Lifter Issues?

[Towgunning]

My 22 zr2 hit 4100 miles getting passenger side lifters redone

 

[Diesel328]

I have been putting mine in L9, which keeps the engine in v8 mode all the time. Its amazing how much better it drives with it disabled. I will keep doing this until the aftermarket can develop something that works with our trucks.

 

[E-ZR2]

I have been putting mine in L9, which keeps the engine in v8 mode all the time. Its amazing how much better it drives with it disabled. I will keep doing this until the aftermarket can develop something that works with our trucks.

Really? So just every time I go to drive it swap to L and straight up to 9 and it’ll drive fine?

 

[securityguy]

Really? So just every time I go to drive it swap to L and straight up to 9 and it’ll drive fine?

I had a 2019 and 2021 RAM Limited 4X4 Crew Cab and, on our forum, we all did the exact same thing. It wasn't because of a potential failure, we all hated it when it dropped to 4cyl mode. I will now be doing this to my ZR2 to save my engine...why can't GM get this $hit right???

 

[Diesel328]

Really? So just every time I go to drive it swap to L and straight up to 9 and it’ll drive fine?

Yes Sir. Give it a shot. By putting it in L9 it will also disable the dreaded auto stop as well.

 

[ODAVE]

I received a Response from EDGE Products last week concerning the Pulsar LT for our trucks:

From: PTEdgeTech <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 2:38 PM
Subject: RE: Form Contact Edge Products Submission

Good Afternoon,
We are currently working on the refreshed 2022+ Silverado/Sierra support. However, we don’t have an ETA on it just yet, unfortunately. If you haven't already, feel free to give us a follow on Facebook. We will make the release announcement there when it's ready.

Thank you,

Pulsar LT

 

[MO_ZR2]

Sales manager at a large volume Chevy dealer here. Here’s what I’ve learned:
Lifters are a MAJOR issue, it has been a huge nightmare the past few years in 5.3/6.2 motors across the truck, full-size suv, and corvette platforms. I have owned 2 C8’s and been very fortunate with them over a combined 45k miles.
My luck ended when I bought my zr2. Custom ordered sold unit, waited almost a year for chip delays and the likes while it sat in Mexico for 6+ months and arrived filthy looking like a used truck. (2023s already on the lot and I’m stuck with this one that I didn’t even want anymore but didn’t want to ruffle feathers due to being the new car director so I bought it hesitantly.)
2900 miles on it, had it parked for a week while I was driving my vette and k5 blazer for the holidays.
Pull out to run errands on my day off cause I needed the bed/space, pull onto main road exiting my neighborhood (40mph speed limit) truck starts shuttering and vibrating HARD, all the warning lights and notifications lighting up like a Christmas tree. Call my “world class technician” from my job who works on all my vehicles “your lifters broke park it and get it towed here”.
Upon inspection he confirmed cylinder 4 lifter broke. Explanation was that the fuel management system is controlled by a small pin that holds the rod down when it swaps to 4cyl mode, when it disengages the rod shoots back up full speed and breaks the weakest link which is the lifter. The comments about the bad batch of lifters in the previous years may be true I’m not sure but the new ones are no better. In the case of my truck, he said that they will replace all 8 lifters, but the replacement ones are the exact same part that just broke. Nothing better or anything to fix the issue. His recommendation was to buy a range device/pulsar etc type device which would solve the issue by deactivating permanently the fuel management and keep in v8 mode at all times. Unfortunately I have not found any model of a pulsar, pedal commander, range device, etc. that is compatible with the “refresh” body style trucks so I am beyond disappointed with the purchase and wishing I had just bought another duramax 2500 now. The amount of lifter jobs we have done is absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing as a dealership to have to deal with selling them and fixing them. We have had multiple scenarios of 2, 3, and even 4 times doing lifter repairs on the same vehicle before. Even one instance where my amazing master/world tech fixed a customers lifters, went on a road test with the customer when they were picking the truck up, and they went out AGAIN ON THE TEST DRIVE AFTER REPLACING THEM!!! Absolutely crazy.
If anyone has found a pulsar/pedal commander/range device that works for the 22/23 ZR2 please let me know cause I don’t wanna deal with a second time going through this!!

That type of volume seems like a massive lawsuit should have already happened. Is it really this common? Seems like we would be seeing GM trucks, SUVs, and corvettes littering the highways all over America??? I knew there was a risk here but...

 

[securityguy]

That type of volume seems like a massive lawsuit should have already happened. Is it really this common? Seems like we would be seeing GM trucks, SUVs, and corvettes littering the highways all over America??? I knew there was a risk here but...

Just like everything...I think it gets blown out of proportion on these forums, but I do think it's a real issue that GM needs to address.

 

[MO_ZR2]

Just like everything...I think it gets blown out of proportion on these forums, but I do think it's a real issue that GM needs to address.

Agreed. Was trying to subtly make that same point

 

[ZR2Mike]

Glad I have one that for whatever reason doesn’t go into 4 cylinder mode.

 

[securityguy]

Glad I have one that for whatever reason doesn’t go into 4 cylinder mode.

