Chevrolet Suburban knocking problems

Filed Oct 23, 2026 · Transmission · CA

Car misfired and had ticking noise. Car began to consistently shake when I was on the highway. Known issue 2021 Chevrolet Suburban. V8 engine. Dynamic Fuel Management Lifter failure. Driving on the 101 highway and an error message for traction was relayed on dash, followed by ESC error, followed by blinking engine light. It happened in the span of seconds with no prior alerts. Dealership had to take apart the engine for 3,300 to find the reason and repair is an addition 4,000.

Filed Oct 14, 2026 · Engine · AZ

Driving our 2024 Suburban, 6.2 L engine, on a 2-lane highway in southern Utah, traveling on cruise control at 70 mph, felt 2 hesitations (jerking movement), and turned off cruise control. Immediately after, heard knocking/thumping sound in the front of the vehicle, followed by a whining sound that got louder. Immediately found a turn-off from the highway, pulled in, and engine died while vehicle was still in motion. Attempted starting again and would not start. People stopped to help us and tried to jump vehicle without success. Suburban was towed to a Chevy dealership and we were told the Suburban's engine seized. In researching this issue, we came across the federal safety agency's investigation case EA26005. Our VIN does not fall in to this recall.

Filed Oct 13, 2026 · Driver assistance, Engine · CA

I was driving south on Highway 395 with 2 of my friends on our way home from vacation, which is a 2 lane road in the mountains. About 45 miles north of Victorville, CA. As I was accelerating, my vehicle all of a sudden dropped adaptive cruise control, the engine light started blinking, traction control errored, and I got a service ESC message on the dash. I let off the gas a little and everything seemed fine but when I reapplied pressure to the gas pedal the engine started making a loud ticking sound and had barely any propulsion. I had to keep going and was luckily able to find a safe place to pull off the road (which had many blind curves and minimal shoulder space along the highway). Had there not been a safe place to pull over before the engine completely died we could have been hit by any of the many semi trucks traveling on that road. After waiting 2 hours for a tow truck and having the vehicle towed to the Chevrolet dealer in Victorville, I was provided a small SUV rental vehicle to drive the remaining 150 miles home while I left my 2023 Suburban High Country for them to disassemble. When I called the next day they verified there was a Rod Bearing Failure inside the engine and they were submitting to GM for engine replacement. There were NO symptoms before the engine failure happened.

Filed Oct 9, 2026 · Engine · KS

Tuesday October 6th, 2026, I dropped my 2 children off at school and was driving on the highway to work through heavy traffic when I had a suddenly loud knocking coming from my car, transmission not wanting to shift properly, high rpm’s for extended periods of time. I was able to safely make it to the dealership with about 10 minutes, where it was determined L87 engine failure had occurred. I am sickened that this vehicle is advertised as a family vehicle, knowing the engine failure issues!

Filed Oct 6, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · MI

Cylinders were misfiring and lifters had to be completely replaced along with pushrod and camshaft. This cost me $7018.64 to fix out of my own pocket. Received the vehicle back, and there was a slight ticking sound that was new to me. Scheduled to bring the vehicle back in and 2 days before I was scheduled to go in and approximately 1000 miles later, the engine completely shut down while I was driving on the road. As I did not know what was going on and I had my newborn baby in the car, I was panicking as I was trying to figure out how to pull over to get out of traffic. Turns out there are now metal shavings in my engine according to the GM certified dealership that I had the work on the lifters done at in the first place. They are now quoting me an additional $13,000+ dollars to completely replace the engine with one that is not even brand new. Highly disappointed and concerned for my family's and I's safety while driving this vehicle. Also, not happy that I apparently need to spend $20K on a vehicle that I have only brought to certified GM dealerships for work on and I have kept in excellent condition.

Filed Sep 22, 2026 · Engine · 19,000 miles · VA

The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, there was an abnormal knocking sound coming from the vehicle. The vehicle went into LIMP Mode with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the nearest dealer in LIMP Mode. A diagnostic test was performed, and the mechanic discovered that the right engine lifter was damaged; however, 10 days later, the mechanic discovered that the left lifter was also damaged. The vehicle was repaired under warranty. Recently, the failure reoccurred and the vehicle was towed to the dealer. The contact was informed that the left engine lifter had failed and caused catastrophic engine damage. The contact was provided an estimate for the repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and the contact was provided a case number. The vehicle remained with the dealer awaiting the repair. The failure mileage was approximately 19,000.

