Ask Ducksouth: 5.7 vortec engine

[Agua]

My old 85 silverado farm/hunting truck is dead. I'm looking at some chevys / gmc from around 95 & newer and they all have a 5.7 vortec engine and north of 100,000 miles.

Anyone have experience with these engines in the high mileage range? Are they shot at 150,000 or could you expect them to roll on with regular maintenance?

[RNAIL]

Saw a guy at the dove shoot, 94 Sliverado, had 450K on it , said he has to rebuild tranny once. As I understand it, the 95 or older had the cast iron blocks and seem to be very tough, 96 forward went to something else.

[cwink]

The 5.7 is the Chevy 350 CI. Been around a loooonnggg time.. I think your good with the 350.

[farmerc83]

Saw a guy at the dove shoot, 94 Sliverado, had 450K on it , said he has to rebuild tranny once. As I understand it, the 95 or older had the cast iron blocks and seem to be very tough, 96 forward went to something else.

I think you're right but they may have not changed the block until 98-99 when they went from 350ci to 327ci. Another difference is that the 95 and older had a throttle body and the 96 newer had the vortec. Little better power and mpg with the vortec but not sure if there was a reliability difference. I had a 95 and rebuilt the tranny and rear end twice....towed small things only a couple of times. Never had any motor trouble but stuff like the interior lights, starter and alternator went out more often than most. All of this stuff was happening prior to 120k miles.

[duramax]

350 is tough to beat as far as reliability and ease of repair. Most things can be fixed by you if you have a little mechanical inclination.

[torch]

I have a 2000 gmc with 426k on it. Same engine and tranny, I pull a 32 ft 5th wheel camper and boat with this rig. If you service them they will run a long time.

[Bully]

I have a 2000 gmc with 426k on it. Same engine and tranny, I pull a 32 ft 5th wheel camper and boat with this rig. If you service them they will run a long time.

I thought the 2000 year models had the 5.3L in them. I had a 96 truck with the 5.7L engine. It had about 300,000 on it when I got rid of it. The only thing that I did to the engine was replace the water pump. I did go through a couple of transmissions though.

[Agua]

Thanks guys. I'll have my mechanic check out the tranny & rear end.

[KWAKHED]

I have 200,000 on my 97 tahoe. Did just have to rebuild tranny though.

[TrevorH454]

Over 200k on my 99 Tahoe as well. We've had several of these trucks. If you see one with over 150k and they haven't had the tranny rebuilt/replaced, get ready, it's going to go. The engines, however, are solid. We've had several over 200k.

[donia]

...... If you see one with over 150k and they haven't had the tranny rebuilt/replaced, get ready, it's going to go. The engines, however, are solid...

i've got 131K on an '01 yukon, so i guess i'll start saving up for a rebuild/replace.... how much does that generally run?

[jdbuckshot]

im hauling my 88 to to the tranny shop this weekend for a rebuild. bout a $1000 in forest for a rebuild on a 700r4

[arduckslayer]

Over 200k on my 99 Tahoe as well. We've had several of these trucks. If you see one with over 150k and they haven't had the tranny rebuilt/replaced, get ready, it's going to go. The engines, however, are solid. We've had several over 200k.

Not to hijack but, I got rid of a 99 Z71 last year with 230k on it. No work on the transmission or rear end, and no major motor work (just one alternator and an idle air control sensor).

With that being said, you can't go wrong with a 90s model Chevy, and you can't look for one with over 100k on it and not expect to have some kind of maintenance done on it at some point in time.

[Agua]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to make one more attempt tomorrow to fix the electrical system which I apparently screwed up last weekend. May not have to buy one after all.

305 in my 85 is fine, but I've got a fuel delivery problem in it that just can't be worked out - replaced fuel filter, fuel pump - there's nothing left but gas tank and the fuel lines. Mechanics are stumped.

[mudsucker]

I have a 2000 gmc with 426k on it. Same engine and tranny, I pull a 32 ft 5th wheel camper and boat with this rig. If you service them they will run a long time.

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