robroy

come to think of it, it was probably the valve covers. That little occurrence was maybe 5 years ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy.

I took my Sierra in for something unrelated and the dealer asked if I had the time to wait around to have the heads replaced (I did not, but I made time for that!)

A couple of notes for the thread; for the "privilege" of living here in California I had to get my truck smogged and the smog check up does not like what ever the Range AFM disabler does to the system. If you are due for a smog check and running a programer, disable the programer 60-100 miles before your smog test. After I pulled the plug on my range, and drove for a week, she passed just fine. I am done with synthetic oil. Two changes ago I switched to delo400 (15W-40) and the difference, while the sample size is small and the observations empirical, are positive. I hear less valve slap, I hold more consistent oil pressure on the gauge, and burn less oil, though I am changing it 4,000 miles instead of approximately 10,000 when the computer told me to change it, so theres less time to burn oil between changes.

I have had the range installed about 2 months and oil burn has stopped, so far as I can tell. Fuel consumption is harder to gauge. I am in my busy season and I do a lot of driving around farm lands at 15mph, or idling, towing, stepping on it to catch so and so. Compared to last years fuel average I'm down a mpg, but I don't think thats really a proper comparison as I'm not your typical driver this time of the year.

I took Bad Bowtie2's advice and ordered a Range AFM canceler. Turn around by auto anything was pretty good. Easy plug in install for the range. The little black box showed up on a friday and that day I left for the coast for a weekend getaway with the girlfriend. Up and through California's winding coastal mountains I was getting 18+ MPG which which is as good or maybe better than what I could get before the range. I did not notice any oil burn but I only logged 400-500 miles. The engine feels like it has a bit more gitty up and the transmission shifts smooth (go figure). Oil consumption is all I care about, so far so good.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I spoke with the service manager at my local dealership and he was asking how often I change my oil to which I told him "when my truck tells me to (just like you told me to do when I bought the thing new)". He said "oh no, you have to change it every 3,000 miles". That seems extreme, not to mention expensive given the cost of full synthetic. Full synthetic is all that I have ran in my truck since new. I own an agricultural business and employ a mechanic (not a GM mechanic mind you but a gear guy none the less). We got to discussing oils and he wondered aloud if the full synthetics and lite weights aren't also for EPA reasons and not so much because its a better product. My question for the forum is has anyone switched from the recommended 5W or synthetic?

^ How great a deal is a great deal? I saw were range also sells on amazon for a few bucks cheaper than on their site.

My 2009 Sierra (5.3 non flex Z71) has always been an oil burner. Maybe around 50K miles a GM dealer replaced the driver side valve cover, still a burner. I'm past warranty, having had nothing else done to it, and not wanting to spend more than I need to to keep this my daily driver; what would you guys recommend for me to disable the AFM? I looked at the range AFM disabler, but I was wondering, being out of warranty, is there another product that everyone would recommend first.