— A GM L87 engine replacement lawsuit alleges a recall of nearly 600,000 vehicles is a waste of time and won't repair these vehicles.
- 2019-2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2021-2024 Chevrolet Tahoe
- 2021-2024 Chevrolet Suburban
- 2019-2024 GMC Sierra 1500
- 2021-2024 GMC Yukon
- 2021-2024 GMC Yukon XL
- 2021-2024 Cadillac Escalade
- 2021-2024 Cadillac Escalade ESV
Wisconsin plaintiff Keefe John purchased a 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 in May 2023. He says he received a recall notice from General Motors in May 2025, and the following month $405 was paid to file his L87 engine class action lawsuit for more than $5 million.
The plaintiff doesn't claim he had any problems with his truck, but he complains he "may be in constant risk of harm while operating" his GMC truck.
Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved GM's engine recall and repairs and will oversee the process, the truck owner who sued complains the repairs are not good enough.
According to the plaintiff:
"What is more, GM has announced that in the very few cases where the engine of a Class Vehicle will be replaced, GM will simply replace the defective L87 Engine with the same type of defective engine, an L87 Engine. This is by no means an actual remedy to a serious and potential deadly engine defect affecting hundreds of thousands of consumers."
General Motors L87 Engine Replacement Recall
Several class action lawsuits have been filed after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into L87 engine failures and GM followed by announcing a recall of nearly 600,000 vehicles in the U.S.
GM says the L87 V8 engines may have defective components relating to the crankshafts, bearings and connecting rods. The engine bearings can fail and cause the connecting rods to puncture the engine blocks. The engines must be replaced if they seize.
Specifically, the L87 engines can fail due to connecting rod bearing damage from sediment on the connecting rods and crankshaft oil galleries. The engines can also fail due to out-of-specification crankshaft dimensions and surface finish.
According to documents relating to the GM engine recall, a GM dealer will inspect the L87 engine and look for diagnostic trouble code P0016 which indicates the engine needs to be replaced. The lawsuit says the government estimates about 3% of the engines will need replaced.
If a dealership doesn't find DTC P0016, the engine oil will be drained and replaced with a higher viscosity oil, and the oil fill cap will be replaced as will the oil filter. Each vehicle owner will also receive a new insert to add to the owner's manual to reflect the change in L87 engine oil.
But according to the GM L87 engine replacement class action lawsuit:
"GM’s remedies are inadequate for several reasons. In the vast majority of cases—97%, as estimated by the NHTSA—the remedy is merely an instruction to use a higher viscosity oil. But inserting a higher viscosity oil does nothing to remedy the out of specification crankshaft dimensions and surface finish."
The class action alleges GM knew the L87 engines were defective before the vehicles were first sold. But instead of repairing the engine defects before selling the vehicles, General Motors decided to sell the vehicles it knew could cause "potential physical injury" and would one day need to be recalled.
The lawsuit also alleges the recall doesn't compensate GM customers "for the actual and anticipated losses they experience as a result of GM selling them Class Vehicles that GM knew contained the Engine Defect."
And the lawsuit alleges none of the GM owners would have purchased their vehicles if the automaker would have told them the L87 engines were built to fail.
The engine class action references recall documents which indicate more than 28,000 engine failure complaints or incidents have been reported, and more than 14,000 of those complaints allege the vehicles lost power.
The GM 6.2L engine replacement class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee Division): Keefe John v. General Motors LLC.
The plaintiff is represented by Almeida Law Group LLC.