Neglected Silverado LM7 5.3L V8 Engine Teardown. Maintenance? Whats Maintenance?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 เม.ย. 2022
- Email ALL part requests to Importapartsales@gmail.com!
After last weeks double-front wheel loader teardown, I needed something a little... how do I say this, easier? I needed a break so I fell back on one of the easiest engines I've done on the channel, a good ole LS architecture V8, the 5.3L Iron block LM7 found in 99-07 Silverado, Yukon, Tahoe, suburban, Sierra, avalanche and escalade.
This poor engine wasn't tortured, it was neglected. This scenario is absolutely 100% without a doubt avoidable with some CHEAP oil changes. This type of neglect will kill even the most resilient engines.
My name is Eric and I own and run a full service auto salvage business called Importapart located in the Saint Louis MO area. Part of our model is dismantling and selling parts from rare and niche market engines. I don't build or rebuild engines, we simply supply hard parts to those that do!
Want to see a particular engine torn down? I may have already done one! No really, check out my other videos for the engine you'd like to see! I've made over 60 other teardowns from a Cummins to an LS7, and from Rotary to Ram Ecodiesels. You can expect a new teardown every week!
Check them out here • Blown Up Engine Tear D...
As always I appreciate all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism.
What will I tear apart next week? Just wait and see!
-Eric - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
As wise man say: those who try to make things fool proof, greatly underestimate capabilities of the fools.
I've got an LM7 in my 2002 avalanche with 750k miles on it. It's tired and burning oil, but still running great. Never been rebuilt either.
Got 220k on my aluminum block lc9 5.3 original dod lifters and everything uses no oil
I'd go show it to a dealership before it dies they have been known to buy vehicles like that back from people so they can study the engine.
Lm7 are great motors. I took one over from my father in law about 6 years back. Had around 240 when I got it and now has 267 it runs better now than I've ever known it to. My father in law had it probably 4 years and never even looked at the oil . We'll see where I get 😂 I know one thing. I'm just gonna rebuild or swap out a rebuilt and keep truckin. No way I'm buying something else. Why would ya?
I've got 338.000 miles on my 94 Trans Am I bought new. LT1 engine, never been touched even the timing chain is original. Runs and sounds like new, uses no oil. 3000 mile oil changes, Castrol GTX.
@Jimmy S No transmission will go 750k miles. I'm sure thats been replaced. Maybe more than once .
Anyone who says they don't want you working on their cars have never worked on cars themselves. Thank you for providing entertaining and informative videos week after week. I have learned so much form you. I look forward to your content every week! Thanks bro!
i like watching budget adam sandler tear down engines. definetly a good watch, i usually work on 4 cylinder motors and have never tackled v8 motors love all your videos
I was just about to make my own comment on how he looks like Adam Sandler lol
My family bought an extended cab Silverado brand new in 1999 with this engine when I was 10 years old. I’m 32 now and although my sorry ass brother in law drives the truck it still runs just fine with over 300,000 miles on it.
Man, the fact that the engine held together as long as it did with that complete lack of maintenance shows that they're pretty damned tough.
"damn he learned to levitate" oh wait no it's just locked up
That fram oil filter everyone hates did a good job considering the amount of trash it had to fight off. I would like to see what's inside it.
I'm sure it is totally sludged!
With how filthy that engine is the fram bomb went into full bypass probably within the first 250-300 miles.
Funny - when I saw that fram I just shook my head.
Filter would work better if they put oil in the engine
@@TestECull Exactly. Yet there is always a wiz suggesting to desludge engines with one of these (non-sense) miracle solvents alike marvel mystery or risolene. Even IF that was possible, where would all that sludge go? LOL - to the filter, open up the bypass and then straight into the bearings and valve lifters.
I’d like to see all the parts after running through the washer. That would be oddly satisfying.
i was thinking about this also lol
End results aren't as great as you think
Might would clog the washer drain. Lol
This is exactly why I change my 5.3's oil in my 03 Avalanche every 20,000 miles; I def don't want it to end up looking like this.
Come on man, 20k ?
20000 miles? Thats hella stretching it. I refuse to go over 5000
r/whoosh
Blake, this is your old engine, isn’t it?
My 5.3s I use 5 quarts of 10w30 penzoil and one whole quart of Lucas my engines love it
That poor 5.3 didn't deserve this kind of abuse.
it deserved a cam turbos injectors some liqui moly and e85
That oil was in there so long it looped through time and turned back into crude.
Love the shout out to the MVP of the last episode, that ICON breaker bar. That thing is a national treasure...it belongs in a museum. 😅
I'm surprised at the condition of most of the bearing surfaces given the amount of sludge! It only takes one though!
