Posted on 08/24/2026 2:29:21 PM PDT by DFG
The 6.2-liter V8 found in certain Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade models has been recalled for more than a year now, but the remedy may not be to the government's satisfaction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it would investigate the recall after receiving complaints from owners who had experienced engine failures even after their trucks and SUVs had been repaired according to GM's standards.
Problematic Machining And Lubrication
The original recall of the 6.2-liter V8, codenamed L87 and also found under the hoods of some Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 pickups, pertained to machining flaws to the crankshaft and connecting rods, as well as foreign material that would clog oil passages and contaminate rod bearings. In extreme cases, affected vehicles would exhibit rod knock, losses of power, and complete engine failure.
GM traced the problem back to a supplier and worked out a solution to build the engine components to tighter standards, then issued NHTSA Safety Recall 25V-274 in 2025 for 597,000 examples of the company's full-size, body-on-frame SUVs and half-ton trucks. The recall inspection involved inspecting for excessive wear on the bearings and rods, with passing vehicles getting a higher-viscosity oil for better lubrication and failing units receiving entirely new engines.
Fixing A Fix Till It's Fixed
However, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received nearly 500 complaints from 6.2-liter V8 owners who alleged their vehicles suffered from engine failure even after successfully carrying out the manufacturer recall. Furthermore, ODI says that GM itself has received 6,900 such reports, although consolidating duplicates brought the total number of claims down to 6,050. As a result, the office opened an engineering analysis and recall query into GM's supposed remedy.
Making matters worse for Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC, the complaints don't just apply to the 2021–2024 models that the companies initially recalled. Newer SUVs and trucks not subject to the initial 2025 campaign (and theoretically built with the new component design) have also reported engine failures, meaning the solution might be more complicated than GM and its suppliers initially thought. The total number of vehicles covered by ODI's investigation totals 997,743 trucks and SUVs from the 2021 to 2026 model years, 400,000 units more than the company recalled last year.
The engineering analysis is still under way, so it's possible that the post-recall engine failures are related to something else entirely, whether that's driver error or some other mechanical issue. We'll reserve final judgment for when we hear more from either ODI or GM.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Long known for its steadfast reliability and flexibility, GM's small-block V8 has suffered a bit of a black eye as a result of these pesky 6.2-liter engines. And it's all the worse that many of the six-two's current customers are driving around in some of GM's most expensive vehicles, like the Escalade and Yukon Denali. Although the automaker wouldn't admit to anything, we suspect that the new 5.7-liter L76 and 6.6-liter L78 engines found in the 2027 Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 are an attempt to distract customers from the unfortunate reputation of the current engine (while also boasting improved power and capability over their predecessor). Here's hoping for a speedy solution for all current 6.2-liter V8 owners.
Good advice about the battery drain.
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Yeah, just make a mental note of this if you are parking for any length of time. The thing is that it just plugs into the OBD port on the steering column so it is a simply thing to reach down and pull it out.... one just needs to remember to do that! I don’t worry about it if I’m just parked for a few days but just to be careful, I wouldn’t leave it in if parked for a week.
The “Vortec 5.7” is an old Chevy 350 with a sticker on it. The “Vortec 5.3” is a LS-series that only shares the bore centers with it.
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That’s true... I think both are fairly good engines. I like the simplicity of the 5.7 but I’d perhaps give the edge to the 5.3 if the AFM is disabled...
You “redesigned it” with the delete module. Sounds like superior performance. Hope the AFM delete helps that engine last a long time.
On my 2020 F-150, the first thing I did was figure out how to permanently shut off the Auto-Start/Stop.
Thanks for the info, I’ll try to remember to pull it, when I’m out on the boat for extended periods. Cheers!
That's a pretty ignorant response, showing that you are not even remotely aware of the issue with the early Tritons. Evidently, you have no understanding of the following quote either:
"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it."
You are correct.
So why did that suddenly start happening in ~2024 when Toyota had decades when they could apparently clean out machined parts ?
It was a completely new twin turbo V6 design, not related to the older ones. One of their first to be fully computer optimized in design to use the least material and be most efficient. As a gross oversimplification, it turns out that some of the holes in the casting were blind or at weird angles and as such swarf got stuck in there and was not being properly washed out as part of the normal manufacturing procedure. The V35A motor has been redesigned for model year 2027 to hopefully fully fix the problem such that additional attention and hand cleaning is not required for those engines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QKr9qIgIEM
If you watch the above video, you’ll see that the tolerances are so fine that even a tiny bit of swarf that got missed will kill the motor, usually by spinning the main bearings.
There are other opinions out there, but the consensus is that in this case, it’s likely the answer.
Second this - on the early Mod motors, you could install and torque the plugs exactly to spec... and the engine would eject the plugs anyway. Some of them did it right off the showroom floor.
Discussion here: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/ford-modular-v-8-spark-plug-ejection.140907/
The original Mod motor heads had plug holes with only two full turns of thread. It wasn’t enough.
They over compensated because the plugs now have almost a 2 inch thread.
Not really. They’re running one set of heads for both the naturally aspirated and turbo/supercharged versions of their engines and they are running *serious* boost in factory supported configurations. There are factory aftermarket tunes and pulleys for the GT500 that have it knocking on the door of 20psi of boost on the stock assembly. Out of the box, the Ecoboost 3.5s can run 18psi.
Better safe than sorry and even with the big boost they run, they are *not* having plug ejection any more.
AFM is only a recent addition to the LS line. There’s millions of them out there that don’t have it, and there are delete/defeat methods for those that do.
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