I bought a '14 Yukon Denali w/ <48K on it for Mama a few weeks ago.

I got the AFM disabler today. It is Range Technology brand.

https://www.rangetechnology.com/products/afm-dfm_disabler/

I slipped it into the slot and headed for town today. I drove the rig about forty miles. If I had not pulled up the display to show V4 vs V8 activation, we would not have known the difference.

If the vehicle ever needed a smog check, or other access to the OBD port, you just pull the plug out and replace it later. The mechanic assured me, no learn period. Just plug it in and go.

If I had an AFM vehicle I would probably look into one as well. As you probably know, it doesn’t really solve the root problem, as the AFM valve lifters are still in place and can still cause issues. I suppose it’s better than nothing, but I would still be nervous about the AFM/lifter related failures.

Do those work on the new ones that shut off different amounts of cylinders instead of just half of them. I don't know what those ladies at gm did with the newer 5.3s and 6.2s but I've head a lot of people having valve and lifter problems, major problems.

Bb

I do not know about that.

My mechanic did mention a unit which disables the engine shut off at every red light, and a unit which does that as well as disables the cylinder deactivation.

A fool and their money……

If you loved her you’d have bought her a Toyota.

I had a Pulsar unit on my 2020 1/2 ton Denali. Just traded that truck for a 2024 AT4X and am going to order another a.s.a.p. Good units.

Range Tech doesnt have a unit for 2024 GM trucks yet. I'm waiting.

I thought this was going to be about a 270 rifle.

Every year when I pull mine for emissions I have to drive it and reset all the sensors...except one. We're allowed one not set in PA. Your mechanic is wrong. And some are a PITA to get the sensors to set. I used to drive the sob 300 miles to get them to set. Figured it out though. Drive 20 on warm engine. Let it sit overnight, cold start idle for 3-5 minutes theyre all ready.

I have a Pulsar on my 21 Silverado and it lets me control the AFM, Start/Stop, adjust the speedometer for tire size, speed limiter, tire pressure sensors and probably some more things I can't remember. It plugs in under the hood and lets me control things with the steering wheel buttons. Takes about 2 minutes to install or remove. https://www.rangetechnology.com/products/pulsar_lt/

kind of hard to say how good a unit is if its only on a vehicle 3 years or so.

Didn’t realize until I saw this thread that GM had gone back to the boneyard of bad ideas to inflict this absurdity on a new generation of true believers. Thought they’d have learned their lesson 40 years ago with their Cadillac “8-6-4” disaster.

When I worked for them in those days, saw how they’d sequentially pull dies off the casting lines to make engineering changes to the product in the middle of a production run, just keep running them, leave the beta testing to the consumer…. Figure you might have several flow patterns in a run of intake manifolds, all the same part number, all the “correct” fit…

That’s when I bought my first Toyota, never looked back.

Had one on my GMC for ten years, does that count?

My 2017 Silverado with the 6.2 cost me 5000 dollars for lifter repair just before I sold it. Less than 70000 miles and not abused. Edk

I have this as well. It will also let you set the sensitivity of the throttle. I set it to "3" and throttle response is way better. You can set it to "5", but the pedal is way too sensitive.
All things considered, it is a little peace of mind, but as stated above, the lifters are still in it.

Whoever engineered this, and thought it was a good idea to activate and deactivate lifters, was/is an absolute idiot.

I do believe Summit has a lifter kit to replace the 2 piece lifter design. However, the computer needs to be chipped if doing the conversion. As Ed stated, just to replace the bad lifter is a ton of money. From what I have seen, the heads have to come off in order to replace the lifters. There are also fuel rails under the intake that are one time use. Those get replaced also.

Hindsight, wish I would have bought the 2500 with the 6.6 gas V8. It has regular hydraulic lifters and no DFM. Didn't really need a 3/4 ton truck, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about this issue.

Clyde

My new Chevy V8 does not have the valve shut off. It was discontinued for the 2024. I still have the shutoff for the red light. I have pretty much gotten used to it.

kwg

This.

