Hi Scotty,Love your videos.I’ve recently purchased a 2018 Silverado with the 5.3L engine and it has that afm feature that makes the engine go from 8 cylinders to 4 cylinders while driving to save fuel. They say it’s hard on the lifters and could be a very expensive repair job.They sell things to plug in your port that will cancel that from happening.What are your thoughts?
Hi Scotty,Love your videos.I’ve recently purchased a 2018 Silverado with the 5.3L engine and it has that afm feature that makes the engine go from 8 cylinders to 4 cylinders while driving to save fuel. They say it’s hard on the lifters and could be a very expensive repair job.They sell things to plug in your port that will cancel that from happening.What are your thoughts?
Scotty recommends using the OB2 port only as a diagnostic port.
They sell things to plug in your port that will cancel that from happening.What are your thoughts?
You could damage your electrical system doing that. The OBD2 port is designed for diagnostic purposes, not poorly-designed gadgets that stay permanently plugged in.
The dongles don't work. If you want to disable AFM then install a delete kit.
Take a look in the search bar above, because this has come up a few times in the past. I’m going to be a part-contrarian on this. There is one brand of AFM disablers that is reliable enough to leave plugged in OBD. I don’t recall the brand, but it’s in the archives. It’s a US company, and I think the units are made in the US. (Definitely don’t leave a cheap Chinese-made dongle plugged in.)
But having said that, the advantage of using an OBD dongle is that if you take it to the dealer for service, you can remove it and your warranty won’t be canceled. But by now, you’re off warranty, so no reason not to do a permanent fix. An experienced GM V8 engine tuner should be able to do it properly. With that + frequent oil changes, a GM 5.3 could have reasonable longevity.
Good luck!
