So I will preface this post by saying that I do own a 2018 Sierra equipped with the EcoTec3 5.3L that did have the AFM lifters and VLOM replaced at just over 20K so I am aware that some issues can and do exist with these engines.
That said as part of my day job I'm occasionally tasked with coordinating the maintenance and reviewing the repair invoices for my employers fleet vehicles. So the other day while doing such task I became curious about the repair history of our 2014-2018 GM trucks equipped with the EcoTec3 5.3. Currently in our fleet we have 210 trucks meeting that criteria. 95% of them are double cab Chevrolet Silverado 4x4's with the remaining 5% being GMC Sierra's of various configurations. The bulk are in the 2014-2016 model years with the average mileage for these trucks being 182,000km (about 113,000 miles). Policy is to follow the oil life monitor and change the engine oil when the monitor reaches 5% oil life remaining.
Surprisingly, especially based on my own personal experience I was expecting to uncover a large number of work orders pertaining major engine issues however that was not the case. Only one of the 210 trucks suffered an AFM related failure, that's a less than a half a percent failure rate for AFM based on my sample size. And there were no issues pertaining to buildup on the intake valves that I was able to uncover. In fact a majority of the work orders seemed to pertain to normal wear items, tires, brakes, etc. There was a few work orders for vacuum pump replacements. A couple for ignition coils and one I found for a transmission replaced under warranty but all in all nothing I found would lead me to believe these trucks and in particular there engines can't match past GM small blocks in terms of long term reliability.
So I ask the question. Are these engines really that bad?
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That said as part of my day job I'm occasionally tasked with coordinating the maintenance and reviewing the repair invoices for my employers fleet vehicles. So the other day while doing such task I became curious about the repair history of our 2014-2018 GM trucks equipped with the EcoTec3 5.3. Currently in our fleet we have 210 trucks meeting that criteria. 95% of them are double cab Chevrolet Silverado 4x4's with the remaining 5% being GMC Sierra's of various configurations. The bulk are in the 2014-2016 model years with the average mileage for these trucks being 182,000km (about 113,000 miles). Policy is to follow the oil life monitor and change the engine oil when the monitor reaches 5% oil life remaining.
Surprisingly, especially based on my own personal experience I was expecting to uncover a large number of work orders pertaining major engine issues however that was not the case. Only one of the 210 trucks suffered an AFM related failure, that's a less than a half a percent failure rate for AFM based on my sample size. And there were no issues pertaining to buildup on the intake valves that I was able to uncover. In fact a majority of the work orders seemed to pertain to normal wear items, tires, brakes, etc. There was a few work orders for vacuum pump replacements. A couple for ignition coils and one I found for a transmission replaced under warranty but all in all nothing I found would lead me to believe these trucks and in particular there engines can't match past GM small blocks in terms of long term reliability.
So I ask the question. Are these engines really that bad?
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