Other engine problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
2 crashes 3 fires 2 injuries 7 of the 21 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 report other engine problem at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 200,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 141,939 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58,461 miles | 79,000 miles | 99,500 miles | 127,500 miles | 200,400 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash, 3 a fire and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 29 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2024, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 155,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 175; the 2004 has 21. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500. After putting gas in the vehicle, the contact smelled smoke. He checked underneath the hood and saw no signs of a fire. While driving 20 MPH, flames and smoke began to come from the vents and the contact exited the vehicle. Approximately twenty minutes later, while waiting for the fire and police departments to arrive, the tires and windows exploded and the vehicle was burned beyond recognition. He spoke with the dealer and was informed that there were no recalls on the vehicle. A police report was filed. There was no current mileage because the vehicle was destroyed. The failure mileage was 120,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500 which was purchased in 2004. The vehicle made a buzzing sound while shutting off as if it were continuing to run. Upon restarting the vehicle it made a humming noise. There were no warning lights illuminated. The dealer stated that the engine remained on even upon removal of the electrical fuse. He also stated that he would not be able to make the necessary repairs and to make an appointment for the following week. The failure mileage was 95,000 and the current mileage was 95,200.
Vehicle would lose antifreeze after 2 hour trips and knocking in the engine. Gmc replaced the lifters in 2005. Nothing changed, 2007 had the antifreeze issue corrected by replacing intake. Speedometer went out at 90,000 miles. At 100,000 miles started losing oil pressure, had oil pressure switch replaced, at 111,000 miles bearings went out had to replace engine, this vehicle has been extremely costly for me. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Loss of braking
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Steering column or shaft failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed