AFM L76 lifter rattle when cold WTF?

[PIR4TE]

Pretty widespread problem if this thread is anything to go by. What I take from this as a possible purchaser is to avoid L76 and early L77 motors altogether? Does anyone have a pic of where to find the engine build date? I realise this does not necessarily relate to the build date on the ID plate.

Does this sound reasonable?

Haha sure sounds reasonable given the content of this thread, however it is ridiculous and incorrect to conclude most Holden fourth generation V8 automatics make more lifter noise and are less reliable than another comparable engine of this class. There is no widespread lifter failure of latter Eatons and certainly zero since the AC Delco lifter update.

Despite appearances you will gather this thread is not about the early Eaton lifter issue, rather it is a sad lesson but a different story to my experience. With the benefit of having clocked 170,000 hard-earned km on an early L77 (more than an underwriter / accountant reasonably expects from a modern car) having conducted considerable research with a vested interest, I can safely advise you do a site search for concise and specific answers and I would be glad to continue the conversation in another more appropriate technical thread. This is nonetheless a worthy story, unfortunately gives potential owners the wrong impression with the weight of misinformation, apparently.

In short it boils down to early VIN range well prior to the MY9.5 update.

 

[torana355]

My 2011 SSV piston slaps even when hot, it still makes good power and does not use oil so im just going to keep driving it.

 

[HEXEM]

Yes and here we go again.

My friends December 2013 VF SSV Redline has already had a complete set of lifters and camshaft replaced in February 2014 due to failure and looks like it might need another new set.

While it is not known how wide spread these issues are, they are well recorded at Holden dealerships across the country. There are 2 issues in this thread one is lifter tick/failure and the other is piston knock on startup (when cold).

The purpose of this thread is really to advise potential buyers of possible engine issue you 'might' encounter with these engine. I'd love nothing more than to go back to an SSV but just can't go through the **** and Hassel you have to go through with Holden to get it sorted. Spending $50k on one of these vehicles and having it slapping/ticking is just not right.

Yes I could buy the car and modify the engine in the hope of preventing it but that opens up other issues if and when trying to claim warranty. If you change your cars every few year (3) you'd probably wouldn't give a toss.

 

[PCD1965]

Read this thread with interest after posting about my possible lifter noise in the VF section.
Mines a 2014 Jan build SSV Redline auto ute and listing to the noise video posted by olddog it sounds the same. cold ok but noticeable when hot on passenger side of motor .
going in to holden next week for a listen

 

[OldDog]

Well I'm quite surprised to see this thread still has some legs. I haven't posted here or on the forum at all for a while as life sorta got in the way. However I still have the SSV, which has proved a good car after all the grief early on. It's got 140,000 km's on it now and the new engine has around 100k. Has a few noises on start up but thats the usual piston slap that's to be expected when it has some age on it.

A few thoughts and observations, looking back;
The behaviour of your dealer is KEY in this. The Dubbo dealer was in the end, pretty useless. Most of the hard yards were done between myself and Holden, with the dealer sitting in the middle shrugging their shoulders and spouting the usual lines we've all heard. Here's an example of how a dealer can help or make this experience an absolute misery; On Xmas day 2011 I went out to the car and found the battery flat, it was then that we noticed that every now and then the car would stay "energised" for the want of a better word, rather than shut down when the drivers side door is opened, obviously overnight this would flatten the battery. I went to the Dubbo dealer to get this resolved and typically they "couldn't reproduce the fault".
I'd just moved to Mudgee, and over the road from my house was a guy who used to work for the Mudgee Holden dealer and urged me to go see them. I was at that stage completely frustrated and about to sell the car out of sheer disgust.
I went into the Mudgee dealer and gruffly asked them if they could help, their immediate response was certainly, that's a common fault $15 part and 20 minutes labour all under warranty and they drove me home! They delivered the car to me that afternoon with a list of 6 other warranty claims overlooked by Dubbo and had the car booked in to have those fixed the following week. Which they duly did. Service as you'd expect. That alone has kept me driving this car still, as well as brilliant attention to detail doing the servicing.
That said, its time to either trade the car or use it as my work hack and grind it into the ground. I went and looked at an SS ute, and I had a look at a 2012 manual Maloo, when the salesman started it up it started to rattle and my wife and I just walked away. We're died in the wool Holden people but just can't bring ourselves to buy another Holden, after 30 or so years this final one has put paid to my love of the Holden V8...well the modern ones anyway. I'll drive this into the ground and buy the Mrs a Toyota.

I hope that everyone that had issues found some final resolution