Chevrolet LT (Gen V small block, 5.3–6.2)
V8 · naturally aspirated · petrol · 2013–present
Also known as: lt1 gen v, l83, l86, l87, 5.3 ecotec3, 6.2 ecotec3, gen v small block, afm dfm, l84, lt2
General Motors' fifth-generation small-block V8 — the LT1 in the Corvette and Camaro — not to be confused with the Gen II LT1, a 5.7 of the 1990s wearing the same three characters — and the L83/L86/L87 EcoTec3 engines in the Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon and Escalade. Direct injection replaced the port injection of the Gen IV engines, and cylinder deactivation was carried over and later replaced by Dynamic Fuel Management.
Cylinder deactivation remains the fault line, exactly as on the earlier LY5. The collapsible lifters used to shut cylinders down fail, producing a persistent misfire on one cylinder and, if left, a wiped camshaft lobe beneath it. A load-dependent or wandering misfire on one of these is this until proven otherwise, and the later DFM system — which can run any number of cylinders — widens rather than narrows the set of conditions under which it appears.
Direct injection adds intake-valve carbon, which the port-injected Gen IV engines did not have. Oil consumption traced to the deactivation system's oil spray remains a documented theme, and a truck burning oil with no external leak is a pattern rather than a mystery.
It is a family rather than a size, and the cars listed below run 5.3 and 6.2 litres — the L83 and L84 truck engines at 5.3, the LT1 and L87 at 6.2. The cylinder-deactivation fault above is common to all of them, which is the reason to read a one-cylinder misfire the same way whichever is fitted.
Cars fitted with this engine
13 generations, across 3 makes. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.
Chevrolet
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