So you think

 

[cgrubb1]

Sales manager at a large volume Chevy dealer here. Here’s what I’ve learned:
Lifters are a MAJOR issue, it has been a huge nightmare the past few years in 5.3/6.2 motors across the truck, full-size suv, and corvette platforms. I have owned 2 C8’s and been very fortunate with them over a combined 45k miles.
My luck ended when I bought my zr2. Custom ordered sold unit, waited almost a year for chip delays and the likes while it sat in Mexico for 6+ months and arrived filthy looking like a used truck. (2023s already on the lot and I’m stuck with this one that I didn’t even want anymore but didn’t want to ruffle feathers due to being the new car director so I bought it hesitantly.)
2900 miles on it, had it parked for a week while I was driving my vette and k5 blazer for the holidays.
Pull out to run errands on my day off cause I needed the bed/space, pull onto main road exiting my neighborhood (40mph speed limit) truck starts shuttering and vibrating HARD, all the warning lights and notifications lighting up like a Christmas tree. Call my “world class technician” from my job who works on all my vehicles “your lifters broke park it and get it towed here”.
Upon inspection he confirmed cylinder 4 lifter broke. Explanation was that the fuel management system is controlled by a small pin that holds the rod down when it swaps to 4cyl mode, when it disengages the rod shoots back up full speed and breaks the weakest link which is the lifter. The comments about the bad batch of lifters in the previous years may be true I’m not sure but the new ones are no better. In the case of my truck, he said that they will replace all 8 lifters, but the replacement ones are the exact same part that just broke. Nothing better or anything to fix the issue. His recommendation was to buy a range device/pulsar etc type device which would solve the issue by deactivating permanently the fuel management and keep in v8 mode at all times. Unfortunately I have not found any model of a pulsar, pedal commander, range device, etc. that is compatible with the “refresh” body style trucks so I am beyond disappointed with the purchase and wishing I had just bought another duramax 2500 now. The amount of lifter jobs we have done is absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing as a dealership to have to deal with selling them and fixing them. We have had multiple scenarios of 2, 3, and even 4 times doing lifter repairs on the same vehicle before. Even one instance where my amazing master/world tech fixed a customers lifters, went on a road test with the customer when they were picking the truck up, and they went out AGAIN ON THE TEST DRIVE AFTER REPLACING THEM!!! Absolutely crazy.
If anyone has found a pulsar/pedal commander/range device that works for the 22/23 ZR2 please let me know cause I don’t wanna deal with a second time going through this!!

Can you ask your “world class technician “ if the dfm can be disabled somehow by removing the “chips” that makes it work? I know some came with it disabled due to chip shortages. Seems like those could somehow be removed to disable it since the code hasn’t been cracked for tuners.

 

[E-ZR2]

Just like everything...I think it gets blown out of proportion on these forums, but I do think it's a real issue that GM needs to address.

I mean we sell a lot of vehicles Ofcourse there are probably 1-2 out of every 50-75 we sell that come back if I had to guess a number. Ofcourse I don’t get an angry phone call when everything is working properly but when someone buys a new or certified pre owned truck and lifters go out we hear about it. Fortunately the parts seem to be readily available now because last year when they were all back ordered you had to not only tell a customer that they needed a major engine repair on a new vehicle, but also that the parts to fix it were backordered 2-3+ months. We had GM contact us to facilitate multiple buybacks last year most of which for other dealers who didn’t have any comparable trucks. But again on a positive note atleast availability on the parts and trucks is coming back.
That being said my tech finished doing all 8 lifters today and then found out the injectors need to be replaced also, so instead of getting it back today we overnighted injectors from Denver to be here tomorrow.

 

[E-ZR2]

Can you ask your “world class technician “ if the dfm can be disabled somehow by removing the “chips” that makes it work? I know some came with it disabled due to chip shortages. Seems like those could somehow be removed to disable it since the code hasn’t been cracked for tuners.

That is a great question. I will find out tomorrow and let you know the result. Thanks for the idea!
I should know the answer to this, but I want to say off top of my head that the ones without “DFM” still have “AFM” which would defeat the purpose but I’ll find out when I get to work tomorrow and let ya know.

 

[subflyerc]

Dumb questions here...but how do you know it goes into 4-cyl mode? Or is automatically in 4-cyl in 10 gear? Also....can you just switch to L while doing 65-70 MPH and downshift to L9?
I haven't driven my truck much since I've been traveling a lot. I've had it since November and have 300 miles on it. I guess I'm breaking it in slowly. Very slowly.

 

[securityguy]

Dumb questions here...but how do you know it goes into 4-cyl mode? Or is automatically in 4-cyl in 10 gear? Also....can you just switch to L while doing 65-70 MPH and downshift to L9?
I haven't driven my truck much since I've been traveling a lot. I've had it since November and have 300 miles on it. I guess I'm breaking it in slowly. Very slowly.

When you first put it in Drive, click again for low and then paddle shift up to 9 before you even start to drive.

 

[The_Z]

When you first put it in Drive, click again for low and then paddle shift up to 9 before you even start to drive.

So moving off from a stop in 9th gear?

 

[dedtoof]

So moving off from a stop in 9th gear?

It will still start in 1st gear but it won’t shift past 9th. You can go to L at any time while driving and it will stay in the gear the transmission is currently in.

 

[Diesel328]

So moving off from a stop in 9th gear?

No, the transmission will shift normally as if it was in D. It just prevents it from shifting into 10th, along with disabling the DFM system and auto start stop. You can also do this at any speed. When I have done it, the transmission usually shifts to L7 when you put it in L at speed, then it will shift to what ever gear you select.

 

[securityguy]

So moving off from a stop in 9th gear?

Yes...not sure why @Diesel328 said no. I pull out of my driveway with it in L9.