L5p lifter failure

[bimmer95]

Wondering if any of you l5p gurus have some failure analysis input for me.So this truck came to me with a miss on one cylinder and a pop out of the intake,pulled the valve cover and found the valve lash extremely loose across the board,so loose one of the valve bridges had come out.Tore the heads off and pulled the lifters out and this is what I found along with the other lifters which all have loose follower bearings.Truck has 158k,towed its whole life,and was serviced with amsoil every 5 to 7k miles..Any thoughts on what could have caused this?I have found there is not a lot of info online on l5p internals.Gale Banks of course but in his book the l5p is perfect so nothing much goes wrong....

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[kidturbo]

No idea on cause. But figures the one part that never fails on any other models would be the one part that fails on a L5P.

 

[ironmax]

Wondering if oil starvation caused it do to high oil temps from always being loaded.

 

[NC-smokinlmm]

I know the newer LT engines eat lifters like potatoe chips, hope same manufacturer isn't making these.

 

[hntngkd]

Have seen this on L5D as well but unsure on root cause.

 

[hntngkd]

Not nearly this bad though. it happened 1 cylinder at a time over the course of a few hundred engine hours. And if i remember correctly it was primarily on the exhaust side.

 

[bimmer95]

Since you mentioned it,I rechecked the intake vs exhaust followers and the exhaust is consistently worse although there is still wear on the rest.Which makes sense the exhaust valve will just open harder then the intake generally..I'm at a loss of why gm would change a perfectly good and proven design of the the 1-16 and change to a lifter with smaller bore and smaller roller follower diameter..also on oil starvation,I've been trying to figure out how the rollers even get oil?there are no feed holes that I can find,only way in is the bottom of the lifter

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[JoshH]

I have never seen a lifter failure on any 01-16 Duramax. Figures GM would ruin a good thing.

 

[kidturbo]

Ya'll scaring me now. Just getting ready to marinize one to prove Gale isn't trying hard enough to kill it.. Now ya tell me I'm gonna wipe the cam out in first 100hrs of thrashing one. Buzz Kill.
I've actually killed one set of LBZ/LMM lifters. Left em in a bucket in bed of my truck for a week full of rain water. They never actually failed, but am willing to donate to anyone who doubts me..

 

[Mickey D]

I realize this is an old thread, but was there any info provided on what engine oil was used in this truck?

 

[08lmm72mm]

OP said truck was serviced every 5-7k with amsoil. I would assume either 15w40 or 5w40.

 

[Hambone]

Currently have a truck tore apart with this same failure...
truck has 189k on the clock.
it developed a noise around 100k and just never thought anything more of it because the l5p has so many weird noises tbh.
the noise is from the airbox and sounds almost like your burping but keeping your mouth shut lol and is in Rythm with the rpm.
mine was #2 exhaust lifter.
We currently have a sister truck that was sold to a friend with only 87k on the clock but is starting to develop the same noise. He will be digging into it soon and ill keep this form updated with what he finds but if i had to guess its from the valve lash being out of adjustment.
both trucks are '17s purchased from the same dealership so maybe it was just a lazy guy on an assembly line?

 

[rickd383]

I'm pretty sure I have the same problem. I have a 17' with 167k and just started making a LOUD ticking noise on the driver side and a whomping noise coming from the cold air intake. The l5p makes a lot of noises and you could hear the intake pulling air but now when i pull up somewhere people ask what that noise is. You can feel the thumping if you hold your hand on the fender. Anyone have any updates?

 

[Mbh]

I'm pretty sure I have the same problem. I have a 17' with 167k and just started making a LOUD ticking noise on the driver side and a whomping noise coming from the cold air intake. The l5p makes a lot of noises and you could hear the intake pulling air but now when i pull up somewhere people ask what that noise is. You can feel the thumping if you hold your hand on the fender. Anyone have any updates?

Just took my 18 into the shop for this. Lifter issue. Requiring complete tear down, new camshaft,lifter, etc…..started with a tick, then the same thump. The thump was blowback coming out intake. Can feel it blow back when placing hand over intake.
Only 94k miles. Not under warranty. To be honest I’m pissed! May be done with GM for good on this one. I feel they should warranty this issue due to the commonality of the problem.

 

[rickd383]

So quick update on my truck. We just pull the valve covers and found This small piece broken off the rocker arms. I found one other person on the Internet that had this same issue and a guy in my town also. All of them 2017.

 

[2004LB7]

Very interesting. Anyone have any theories on why GM would change it from a design that worked well for so many years?

 

[JoshH]

So quick update on my truck. We just pull the valve covers and found This small piece broken off the rocker arms. I found one other person on the Internet that had this same issue and a guy in my town also. All of them 2017.

We had one come through the shop here with the exact same failure a few weeks ago (I think I posted about it in another thread here on the forum). It was also a 2017, and like yours, it was an exhaust rocker. I wonder if they had a run of bad rockers that they didn't catch.

We also just finished a lifter failure job.

 

[2004LB7]

What oil could cause this trash?

Unlikely oil related

 

[600+duramax]

I just took my 2020 L5p in to the dealership for what sounds like this same problem. This has been the worst Duramax of all the models I have owned as far as reliability. It's already had a trans replaced at 44k miles and now sounds like it needs a motor at 49k miles. I also have a buddy who had the same issue with his 2020 and he just told me his trans is acting up. This is supposed to have been the best Duramax. For the guys that like to watch Gale Banks videos and take in the hype he spews out about them I say he is wrong. My last Duramax was deleted at 500 miles and I sold it with 250k miles. Not one issue.

 

[Mbh]

I just took my 2020 L5p in to the dealership for what sounds like this same problem. This has been the worst Duramax of all the models I have owned as far as reliability. It's already had a trans replaced at 44k miles and now sounds like it needs a motor at 49k miles. I also have a buddy who had the same issue with his 2020 and he just told me his trans is acting up. This is supposed to have been the best Duramax. For the guys that like to watch Gale Banks videos and take in the hype he spews out about them I say he is wrong. My last Duramax was deleted at 500 miles and I sold it with 250k miles. Not one issue.

Sorry to hear this….had my 18’ do the same thing back in December of 23’…..only had 83k miles on it….this has to be due to crappy materials used by GM….this may be my last GM product I ever buy. Total BS! We shouldn’t have to deal with any of this….ever!