Why You Shouldn't Buy a Silverado Made After 2006
Opinion Piece
Many from my recently abandoned Youtube channel will recall how I traded my 2024 Nissan Frontier Pro4x for a used 2017 Chevy Silverado with 127,000 miles on it. We’re at 137,000 now, and I’ve had a lot of time to ponder the consequences of my strange decision, and my overall view of Chevrolet as a brand.
Let’s start right off with the worst; I’ve got an occasional blinking check engine light for a cylinder 7 misfire (700 codes thrown, to be precise) and metal shavings beginning to show up in my oil. My condition is not uncommon among other rhinestone cowboys. It’s quite likely the cylinder 7 collapsible lifter is sticking, and chewing up the cam. When lucky, this is a $2500 to $4000 repair, if the damage stays limited to the lifter and cam themselves. Unfortunately, it’s often hard to diagnose the issue until the lifter and cam have degraded to a point they’re flinging metal through your engine like an excited toddler’s finger painting.
One may find themselves spending well in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars should their engine get cratered by this process.
“But Scott Diesel, it’s not that common of an issue. You’re just unlucky.”I’ll have you all know that I’ve won a slot machine jackpot, so I’m as lucky as the best of ‘em. There are no official numbers out there for how many have been hit with these massive repair bills, but most shops I’ve talked to have quite a bit of experience in the repair process. Tons of posts and Youtubes detail the woes so many owners fall into, even after meticulously maintaining their oil and engines over the years.
The reason I can boldly say no one should ever buy a Silverado made after 2006, is that this is a design flaw present in every single Silverado on the road, made after that year. It’s systemic, and very expensive to remedy through deletion of the system itself. Which leaves you no escape. Every modern Silverado 1500 you see on used car lots is a potential hot potato; something someone dumped off to escape massive repair bills.
Don’t Buy A Chevy Silverado Made After 2006
It was in 2007 that Chevy (and many other brands) began looking for even more complicated, and expensive, means to increase fuel efficiency numbers. The underlying issues with this bold pursuit had been an issue for gasoline cars from the beginning; there’s only so efficient current engine designs can be. So, the government slapped mandates on fuel efficiency and emissions standards. Engineers tasked with achieving these impossible numbers did what engineers do in every field of the same condition; they slapped whatever they could on engines to achieve them.
All of these hacky additions (sensors, emissions systems, cylinder deactivation, hybrid batteries and power management software) all increased the complexity of engines considerably and delivered just enough MPG gains to please shareholders and match standards. These changes most considerably impacted SUVs and pickup trucks, as they were the vehicles in greatest demand and most subjected to the underlying efficiency issues in the first place.
Chevrolet Silverado After 2006 = Bad
Some folks really are lucky, and you’ll see them being vocal on forums across the internet as you debate internally on purchasing such a vehicle.
“I’ve had 281,000 miles with nothing but oil changes!” - The one guy who actually did get lucky, and obviously didn’t trade his in.Reality is, there are certain to be more people enjoying mostly trouble-free experiences with their Silverados, but they’re also not trading theirs in. Keep in mind too, that these people are similar to those that brag about never needing health insurance in our horrific healthcare system. It’s only true until it’s not, and it’s very likely that at some point it won’t be true. Sadly, your repair bill on one of these modern trucks may look eerily reminiscent of the bill from an Emergency clinic.
2006, the Last Year to Purchase a Silverado
That’s really all there is to the decision making process. If you’re a strapping gentleman who fancies the rough country image, and are inspecting various Silverados at lots across your city, you need only look at the year it was manufactured. If it’s after 2006, it was engineered with numerous near-impossible mandates that conflicted heavily with the company’s overall goal to make profits. You’re considering the purchase of an engineer’s science fair project, not a vehicle with quality, durability, and long-term ownership in mind. Plenty of shiny looks and somewhat modern tech gadgets were tacked on to draw you in, but behind them, lies a stressful mess of parts that will cost you dearly over the years.
So What Should You Buy That WAS Made After 2006?
The unfortunate truth is that any modern truck is going to cost you. The Tundra is ultra reliable, but ultra expensive, and has EPA numbers that look like a window sticker from the 70’s. The Nissan Titans have a super cool engine, but seem riddled with expensive electronic and transmission issues of all kinds. Some earlier Ford F150’s can be purchased with the 5.0 V8 engine, and are fairly bulletproof. Really, the best thing you can do when looking for a truck, is look for one that’s been well taken care of, and made before the year mentioned in every title above.
What Am I Doing With My Ticking Time Bomb?
There’s an auto lot right down the road that has parked a 2006 Silverado 1500 with hardly 100k on it, for the exact value of my near-new truck with only slightly higher mileage, if that doesn’t further prove this article’s point. But no, just as Scott Diesel Garage cares about our very few customers, it also cares about the many poor souls who haven’t read (or don’t believe) this article. I fully intend to try and have my lifters replaced before my engine is too far gone. If I fail, I’ll have a new engine lacking the collapsible lifter system put in.
As stated above, there simply aren’t any reliable or cost-effective trucks constructed in this modern era; government mandates put an axe in their drive axles. One must choose: reliability, or modern comforts? I would like to keep my modern comforts and appearances, so there are no cheap options. Trading vehicles in this economy will cost the same as the repair in the end, and potentially put me in yet another person’s escape from financial woes. Letting it blow up will require a new engine. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the happy medium.
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