Anyone here ever do/have it done to your personal vehicle. I’ve got 16’ GMC Sierra that I’m looking for good kits do this. Looking at Texas Speeds kit at the moment.
Yes i did it after my '17 silverado ate a lifter and bent a push rod. I used LS7 lifters, AMP GEN V VVT Cam Phase Lockout, BTR Stage 2 truck Cam CM2240612101, BTR head gasket, CBI Street cars DOD gen IV/V oil plugs, and GM LT$ valve springs (must use with the cam). Its doable if you are a decent home mechanic. Lots of videos on youtube to watch to show where some specific bolts, connectors, etc are. That was 2 1/2 years and about 50k miles ago. No issues...knock on wood. If you go with a stock replacement cam you dont need the VVT lockout or springs. But why go to all the effort and put in a stock replacement cam...More Powah!!!
Hang on... I think if yours hasnt failed a lifter yet and you just want to delete, you can just pop the intake and pound in the plugs....but your half way to cam swap. so you might as well go balls deep and do it anyway. The delete part is pretty easy. Pull intake. Remove HP fuel pump. Remove valley cover. Pound in oil galley plugs. Replace stuff you took off. Get tune to stop AFM. Drive truck and hope lifter still doesnt fail. You can also use an ODB plug in disabler that will keep the truck in V* mode full time.
Thanks. I know I’m doing at some point. Truck doesn’t have 70k on it yet, and still has drive train warranty's…extended. But, I’m looking at kits now, before the prices go even higher or are not available anymore…feds. Found out the hard way on price increases. Wanted a LT4 for my 67 Nova, 17.3k for engine, trans, and all electronics in 20’. 25.8k today…if you can find one. I waited till it was actually needed and priced myself out of it. It’s getting an LS3 now.
In that case I would get the ODB disabler for like $100 bucks asap. And then if all you want to do is permanently kill the oil passages get a kit and put it on the shelf for later. I think I lost 1 mpg..maybe 2 at most around town, less on the high way going with the bigger cam and springs and VVT lockout. But I had to swap cams and lifters as I was not replacing the bad AFM lifter with an AFM lifter and just leaving it like that. Once you pull the stick its getting bigger lobes.....uh uh uh uh uh. Good luck on the LS3. have you looked for a crashed Camaro or vette to get a drive line from?
Finding a LS3 won’t be a problem. I know where a couple are, that aren’t going anywhere. And, once I do pull trigger for an AFM kit, it will complete with a slightly larger stick, and everything required to make the change over work well. Like I said, looking at Texas Speed stuff now, and will probably go that way unless something else pops up as better.
Been running the OBD port AFM disabler for about 6 months now. No issues whatsoever. Saw it for roughly $100 on Amazon but my son found the exact same one for $5 at a local store called "Bintastic" which sells Amazon returns cheap.
I had a Range Dynamics AFM disabler on my 2014 GMC Sierra for about 40k miles, worked awesome. Was gonna get the full on delete kit, but never got around to it, then got a new 2023 truck it doesn't work on apparently. Anybody wants to give me $75 for it let me know.
I would but I'm about $fifteen hundy in parts, 4 cases of cold snacks, 2 weeks of cold late nights (spread out over 2 months...work and covid parts/supply chain), 4 years and 5ok miles too late.
Installed the TSP kit in my 2010 5.3 back in 2017. Needless to say she is still running good at 201k miles Cams are a matter of taste though...go with the flavor you like. A couple tools I'd recommend #1...36" or larger inch bar (for crankshaft bolt) #2....valve spring tool (I'd recommend pulling valves and cleaning/lapping valves to head) #3....flywheel locking tool I'm not sure if the gen V engines require the oil pan to be dropped (Gen IV didn't) but there is a oil tube bolt that requires you to remove it and if you dont want to pull the pan the trick will be to unscrew it a few turns then wrap fishing line around it so when it falls you pull it up and out. Also, I'd recommend getting your ECM programmed. There a few annoying traits that GM has that I had removed. Reduced engine power being one. (Limp mode)
I had to resort to heat and a big ass impact for mine. It was fun. Yes for sure. Also with the DI motors you will see why you want to add an oil catch can to all DI motors. Mine was at ~98K and the build up on the valve was....bad. Cleaned...lapped and catch can added. And of course a tune, especially if you add bump but you knew this.
I have a 2016 5.3l Silverado with 85k miles. I’ve heard about this lifter issue but never got into the details. How common of an issue is this really? And does the AFM OBD disabler completely prevent it?
2007.5-2013 Silverado trucks pretty much are ruined by that DOD system. It's only a matter of time/miles. 2014-16 years I am not sure of the failure rate. The problem is twofold. 1st...lifter fails and jackhammers the cam. 2nd...Oil clogs up the top end, piston rings, valves and head when the system is active. If you have driven it for 80K it's clogged up. Unless you changed oil and filter every 1000 miles.
I dont think anyone knows...except maybe GM. The guess on the interwebs are 1-3% failure rate. Some say its what happens when you shut the oil off and on. Some others say that the lifters are made poorly and that is the main cause. The disablers should work 100% if its the oil off and on causing the issue as they stop that. If the lifters due have some manufacturing defects then there could still be a few failures, but at a much lower rate. In mine I could see some scoring and such in the lifter that stuck collapsed, in V4 mode. These AFM lifters are different from normal lifters and when you properly delete it you replace all of them withy plain hydraulic lifters, replace the cam with one that doesnt do AFM, etc. The first step is definitely using a disabler. All it does is tell the ECU to stay in V8 mode 100% of the time so the lifters never go with out oil and collapse into V4 mode.
The disabler is a "go to" but if you have driven 85k with the system on its a crap shoot. I forgot to mention the 3rd issue....oil consumption. Once the rings and top end are gunked you'll push oil into the combustion chamber consistently. The VLOM system...what a hunk a junk. After inspection of mine I noticed the little oil squirter for each disabled cylinder looked to be easily clogged by dirt. The design was just inferior for the 2007-13 years. Maybe 14-16 is an updated version but it's a V8...designed to run on 8 cylinders.
Guess I’ll try the disabler and hope the oil clog issue doesn’t get me. I had this truck since it was new. It’s almost all highway miles. It has hail damage and was hit pretty hard while parked. So even though it works fine, the value is crap now. I’m trying to get a few more seasons out of it before upgrading. I don’t commute to work, so it’s basically the grocery store and the track.
Hmmmm...from what I know the ECM will activate the DOD system when the engine parameters has reached several norms...or a light load. I think in town, stop light to stop light...its not used but in highway conditions its probably on more often. Keep an eye on your oil consumption. I have heard of some going from full to nothing on the dipstick. Check it frequently and keep a couple quarts handy.
Is this still an issue on the newest 5.3l? GM’s Super Cruise while towing sure looks nice for all the highway driving I do. I’m probably sticking with GM just for that on the next truck.
I don't know...if you check the forum silveradosierra dot com you might find some of that info. Unless Delphi came up with some new improved DOD lifter I can't see why they wouldn't collapse and get stuck eventually. I know that GM went to a dynamic system which selected different cylinders to disable. So every cylinder has the DOD lifter...not something I would chose.
