Other engine problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado report other engine problem at a median of 15,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 1,900 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,600 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 91,959 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.
62% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,617 miles | 1,928 miles | 14,000 miles | 63,000 miles | 93,576 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
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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2001 carries the most reports, with 62; the 2004 has 15. 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.
After the vehicle is warm, one of the injector sleeves begins to leak diesel and oil into the crankcase, causing plumes of white and black smoke to come out of the tail pipe and causes the truck to sputter. A loud sound of a valve flapping violently also is heard. The truck has been to the dealership 4 times. Each time, they say that nothing is wrong. One dealer in monterey said that the injectors are from a 2003 model truck and are smaller than the 2004 sleeves, therefore allowing diesel and oil to leak into the crankcase. The dealership has been unwilling to correct the problem in sacramento.*ak
After the vehicle is warm, one of the injector sleeves begins to leak diesel and oil into the crankcase, causing plumes of white and black smoke to come out of the tail pipe and causes the truck to sputter. A loud sound of a valve flapping violently also is heard. The truck has been to the dealership 4 times. Each time, they say that nothing is wrong. One dealer in monterey said that the injectors are from a 2003 model truck and are smaller than the 2004 sleeves, therefore allowing diesel and oil to leak into the crankcase. The dealership has been unwilling to correct the problem in sacramento.*ak
About 1 month after buying a new 2004 silverado it started surging viloently when cold. It is inconsistant, sometimes lasts for blocks. I almost got rear ended last week while tryig to control the truck. Gm refuses to do anything, saying there is no diagnosis codes set and they have never heard of silverado`s surging. They class it as a feature and say I need to feather the clutch. Feathering the clutch in traffic is a good way to get killed. This has been going on about 4 months now. I believe they know what is wrong and it is happening with more then just my one truck; but they don't want to spend the money to fix it.
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Loss of braking
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 15 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?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 1,900 miles and a quarter after 65,000 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?
15 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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