Chevrolet Repair and Service in Arvada, CO

Chevrolet is the most common brand on the road in Colorado, and we see the full range — Silverados that work for a living, Equinoxes that haul kids, and the occasional Camaro that comes in needing more than an oil change. Dave cut his teeth on GM vehicles early in his career, so the Chevy platform is familiar territory for us.

The LS and LT engine families are two of the best engine platforms GM has ever built. The 5.3L V8 in the Silverado and Tahoe (LS-based, now LT-based in the newer trucks) is a workhorse, but it has some well-documented issues. The AFM (Active Fuel Management) system that shuts down four cylinders to save fuel causes lifter failures on a regular basis. We see this on about 1 in 4 Silverados with the 5.3L that come through our shop with over 80K miles. The fix is a lifter replacement and sometimes an AFM delete, which solves the problem for good.

On the four-cylinder side, the 2.4L Ecotec in the Equinox and Terrain is known for timing chain stretch and oil consumption. The newer 1.5T turbo four has been better, but it's still a relatively new engine and we're watching it.

Dave's early career included a lot of GM work, so the platform is second nature here. We know the LS/LT engine family inside and out — from oil change intervals to full engine builds. When your Silverado's lifters start ticking, we don't need to look it up. We've done dozens of these repairs and can tell you exactly what's involved, what it costs, and how long it takes.

We also do LS engine builds for performance applications. If you're swapping an LS into a project car or building a Camaro for the track, we can handle the mechanical work and the calibration. We tune GM ECUs in-house via HP Tuners, so once the mechanical work is done we dial the car in on our Mustang AWD dyno — no handing you off to another shop for the tune.