I always have fun during these tear downs 👍 I always look forward to them on Saturday nights
And then jam out to some badass classic rock, eh?
@@TestECull hell yea brother! 🤘🤘🤘
@@beezlebub3955 Rock on! Hehe. Fun fact if you play For Whom The Bell Tolls at the proper volume in a 2013 Hyundai Elantra the head unit does a big die. It can't take it...
@@TestECull lol that’s great, the end of Axis bold as love did that to a Sony head unit I had a while back a couple times in the summertime 🤣I love music
Watching your channel, I now check my fluids religiously.
Seeing engines like this one would make a Tesla owner wonder when they changed their oil last.
Make sure you use your genuine Tesla oil filter
Hey guys Tesla's don't have oil in them
Pro tip ^
That's not oil, that's grease :)
In all honesty most Tesla owners probably wouldn't be the type to think about doing oil changes. That's why so many new cars tell the owners when to change their oil.
Gotta love Bluetooth rocker arms.
I rebuilt the 318 out of my business partner’s D200 Dodge Van. He was excellent about doing oil changes regularly, but when I took it down it had over 97,000 miles on it and the sludge in that engine makes the sludge in this 5.3L look like non-existent. He was a firm believer in Pennzoil. After I got done he was a firm believer in Valvoline and Fram. That was before a good number of you were born…….I built that engine in 1981.
Oh god no, not fram cardboard filters. Wix and napa (made by the same company) are by far the best filters
Fram is garbage
Pennzoil Ultra Platinum™ Full Synthetic is some of the best oil you can get.
It whoops on Mobile 1 and beats Amsoil in some categories.
@@TheBandit7613 most oils are pretty decent these days. As long as it's not house brand recycled garbage, you'll likely never see an issue with oil unless there's an additive that reacts negatively with certain materials in a specific engine or something.
I use Pennzoil ultra in all my stuff. It's what they recommend for my vehicles. I've used Valvoline synpower in the past with no trouble at all.
Believe it or not but Walmart oil is rather good oil
Absolutely bulletproof, only time i’ve had an lm7 blow up on me was when it ran out of oil
thanks for another righteous tear down always learning something new from your efforts
Watching your channel is like a moment of zen for me.
I really enjoy the tear downs. Looking forward to more on Saturday night. It has been enjoyable to see what is wrong. Always hoping you get enough good parts from the endeavor.👍👍
Really the only channel I truly enjoy!
Yes Eric, GELATINOUS is a word. The meaning of GELATINOUS is resembling gelatin or jelly.
Always great video’s!
Some people just do not service their vehicles. I will never understand it. I was raised to properly maintain my vehicle and happy I was.
Keep up the good work man, love your fun teardowns. After a bad day today, coming home to a notification about an upload reslly helps.
Love it! Been waiting all day!
Love the additional close-ups of the sludgy bolt removal!
Todo un profesional maestro, mucha experiencia tiene usted, gracias saludos desde España
Your videos are the best. The variety of engines and their various states of disrepair are real eye openers and repeatedly show the value of simple maintenance. Your delivery isn’t forced or contrived, making your videos very easy to watch. Thanks, and keep up the great work!!!
I have to say Eric that I absolutely love all your videos ! I watched them at least 3-4 time each 👌👌👌 by far the best channel for engine teardowns! Can't wait for the futur videos 😊 keep up the good work 😄
As always, I enjoyed watching.
Can't wait for another great video on a Saturday night.
I like how you grabbed the engine full of dark chocolate for the Easter video
It’s been a long week and I have been looking forward to this video
Great teardown.
Another great video I really liked the way this channel is progressing. You always have great quality content, and that continues with closeups of some of the nastiest bolts I've ever seen, they look like drive train bolts on an old diesel loader that had leaking seals for the last 5 years. I always look forward to next video and none disappoint. Although its hard to top a viper engine, somehow you managed to do so with a single crank bolt. Fantastic.
Right on time! Keeping the videos coming! I'd love to see a video on the old BMW project you have.
That orange can of death is probably ancient history, I think for like 20 years or longer now, Fram has put the black grip paint on the can. Maybe that oil filter was only the the second oil filter ever screwed onto that engine... OMG. The close up of the sludge brings back memories... Thanks !!
when you were doing the rod bearings it sounded like a woodpecker, very entertaining
Like the content, like the humour, Kind regards from a Brit in Cyprus. Keep them coming Eric. Thank you 🙂
currently doing a turbo LM7 build, this is very useful. thanks for the good teardowns!
