GM Moves to Dismiss the L87 6.2L V8 Class Action: What Used Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe Buyers Should Pull From the VIN

Key facts

• Recall: NHTSA 25V-274 (GM N252494000), decided April 17, 2025; VIN-searchable April 24, 2025; owner remedy letters mailed in phases June 9 – November 29, 2025.
• Scope: 597,571 US vehicles — 2021–2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Tahoe, Suburban; GMC Sierra 1500, Yukon, Yukon XL; Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV — all with the 6.2L V8 gas engine (RPO L87) built March 1, 2021 – May 31, 2024.
• Defect: connecting rod and/or crankshaft manufacturing defects — sediment on rods and crankshaft oil galleries, plus out-of-spec crankshaft dimensions and surface finish — causing rod-bearing damage and engine failure with loss of propulsion. GM estimates 3% of recalled engines are defective.
• Field data (GM's Part 573 chronology): 28,102 US complaints/incidents potentially related (April 2021 – February 2025); 14,332 alleging loss of propulsion; 12 alleged crashes; 12 alleged minor injuries; 42 fire allegations.
• Remedy is binary: engines that fail dealer inspection are repaired or replaced free; engines that pass get a higher-viscosity 0W-40 oil change, new oil fill cap, oil filter, and an owner's-manual insert. GM Authority reports affected vehicles also receive 10-year/150,000-mile extended engine coverage (program N252494003).
• Open federal investigations: EA25-007 (October 23, 2025) covers 286,051 L87 vehicles built outside the recall window; RQ26-001 (January 16, 2026) is examining whether the recall remedy itself is adequate, after 36 reports of post-remedy engine failures. (The original probe, PE25-001, opened January 16, 2025 and closed when GM recalled.)
• Lawsuit: Powell et al. v. General Motors, LLC, No. 4:25-cv-10479 (E.D. Mich.), ~10 consolidated class actions, 44 named plaintiffs, DiCello Levitt lead counsel; GM's motion to dismiss filed June 8, 2026 (per CarComplaints).

What should I check before buying a used Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe, Yukon, or Escalade with the 6.2 V8?

Five checks, in order: confirm the engine is actually the 6.2L L87 (not the unaffected 5.3L); run the VIN through NHTSA's recall lookup for 25V-274; get a GM dealer service-history pull by VIN to learn which remedy was performed; review the truck's listing, ownership, and accident history; and test-drive listening for the documented warning signs. The recall's failure mode is sudden loss of propulsion, so a clean-looking truck still carries risk if the recall work was never done.

On the test drive, the Part 573 report lists the warning signs: knocking or banging noises, check-engine light, hesitation, unexpectedly high RPM, abnormal shifting, reduced propulsion, or a no-start. Any of these on an L87 truck is a walk-away signal until a dealer inspection says otherwise.

Build date governs everything. Only L87 vehicles built March 1, 2021 – May 31, 2024 are recalled; GM's production fix was in place on or before June 1, 2024. Trim level is irrelevant — engine RPO and build date decide whether 25V-274 applies.

Which models and years are affected?

Recall 25V-274 covers eight GM full-size models across 2021–2024, all with the 6.2L L87 V8 built inside the suspect window. Both the lawsuit and NHTSA's open engineering analysis reach beyond the recall, which matters if you are shopping outside the recalled years.

A same-year truck with the 5.3L V8 (L84) is outside this recall entirely, as is a 6.2L built after May 31, 2024 — though RQ26-001 and EA25-007 mean "outside the recall" is not the same as "cleared by NHTSA."

How do I find out if this truck got a new engine or just the 0W-40 oil change?

Only two sources can answer this: a GM dealer service-history pull by VIN, and GM's Owner Center recall lookup at my.gm.com/recalls. No public VIN tool — free or paid — shows which remedy a specific vehicle received under 25V-274; VIN tools report recall presence, and open-versus-closed status lives dealer-side in GM's warranty records. Make the dealer history pull a condition of sale.

The split matters because the remedy is binary. Engines that failed inspection were repaired or replaced free with components built after the suspect window; engines that passed got a Mobil 1 Supercar 0W-40 (dexosR) oil change, new fill cap, filter, and manual insert, per GM Authority's reporting on dealer bulletins. Neither GM nor NHTSA has published how many of the 597,571 vehicles received each remedy.

Is the oil change enough? That is the question NHTSA opened RQ26-001 to answer in January 2026, after 36 complaints of engines failing after the recall remedy was completed — following both the oil change and full engine replacement. The investigation is open with no findings as of June 10, 2026, so treat a seller's "fixed" claim as a starting point, not a conclusion.

Does GM's motion to dismiss change anything for a used buyer?

No. The June 8, 2026 motion in Powell v. GM does not modify recall 25V-274, the free remedy, or the reported extended engine coverage. GM argues prudential mootness and primary jurisdiction (the NHTSA-supervised recall already provides free repairs), that only about 3% of engines were defective — undercutting a uniform design-defect theory; GM frames the cause as a supplier manufacturing escape, not a design flaw — and that warranty claims fail because GM never denied repairs. Plaintiffs allege a lubrication design defect across roughly 600,000 vehicles, including 2019–2024 Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500, broader than the recall. No hearing date or ruling timeline is public, and the 3% figure is GM's own estimate, which plaintiffs dispute.

For buyers, the litigation mainly keeps attention on nearly 600,000 used trucks where the difference between a replaced engine and an oil-spec change is invisible in any listing.

What can a VIN check tell you here — and what can't it?

A VIN history report can show that recall 25V-274 is associated with a truck, but it cannot show whether the recall was completed or which remedy was performed — that division of labor is the honest core of due diligence on these vehicles. Here is the split:

The listing-history angle is the differentiated tell: a 6.2L listed — or dumped and relisted — right after the June–November 2025 owner-letter window, or churned through multiple owners since spring 2025, deserves harder questions and a non-negotiable dealer history pull. Accident records matter for a defect-specific reason: the recalled failure mode is sudden loss of propulsion in traffic. And whether 6.2L trucks broadly trade at a "defect discount" is unverified — no pricing study exists — but per-VIN valuation against comparable 5.3L trucks shows whether a specific asking price reflects the engine question. A Zilocar VIN check covers the history side of that table; NHTSA's free recall lookup and the GM Owner Center remain the authoritative routes for recall and remedy status.

Two cautions. A VIN history report shows junk/salvage auction records, not the legal title brand itself — title classification comes from state records. And this is a separate story from GM's full-size-truck transfer-case recall, a different campaign with a different remedy; do not let a seller (or a search result) conflate the two.

Sources

• NHTSA Part 573 Safety Recall Report 25V-274 (amended July 22, 2025) — GM campaign N252494000
• GM dealer FAQ for Safety Recall N252494001 — L87 Engine Loss of Propulsion
• GM owner recall lookup (VIN field-action status)
• NHTSA ODI Opening Resume PE25-001 (January 16, 2025)
• NHTSA ODI Opening Resume EA25-007 (October 23, 2025)
• NHTSA ODI Opening Resume RQ26-001 (January 16, 2026) — recall-remedy adequacy query
• NHTSA safety-issues search
• CarComplaints: GM Files Motion to Dismiss L87 Engine Lawsuit (June 8, 2026)
• Justia docket: Powell v. General Motors, LLC, 2:25-cv-10479 (E.D. Mich.)
• DiCello Levitt appointed lead counsel in consolidated GM 6.2L engine litigation
• GM Authority: passed-inspection engines get 10-yr/150k extended coverage (N252494003)
• GM Authority: replaced engines also receive extended warranty coverage

Last verified: June 10, 2026.