71,000 miles engine problems

I need to understand whats going on with my engine problems as normal or extraordinary, please.

One owner purchased new off dealer lot
2011 Avalanche standard
71,000 miles
Always fully maintained/serviced at dealership (never had any problems)
Heard a ticking sound on the HWY went straight to dealer service, was only 3 miles away.

Diagnosed as:
Current misfires P0303 on cylinder 3, camshaft not reading properly, lifters worn. Recommended replacing all lifters, camshaft and timing chain along with the necessary bolts and gaskets.
Costs $5,478.00 parts and labor + taxes on top of price.

I'm 3 months out of my powertrain warranty.

Dealership got GM to cover 60% after I asked all kinds of questions, just had the truck in the shop two weeks ago for an oil change and asked them to do an overhaul to see if anything needed done.

My new price is $2000.00 Is this a common occurrence? I'm not a car person to know these things. But it's like my engine is just falling apart and I've tried to take such care of this truck.

Thank you in advance.

My engine went south a couple of thousand miles out of warranty. GM ripped the top end apart said they couldn't find anything
and that's as far as they would go. They gave me a 80% discount and I got a better motor than stock. That was many moons ago.

So instead of fixing this as is, I should look into rebuilding the whole thing or buying a new engine?

Damn, 90 days out & you're on the hook for 40%  I think I'd tear it down myself & do the work.....AND give GM an earful....it sucks when a manufacturer won't step up to the plate for a good customer.....

The AFM system is a known weak point in these engines and could be what did it?  Realistically while it sucks, $2000 isn't a bad price considering. I recently paid ~$1400 to have refurbished heads installed on my truck and just spent another $400 to insure a coolant leak was fixed. My 270k motor has never run this good but still...

Personally I think I would let them do the work then get the AFM feature programmed out. (AFM does the 4 cylinder mode)

Put into perspective that you have had this truck now for 6-7 years now. ANY vehicle once they get older like that you can expect issues in one shape or form. Which is why they have a warranty based on time and mileage. If I were going to have to pay $5000 to repair it then it would make sense to find another shop that is reputable to do the work and have better performance stuff installed. And you MAY be able to have them install better performance stuff.

I can't say what your instance is, but I wouldn't be too worried.  Yes, it sucks having a large expense, but you have had good mileage on the vehicle.

For reference, I had a '95 GMC Jimmy that experienced several major fuel injector issues between 80,000 and 110,000 miles. Cost several thousand dollars in 2002-2004.  I drove it another 80,000 miles between '04 and August '06, when i bought the Avalanche, with almost zero issues.

Still kind of miss the Jimmy, but love the Avalanche.

THought power train was 100K and 10 year?

Would you not still be covered?

ygmn said:

THought power train was 100K and 10 year?

Would you not still be covered?

Click to expand...

Powertrain, at least on our 2013, is 5 years 100k miles.