Find the ls guide on alloncylinders, it was part written by Richard Holdener
Love the site and great work from UK..
The 8.1 vortec would be good for a tear down since there pretty rare
Ahhhhh the weekly dose of carnage...and another locked up engine....YAY!
There’s something strangely satisfying about the sound of head bolts breaking loose 🙂
you know, i've been watching many of your teardowns, and if there's one engine i'd love to see tore down it's a GM 3.8L V6. i've had SEVERAL cars with that engine in it (one of which being my first car, which i abused that engine and it never died) and that engine's always been reliable.
Seconding this. Everyone says the 3800 is a tank, I'd like to see what kills one.
Thirding this. I've heard stories of these engines putting holes in the block and still going.
I can attest to this, had one spin a couple rod bearings and I still drove it to work for a few days
fourthing this, I've had 3 different 3800s and all have been bullet proof
On it! 😉
Those sludgy bolt heads were DANK!
Maintenance is the key; Nice tear down. Very entertaining
Have to love those new GM engines with rocker-less valves.
there over stock from f1 cars,,reed valve set up....no rockers,,thats how gm get the good economy figures..
That's free advertising for that breaker bar right there. Love the videos!
Huge thanks for sharing! Very informative
That's sad. These LS motors are known to be tough but poor maintenance can get the best of them
Poor maintenance will kill any motor after time, and this one had lots of time😂
I've been subscribed to your channel for a while now. I just can't believe how people don't see the value in regular oil changes. It's not rocket science. That being said, they are the ones (hopefully) that pay the price for it. Great content as always and keep up the great work!
Freaking love your channel dude!
Ah, the satisfying reverse headbolt clicks. Never stop doing that please
I’d love to see you make opening the oil filter a part of these videos. They make those can openers to simplify cutting the filter open nice and neat. Opening the filter would be especially fun on the engines with a clogged oil pickup. Keep up the great content!
That pudding outro was perfect.
Ya know, your channel makes my weekends very special. But I would like to see you take a break once in awhile.
Patiently waiting for the crank puller rod to bend beyond use or break.
That tools definitely is worth the money.
I just had a completely insane idea. Why not pull down a 300-400.000 mile engine that has been
expertly maintained to show us the difference.
Good idea'
Because Toyota engines with that many miles are still in Good cars and GM engines don't last that long
@@lukelowe918 Nonsense. Those 5.3s, like in this vid regularly go past 500K miles. One of the best engine designs in history. Period. This one failed simply cause someone was emotionally allergic to maintenance. No engine can survive that, not even an early 70's slant six.
@@3canctheayr weird how the police fleet I work for doesn't have one 5.3 with 500k miles let alone have one with over 100k that hasn't needed a camshaft or a oil pump. When I worked for Toyota dealership 400k Toyota was pretty common but believe what you want.
@@lukelowe918 Police fleets don't keep any vehicles that long. It's you that is believing what you want. Many Toyotas have had engine issues as well. You're also ignoring the specifics of what I posted, especially one key piece..
Eric you have some faith in that engine stand, for the record the lube circuit of an LS engine starts at the back and goes forward, in spite of the oil pump being at the front. The lube circuit goes from the pump to the filter, and then the cooler if equipped before lubing the engine. An LS engine suffering from lube issues will likely hit the front of the engine hardest, as for the melted bearing material plugging the oil feed hole to the number 2 main, that may have come from the number 2 cam journal as the oil is pumped to the lifter gallery's before going down to the mains/rods, intersecting with the cam journals on the way down.
I see this a lot with squatted trucks. They starve the front of the engine of oil and half the time have spent a while bouncing off the limiter too.
I struggle to sympathize with those who like squatted trucks, IMHO they are best as mulch.
@@09corvettezr1 right now my truck is squatted, but only because it's in the middle of a workout session. Usually don't do this the night before but was bored today and loaded about 2500 lbs of brake rotors in the back for her scrap haul in the morning. Might actually be a little heavier than that actually. I can haul about a ton without it being sacked out
Great video as always! You make carnage fun !
Commenting before watching whole video because you sitting on the breaker bar made me crack the hell up 😂 more content please
Great to see Eric sitting on that breaker bar! It lets me know that we are in for a treat!
One of these days he's gonna snap a bolt head and fall right on his ass. It'll be a TH-cam classic...
@@maxwedge5683 Only if he publishes the footage I reckon. Otherwise, we won’t know about it. I suppose it might get a bunch of views for people who enjoy that sort of thing.
I have an 01 LM7 i am about to tear down that was in a similar condidtion. Thankfully I know what I need to look for now. And am so glad I am religious on the oil changes for my 99.
