Another oil consumption problem, what to do?

17canamcommander · December 20, 2017

I just purchased a used 2007 suburban with the active fuel management system. It had 106,000 on it when i got it early November. Now at 108000, i have added two quarts of oil. I was not aware of the issue. So should i purchase the device that overrides the system or has the damage been done? At this point, i think i can still trade out of the suburban. Trade it or get the plug?

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Abbott’sDMax · December 26, 2017

Ok explain a little better what’s happening

mattymax · January 1, 2018

Common issue one early 5.3 with the engine management. (AFM). I had an 07 and it was sold at 40k miles and I had no issues. Apparently the worst years were 09 and I believe 10 and won’t show it’s head till 75-100k Miles. I don’t think you could go wrong with turning off the AFM since you’re way out of warrantee.

Any valve noise ?

Matt

Wintersun · January 23, 2018

It is either the AFM or a bad engine seal or both. Rear seals are difficult to diagnose but not uncommon, especially with some Chevy engines.

"Well at 119,224 miles I noticed a few small spots of oil on my garage floor. I took it in and found I had a rear seal leak. I have the extended warranty on this vehicle so it was fixed, $1100.00 shop bill covered. A week later (119,669 miles) I found I still had small spots of oil on my garage floor. Took it back in, found I had another leak by the engine oil pan gasket, covered by warranty $900.00. I now have driven it 3000 miles since the fix and I have not lost any oil, not even one dot down on the dipstick. The only thing I can think of is while I was driving and the oil was hot it would leak from the areas above, and eventually it just got worse. I did not however at anytime have oil spots in my garage until just recently at 119K. This seems to have fixed my issue. No other fixes had been attempted prior to this. I also had the plugs and wires replaced and no plugs were "fouled up" or had any signs of oil."

"2 Fixes To Suburban 5.3 AFM Excess Oil Use - (1) First <1 hr fix is changing the driver's side engine valve cover with the improved-design driver's side valve cover with the square PCV hole moved back (from the original circular PCV hole that is too far forward and siphons AFM-splashed oil). (2) Second fix is disabling or removing AFM which causes the excess oil splashing with either a custom pro-shop engine tune, a Range Technology AFM Disabler Device (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQUAh5pTjIA) or an expensive replacement of AFM engine system hardware."

"Chevrolet service department employee told me that the 2007 Suburban's had a different motor in them and every 2007 has this problem and Chevrolet - GM did change some things on the engines of newer suburban's."

Next time before you buy a used vehicle check the number of complaints by owners at a place like https://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Suburban/2007/engine/excessive_oil_consumption.shtml or on the Chevy/Ford/Ram forums. A defect can exist over a period of years and when it is finally fixed that is the model year I would look to buy.

With all the reported problems with the AFM and with the new 10-speed transmissions with both Chevy and Ford pickups I decided to wait a couple years.