...

 

[wsteele]

Okay. Using your "affected 2021s" that they are supposedly addressing, wouldn't it be nice if they would share their obviously secret method for determining which are "affected 2021s"???? VIN? Engine build date? Assembly plant? Faulty lot of parts? What is the key to determining what "affected 2021s" are? Share that important info with the many customers who paid thousands for a vehicle they can't trust so they can determine where they stand. My guess is they don't know what is going on and are just posturing to look like they are addressing the issues.

I agree with your opinion regarding the lack of forthcoming information on how to determine if your engine is affected.

On another forum a guy who works at one of the engine assembly plants posted a very informative bit of information regarding how to determine when your engine was built (and where it was assembled). There is a sticker on the back of each engine (that you can see from under the vehicle, just barely, on the drivers side of the back of the engine) that contains a factory code (where the engine was built), a shift code (I gather 1st or 2nd shift) and a Julian date (basically the number of the day and the year it was assembled. I believe you can determine if your engine was built in the bad lifter window timeframe from that sticker.

Not sure of it is OK to post links to other forums here so I won't, but I would be surprised if your dealer can't tell you what your sticker says and if it was built in the bad lifter window.

 

[21TahoeDisappoint]

This isn't a case of bad parts - lifters out of spec from a supplier. This is a design issue. GM knows it, and will stall as long as possible. I'm willing to bet the failure rate in the 2021's is much higher than in prior years. When mine failed at 7,000 miles, and based upon the service advisors reaction (frustration at yet another one), that was all it took for me to dump a vehicle that I otherwise liked. I would not put myself or my family in the position of having a failure on the road hundreds of miles from home. Glad I got out as I hear of the cases where one cylinder bank was repaired and in 1,000 miles or less the other bank has a failure.

I now have a Ford product (Navigator) that I really like. The tahoe with 6.2 liter got horrible mileage even with cylinder deactivation on PREMIUM. I have a smoother engine that is more responsive that gets better mileage on REGULAR gas. Quite a savings every time I fill up vs. what I would have had with the Tahoe.