Afm delete/ inframe rering on 2008 Suburban questi

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jhellwig

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So I have a 2008 4x4 Suburban with 140k that has the dead lifter symptoms common on these vehicles. It doesn’t always give a misfire code but did yesterday. The lifters have been noisy for a while but have been very bad recently. The afm has been disabled for close to 30k now. It uses about 3-4 quarts of oil between 5k oil changes normally so I am fairly confident that the rings are coked beyond chemical in block cleaning at this point.

I am trying to decide the best thing to do with this vehicle. If I do the delete clear down to the cam swap I don’t see any reason to not go further and do the rings at that point. I don’t know if reringing can be done in frame on these or not. I have a hard time changing the back plugs in it as is.

I am struggling with the thought of paying a mechanic to do this as it is something I can do myself but I don’t want to dump 5k into something that isn’t worth 10k at this point. I also don’t have much time to do it. I also considering getting a used motor to do all the work to myself and then pay a mechanic to swap it out.

Anyone that has dealt with one of these have any thought s or suggestions?
 
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
I am fairly confident that the rings are coked beyond chemical in block cleaning at this point.

I hate to be that guy, but you might as well prove that statement before you continue down any paths.

Depends on how rusty it is and what shape the interior is in. A good condition old car is worth it, but a high mileage rust bucket with a trashed interior and non-functional a/c should just be sent to the yard unless it has commercial potential. An important thing to consider is that your cat is going to be damaged from burning that much oil. Unless you are comfy with an aftermarket cat, it might be better to move on.

Do you just purchase a motor with a warranty and swap it in? Do you pull it yourself from a car that seems ok from the u-pic yard?

Do you find a similar vehicle with a bad trans or smashed body and harvest the motor and possibly other parts?
A parts car is probably the best value, but do you have the motivation and room for it? You could get the exhaust off of it and maybe some options that did not come on your model.
 
You probably know that the heads have to come off to put in regular lifters. A lot of the front end has to come off to pull the camshaft. The problem is the number two cam bearing gives a lot of trouble and needs replacing to keep the oil pressure up to the top end. If you are going to do anything the engine stand refreshing of a replacement engine is probably the best. Thing is a salvage yard voids the engine warranty if you go inside, even to improve it.
 
There are a bunch of 5.3s available, but thanks to the Sloppy guys buying them up to slap turbos on them, the prices are creeping up. I would probably get a junkyard engine, tear it down, build it however I wanted, and swap it over.
 
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
I am fairly confident that the rings are coked beyond chemical in block cleaning at this point.

I hate to be that guy, but you might as well prove that statement before you continue down any paths.


That is actually a common issue on these engines and is the next part of the excessive oil useage tsb if chemicals don’t work.
 
Originally Posted By: Blkstanger
5.3s are a dime a dozen. I'd just swap in a used engine if it were me.


Same here.

Pick-n-pull on their "50% off" weekends will get you one for $200
 
Originally Posted By: 229
You probably know that the heads have to come off to put in regular lifters. A lot of the front end has to come off to pull the camshaft. The problem is the number two cam bearing gives a lot of trouble and needs replacing to keep the oil pressure up to the top end. If you are going to do anything the engine stand refreshing of a replacement engine is probably the best. Thing is a salvage yard voids the engine warranty if you go inside, even to improve it.


I knew the heads had to come off. I had not run across anything on the cam bearing yet. I thought from a couple of videos I watched the cam could come out with just the radiator removed. From the looks of the videos it wouldn’t be that much harder to just pull the motor instead of stripping it in frame.


It is just irritating that at 140000 miles needs this much work to the motor.
 
Originally Posted By: 229
You probably know that the heads have to come off to put in regular lifters. A lot of the front end has to come off to pull the camshaft. The problem is the number two cam bearing gives a lot of trouble and needs replacing to keep the oil pressure up to the top end. If you are going to do anything the engine stand refreshing of a replacement engine is probably the best. Thing is a salvage yard voids the engine warranty if you go inside, even to improve it.


The 1st & 2nd Cam Bearings wearing is more of a VVT thing, Oil groove cut in the 2nd cam bearing journal & the weight of the VVT Actuator. The OP's engine doesn't have VVT.

As you can see.....With the oil groove, You lose 1/2 the support of the 2nd cam bearing. The #1 cam bearing is right behind it & is wore down to the brass.

2xw0aMH.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
So I have a 2008 4x4 Suburban with 140k that has the dead lifter symptoms common on these vehicles. It doesn’t always give a misfire code but did yesterday. The lifters have been noisy for a while but have been very bad recently. The afm has been disabled for close to 30k now. It uses about 3-4 quarts of oil between 5k oil changes normally so I am fairly confident that the rings are coked beyond chemical in block cleaning at this point.

I am trying to decide the best thing to do with this vehicle. If I do the delete clear down to the cam swap I don’t see any reason to not go further and do the rings at that point. I don’t know if reringing can be done in frame on these or not. I have a hard time changing the back plugs in it as is.

I am struggling with the thought of paying a mechanic to do this as it is something I can do myself but I don’t want to dump 5k into something that isn’t worth 10k at this point. I also don’t have much time to do it. I also considering getting a used motor to do all the work to myself and then pay a mechanic to swap it out.

Anyone that has dealt with one of these have any thought s or suggestions?


The odds of breaking a ring/s while trying to "In-Frame" this engine is pretty high without prior experience. You need some good ring compressors!

You can get the rings lands cleaned with GM Upper Engine Cleaner, But it may take a couple times to get it. You could do the procedure before pulling the engine down & again after the heads are off. I use the Cadillac Northstar procedure that has you warm the engine up right before soaking the pistons.

