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Old 01-13-2020, 06:26 PM   #1
Stormtrooper_1LE
 
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LS3 Pushrod Problems

Hello everyone,

I was recently driving my car when all of a sudden I started to hear a clicking noise coming from the engine. I work at a GMC dealer so I took it in to have it looked at and they told me they thought it was probably a bad lifter. They told me it would be covered under my GM powertrain warranty however they then informed me that the lifter they thought I needed has been on back order for about 2 months and that they were also out of loaner vehicles. They then said I would be better off taking it to a different dealer that may already have the parts in stock.

I then decided to take it to my local Chevy dealer where I have been coming to for years and explained to them the situation and that I already had it looked at by my dealership who thought it was a bad lifter. They then did their own diagnostics and told me that it wasn’t a lifter but instead a bad pushrod and that they would have it finished in the morning and that nothing else inside the engine was damaged. I was happy with that as it meant I wouldn’t have to be possibly months without my baby.

I then went to work later that day and our heavy tech asked me if I had took it somewhere else to get fixed and I told him yea and that they told me it only needed a pushrod and that it would be fixed in the morning. He then paused and made a slight chuckle and said that what they did by only changing the pushrod wasn’t going to permanently fix the problem and that their must be some reason the engine decided to throw a rod. He also told me it was stated in a service bulletin somewhere (although he couldn’t find it today and told me he would have to look for it tomorrow) that only changing the pushrod wouldn’t fix the problem and that the lifters and other stuff probably needed to be replaced as well. Hearing this has me worried as my GM powertrain warranty is up in April and I don’t want it to fail again in the near future from a temporary patch job after my warranty is out.

I guess my question for you all is what would you do in this situation and if anyone is aware of a service bulletin stating this? If any GM techs could chime in that would be great as well.

Thanks

Last edited by Stormtrooper_1LE; 01-14-2020 at 01:32 PM.
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Old 01-13-2020, 09:00 PM   #2
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Mechanical over rev will cause you to bend a pushrod (downshifting and forcing the engine past its rev limit). Never heard of a lifter failing and causing one to bed but maybe someone else has.
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Old 01-13-2020, 09:18 PM   #3
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Mechanical over rev will cause you to bend a pushrod (downshifting and forcing the engine past its rev limit). Never heard of a lifter failing and causing one to bed but maybe someone else has.
True, however I am extremely careful when driving my vehicle, been driving manuals for years and have never over rev’d the motor since owning it. The dealership also did their own test and concluded that it wasn’t user error or else they wouldn’t have honered my warranty.
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Old 01-14-2020, 11:57 AM   #4
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Push Rods are a piece of cake. Minutes for the repair. Pull the suspect out, roll on glass, if bent replace. Re-evaluate the engine. Noise gone, normal performance... have a nice day.

Noise still there needs actual in depth diagnosis. So, are they here? Or are you back to normal after finding an actual bent PR?

Still noises... tech needs to bust out the stethoscope, cut open the oil filter, evaluate oil pressure, can shut off cylinders... if it gets narrowed down to possible lifter/cam noise, the only way to inspect the lifters and cam is to remove the heads.

If there is still a valve train knock, and they haven't removed the heads... both are still guessing.

Another good thing to check if a bent PR was found is compression and leak down. A PR bends for a reason, did a piston kiss a valve? A cranking compression will show, and it may also be showing a P0300 misfire code. Good compression, no misfires, no codes, no more knocks/taps... I'd call it good with just the PR replaced. P0300 is pretty sensitive and accurate. If a valve is bent, it would most likely be setting that code and MIL light. A bad lifter may not set any codes, just obviously noisy to the stethoscope.
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Old 01-14-2020, 12:22 PM   #5
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Check out post #50.
https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showt...=487086&page=4

My engine ran fine with this condition, including full throttle runs just days prior. Got lucky I guess.

They at least need to perform a more thorough inspection. I would change my oil too just be safe. Do you have a filtermag? That is a nice bit of insurance.
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Old 01-14-2020, 01:43 PM   #6
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Ok so I picked the car up today and told them what the master tech from my dealership said and as figured they said he was wrong. They stated they checked the block and found no other damage caused by the bad pushrod (although it only took them a hour to diagnose and replace the pushrod so how good of an inspection it was is anyone’s guess) and told me that I should have no further issues. As of now the noise is gone and all appears to be well. I just had the oil changed 1500 miles ago but will be changing it again to be on the safe side and will be putting some miles on her in the near future to make sure everything is OK before my warranty expires in April.. @racesloth I had never heard of a filter mag but will look into it.. I will update this post if anything changes. Thanks to everyone who responded.
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Old 01-14-2020, 01:54 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormtrooper_1LE View Post
Ok so I picked the car up today and told them what the master tech from my dealership said and as figured they said he was wrong. They stated they checked the block and found no other damage caused by the bad pushrod (although it only took them a hour to diagnose and replace the pushrod so how good of an inspection it was is anyone’s guess) and told me that I should have no further issues. As of now the noise is gone and all appears to be well. I just had the oil changed 1500 miles ago but will be changing it again to be on the safe side and will be putting some miles on her in the near future to make sure everything is OK before my warranty expires in April.. @racesloth I had never heard of a filter mag but will look into it.. I will update this post if anything changes. Thanks to everyone who responded.
Sounds like you are good to go. The easiest way to watch for metal is a good strong magnetic drain plug. Places like Oreillys have them, but check magnet strength. I have a magnetic drain plug on all my vehicles, even my generator. If it's relatively clean except the slightest bit of fuzz at oil change time, the cam and lifters are not killing each other.
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Old 01-14-2020, 02:03 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell James View Post
Sounds like you are good to go. The easiest way to watch for metal is a good strong magnetic drain plug. Places like Oreillys have them, but check magnet strength. I have a magnetic drain plug on all my vehicles, even my generator. If it's relatively clean except the slightest bit of fuzz at oil change time, the cam and lifters are not killing each other.
Thanks for that info!
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