Finally happened. Lifter tick.

Tonimus · May 19, 2026

Took the wife, kids, and dogs up to the Mogollon Rim this past weekend. Tahoe ran great as usual. 16mpg pulling our camping gear trailer up the big hills is pretty decent.

We were way out in the sticks and didn't see another human all weekend it was fantastic. We were able to let our dogs off leash the whole time and it was great. Stopped on the way home at a self serve dog wash place to get them clean before heading the last 5 miles home.

THREE MILES from home I lost a lifter. Could hear it clacking away. Sitting in the driveway at idle, it sounds awful. I'm hoping it didn't wipe the cam and I can get away with replacing the lifters.

stutaeng · May 19, 2026

Not good...Sorry to hear that.

My 04 project Suburban (that's been sitting for years now) also developed a tick and a misfire. I had parked it at my brother's house for several months. I drove it home and didn't go away. Got home and had a misfire on #7. Checked spark and wire and was okay. Did not have an even sounding compression sound when cranking so I removed the driver's side valve cover and rocker was very loose. I removed it and tried to remove the pushrod and it was bent. Doh!

No sure what happened? Got other projects going on, so will have to wait to find out the damage.

Hopefully it's just a lifter in your case...Keep up posted.

Tonimus · May 19, 2026

I've got no other symptoms than the tick. I'll start with the valve cover. Maybe a rocker is starting to let go. Not sure if that would be better or worse. But I'm not digging into it until Saturday anyway. It's my DD and I'm sad about it. But I've got my motorcycle and my wife has her DD and her motorcycle too. At least I can get around.

Harry Dawg · May 19, 2026

Good luck! Never a good time when the daily driver goes down. Hopefully it's an easy fix.
Just curious - How many miles are on the old girl?

Tonimus · May 19, 2026

Harry Dawg said:
Good luck! Never a good time when the daily driver goes down. Hopefully it's an easy fix.
Just curious - How many miles are on the old girl?

Just rolled past 225k.

5202500HD · May 19, 2026

Tonimus said:
Just rolled past 225k.

Our 2015 GMC Yukon Denali XL just did this. The 6.2 only had 126,000 easy miles. Problem with just doing the cam/lifters is that if the lifter or cam got damaged, metal circulates throughout the engine. The cams have a laminate on them which degrades and leads to the issue. Sooner or later a bottom end knock will develop. I got quotes from 3 places for a Jasper with AFM delete and felt it wasn't worth it. Sold it for $10K with full disclosure last week. Luckily the 2500's and up don't have AFM especially mine with the 5spd manual. I'll never own another vehicle with AFM (Active Fuel Management) or DOD (Displacement on Demand) both GM garbage technology in my opinion.

ORVietVet · May 19, 2026

5202500HD said:
Our 2015 GMC Yukon Denali XL just did this. The 6.2 only had 126,000 easy miles. Problem with just doing the cam/lifters is that if the lifter or cam got damaged, metal circulates throughout the engine. The cams have a laminate on them which degrades and leads to the issue. Sooner or later a bottom end knock will develop. I got quotes from 3 places for a Jasper with AFM delete and felt it wasn't worth it. Sold it for $10K with full disclosure last week. Luckily the 2500's and up don't have AFM especially mine with the 5spd manual. I'll never own another vehicle with AFM (Active Fuel Management) or DOD (Displacement on Demand) both GM garbage technology in my opinion.

Very smart decision.

Tonimus · May 20, 2026

My '06 is not a DOD engine. And with 225k on the clock, if it is just a collapsed lifter, it will get new lifters. I checked the oil for sparklies right after I shut it down and found none. We'll see when I open it up.

Tonimus · May 26, 2026

Didn't take the heads off. Going to be a while for parts to get here. But I did order lifters, rockers, head bolts, and gaskets. My buddy has a LQ9 cam if I need to replace the cam, so we should be good for parts.

Here's a rocker. She's a little bit loose. Click for video.