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Remanufactured Chevrolet 6.0L V8 Engine - Express Vans, Silverado, Silverado 1500 HD Classic, Silverado 2500 HD Classic, Silverado 3500 Classic, Suburban, W3500 Tiltmaster, W4500 Tiltmaster; Isuzu NPR, NPR-HD; Workhorse FasTrack FT1461, FasTrack FT1801, W62
6.0L · V8 · Part DCTF
Call for availability
4-year no-fault nationwide warranty — includedOn gas engines in non-commercial use, at no extra charge. The builder’s standard cover is 3 years, parts only. Every gas engine we sell includes the 4-year no-fault warranty with labour, at no extra charge.
- “No fault” means we do not investigate why it failed — if a covered engine fails inside the term, it is covered.
- Labour is paid up to CAD $95.00 per hour — a cap on the rate, not a flat payout — and only for the remove-and-replace hours in the Mitchell labour guide. Diagnostic time is covered up to 2 hours, and fluids up to CAD $200.00. Towing and a rental car are not covered. Anything not listed here needs to be agreed with us before the work starts.
- The 4 years start the day the engine is installed, and a claim needs proof that a professional shop installed it.
- Unlimited kilometres, and no deductible.
- Call us before any warranty work starts, so we can authorise it. Labour paid on a repair we were not asked about first is not covered.
- A claim starts with a call to us. We file it with the manufacturer, and the manufacturer pays it.
Diesel engines, and engines put into commercial service, are not covered by this 4-year warranty — the terms vary by engine, so call us for the terms on the unit you’re pricing.
Add an install kit. Thermostat, water pump, belts, hoses, filters, plugs and leads — the parts that should not go back on a new engine. Ask for one with this engine and we quote it on the same order. What a proper install replaces
Warranty included — terms above
Core deposit refunded on return
Call us to confirm availability before you count on a date.
Shipping is freight-quoted after purchase, or pick up free in Edmonton.
Fits
- Chevrolet Express Vans, Silverado, Silverado 1500 HD Classic, Silverado 2500 HD Classic, Silverado 3500 Classic, Suburban, W3500 Tiltmaster, W4500 Tiltmaster 2001–2007 · 6.0L V8
Not sure it fits? Call (780) 473-2424 with your VIN and we'll confirm.
4-year warranty included
Refundable core
Ships Canada-wide
Engine guide
GM Gen III/IV Small-Block V8 (LS / Vortec 4800-6200)
Also known as: LS, Vortec 4800, Vortec 5300, Vortec 6000, VortecMAX, Gen III small-block, Gen IV small-block
Overview & history
GM's Gen III small-block arrived in 1997 as a clean-sheet redesign of the Chevy V8, developed under GM Powertrain chief Tom Stephens with drag-racer-turned-engineer Ed Koerner handling much of the hands-on work. The LS1 debuted in the 1997 Corvette C5, but the versions most of us meet are the iron-block truck engines that followed in the 1999 Silverado and Sierra: the Vortec 4800 (LR4), Vortec 5300 (LM7), and Vortec 6000 (LQ4). Though badged Vortec in trucks, they share the same architecture as the LS car engines — deep-skirt block, six-bolt main caps, aluminum cathedral-port heads — which is why the whole family gets called LS. The Gen IV update landed in 2005, adding Active Fuel Management cylinder deactivation, variable valve timing on later engines, and 6.2L displacement. Between them, Gen III (1997-2007) and Gen IV (2005-2020) powered essentially every full-size GM truck, SUV, and van for two decades, with truck engines built in Romulus, Michigan; Silao, Mexico; and St. Catharines, Ontario. These are simple, strong, parts-everywhere engines — the reason "LS swap" became a verb. Our reman catalog covers 61 part numbers spanning 4.8L, 5.3L, 6.0L, and 6.2L applications from 1999 through 2016.
