Photo: Chevrolet
GM had to issue a service update for a few examples of the Silverado HD trucks with the 6.6-liter L8T gasoline engine. The reason: the crankshaft balancer of those engines was not correctly seated and needs to be fixed. The repairs will incur no costs to the vehicles’ owners.
Carmakers sometimes get things wrong because, you know, errare humanum est. Most of the production line is indeed run by robots today, but humans still make a great deal of the components and put everything together, so there’s a lot to go wrong during manufacturing. Cars are incredibly complex products, with tens of thousands of parts. Any of them could be defective, ruining an otherwise great product.
This is why we have recalls, although not always things get that far. Most of the time, carmakers fix more minor problems quietly during visits to the dealer for regular maintenance. This has two benefits: for once, there are fewer reports of quality problems, and second, the customers are happy that the manufacturer took the time to solve a problem that he didn’t know he had.
GM chose to take this path in dealing with a crankshaft balancer problem in the L8T engines installed in the 2022 Chevy Silverado HD trucks. According to GM Authority, just five trucks were built with a crankshaft balancer that was not fully seated. The service update issued says that dealerships would replace the crankshaft balancer on affected vehicles with no additional costs to the vehicles’ owners. The technicians would replace the crankshaft front main seal, crankshaft balancer bolt, and the air conditioning belt along with the faulty balancer shaft.
General Motors has not indicated what would happen if the owners of the affected vehicles do not proceed with a replacement for the affected parts. An engine with an improperly installed crankshaft balancer may be prone to experiencing harsh vibrations and premature wear and tear, among others.
This is why we have recalls, although not always things get that far. Most of the time, carmakers fix more minor problems quietly during visits to the dealer for regular maintenance. This has two benefits: for once, there are fewer reports of quality problems, and second, the customers are happy that the manufacturer took the time to solve a problem that he didn’t know he had.
GM chose to take this path in dealing with a crankshaft balancer problem in the L8T engines installed in the 2022 Chevy Silverado HD trucks. According to GM Authority, just five trucks were built with a crankshaft balancer that was not fully seated. The service update issued says that dealerships would replace the crankshaft balancer on affected vehicles with no additional costs to the vehicles’ owners. The technicians would replace the crankshaft front main seal, crankshaft balancer bolt, and the air conditioning belt along with the faulty balancer shaft.
General Motors has not indicated what would happen if the owners of the affected vehicles do not proceed with a replacement for the affected parts. An engine with an improperly installed crankshaft balancer may be prone to experiencing harsh vibrations and premature wear and tear, among others.
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