Piston Slap: Delphi Lifters Make the Sale?

by Sajeev Mehta

October 25th, 2019 8:08 AM

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piston slap delphi lifters make the sale

TTAC Commentator OldWingGuy writes:

My question concerns how General Motors manufactures new replacement engines. Do they use old stock from when the engine was in production, or do they continue building them even though they have been superseded years ago?

Background:

I have a 2010 Chevy Silverado with the 5.3-liter engine, with Active Fuel Management. It has over 300,000 km. Oil pressure at idle is starting to drop, but not critical yet. Probably another couple years left in the engine. But I am contemplating putting a replacement new GM engine in when the time comes.

The issue is some of the 5.3L engines have Eaton lifters with an occasional nasty lifter noise. If your engine has this, the Eaton lifters need to be replaced with Delphi lifters. The only way to tell which you have is to remove a lifter, which requires removing both intake manifold and cylinder head. Not something to do with a new engine. So, if you buy a replacement engine from GM, has it been sitting around for 10 years ? Or are they produced occasionally? If the former, I would have no way of knowing which lifter was used short of pulling a cylinder head. If produced occasionally, I would assume GM uses the Delphi lifters.

Anyone out there know how GM produces new replacement engines for a ten year old vehicle ?

Sajeev answers:

I love questions that open multiple layers of concerns…not just because I can blow ’em off with deflective answers.

The only folks who’d know are inside General Motors, so find a dealership’s service/parts department manager motivated enough to find out. That’s because the odds of calling a customer service hotline for the answer is low, and no PR flack will dole out information to a journo if the truth hurts (I presume, I don’t know any PR-peeps!). Nobody wants to admit their employer made/is making a mistake, except when there’s no other option. If you aren’t a self-made entrepreneur, if you care about your job/career, you know the drill.

Don’t sweat it, that’s just life.

And it doesn’t matter how GM usually manufactures replacement engines: you need the specifics about valve lifters and if there’s a stop sale (so to speak) on 5.3L motors with Eaton bits.

I suggest offering a dealership the sale in exchange for verification of the Delphi lifters, otherwise you will contact Jasper to see if their customer support is any better. While I have no personal experience/vested interest here, the Internet is pretty kind to their work and their ability to perform readily available upgrades on their products. For the most part.

Best and Brightest?

[Image: General Motors]

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry…but be realistic, and use your make/model specific forums instead of TTAC for more timely advice.

#5.3DOD #DelphiLifters #EatonLifters #GMReplacementEngines #ReplacementEngine

Sajeev Mehta

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7 of 28 comments

DenverMike on Oct 26, 2019

I'd seriously consider the "parts truck" purchase. Yeah I realize that would mean storing a wreck on the lawn for many, except it's a beautiful thing when any part you need is "in stock", pennies on the dollar, or free at some point. For long term, high miles ownership, you're likely going to need a transmission, rear end, and countless other parts that can nickel and dime you to death. Finding an upper trim truck, leather, nav, 20' wheels is a bonus, along with updated, mid generation refreshed and aftermarket upgrades. It doesn't hurt that you're dealing with the 2nd most popular truck on the planet, but there's a surprising number of decade old trucks around with around 50K miles, extremely clean and garage kept. Nothing beats original OEM parts, but of course you'd be looking for salvage title, totaled, but drives/running, with a bent frame, light damage, flooded, rolled, hail damage, etc.

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-Nate on Oct 26, 2019

Please define the difference between 5.3 and 5.7 liter Chevy V8's..... -Nate

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- Hummer on Oct 27, 2019
  
  Quite a bit, 75% of the time when someone said 5.7L I assume LT based 1990s 350 Chevy. Obviously the LS1 was 5.7L but it’s life span was so short I don’t think it ever developed more than a moments interest whereas the original LT based 350 is still a very important engine. The 5.3L uses(d) LS based architecture. To make matter More confusing GM is back to using LT nomenclature again, so we have pre 1999 LT based engines and post 2015 LT based engines which are light years apart. So now the 5.3L is LT based but uses the same displacement as the LS based 5.3L engine such as the one in this article. I feel like you knew all of this though...
  
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- -Nate on Oct 27, 2019
  
  @Hummer Sort of...... I stopped working on American rigs in the mid 1980's when a 5.7 liter V8 was 350 C.I.D. and the 305 / 307's were called 5.0 correctly or not I don't know as by then the only American V8's I touched were always in trucks, 350 / 5.7 liter rigs . I guess my question was : are 5.3 engines 307 C.I.D. or what ? . Your patience and explanations are appreciated . I know bupkis about LT etc. , just that they're supposed to be better & more modern variants of the SBC 350 C.I.D. V8 . (?) . -Nate
  
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- Hummer on Oct 27, 2019
  
  @-Nate I believe the CID of the 5.3L LS series and newer LT series is 327 CI. I haven’t worked on older an LT(read traditional SBC) in years, I’m sure it would come to me if I looked at it pretty quick as it’s the ground work of my engine knowledge. The LS engines series, read V8 architecture used in every GM V8 from about 1999-2015, (-2017 in some applications) so this includes LR4, LQ9, LS1,2,3,6,7, and countless others; is in my opinion everything good you hear, it’s got to be the simplest set of engines I’ve ever worked on, it is hard to screw up even for a novice that takes their time and carefully checks through. But it’s also capable of running with the best and can be built up beyond expectations. It’s the engine for everyone that can truly be everything. The new LT series engine has had teething problems, my experience with a 5.3L has been phenomenal as far as engine is concerned. Fuel economy is stellar, a full-size truck shouldn’t be able to get over 25MPG as easily as these trucks can on the highway. Power feels good, though it goes without saying there’s no replacement for displacement. I’ve never pulled apart an LT so if they were able to improve on the LS as far as reliability and platform simplification, I cannot say.
  
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- Hummer on Oct 27, 2019
  
  @Hummer LT is actually 2014+, it was just a mixed introduction with the carryover LS engines slowly being phased out.
  
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- -Nate on Oct 27, 2019
  
  @Hummer Thank you, much apreciatred . -Nate
  
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