My Dad worked on everything from cranes, power wagons, cars, trucks. Told me once he'd bought his last American car. Never bought anything but Toyota, Hondas, Nissan, Subaru after that. Too much maintenance on American cars and trucks.

From conversations with a couple dealership mechanics, the problems with AFM system is most prevalent and almost guaranteed in two cases. Case one, people ignore the factory specification for oil and try to run 15-40 diesel or other higher than spec weights. Case two, people ignore the factory oil change interval. If you're avoiding those two cases then odds are greatly in your favor of not having issues.

One of my farm landlords had one of those Cadillacs with the 8-6-4 in it. He thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Ran the delights out of it and traded it off about 5 years later. Still running when he traded it.

If the lifters do collapse, my understanding is there are a couple of solutions. The cheap/temporary one is to use a rod ground at a 45 degree angle to ‘uncollapse’ the lifters through an oil passage. The other is to replace the cam and lifters with with ones out of a 6.0 L (I believe). A quick search can confirm the details. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Yes, it happens far more than it should, but the odds are still decent that it won’t be an issue. The disabled is supposed to help by reducing wear that is induced by the lifters collapsing.

I have the 2500 with the 6.6 gas motor. It’s a solid platform, but mileage is pretty bad. 12’ish mixed. It gets better on the highway (speed dependent). 18.5 or so at 60-65, 14.5 or so at 75.

Which AWD Toytota is capable of comfortably towing 8000 lbs?
And has the entry step height of the Yukon or lower?
And is available with less than 50,000 miles for $27,000.

I looked for two years.,

With the disabler, I am playing the odds. It is reported that the frequency of valve train failures is lower with the disabler installed. It is pretty cheap insurance.

A lot cheaper than rebuilding the top end and removing the hardware right now, which I did discuss with mechanic. Cam, Lifters, etc, etc.

I have been averaging 15 MPG overall with 91 octane in the vehicle including freeway runs at 85 mph, and 2 mile hops into town. It will be interesting to see if that changes.

Oil changes? Pennzoil Platinum, Mobile One, or Castrol pure synthetic every 5000 miles.

I wonder how that 6.6 would do if you went with taller gears. I prefer a 1/2 ton because I don't tow but that 6.6 with gears for the highway and not for towing might do ok if a guy doesn't need the low end grunt.

I never thought I'd own a Ford but my 2021 powerboost f150 has been great so far. I mainly bought it because I thought the built in 7.2kwatt generator was cool and the seats were more comfortable for me but it has a ton of power. It out runs my friends 6.2 chevy pretty easily and averages 19 mpg overall over its life. It was supposed to get 24 mpg but I've never seen it get that.

Good news is that gm just invested about a billion dollars to tool up to build a new small block v8. I think they finally realized they wouldn't be able to milk their current ones and turbo 4 until everyone's forced electric. Lets hope the DEI ladies at gm design an awesome new v8.

There's no charging stations where I hunt deer so I'd probably never buy an all electric truck and neither would many guys who actually need a truck.

They realized that people don't buy trucks just because they might have to bring an 86" TV home from Costco some day. It's not just a grocery getter that hauls more groceries. I can just imaging having to haul a generator and several cans of gas with you hunting so you can charge your truck each day of the hunt. That's progressive progress.

Bb

Tag

I just flat ass won't own another American vehicle until they get their act together. Period. BTDT. Over and over and over. If that's what I had to do, I'd find a way to do it with a Japanese vehicle.

I believe the Sequoia will tow that but not AWD. IMO - AWD isn't worth the mileage hits compared to simply going 4x4 when extra traction is needed but others might need differently.

The Sequoia was on the list of potential candidates.

HP and Torque....slight advantage to GMC

Availabilty within 500 mile shopping range....large advantage to GMC

Six speed auto trans.....draw

4x4 vs AWD....advantage Toyota

Tow capability.....draw

Fuel economy.....draw

Purchase price.....HUGE advantage to GMC

A Sequoya within our budget would have had two to three times the miles on the odometer.

But if it lasts 4x as long....

