When you spend big money on a full-size truck or SUV, it’s reasonable to expect plenty of torque, smooth cruising, and solid durability. While late-model high-end GM trucks were great at the first two things, reliability on one engine left much to be desired. After months of investigation and years of posts from angry owners, GM has finally recalled nearly 600,000 trucks and SUVs with the L87 6.2-liter V8 for defective rotating assembly parts that can cause sudden catastrophic engine failure.
If you aren’t familiar with the L87, it’s GM’s 6.2-liter V8 with automatic stop-start and dynamic fuel management, the standard engine in Escalades, High Country Silverados, full-size Denalis, the trucks that people spend the big bucks on. It pumps out a stout 420 horsepower and 460 lb.-ft. of torque which can move an apartment building-sized slab of General Motors machismo to 60 MPH in fewer than six seconds, or it can just blow up.
See, over the past six or so years, owners of high-trim half-ton GM trucks and SUVs have reported engines conking out, sometimes at alarmingly low mileage. Lewin previously covered this issue, and I highly recommend clicking this link if you want to read reports of engine failure at alarmingly short intervals after pulling off dealership lots. Some owners report going through two engines in less than 30,000 miles.
Earlier this year, NHTSA launched an investigation into the 6.2-liter V8s in 2019 and newer Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, and 2021 and newer Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade SUVs. Normally, there’s a data submission deadline that can be extended if a manufacturer needs extra time, and the data deadline for this NHTSA investigation got extended twice, with the final partial extension approved for April 25. Well, April 24 came, and that’s when the defect report showed up. More than merely turning over data to NHTSA, this is an actual potential remedy for consumers with the L87 engine, but it’s frustrating that it took GM “three prior investigations into this condition in February 2022, June 2023, and July 2024” and a government investigation for the problem to be recognized, at least according to recall documents.
Now, that timeline already gets our spidey sense tingling, but the rest of the 573 Recall Report is just as monocle-popping. As the official recall document states:
GM’s investigation identified 28,102 field complaints or incidents in the US potentially related to failure of the L87 engine due to crankshaft, connecting rod, or engine bearing failure, of which 14,332 involved allegations of loss of propulsion. These field complaints were received between April 29, 2021, and February 3, 2025. GM identified 12 potentially related alleged crashes and 12 potentially related alleged injuries in the U.S.; all specifically alleged injuries were minor or non-physical, and most were not crash related. GM also identified 42 potentially related fire allegations in the U.S., but in the majority of these cases (a) the causation of these incidents is unclear and (b) the alleged fire damage is contained to the engine compartment and consistent with damage that can occur, in rare instances, during engine failure.
Whew, there’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s do just that. Firstly, nearly 30,000 reports of engine failure is a huge number. Remember when Toyota recalled its 3.4-liter turbocharged V6 for engine failure? That happened after only 824 warranty claims, including 166 field reports, meaning GM let its 6.2-liter problem get 34 times larger than Toyota’s V6 problem before pulling the recall lever. If all 28,102 field complaints are indeed related to this issue and GM claims 597,630 vehicles are affected, that would result in a failure rate of 4.7 percent, exceeding the failure rate of the dual-row version of Porsche’s dreaded IMS bearing roughly fourfold.
What’s more, these aren’t clear-cut cases of drivers harmlessly limping their trucks to service departments; these defective crankshafts and connecting rods may have led to 12 injuries. There may be a real human toll here, and that’s before we get into the potential psychological impacts of 12 “potentially related alleged crashes” and 42 possible fires.
Considering we were already seeing plenty of L87 V8 failures in 2021, it shouldn’t have taken this long for these 6.2-liter engines to be recalled, and it looks like not all examples are covered. This recall doesn’t include models made before March 1, 2021, and considering engine failures in earlier trucks have been documented, it wouldn’t be surprising if this recall gets expanded. As for the fix, GM’s specifying a higher oil viscosity for the L87 and a new oil filter in addition to replacing problematic engines currently equipped with defective crankshafts and/or connecting rods. If you own a vehicle with one of these affected engines built between March 1, 2021 and May 31, 2024, expect to hear from GM in early June about this fix. Otherwise, sit tight.
Top graphic credit: GMC
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Does anyone know what’s going on here? They’ve been making these things for awhile already and I’m assuming the internals are the same as the older 6.2s, which are known for being pretty good and reliable (once the AFM is removed)
I have to wonder if they cheapened out on material, suppliers or both… either way whether it be American, Japanese or what have you I’ve never been more convinced to not bother buying a new car or truck than these last few years lol
The failure rate here is Fiero level.
1 in 20 engines failed. Wow.
The Toyota 3.4 problem is basically non-existent compared to this.
Yet, journalists have been shouting from the rooftops to avoid this Toyota engine that’s basically a bomb.
I have a friend who like most people, doesn’t follow auto enthusiast news.
Still, he knows about the bad Toyota engines all too well because everyone does.
He bought one of these L87 trucks because he was afraid of the unreliable Toyota.
Wrong. The Toyota problem is JUST AS SERIOUS.
I am not giving a free pass to either manufacturer because of the sheer serious ness but the way this article has worded it is bad….
