general problems of the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Gm bulletin # 06-06-01-019b indicates a faulty castech head. No recalls, cost to repair is over $1,000. 00 this is a known faulty part that gm will not honor replacement.

At approximately 50 mph coolant loss from a cracked cylinder head sent a signal to the ecm to shut down the engine which caused the loss of power steering and control. Weather conditions were snow and wind and I was following two dry tracks in the road, upon loss of power the truck drifted onto an area of road covered in snow which nearly carried me off into a ditch. On a dry day if this had occurred inertia would have taken me on to a soft shoulder so in this instance the cold weather and snow actually helped the truck from drifting too far off the road. Once disabled along side the road the weather began to deteriorate to near white out conditions, thankfully another driver pulled up behind me about 50 yards back and used his flashers to warn on coming drivers. After the truck cooled a bit it re-started and I took for service. A mechanic noticed a cracked cylinder head as the culprit. I have come to learn this is a common problem with these vehicles. My wife will occasionally drive this truck and it could have been a different situation if she could not have muscled the unassisted steering to the side of the road. It is my belief that any condition that will shut down an engine under full power should be the responsibility of the manufacturer to fix.

The contact owns a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated the engine model 4. 8 is defective and as a result will constantly lose coolant due to the cracked motor head. The contact took the vehicle to a independent mechanic where they repaired the head gasket of the vehicle. The manufacture was made aware of the failure but unwilling to repair the vehicle. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000. The vehicle was not repaired.

1. Found needle bearings in oil during routine oil change. 2. Was told rocker arms were failing, vehicle had about 75,000 miles on it. 3. Replaced all rocker arms, cleaned out heads, removed engine oil pan cleaned and removed all material.

The contact owns a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact experienced several issues with his vehicle and took it to an independent mechanic for repair. When he took the receipt for the repair to the dealer, they refused to speak with him. The dealer claimed to have called the manufacturer and was informed that they were not responsible for the repair charges because the vehicle was serviced by an independent mechanic. The rear end seal, transmission collar, intake gasket, theupdated 04-20-09 head gasket on the engine, and the catalytic converter were all replaced. The failure mileage was 98,000.