2011 Silverado

[JEBar]

as noted in the thread about my wife's Camaro, when we purchase a new vehicle we usually keep it for at least 10 years .... when it comes to transportation she and I have little in common .... I'm a truck guy, pretty much always have been, don't anticipate that changing .... back in late 2011 we bought a 4-wheel drive 2011 Silverado 1500 .... the model we purchased has a 5.3 FlexFuel motor, 6 speed automatic/manual tranny, 340 something rear end and a trailer towing rating of 9500 lbs .... the heaviest thing I plan to tow with this truck would be our daughter's 6000 lb camper, our boat and our tractor .... it has been used for hauling of various things and is setup so it can put car seats for a couple of grand kids in the back seat .... it now has just over 85,000 miles on it and hopefully its good to go until 2021 when my wife's Camaro will be paid for .... it has a very comfortable ride and has made 5 trips from central NC to the mountains of Kentucky .... from those trips we've come to expect 19+/- mpg .... in addition it has been used for many of my monthly trips to the mountains of NC where we visit my mom in her nursing home .... she's given no trouble and performed well .... early on we had Line-X sprayed in the bed and installed a Pace-Edwards bed locker .... my current hope is to order a replacement Silverado in 2021 which realistically may well be my last vehicle

[bandit1250]

Looks like a country Cadillac to me.

[JEBar]

a country Cadillac that works for a living .... she regularly tows our daughter's camper as well as going to the woods and bringing back the deer .... Carolina red clay is sticky but the good news is, after working she still cleans up pretty good ...

[Deadwood Dutch]

Beautiful truck, inside and out.

[JEBar]

UGLY .... REALLY UGLY .... our Silverado currently has just under 90,000 miles on it .... so far, I've been very pleased with its performance .... back at 61,000 miles the dealership cleaned the fuel system and we had to have spark plugs #'s 1, 2, and 4 replaced .... at 87,000 we had to replace spark plug #1 for the second time .... today we had to replace #4 for the second time .... that plug is shown below .... yep, ugly indeed .... we have been told that this generation of spark plug should last 100,000 miles and its not unheard of for them to last 150,000 or more miles .... my local mechanic says he believes the problem is cheap gasoline coupled with the fact that these trucks no longer come with a fuel filter .... any info would be appreciated

[daytime dave]

Wow, that's a problem. No ideas here.

[bandit1250]

I never seen a plug look like that except when a motor cycle had a timing problem or a really lean fuel/air mixture. I put plugs in my Toyota V-6 Tundra at 120+ thousand because of a miss. Turned our to be a plug wire boot cracked firing down the side of the plug which is down in the head like a Hemi engine. The plugs were like new and were burning very clean. The one cylinder misfiring had a small amount of build up on the tip. That plug looks like something they should be able to diagnose the problem. That is a nice truck and hope you find the problem.

[JEBar]

as noted, I'm going to replace all 8 ... that should tell us something

[JEBar]

I just got back from the dealership, with it being a holiday weekend two of the fellows I really wanted to speak with weren't there .... as of right now, my best guess is an issue with the truck's Active Fuel Management System (AFM) .... that's where the truck's computer changes from 8 cylinder to 4 for fuel economy and emissions .... when in 4 cylinder mode it has a tendency to load the dead cylinders with oil that then doesn't completely burn and creates the carbon deposits .... in our truck's V8, cylinders 1, 4, 6 and 7 .... the spark plug in post one was in cylinder 4 .... I was able to speak with a fellow a good ways up in service who I've known for most of 30 years and have come to trust .... everything is documented about them working on the truck at 61,000 miles at which time they installed the plug shown in the picture above .... he was really interested in seeing the plug.... he's going to get with their warranty folks and see what can be done .... I do have a lifetime warranty on the internal engine parts and it got his attention when I said that I could always wait for the motor to hand grenade and let them drop a new one in .... I figure that is a worst case scenario that they may want to avoid .... I told them I'd check back in the middle of next week ....

[bandit1250]

Didn't know your truck had that set up where they cut back to a four cylinder. I believe you could be on the right track with it being something going on there. Hopefully they can find the problem before it creates something worse. Good to have the warranty you have on your truck.

[BigAl52]

Jim
I know a very good mechanic out here that will back up what you have found out. GM had a lot of trouble with that engine doing exactly what you are finding. Not sure what they will do for you but I hope you get it solved. Al

[JEBar]

Jim
I know a very good mechanic out here that will back up what you have found out. GM had a lot of trouble with that engine doing exactly what you are finding. Not sure what they will do for you but I hope you get it solved. Al

the facts are simple .... the truck is paid for .... it has a lifetime warranty on the motor (internal components) that I expect them to honor .... I plan to drive it at least 4 more years .... if they do nothing and it last that long while performing like it has since new, all's good .... if they fix it, fine .... if they don't and if it doesn't last, it will be towed and dropped outside their garage door .... looking forward to the middle of next week ....

