08 Chevy Avy 5.3L DoD issue? Am I good now?
 

Hey guys,

Driving down the freeway enjoying a good tail wind and 30 mpg in 4 cylinder mode. Then there was a noticeable bump. Just then my stabilitrack and traction control systems went nuts and my check engine light started flashing.

Pulled off at the next exit and the Avy ran like crap. Code reader said miss on #7 so I swapped the coil and nothing. (Just did all new coils and had a spare with me). I cleared the codes again and tried driving it to figure out what was going on. Took off from a stop sign and boom. She purrs now. Won't go into DoD anymore tho. Even down hill coasting it stayed in 8 cylinder mode. So I pulled my diablo in tune out once we were at the hotel for the night and just disabled the DoD system.

Am I okay for now? I'm just trying to figure out what to do. I love building things but an engine is a tall order for me. I could do it but my inexperience could cost me big time. I'd love to build a 6.0L for some extra power. Nothing crazy just put it on a stand and build a new engine for a swap. But might blow the cute little Avy trans to bits if I'm not careful.

Interested in what some others have to say. I'll likely migrate to an Avy specific forum later but for now I'm interested in learning more about my specific GM DoD issue.

Perhaps a DoD lifter got stuck and caused all the misfires, then it sprung back and allowed the truck to drive like normal. Lifter issues is the biggest failure with DoD.

Hard to say how long it will last but keeping it turned off is the best way to help yourself here.

I'd either replace the lifters with new units or do a DoD delete kit with a new cam and tune.

Thanks for the reply. The reading I did this afternoon echo'd that. Pulling the heads, doing a DoD delete kit and a cam seems like the best route to go.

Cams haven't even crossed my mind until this afternoon. Any advice or links to info?

I've done cams on my Honda CRF 450 dirt bike. Pretty sure the Avy will be going to a shop for this work.

If you don't want to deal with a lopey cam and the need for tuning and stuff, you could just get a stock cam for a non DoD motor. I'm pretty sure you can do that because your truck is before the VVT stuff and no need to deal with that.

Might wanna research on that too.

Awesome thanks. I'll have a lot of reading to do. VVT is new to me. This is my daily driver and a lopey cam is what concerns me. I wouldn't mind a tiny bit. But if my Avy idles like an old muscle car I don't think I'd enjoy that for long.

I'm doing one now. Lifter messed up and it messed up the cam also. But the truck I'm working on had #4 missfire. You if do fix the dod there a filter under the oil pressure has to be swap out and dealer part only.