Specs & engineering
- •Deep-skirt cast block with six-bolt, cross-bolted main caps — far stiffer bottom end than the classic small-block it replaced
- •Truck engines use iron blocks (LR4, LM7, LQ4, LQ9, LY5, L96); premium variants like the L33 and LH6 5.3L and the 6.2L L92/L94 use aluminum
- •Aluminum cathedral-port heads on nearly everything — only the 1999-2000 LQ4 6.0L got iron heads; 6.2L Gen IV engines moved to rectangle-port heads
- •Pushrod OHV, 2 valves per cylinder, single in-block cam with hydraulic roller lifters — compact, light, and cheap to service
- •Coil-near-plug ignition with one coil per cylinder mounted on the valve covers, replacing the distributor entirely
- •4.8L and 5.3L share the same 3.78-inch (96 mm) bore; the 4.8L simply runs a shorter stroke — externally they are nearly identical
- •Gen III uses a 24x crank reluctor with the cam sensor at the rear of the block; Gen IV switched to a 58x reluctor and front cam sensing — a key detail for swaps and controller matching
- •Gen IV added Active Fuel Management (cylinder deactivation), later variable valve timing, and flex-fuel capability on many truck variants
Generations & variants
- •Gen III trucks (1999-2007): LR4 4.8L; LM7 and L59 flex-fuel 5.3L iron; L33 5.3L aluminum H.O.; LQ4 6.0L (300-330 hp); LQ9 6.0L H.O. 345 hp
- •Gen IV trucks/SUVs (2005-2016+): LY2/L20 4.8L; LY5, LMG, LC9, LH6 5.3L with AFM; LY6 and L96 6.0L; L92, L94, L9H 6.2L with VVT
- •LS4 5.3L (2005-2009): the family's only transverse front-wheel-drive version — Grand Prix GXP, Impala SS, Monte Carlo SS
- •Car siblings on the same architecture: LS1/LS6 5.7L (Gen III), LS2/LS3/L99 6.0-6.2L (Gen IV) in Corvette, Camaro, and GTO
- •L76/L77 6.0L aluminum: shared with Holden Commodore and the Pontiac G8 GT — proof the truck 6.0L and car engines are one family
Vehicles it powered
- •Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (1999-2013)
- •Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD/3500HD (1999-2016)
- •GMC Sierra 1500/2500HD (1999-2016)
- •Chevrolet Tahoe / Suburban (2000-2014)
- •GMC Yukon / Yukon XL (2000-2014)
- •Cadillac Escalade, ESV, EXT (2002-2014)
- •Chevrolet Avalanche (2002-2013)
- •Chevrolet Express / GMC Savana (2003-2017)
- •Hummer H2 (2003-2009)
- •Buick Rainier (2004-2007)
- •Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT / GMC Envoy XL 5.3L (2003-2006)
- •Saab 9-7X 5.3i (2005-2008)
- •Pontiac Grand Prix GXP (2005-2008)
- •Chevrolet Impala SS / Monte Carlo SS (2006-2009)
Casting numbers
| 706 | 4.8L/5.3L truck cathedral-port head (1999-2007), semi-permanent-mold casting; some 2001-2004 examples cast by Castech are known crackers — pressure-test before reuse |
| 862 | 4.8L/5.3L truck head, the sand-cast twin of the 706 — same ports, valves, and flow |
| 317 | LQ4/LQ9 6.0L truck head (2001+), large chambers; a longtime favorite base for boosted builds |
| 243 | LS6/LS2 high-flow cathedral-port head; also fitted to the aluminum-block L33 5.3L H.O. |
| 799 | Truck version of the 243 (later 4.8/5.3/6.0 and some LS2/LS4/LM4) — port design and flow are nearly identical to the 243 |
Known issues & fixes
AFM lifter failure (Gen IV 5.3L/6.0L/6.2L, roughly 2007-2014)
What to watch for: Ticking or chirping from the valley, misfires on the AFM cylinders (1, 4, 6, 7), P0300-series codes; a collapsed lifter can wipe the cam lobe if driven on
The fix: Replace the lifters and valley lifter-oil manifold; most shops either disable AFM electronically (OBD-II disabler) or do a full AFM delete with a non-AFM cam during the repair so it never comes back
Excessive oil consumption on AFM engines (notably LC9 5.3L, 2010-2014 — subject of a settled class action)
What to watch for: A quart every 1,500-2,000 miles, fouled spark plugs (especially #1 and #7), oil-smoke on startup
The fix: Updated PCV/valve-cover hardware and AFM shield or disable; worn ring packs need a rebuild — a properly remanufactured engine with current-spec rings resets the problem
Castech cracked cylinder heads (2001-2004 4.8L/5.3L with certain 706 castings)
What to watch for: Slow, unexplained coolant loss with no visible leak and no head-gasket symptoms; crack sits around the oil-drain/rocker area
The fix: Pressure-test the heads; replace with a non-Castech 706 or 799 casting — no reason to save a cracked one
Gen III fuel pressure regulator failure (1999-2006 trucks)
What to watch for: Hard starts (especially warm), rough idle, misfires, fuel smell at the regulator vacuum line
The fix: Cheap and easy regulator replacement on the fuel rail — rule this out before blaming injectors or the pump
Plastic intake manifold and gasket deterioration
What to watch for: Lean codes (P0171/P0174), rough idle, vacuum hiss; original truck intake gaskets harden and shrink with heat cycles
The fix: Replace the gaskets (updated design), inspect the manifold for cracks around the bosses; a smoke test finds these quickly
Did you know?
- ★GM never officially named this family "LS" — LS1 was just the option (RPO) code of the 1997 Corvette engine, and enthusiasts stretched it to cover every Gen III/IV, Vortec trucks included.
- ★The 345 hp LQ9 started life as a Cadillac exclusive for the 2002 Escalade — an iron truck engine with flat-top pistons that hot-rodders quickly discovered was a bargain performance core.
- ★The LS4 put a 5.3L V8 sideways in front-wheel-drive sedans like the Grand Prix GXP and Impala SS — the only transverse LS ever built, and yes, we carry it.
- ★Many Gen III/IV truck engines were built in Canada at GM's St. Catharines, Ontario plant — there's a good chance the V8 in an Alberta work truck was Canadian-made.