[daytime dave]

I hope to hear they will take care of you. The concept of the 8 to 6 to 4 cylinder engine that GM put in Cadillacs (and I don't know what else) sounded good about thirty years ago. My friend and boss had one of those caddys and spent a bunch of money on the engine. Another friend bought a beautiful pick up like yours about 7 or 8 years ago with the 8 to 4 engine. He started to have problems, but I haven't talked with him in a while. I think he got rid of the truck.

Having said that, my last vehicle was a Dodge. Good engine, started to disintegrate body wise. The previous three were all GM products. Chevrolets in fact. Each and every one had gremlins in the electrical systems. Enough to make me get rid of them. You may have noticed that I recently bought a Ford. I have vowed no more GM products.

[BigAl52]

Have you found anything out yet on your truck Jim? Al

[JEBar]

nothing much .... I want to pull all 8 plugs and take a look at them first .... not too many years ago I could and would have pulled them myself but physical complications have turned that into a last resort option .... she runs smooth and strong, if she didn't I'd be much more motivated

[JEBar]

our youngest son pulled and replaced all 8 of our Silverado's spark plugs .... next week I hope to organize for some pictures that will include the miles they have each been in service .... all-in-all, after seeing all of them, I'm much more encouraged about the condition of the truck's engine .... I'm also more convinced the issue is with the system does relate to switching between operating on 4 & 8 cylinders .... 5 of the plugs (4 of which aren't involved) have just under 90,000 miles on them and really look good .... we also replaced all 8 spark plug wires .... after doing so, we fired up the truck and couldn't tell a bit of difference in the sound of the engine's operation .... I won't be able to take it out on the road until Monday so I won't know anything about any possible increase in performance

[JEBar]

as noted above, a couple of days ago we pulled and replace all 8 plugs and their plug wires .... all plug wires looked good, replacing them wasn't really necessary .... the plugs are numbered from the radiator to firewall .... odd numbers 1, 3, 5, &7 are on the driver's side (right) .... even numbers 2, 4, 6, & 8 are on the passenger's side (left) ... the first 2 plugs on both sides (#'s 1 & 3 on the right, 2 & 4 on the left) are the ones that cutout when the demand for power is reduced and refire when more power is needed .... the 5 OEM plugs shown below ( 6 & 8 on the left, 5 & 7 on the right, 3 on the bottom ) have been in engine for 89,213 miles looked great .... some difference in color but all were clean and very close to the recommended gap .... all 4 of the rear plugs (which fire all of the time when the motor is running) plus plug 3 make up those plugs .... I was very interested and somewhat surprised that plug 3 looks just as good as the other 4 .... the second picture shows (left to right) plugs 1, 2 , & 4 .... plug #1 has been replaced twice, the one shown has been in the truck for 6,541 miles -- the OEM lasted 61,632 miles, the second lasted 25,210 miles .... OEM plug 2 was replaced a 61,815 miles -- the one shown below was in the motor for 28,068 miles ....plug # 4 (on the right) was first replaced at 61,815 miles --- the second was removed with 28,608 miles on it when the bottom plug was installed ---- it has 670 miles on it .... based on all of the above I don't believe that cutting fuel caused the problem ... if the system itself was bad I would expect all 4 cylinders involved would have shown signs of a problem and that simply isn't the case with plug 3 .... in just under 90,000 miles 2 plugs in cylinders 1 & 4 have malfunctioned to the point they created an idle speed miss and had replaced .... that has happened once with cylinder #2 .... to me there is no doubt that there something an issue with something in the system but no clue what it is .... right now the bottom line is, the truck runs great

[JEBar]

UPDATE :

we had to replace the truck's year and a half old OEM tires on August 25, 2012 with Michelin 32,271 miles .... yesterday (March 26, 2020) after 70,119 miles we replaced them with Michelin Defender LTX M/S 265/65R18's .... the first set of Michelins were on the truck for 7 yrs 7 months .... their tread was worn but far from worn out .... I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have another 10,000 or so miles of tread left .... we chose to replace them at this time because I simply wasn't comfortable with the degree of weathering that could be seen

[JEBar]

sometime during our Jan - March spent in Texas the passenger's side rear door WeatherTech Side Window Deflector disappeared ===> https://www.weathertech.com/chevrolet/2 ... /crew-cab/ .... nobody knows nothing ..Roll Eyes (Sarcastic) :rolleyes:.. these vent deflectors were installed shortly after we purchased the truck back in 2011 .... with a new set priced at $100, I decided to call Weather Tech and see if I could just order a replacement for the missing one .... the fellow I spoke with said they can only sell them in front pairs, rear pairs, or a complete set of 4 .... a pair for the rear windows is priced at something over $40 + shipping .... that option was most certainly better than having to buy a whole new set .... we chatted for another minute or so and said that what he could do to help me is to wave the $15 dollar shipping fee .... that in essence cuts the cost in half .... we have a set on the way and are very impressed with WeatherTech's customer service

[markiver54]

I would never have one of those brand new trucks! Hope you get your problems solved Jim...for sure, but my '99 Ford has never given me a problem and does whatever I want it to.
To me, to buy brand new is a sure mistake!...for many reasons.