Info on which V-8 engines to look for or avoid.
 

Howdy,

New to this part of the forum, but I do have a question for these model years.

On Friday, my 2002 Tahoe was backed into while in line at the gas pumps. My insurance is processing the claim and I am thinking they will total it most likely.

Either way, I am planning on keeping it and probably getting a parts rig and replacing the damaged sheet metal myself as there was no mechanical damage.

So, if I can find a decent condition parts truck, Tahoe or Suburban, what would be the best year/engine combo to try and find? Or more importantly avoid?

My thoughts are to salvage the additional engine and anything else that I can later use in a project, then part out and scrap the left overs.

I honestly do not have any real knowledge about the LS/LT/Vortec engines, which to seek out or avoid and reading various pages and forums, get and ranges of answers...so I figured I would post the question directly here, and see what folks have to say.

Thanks!!

Re: Info on which V-8 engines to look for or avoid.
 

The 4.8, 5.3, 6.0, 6.2, & 8.1 V8's are all good engines.

The 4.8 is a good grocery getter engine.

The 6.0 and 5.3 are fairly common and will do better towing than the 4.8.

The 6.0 is a bit more commercial workhorse than the others and doesn't do as well on fuel as the 5.3L but it's better suited for towing and it has a reputation for long life. Either the LQ4 or LQ9 would be my first choice.

The 6.2L and 8.1L are not as common, use more fuel, and are popular swap motors so they cost a bunch more than the lower displacement motors.

The 6.6L Dirtymax is usually going to be very expensive and harder to find... It's expensive and obnoxious to mount in the SUV chassis too.

Re: Info on which V-8 engines to look for or avoid.
 

The 6.2 was a Gen IV engine, and it was never installed from the factory on GMT800 truck.


All of the engines are good, if they were maintained.

The early Gen IV engines(07-09) with active fuel management have lifter issues. I would stay away from those.

The later Gen IV engines have VVT, some people hate it. I've never had an issue.

Re: Info on which V-8 engines to look for or avoid.
 

That's the interesting thing about the way GM mixed up the chassis and year splits. I was looking at the fact that the 6.2 was available in the 06 Denali and Escalade SUVs. The year split fooled me... The SUV or at least some of them were already GMT900 chassis in 06...

I don't have lifter issues on my LS4 5.3L in the Impala but that would weight things toward the 6.0L even further as long as you can get a lower mile example.
If you're going to re-work the engine anyway then the possibly dodgy AFM lifters make less than zero difference.

Re: Info on which V-8 engines to look for or avoid.
 

Thanks, appreciate the well informed replies.

To be clear, as I may not have been initially, the Tahoe has no damage to engine or otherwise mechanical, it is strictly sheetmetal.

My thoughts were, since the insurance is paying for it, I wanted to look at parts rigs, or even a driver that I could get the sheetmetal I need and have the rest for my future projects...there are always future projects!!

I just am not well-versed in the later generations of SBC V-8's and even less in computer controlled systems. So thought that there would be those with more knowledge on here that I could get some guidence from.

Appreciate the help that can be found on this forum, lots of helpful folks!!