2023 Suburban - Just had a "why'd we leave Toyota?" moment

I demand a factory wood gasifier to power the V8 as an option!

 

Yep I think this is spot on. They know how large the current market and the leaders in that space, but just don’t want to deal with having to compete with them and understand how hard it’ll be to grab a portion of that market. Undoubtably they’d do well and they’d sell, but it’d be seemingly the same situation as we’re in now with the full size trucks, the f-series is still the best selling truck line in NA.

With all of that being said, they still should do it because I want one. Lol

 

Range never replied to my email (go figure). Finally got a tech salesman who knew what he was talking about. Part of the big three's refresh plans include redoing their CAN and assigning new addresses. Range doesn't offer a DFM delete because they haven't figured the correct address yet. Was issued an RMA, so back it goes.

My wife put on 3k and it was sounding like dog shit. Did an early oil change to hopefully get rid of all "break-in" particulate and it immediately changed tones. Hopefully the early flush will prevent any of the lifter passages from clogging. 5k OCIs from here on for sure.

As an update, we love it. A lot of really great comfort features. One annoying thing which won't affect us because of where we live, is the assembly line must process their frames by hanging them nose up and going into a dip tank for the rubberized coating. The amount of drip pockets not covering the frame is bad. Winter guys would need to scrape those all off and hit it with a spray can.

 

How so?

 

Aggressive grumble on startup; mostly an exhaust note. Noticeably louder than the first 2k miles. But never stuck my head into the engine bay to try and isolate.

 

Thanks for the update. If I hear of anyone that comes up with a delete, I’ll let you know here. My first oil change is when they did the lifters that failed . I was about 35-38% life left. We’re enjoying ours as well. I do need to get it in for a couple little things and the recalls though.

 

Wife has driven Burbs since 94 when our kids were born. Current one has 300k miles and been mostly trouble free. Similar expected maintenance issues to my Tundras. The Burbs have more comfortable seats and are great highway cruisers. I love ‘‘em both.

 

Our two were just ok. Lots of annoying issues. Only stranded my wife four times between the two of them, lol. AFM issues, repeated cylinder #7 misfire, grenaded rear diff, electrical issues, heater core hose rupture on the interstate, broken motor mounts, heavy oil consumption (“within spec” according to GM!), battery cable poor connection causing the vehicle to act like it was possessed (‘12 Yukon XL…that took forever to figure out), and both trucks’ interiors rattled like loose change in a tin can.

She’s in a 200 series now. Downgraded cargo space and fuel economy with a major upgrade in reliability, ease of self-maintenance, and general built-like-a-tank-ness. We will pack lighter or utilize a roof box or hitch basket.

For us, it’s a very small price to pay for the piece of mind that we could never quite get with the Burbs.

 

My experience has been approximately same issues in both Burb over 300k and Tundra over 250k. Neither has left me stranded because failures have all given me audible or visible warnings.

 

I’m getting itchy thinking about when I owned GMs. Seeping water pumps, fuel delivery issues, constantly failing $300 taillights, randomly exploding side curtain airbags - just part of my GM ownership nightmare.

 

I forgot all the emissions evap codes and the self-destructing AC system. But they are pretty cool for the first 60k miles. Not gonna lie - love the look of the new Z71.

 

To me, that means either a stellar GM product or a Toyota lemon. Something's gotta give to level that playing field.

 

A complete DOD/AFM delete kit is the best answer.

It won’t be cheap but it will damn sure solve the problem by replacing all the lifters with very high quality non DOD units.

https://www.compcams.com/products/lifters/hydraulic-roller-lifters/dod-delete-kits.html

 

That's a whole lot better than the head swaps I had seen.

 

We dumped our 2003 Suburban for a 2013 Yukon XL and dumped that for a 2017 Sequoia. Never looked back. Lot's of issues (some minor, many major) with the Suburban and Yukon.

Dan

 

Generally, Toyota does not make an HD truck or an XL Sequoia because of the fact that they cannot penetrate the market. In Qatar, the number of Suburbans and Tahoes I see on the road are many times the number of Sequoias (although behind Land Cruisers, which are also abused horribly as well). As for the HD trucks, they will not do it because of issues from the emissions equipment which they have had already numerous times with the Hilux and the Land Cruiser), to the point of a lawsuit and a recall.

Also, absolutely nothing Toyota does which is better other than the reliability. The reliability of Suburbans is decent as well and depends on proper oil changes, and the issues are large because the number of Suburbans sold is much more than the number of Sequoias (many of which likely do not have an issue). There are many GMT900 and K2 SUVS running around with 300k miles on them without issues.

Also, Tundras and Sequoias are in some years prone to the infamous valve spring failure issue- famously destructive. People need to accept that Toyota is not perfect.