jzobie

I purchased my 2007 Suburban about 6 months ago with 65,000 miles on it and absolutely love it. The problem is that it shows some symptoms of the dreaded AFM failure, lifter tick on cold startup, rough idle, and recently the oil pressure just bumped up 10-20 psi leading me to ponder whether there might be some shavings circulating throughout the engine. Just in case the worst case scenario occurs and I need a new engine I want to do preemptive research so I don't get caught with my pants down.

Rebuilding the current motor would be expensive but also very time consuming if I wanted to save money and do it myself and crate engines are also very expensive. I found a lot of used engines and think that this is the route I want to go.

The motor in my truck is the LC9, AFM, non vvt, flex fuel, 5.3 and is connected to the 4 speed 4l60e 4wd trans. I use the Range technology plug in to disable AFM, if I tuned it out completely I think that it might affect NJ emissions testing.

Here are my options with questions I have. I numbered them so if you have the information/time to answer any of them it would be extremely helpful.

I have read that the 2010+ 5.3s have the updated lifters and valley pan and can be had for much less $$ and miles than 2007-2009 5.3s. All 2010+ 5.3s have VVT and were connected to the 6 speed trans.

1) Can I use the VVT delete kit and my current ecm and wiring and be fine?
2) Does the ecm control the trans at all or is there a separate trans computer?
3) Is there a way to get VVT to work? I have read that I can but I don't know how and don't even know if it is worth it.
4) Basically what years motors would work and what would I need to do?

This is my first post and I want to thank anyone in advance for any help they can provide.

badazzsi

I have a 2008 it had the lc9 and we had oil consumption problems. In feburary of this year it finally bit the bullet and wasnt getting any compression on number 7 so i bought a L92 from a 2008 yukon denali and we put that in where i worked at the time. I still have the 4l60 in it as well. Also wired in the vvt into the factory computer but the shop (rpm) who tuned my truck delete the vvt future in the computer anyways. Now if i keep it i will end up swapping to a built 4l80 and changing out the front and rear axles and going with 4.10s and do some suspension upgrades. I wanna see if i can get it to the point where i can tow a 2 car trailer that will have my c5 corvette and my wifes new charger hellcat on it.

Also to answer some of your questions,
I know the 07 and 08 have the trans control module on the outside of the trans i believe the 09 is the same. Then they ended up putting the tcm in the trans. As long as the engine has the same ecu as your suburban which is an e38 you should be good to go. U will have to wire in the vvt solenoid to the ecu but like i said mine was tuned out from rpm. The rest of the wiring is the same. I had to use my map sensor from my 5.3 intake manifold because the l92 map sensor is a different connector also had to modify the strap to hold that down. I also bought the l92 intake manifold because i wanted the injectors, fuel rail, and throttle body. Would also be a good time to upgrade the torque converter as well. I didnt now wish i would have sounds like it is slipping after 5000rpms. Truck made 271 rwhp and 324 ft lbs of torque. Need to take it back because it kept throwing a vacuum hose off while it was being tuned and it must have come back off when they were about done becuase it runs better when the hose is off. I should have put a clamp on it.

Autowolf80

I know this is an old post. I have a 08 Silverado vortecmax with a dieing L76 and I am looking for options to go with for replacing the engine too. I was looking at LY6 or L96 from salvage 2500 trucks. Did you ever get the suburban engine replaced? If so what route did you go?

Wolftrk99

iTrader: (5)

The ly6/l96 should be bolt in replacements in the vortecmax... may just need some tuning done tonit afterwards... as far as the op's questions 1) yes but may want to do a cam swap and consider keeping the vvt for benefit of the increased power/torque 2)4l60/65/70s in e38 ecm applications have a separate external tcm on the back of the ecm mounting bracket, 6l80/90 the tcm is internal to the trans 3)yes vvt can be used in a non vvt truck, just beeds to be tirned on in the ecm after wiring in the connector for it, after having driven 2 damn near idientical trucks except on having vvt and one not having vvt, yes the vvt is worth it, and 4) any gen iv from 07-14 will be a direct bolt in save the variances in vvt and dod, if you are staying 5.3 reuse your intake so you can use your map sensor in either 09 or 10 they started using the bisch map sensor and it is a different connector and different mounting hole... i know this post is old but maybe it will still be useful to someone..

Autowolf80

Good infomation thanks for the reply. Been trying to find good information on using the newer engines in a replacement situation. Do you know if I put the L96 from a 2011 into the 08 VMax would the stock 08 ecm run the L96 until I can get it tuned? Considering the L96 doesn't have the DOD provisions. I planed on using the 08 intake if possible.

Wolftrk99

iTrader: (5)

If the 08 has afm thats actually in use and vvt, it would need fo be tuned at least to shut off the dod...