I had to watch you video tonight. Early Easter Sunday morning I'm heading to the Forest Park car show before I do family things. Hope to see ya there!
Funny thing.. youtube would not show me any of your content for the last several weeks and then today… it shows up. It’s good to see another video.. I will say that.
I'm a big fan and have no complains. I think I binge watched most or all of your videos. Thanks for all your hard work. I have a request: would you consider tearing down a GM 4.2 liter straight six commonly found in Envoys and trailblazers? If you did already I'm sorry and disregard the request. I'll look better again. But I couldn't find it perhaps because you like the big engines more ha! Thanks again and please keep going as you like.
Hehe.. I love how you start the video with you sitting on the breaker bar on the crank. Good comedy 🤣
I love that you break the 4 wall
Ferris bueller
That crank bolt from last week was insane! Imagine if a head bolt was on just as tight?
The ending was on point.
That's a cool tray you have under the engine stand!
This one was caked up with burnt oil worse than than the one I tore down!! Mine I got for $150 from a scrap yard was seized up though, probably from overheating it. The head bolts were loose like this one. I bought it for the 862 heads and other spare goodies. Thanks for all your videos. God bless you.
Nice job.
Ugh, that ending!
How can you even look at chocolate pudding, after that teardown???? Yeeesh.
I can't believe this. My car was maintained by dealership by previous owner but still one lifter makes some tapping noise on idle at operating temperature. How did this engine run for so long without oil changes? I'm speechless bro...
If it is a ls engine, get the oil pick up tube o ring/packing- depends on what year it is, mine was Red and its a 07 gmt800, and a felpro permadry oil pan gasket, k&w 5 minute flush, run engine idle with 5 minute flush for 7 minutes. Stop drain, pull oil pan, pickup tube, replace o ring, reassemble. Fill with a Good 5w30 oil by Valvoline, Castrol, Amsoil, don't bother with Mobil 1, Quaker/Penzoil. I got lifter tick from using mobil 1 and went right back to valvoline. Replace oil filter with AC delco
@@shadowopsairman1583 My engine isn't American. I'm from Croatia, it's Central Europe. In our engines lifters are completely different. It's a tiny valve inside the housing that adjusts itself to oil pressure and compensates the valve movements so they don't tap. Our engines are NOT push rod engines but OHV overhead valves. I drive Škofa Fabia 1,4 MPI 50kW/68hp very reliable chain timed engine. I use Castrol Edge Titanium FST 5w-40 Turbodiesel because diesel oils are stronger.
I just did lifters on a 5.3 this week. The sludge was 3/16" deep.
Those weighted sockets are the bomb, use at work daily.
That looks like it came out of a fleet vehicle. Probably idled tons and got very little maintenance until it died.
Yeah, my bet is like...work van for company that didn't give a shit about vehicle maintenance, like a cable company or a plumbing company.
My personal truck idles a bit for my job. I change oil at the 20% to change and so far at 160k miles all is fine.
Fleet vehicles stick to a stringent mx cycle
@@shadowopsairman1583 if it was brought in for service. I have rarely seen a fleet vehicle brought in for service on time.
Reminds me of my old 305 that would only hold a quart of oil because the other 3 quarts was the factory oil from the mid 80’s that had completely petrified. Amazing inside, the only free space in the motor was that traced out by the moving parts. The sludge literally formed a perfect outline of the crank weights when I pulled the crank. All it had for oiling was a finger-sized tunnel that cut through the impromptu sludge crank scraper. Impressive it still ran given how many spun bearings it had. Drove it like that for a while, too. Car was owned by some meth addict before me, so I could see where the money really went from all the butts and baggies I found under the seats. Still for a $1k car I bought 20 years ago it has lasted with a good 350 in it.
Thanks for the edutainment
Greg from northern Michigan. The main bearing spun from lack of lube, a classic failure mode. The engine sludged up and wore out from lack of lube. In this case it was run with very little (if any) engine lube oil. Incredible ! Should have used some Slick 50 ...
My 1998 Town & Country was like this. I bought it used about 5yrs ago with 107,000mi and spun #5 & #6 at 130,000mi. Transmission failed last year too at 170,000, though it showed signs of failure early on.
Much of the damage was neglect. Not just of the maintenance, but the cooling system as well. The fans being non-operational was probably the cause of the transmission failure, especially being in the hot Vegas desert used as a pilot car. At any rate, the oil was so sludged up that it built up in the lifter valley and heads. So bad that any oil that made it's way to the top couldn't make it back to the pan, thus starving the bottom end. I found huge chunks of the stuff. It looked like charcoal.