Not a consideration, We will both be dead before this Yukon hits 100K

IS, I get it that sometimes the numbers just don't pencil out depending on prices of American or Japanese vehicles. Living where you do I can see why the Chevys and Fords are much cheaper than the Toyotas. Heck, I was stunned by the price of used Tacomas around here. Longevity = high demand. So does the ability to haul stuff.

But, I've got such a bad taste in my mouth from the last 3 American trucks I've owned. Darn near rebuilt all 3 from the ground up. I'm just not going to do that again.

My 4Runner gets babied, for sure. But, the only issue by Toyota was the ac blower motor, and it happened soon enough that it was under the warranty.

I typically keep my vehicles 12 or 13 years. So my penciling has to do with maintenance along that spectrum.

I have a lifetime of experience trying to keep old Toyotas and Chevrolets on the road. I typically buy them at ten to fifteen years with 150 K on the meter, then try to get another 100 K out of them.

Toyota Pickups, about ten since 1982, Toyota Celicas? My first car was a '71 Celica in 1978. There have been about ten more Celicas over the years, but never a FWD.

Also Chevy trucks and cars. From a 65 GMC 305 V6 4x4 3/4 ton bought by my wife and I in '84 and used until '90. Not to mention a '60, a '62, a '64, and a '66 Chevy pickups used on the farm while I was in Jr High and High School. All four were I6 engines w/ 4 speed trannies.

There were numerous cars used for commuting and packing the kids. And finally, the last pickup I will ever own, (barring it gets wrecked, or the US quits selling gasoline) the '01 GMC extended cab Sierra 4x4 2500 HD sitting in the yard with the goose neck hitch and camper tie downs.

In reality, I can not see a nickel's difference in keeping either brand running after 150,000 miles. With one exception.

That being a '99 Chevy S 10 Blazer I bought in 02. That SOB cost me more in repairs the first two years than I paid for the car.

In fifteen years, it went through four fuel pumps. In 03, that was a $600 expense. They got cheaper over time.

It had wire harness issues which cost a small fortune to diagnose. And it went through three transfer cases. But that 4.3 Vortec engine and 4L60 tranny were bullet proof.

But that is matched by a '92 Toyota 4 Runner with the 3.0 V6 and automatic. My daughter and her husband were driving it. It got a pin hole in the radiator. They burned the engine up letting it run out of water.

Okay, that happens. Someone should have fixed the radiator.

Five grand for a new Jasper engine installed. Four years later it started missing. We had to pull the heads and replace the valves. About four years later it started missing again. I sold it quickly and cheap.

If only it had been equipped with the 22RE and a five speed manual, I would still be driving that thing, instead of the Honda Accord sitting outside.

Oh yes. The one new car I purchased in my life. An 82 Toyota pickup w/ 22R engine (carbed) and five speed manual. At 90 days and 12,000 miles the reverse gear broke in the transmission. It had a 12,500 mile warranty, I barely squeaked by on that one. Then I had to replace the clutch disc, cover and flywheel at 180 days and 20,000 miles.

I would be really hard pressed to name one brand over the other in terms of dependability based on fifty years of ownership and use.

I ignore my factory oil change interval and change my oil at 5000 miles.

My family's Toyota experience has been completely different from yours.

I do not rate my experience with Toyotas as bad by any means. The 22R and 22RE were a couple of the best engines to ever be built in the world.

It is that my experience with GM is just as good.

I think you’re lying

If running full synthetic and a good oil filter, when we still tested oil, you could easily run 5000, swap filters, run another 5000 and then full change. Oil was as good as new old Dino oil was at 3000.

I've never seen a related issue and your changing at 5000 certainly won't create an issue either.

OTOH the motors are built and tuned to certain viscosity ranges and we do follow that fairly closely.

You are free to think what ever you wish.

That does not change my experience. I have taken plenty of both to 250k - 300K. And then sent plenty of both to the crusher.

Continuous Improvement... 😁

Job security for some of us. 😛

I put a range one in my 2014 Suburban after fowling a plug. Never remember any EFI I had do that. My old carbed Blazer yes. I think it has 130 k on it now. Noticed oil consumption went way down too.