*Remove the Oil Pan & PLUG the AFM blow-off valve (M14-1.5)
*Replace your Oil Pump with a LS3 version.
*Replace the Lifter Manifold Assembly with a LS3 Valley Cover & reroute the PCV hose to the valley cover, Plug the PCV port at the left valve cover.
 
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
So I have a 2008 4x4 Suburban with 140k that has the dead lifter symptoms common on these vehicles. It doesn’t always give a misfire code but did yesterday. The lifters have been noisy for a while but have been very bad recently. The afm has been disabled for close to 30k now. It uses about 3-4 quarts of oil between 5k oil changes normally so I am fairly confident that the rings are coked beyond chemical in block cleaning at this point.

I am trying to decide the best thing to do with this vehicle. If I do the delete clear down to the cam swap I don’t see any reason to not go further and do the rings at that point. I don’t know if reringing can be done in frame on these or not. I have a hard time changing the back plugs in it as is.

I am struggling with the thought of paying a mechanic to do this as it is something I can do myself but I don’t want to dump 5k into something that isn’t worth 10k at this point. I also don’t have much time to do it. I also considering getting a used motor to do all the work to myself and then pay a mechanic to swap it out.

Anyone that has dealt with one of these have any thought s or suggestions?


The odds of breaking a ring/s while trying to "In-Frame" this engine is pretty high without prior experience. You need some good ring compressors!

You can get the rings lands cleaned with GM Upper Engine Cleaner, But it may take a couple times to get it. You could do the procedure before pulling the engine down & again after the heads are off. I use the Cadillac Northstar procedure that has you warm the engine up right before soaking the pistons.

*Remove the Oil Pan & PLUG the AFM blow-off valve (M14-1.5)
*Replace your Oil Pump with a LS3 version.
*Replace the Lifter Manifold Assembly with a LS3 Valley Cover & reroute the PCV hose to the valley cover, Plug the PCV port at the left valve cover.


That is the kind of info I was needing! I assumed this had vvt also. I though all the truck engines from 2007 on had it.

With it still burning as much oil 30k after the afm was disabled I am just assuming I should do the rings while I am that far in the engine. It would be a [censored] to do all that work on the heads and cam and still burn oil.

On the Pcv I had just read about the 6.2 valley pcv thing. I am assuming this would be better than even the redesigned valve cover pcv from late 2011. The kit I am looking at cam be bought either way.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: Blkstanger
5.3s are a dime a dozen. I'd just swap in a used engine if it were me.


Same here.

Pick-n-pull on their "50% off" weekends will get you one for $200


We don’t have pick and pulls around here. It would be nice to get an alluminum block engine though.
 
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
So I have a 2008 4x4 Suburban with 140k that has the dead lifter symptoms common on these vehicles. It doesn’t always give a misfire code but did yesterday. The lifters have been noisy for a while but have been very bad recently. The afm has been disabled for close to 30k now. It uses about 3-4 quarts of oil between 5k oil changes normally so I am fairly confident that the rings are coked beyond chemical in block cleaning at this point.

I am trying to decide the best thing to do with this vehicle. If I do the delete clear down to the cam swap I don’t see any reason to not go further and do the rings at that point. I don’t know if reringing can be done in frame on these or not. I have a hard time changing the back plugs in it as is.

I am struggling with the thought of paying a mechanic to do this as it is something I can do myself but I don’t want to dump 5k into something that isn’t worth 10k at this point. I also don’t have much time to do it. I also considering getting a used motor to do all the work to myself and then pay a mechanic to swap it out.

Anyone that has dealt with one of these have any thought s or suggestions?


The odds of breaking a ring/s while trying to "In-Frame" this engine is pretty high without prior experience. You need some good ring compressors!

You can get the rings lands cleaned with GM Upper Engine Cleaner, But it may take a couple times to get it. You could do the procedure before pulling the engine down & again after the heads are off. I use the Cadillac Northstar procedure that has you warm the engine up right before soaking the pistons.

*Remove the Oil Pan & PLUG the AFM blow-off valve (M14-1.5)
*Replace your Oil Pump with a LS3 version.
*Replace the Lifter Manifold Assembly with a LS3 Valley Cover & reroute the PCV hose to the valley cover, Plug the PCV port at the left valve cover.


That is the kind of info I was needing! I assumed this had vvt also. I though all the truck engines from 2007 on had it.

With it still burning as much oil 30k after the afm was disabled I am just assuming I should do the rings while I am that far in the engine. It would be a [censored] to do all that work on the heads and cam and still burn oil.

On the Pcv I had just read about the 6.2 valley pcv thing. I am assuming this would be better than even the redesigned valve cover pcv from late 2011. The kit I am looking at cam be bought either way.



I would bet money your Suburban doesn't have VVT!
 
Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Lot of people doing the AFM delete when in actuality it's the upgraded valve cover they should be doing instead


The afm lifters go bad even when deactivated is the reason for the delete. That is the issue I have. The valve cover was a patch that only fixed part of the issue. I know the oil is mostly coming through the cylinder as all the plugs in the afm cylinders are fouled with burnt oil. My 2011 Silverado 5.3 also burnt oil but didn’t show near the amount of oil on the plugs as this one does.

The modified valve cover came about late 2011. There is a shield on a dump valve in the oil pan that came about 2010ish. This vehicle hasn’t had any of the upgrades done to it and was burning to much oil before the afm was disabled to stop the usage.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
10 years old? Buy a new car or a crate engine.


I am not wanting to spend 5k on a reman motor for something that is half way through it’s possible life.

We are looking at going to a newer used Ford Expedition as the price on them is way better than a suburban right now.

If this was a 2010 or newer I would be a lot more willing to put the money into it with it having the better transmission.
 
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