And mind you, since WHERE DID THEY GET THE 28K figure from?
That said, the TT V6 is NOT CHEAP out of warranty, if you want a replacement.
“WHERE DID THEY GET THE 28K figure from?”
They got it from the official recall document from GM.
Regardless of your feelings about either of these engines, the numbers tell the truth.
According to the numbers, the L87 issue is 34 times worse than the Toyota issue.
This illustrates my point perfectly though.
People, like yourself, think the Toyota is junk because of overwhelming press regarding the engine failures.
Hearing about an unreliable Toyota gets the clicks. People are interested in those stories because it’s something you don’t hear everyday.
Journalists lean into this low hanging fruit, and it makes the issue seem much much larger than it actually is.
I read the article yes….
The L87 is 34 times worse…thats because of the VOLUME. And, as I said, that doesn’t make the V35A better, because MY24s and hybrids have failed as well.
and I consider BOTH THE L87 AND THE V35A junk.
For a more direct comparison, roughly 5% of recalled L87s failed, while 0.8% of recalled Tundras failed.
The fact that Toyota issued the recall early means that there are only 800 or so engines out there that have had an issue, so you have very little chance of encountering one. Even if you bought one during the height of the engine failure crisis, you had less than a 1% chance of your engine having an issue.
GM has 28,000 problematic L87s out there, and it will take a while to fix all those. Parts will be hard to get with the supply chain collapsing, etc.
In Trump’s America though, you should never let facts get in the way of your feelings.
Gm finally decided to do somthing about the 6.2 junk what took them so long I’m not going to bash gm I’m going to bash them all GM ,Ford,and Stellantis all builds nothing but junk and as Americans we are so stupid to buy them trucks are 100k and the big three needs to choke on the junk,them 100k vehicles everbody has is nothing butc junk v6 engines with turbos in trucks everthing built today has a turbo charger on it toyota only put 4cly with turbos in most of new vehicles ,toyota had to resort to giving everyone a lifetime warranty just to get the junk bought and let’s talk diesel all the big three diesels are junk they got so much pollution stuff on them they can’t run not to mention the fuel systems grenade thier selves at the drop of a hat . We as Americans are going to have demand auto manufacturers to build better vehicles or we need to let then go bankrupt all of them ,we need to stop buying the vehicles all of us do
I can’t see an oil viscosity change resolving this
No, but I can absolutely see today’s ridiculously thin oils contributing to the problem in the first place.
Automakers use ultra low viscosity oils in the US not because it’s better for reliability, but because it helps them pass emissions regulations. I’m no hater of clean air, but did we learn nothing from the malaise era?
It can often be seen looking at the owner’s manual in other markets where 30 weight is the norm. But in this case, it isn’t going to solve a defect. Low mileage units are blowing up. I read somewhere that 2025 units have design changes which is why they aren’t included in the recall.
The real question is whether 2025s will be included as well. I would not be surprised.
“all specifically alleged injuries were minor or non-physical”
Embarrassment? The shock of reevaluating one’s worldview upon learning that Cadillac is no longer the standard of the world, and is just a fancy Chevrolet with a crap motor.?
I blame it on the lack of ducks. The god of ducks is displeased and until Cadillac restores the ducks, this will continue.
Saturday, the Cadillac F1 team could make amends by putting Ducks in their livery.
This is killing me as I’m in the market for a 5.3 Suburban or Yukon XL. Seeing oddly high prices on the higher-trim 5.3s as people avoid the 6.2s.
5.3s are good, but the transmission TC problems are nightmares. And everyone has problems now….all mfgs.
Best solution is to look at used low mileage example USED MY20 and before. Well maintained too.
Can we be honest here? wouldn’t it have been better for GM to have taken care of this on the 59th engine that self destructed instead of waiting until it was 597,630? don’t these warranty departments have any contact with the engineering departments? don’t these companies have any sense of urgency? don’t these companies have any sense of shame for shafting their customers?
This is BS ridiculous.
This is for all car companies. My CRV has the startup rattle, well documented all over the internet. It was a nightmare to get them to acknowledge it in writing, followed by a half passed TSB that doesn’t permanently fix it (at my own cost, of course). If they don’t want to stand behind their product, then neither will I. Thanks for making my list of future vehicles that much easier to choose from Honda.
Vote with your wallet people.
Car companies are the same as all other big corpos… don’t give a sh!t until they have to really do something about it and even then they’d rather just pay a fee instead of actually fixing their mess
From the size of the grills on the front of those monsters I am guessing they had serious overheating problems from the start.
You overheat metal and it breaks.
GM broke the unbreakable small block
To be fair, they’ve been having issues for a while now. Ever since they started using cylinder deactivation (AFM/DoD) they’ve had issues.
Didn’t dodge have similar issues with their 5.7 HEMIs wiping cam lobes due to AFM/DoD problems too?
Do these systems ever work right? Feels like it was one of those ideas that was novel when it first was created, tried, failed but they keep on doing it in the face of evidence that it has a high failure rate.
All because of GOV/EPA regulations. And QC problems.
I feel bad management was there from the START as well.