Filed Sep 14, 2026 · Engine · MT

While driving down a two-lane blacktop road at 70 MPH (the posted speed limit) the engine, a 6.2 L L87 with a little over 15,000 miles, grenaded and seized. At the time I recall a warning message that said something like "engine shutdown". Fortunately the electronic transmission self-shifted into neutral so the car could coast to a stop. Had it not done this a loss of control would have been likely at this speed. The vehicle was towed to the local Chevrolet dealer in Bozeman, Montana (Resseler Chevrolet) where it was confirmed the next day the engine had seized. The dealer is currently replacing the seized engine with a replacement long block. The dealership currently has the engine and is planning to ship it back to Chevrolet or GM for tear down and inspection. They are also replacing the radiator and all coolant hoses as a precaution. Two weeks prior I took the vehicle to the same Chevrolet dealer complaining that on one day the engine shut off four times within 1 mile. Each time it displayed a warning message that said "restart engine", which it did each time. I also complained about a ticking noise that began in the engine at 12,000 mile. The dealer reported that the engine sounded fine and that they could not reproduce the engine shutting off on its own. This engine was NOT part of the large L87 recall. At time of purchase I was told by the selling dealer (Kendall Chevrolet in Maryville, Washington) and the local dealer (Resseler) that the engine was assembled after assembly line procedure were put in place to avoid the same issues as the recall engine. I've been and engineer for 46 years. The problem with this engine is not the assembly line, it is the never before used tight moving component tolerances and the water thin oil demanded by the manufacturer. The design shortcomings are compounded by systems such as cylinder deactivation and auto stop that significantly acceleration engine component wear.

Filed Sep 5, 2026 · Engine · OH

Complete engine failure on 2023 Chevrolet Suburban 6.2L. On October 31, 2024 while on the interstate. The truck shut off twice with no warning. I was able to make it to the side of the interstate twice to restart. The truck was taken to Serpentini Chevrolet and they stated no issues were found and send the vehicle back on the road. On December 13,2024 while on a state route, speed limit 55, 12,231 miles the Suburban abruptly slowed down and violently started to shake and knock. I pulled off to the side of the state route and waited approx 2 hours for the vehicle to be towed. The vehicle was towed to Serpentini Chevrolet and they stated the engine was blown and needed replaced. The vehicle was at the dealership until February 13, 2025 when the engine was replaced. The recall was released in April 2025 at which time the vehicle was taken in for the oil change “repair”. The truck now has 20,200 miles and is lacking power and starting to shake when accelerating from 0-50mph. I will be scheduling additional service in the coming week. While going through the blown engine, GM stopped responding to emails, did not compensate for months of payments I incurred while they had the vehicle and they are still selling unsafe vehicle.

Filed Aug 28, 2026 · Engine · MO

My engine was initially part of the 6.2L v8 engine recall. The dealer cleared my engine after inspecting it and told me my engine was not affected, but that I had to use corvette engine oil. After my 3rd corvette engine oil change, and two days after having it serviced and getting an all clear inspection from Chevy, the engine blew while going 70 mph on the highway. No warning lights. I looked down at my dash and there was a gray box that said “engine oil pressure low, turn engine off”. By the time I checked my side and rear view mirror I could see clouds of white smoke and other cars flashing me with their headlamps. I was traveling by myself with 4 small children through a very bad part of town. It was frightening. Thankfully we were able to safely pull over and have it towed to Chevy where they confirmed that the engine was blown. Chevy gave me a false sense of security when they told me my engine was not affected. I would never have put my family at risk had I known it was a ticking time bomb.

Filed Jul 23, 2026 · Engine, Suspension · MD

I brought my Chevrolet Suburban High Country in to the dealer pursuant to a recall for engine issues due to a manufacturing defect in connecting rods and crankshafts that can cause catastrophic engine failure. The service center changed the oil viscosity and fill cap and stated that the change should eliminate the issue. I have had persistent engine knocking upon acceleration since then and it is getting louder and more prominent. A suspension warning intermittently flashes as well. Please advise, thank you