I am a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 owner and am having the classic piston slap that everyone else is seeming to have. This may or may not be detrimental to the engine in the long run, but I tired of Chevrolet dragging their feet to do something about the problem. How many of you guys out there would be interested in a class action lawsuit to get Chevrolet off their can and on to a fix. I do not know of any Ford or Dodge owners that have to deal with pison slap, do you? I really don't want to sue Chevrolet if I don't have to, but I thought if enough of us raised our voices, maybe we can get them to do something about this. A lawsuit is something that will normally get a company to moving.

 

FYI, some of the Gen II(1999-2001--no 02s yet) Lightnings have what the owners describe as "piston slap" in our 5.4L V8s. Most of the time it happens right after an oil change but not always. Ford usually say's "that's normal"--I d/k if or how many engs. have been replaced.

Dan

 

After an oil change would make sense though. The oiling system needs to re-pressurize itself, so until it does, essentially it's metal upon metal.

I can't say that I support nor am against such a lawsuit. I'm for exhausting all avenues of pursuing a rectification through the service department first.

Another thing is that as long as it's within the 3yr/36,000 mile there is no money out of your pocket (and I'm not talking about spending $35k on a new truck as most will say). As such, there is no reason for GM to have to return you to status quo.

In order for a lawsuit like this to be successful, you'd have to prove A) that GM designed something inferior which probably wouldn't be hard in this case but more importantly, that B) You were financially inconvienienced by this matter which would be hard as the vehicle is under warranty and GM foots the bill anyway.

You'd be better served to get the an authority like the NHSTA or other Government agency involved that could lean on GM a little in order for them to get this fixed.

A lawsuit like this would be more successful for people like Kool, who's truck is beyond the standard 3/36 warranty. But even still, other factors come into play like extended warranties that would cover such a problem and mileage. GM could legitimitally argue that a vehicle with 50,000+ miles on the engine leaves a window of doubt open as to whether GM is truly at fault regardless of the knowledge of this defect. If the engine lasted 50+k and then exhibited this problem, they could argue that it isn't a design/manufacturing defect. At the same time, if you've put up with this problem for 50+k, read about this problem and THEN decided to take action, GM could also successfully argue negligence on your part. You had your 3/36 window to get it fixed originally which is what the average person would do if they were experiencing a problem of this nature but you let it go.

Just my $.02

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by CMNTMXR57:
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">But from what I understand, GM isn't replacing any engines whether or not it is under the 3/36.

 

If you make a big enough stink about it, they will. I know several people that have.

 

Many people complain of the piston slap at start up when the truck has been sitting for a long period of time. Mine truck is a little different. Mine starts knocking after about 5 minutes of being turned on and it will not stop. I have tried getting a new engine from GM and nothing has worked so far. The most I got out of them was a worthless peice paper(100,000/yrs on egine and internal parts). For those of you have not visited this page yet, you might want to checkt it out. http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/gmpistonslap/index.html

 

i do know that gm has a problem with the piston slap-knock with the 4.8 5.3 6.0 engines, first gm said to do a top engine clean, then sent a tsb to do nothing because the top engine clean will only work for about 10k miles and it willbe back.
i am a mechanic at a caddy dealer and have the same problem with my 5.3. so i gt board and looked up the specs of the engine and interal workings of all the truck engines. i also noticed that the 2002 escalade does not have the slap, i have done tune ups to some with morethan 30k on them. and to my surprise the pistons for the escalade are coated with a type of teflon. also the tolearances are tighter on the piston to bore clearance. compared to all the other truck engines including the 6.0 engines in the chevy trucks.
my best advice is to complain to the dealer and get it written on the ro that they can not fix at this time so in the future you can get it fixxed for free when they come out with a fix

 

CMNTMXR57 brought up a good point about the lawsuit and one of the issues being financial "inconvenience". We can think of no better way to do that than to prove loss of re-sale value due to an internal engine knock. Documentation of fair market values with and without internal engine knocks by industry professionals should be easy to obtain. That's why the folks at http://www.gmpistonslap.cjb.net have kicked off a vehicle appraisal of value "FIGHT BACK" initiative. Used vehicle appraisers are readily available most anywhere (used car lots).

By all means, first do take the vehicle along with the complaint to several different dealerships to get the problem diagnosed and documented. Not all of the knocks you hear in these engines is necessarily piston slap. Good luck to everyone!

 

Exactly, take it in and document, document, document! This way you'll have a leg to stand on.

Also keep a record of oil consumption (if this problem affects you like it does us Big Block's). If you keep a record of when you checked and refilled it between changes as well as the changes themselves, it proves that you provided more than adequate maintance and that the problem isn't due to lack thereof.

<small>[ April 30, 2002, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: CMNTMXR57 ]</small>

 

HI GUYS! I'M NEW TO THIS MESSAGE BOARD, BUT WAS REALLY SUPRISED THAT EVERYONE IS SO CONCERNED WITH GETTING A NEW MOTOR, OR REIMBURSMENT FOR SOMETHING SO TRIVIAL. IT'S BEEN PROVEN THAT THIS DOES NOT HURT THE MOTOR, AND I'VE SEEN LOTS OF VARIOUS LS1'S COME IN WITH LOTS OF MILES RUNNING GREAT. I WORK FOR A DEALERSHIP, AND THIS PROBLEM IS A HUGE HEADACHE BECAUSE OF PEOPLE'S PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS THAT NOISE EQUALS DAMAGE. THIS MOTOR IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE OLD SMALL BLOCK, AND IS GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME. JUST DOCUMENT WITH YOUR DEALERSHIP THAT YOU COMLAINED OF THE NOISE INCASE ANYTHING HAPPENS, THEN GO ON WITH LIFE! $35,000 IS A LOT OF MONEY (I SPENT IT TOO), BUT IT'S FUNNY HOW WE SELL $100,000 PLUS BMW CARS AND SUV'S HERE, BUT THE CAVALIER OWNERS ARE THE ONES THAT COMPLAIN THE MOST. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, BY A FORD OR DODGE. THEN TRY TO KEEP UP WITH THOSE OF US WILLING TO DEAL WITH IT UNTIL GM COMES OUT WITH THEIR FIX.