Take a shot every time they say “allegedly”.
If you also take a shot every time their lawyers said they should use “allegedly”, you will exactly double the amount of shots.
(and also be extra dead, probably.)
I knew a woman who drove an LT900 and then traded it in on and got a 3rd Gen Lexus LX 570 after a divorce. (This was all in very, obnoxiously, status conscious Texas.)
The Lexus turned out to be very problematic. It was luxurious. But it spent a lot of time in the shop, and she got frustrated, traded it in on a ’20 or ’21 Tahoe.
Hope she didn’t get one of those crap engines.
The back story of this all could make a novel or maybe a reality TV show. But I will spare you the details. But dang! (as they say there), it can be very dramatic down there.
Sorry to hear. What was the issue with the LX?
I know they have coolant valley plate problems, some valve spring issues that can be fatal when they happen (not every unit, but still)…
It’s been over four years and all I know was that it got towed to the dealership several times. Sorry for no further details.
I see.
Are the images created with AI ? Or actual cars? The horror!
Now now, AI might actually use smaller grille designs. 🙂
If the reference is true that there were people hurt by these things grenading, if their lawyers can show GM knew about it well in advance, it could get very punitive for GM.
A lifelong Chevy guy (I just retired my 200,000 mile LS3 2005 Suburban) I’d heard so many stories from owners I personally know about engine and transmission failures in Silverados/Suburbans I purchased a 2024 Tundra even though I know a guy who had the engine replaced in his ‘22.
4.8% is an astronomically bad number and it sounds only likely to grow.
2024 tundras have also suffered engine failures. Be carefull and GET AN EXTENDED WARRANTY.
I sure as f*ck did – 10 years/100k. The Costco discount more than paid for it.
But Toyota’s number was 835/100,000, so 0.85%, high for car manufacturer but still quite unlikely for this guy.
If ever your have a TT V6 failure out of warranty…..be careful. I read estimates as high as 25k-32k…
Best of luck.
Manufactures define “quality” differently than you or I. They define it as customer experience / satisfaction, not actual reliability or durability. It is a very American thing to provide the lowest quality product that the customer will accept.
This is the best, and most accurate comment I’ve seen in a long time. Spot on.
Sir. You dont know what you are talking about. CQE and DER here.
I went to a Cadillac dealer to test drive an old Lexus LX 470. I asked about any Tahoes they had. The salesman walked me to the service area where at least four SUVs were getting engine out replacements. There were random engine blocks laying around the shop. He said he would avoid these engines like the plague.
Kudos to that salesman.
Well, that was a surprisingly candid salesperson, knowing that the underlying issue almost certainly affected similarly spec’d Cadillacs.
I did appreciate his honesty. Although I was there looking at a 20 year old Lexus that was about 1/3rd the price of the newer SUVs so he may have figured I wasn’t in the market anyways.
And he was a good salesman, he probably would get a decent cut out of the Lexus, especially if it was a trade-in (and also likely sell a more reliable vehicle).
Are any of GM’s current light truck engines not crap? The turbomax scares me for hauling too much weight around with a 4 cyl; the 5.3 has issues. What about the baby Duramax that they’re discontinuing? Discontinuing for a reason other than “people don’t buy diesels” (though I would if it were a good motor)?
They are killing the Duramax 3.0? Seriously? Shit, that sucks. That’s been their only interesting engine for quite a while now.
They discontinued the LM2 in the SUVs. They replaced it with the updated LZ0 that was already in use in the trucks. Still alive for now.
My mistake. I really prefer the light diesel instead of a hybrid or turbo/super charged 4. Ford and Ram couldn’t seem to nail it down; hope that GM can.
I was stopped near a white Silverado 1500 recently and thought “Damn, that thing is loud.” Then, I saw the Duramax badge. I was immediately then thinking “Carry on, good sir.”
The 2.7 four is a good motor. It’s built stout for truck use.
Oh yeah. Sign me up for a Chevy Vega super pressure ready to blow 4 banger in a 5800 pound pick up. Are you high?
https://www.hagerty.com/media/maintenance-and-tech/gm-engineer-revised-l3b-turbo-four-is-a-true-truck-engine/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYzWoAJYFe4
Analyses say it is, and feedback has been relatively decent. As for yourself, meth users are some people i would expect to be overly aggressive with their 40-year-old platitudes on a Thursday morning.
The TurboMax is probably the best engine they are putting in the truck right now. Maybe not on peak numbers, but it’s stout, reliable, and been around for a fair amount of time now.
The big shame though is that the “fix” for the LTs seems so obvious (remove AFM) but I’d wager they need it for fuel economy and emissions ratings. So I guess the real fix is a lot harder; why they’ve avoided implementing something on their bread and butter, is beyond me.
I think the whole AFM thing is separate to this. This is a bearing/crankshaft issue.
Even if they sort that out, I expect there will still be AFM issues to look forward to!
The 2.7 makes more torque and has a better torque curve than the 5.3. It’s more than capable.
Hasn’t GM learned anything? Now they are deactivating all 8 cylinders?
The redesigned the idle start/stop system. Now, it’s just stop
V8-6-4-0
hahaha…