I rebuilt both the engine and trans and I also replaced the faulty fans and module. With 170,000mi on it, we're ready to get over 300,000mi out of it now with proper maintenance.
Now, if only Chrysler had used quality leather and headliner materials.....
Oh you're working on your comedic delivery. You're doing well. Subversion, pretended desperation, sarcasm, absurd humour, double entendre. If you're not doing this on purpose you're a natural entertainer.
I worked on a 6.7 Cummins/Dogde 3500 that someone had the same issue -- but they brought it in before it locked up -- it took days to clean all that sludge out - amazingly, the engine was barely harmed and ran when it left -- it made it another 5-6 years before it finally launched a connecting rod through the side of the block...
Oh Blue!!! he always comes in clutch....lol
The oil sludge looks like Dexcool contamination from an internal coolant leak. Check the heads to see if they’re Castech heads. Early 2000’s Castech heads would become porous at around 140k miles and weep coolant into the oil. The early 2000’s were also prone to piston slap and the wear on the pistons and bores makes me wonder if it was a slapper.
They were 706 heads
Can't blame the fram on this one. As much as I dislike them, this was 100 percent lack of maintenance.
Having far too much fun setting those artistic shots up, I think 😁
Edit: don’t stop.
I bought the high test front damper puller from Jegs which comes with 2 rods though the kit box has spaces for 4 rods. The 2 rods included were too short to be of use on the LS. So I cut the flange from the pulley bolt and used my 50 year old Snap-On three jaw. Now I am good for the next LS which is coming soon.
This is my favorite part of Saturdays. So glad I found this channel a few months ago. Wish I found it sooner. Next time I deal with a locked up engine I’ll pull the heads and PB blast the snot out of it
Me too, except I'm always at work when it goes up cause my damn boss NEVER gives me a Saturday off.
I'll usually wait until it's not too busy and hide from customers in the office and watch anyway lol.
10:46 holy fuck that thing looks like it's been on the road for 60 years. When I opened up my '85 F150's 300 at 265k for a head gasket job I didn't find anywhere near as much schmoo in there and when I dropped the pan at 350k for oil pump work I STILL didn't find all that much schmoo. It was about the same color but the layer was paper thin and not built up on anything that moved.
350k. . .heh, love me some 300 six!
@@life_of_riley88 Yep. Some trash got sucked into the oil pump and plugged the pickup so I had to get in there and clean that out before I damaged the engine irrepairably. Bottom end is fine, but the rings/cylinders are highly worn and the cam's wiped from just old age so I think I'm just gonna overhaul the whole engine. It still purrs like a kitten but it runs out of puff at 3100RPM or so and it's not pulling as hard as it did when I got the truck back in '07. She's tired, time to overhaul it while it's still overhaul-able.
@@TestECull Well I can tell you that when it's all rebuilt, you'll get another 300,000+ miles out of her. I never had one that had much oomph past about 3500-4000rpm. I drive and shift em like a diesel and they run forever.
@@life_of_riley88 Oh definitely. Why I'm willing to put 7-9k of work into a $500 truck. It's got a 300 and a TOD 4-speed in it, it's relatively rust free. I'll end up with a better truck out the other side than if I took that money to a used lot!
When I first got mine it would pull all the way up to 4100 if I really poked it. It never liked it, but it would do it. Like you, I typically shift low; my TOD 4-speed and 2.49 rear gears meant I rarely went past 1600rpm unless I was on a cloverleaf on ramp; even then shifting at 2500 was fine. All that torque basically right off idle is amazing to have.
The things you endure smelling just for our entertainment, much appreciated....I know what cracking head bolts smell like, it's not pleasant
Mine LM7 (05) still running 300K, I’m fixing to build one to be prepared, oil is changed regularly, can’t wait to see how it looks and the kind of oil I use to see how well it did
Valvoline Synthetic 5w30 here at 163000, AC Delco filter. I've only had to replace alternator.
I’ve heard of a Rocket Scientist, and a Brain Surgeon, but a Rocket Surgeon……that’s a new one lol! Keep up the good work.
th-cam.com/video/Pqein9LxWAo/w-d-xo.html
When I see a good piece of equipment go down for the absolute wrong reason it is discouraging as all heck!! Simple oil changes could have prevented the engine’s downfall. Sad loss of a great engine. Too bad Eric. Nice job dissecting the beast. Big Al.
There are repair spec parts
good job gelatinous is in fact a word lol, Love the content man
Great channel. Super entertaining. Fantastic ending. How does the sludge taste??