Camshaft and lifter replacement needed

Tiny
KURT HAUGAN
  • MEMBER
  • 2013 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN
  • 5.3L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 105,000 MILES
My SUV suddenly started making clicking sound. Quite loud.
Took it to dealer and they say I need camshaft and lifter replacement.
How do I know this is so?
Also they are quoting approximately $6,600.00 which seems very high.
A previous response to a similar question on this site stated approx $4,000.00 but I don't know how old that post is.
What is a realistic price in October 2019?
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Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 AT 10:17 AM

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Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,883 POSTS
Welcome to 2CarPros. The only way to know for sure if you need those parts is to open up the valve covers and see if you have a valve or valves that are not moving correctly. This is a common issue however, especially with engines that have active fuel management. Repair is a major job as the engine has to be torn down to the block. Then they can actually tell if the camshaft suffered damage and has to be replaced, but at that point most of the parts are already out of the way. Book time is almost 20 hours for replacement of the cam and lifters. Price wise it depends on who is doing the work and what you have replaced. You can get a complete long block with warranty for around $3,000.00 and most shops could do the entire swap in about 12-14 hours

Overall by the time they get to replacing the camshaft the only parts left would be the crankshaft, main and rod bearings and piston rings as wear items.
In the long run a lower mileage used engine or a re-manufactured one could be a less expensive repair overall. You may also want to consider deleting the active fuel management if you are going to repair your current engine as the lifters used are usually the ones that fail.
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Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 AT 12:01 PM

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