shrapnel

So I posted around this time last year about the oil consumption issues I was having with my 09 Silverado with the LY5 motor. I had the de-carb, updated valve cover installed, AFM deflector installed and pistons/rings replaced. After this was done, everything seemed fine, no oil consumption at all. Since the factory warranty has expired at this point, I decided to get a premium tune and the tuner deactivated AFM. Then, later on, the time comes for an oil change, so I give it the synthetic blend Pennzoil that I normally do. It starts consuming oil again. Not at a ridiculous rate but enough to aggravate me since I had all the work done to correct this issue and had AFM deactivated like everyone here seems to believe is a fix for this issue. I just did an oil change a couple months ago at 85k miles (I'm close to 89k miles now). I figured I would try something different and go Mobil 1 full-synthetic (the dexos approved one). Would you believe it if I told you that after almost 4k miles I'm still at the full mark on my dipstick? That is with a very minor leak around the oil filter too. I haven't figured out if the leak is due to the oil filter or the synthetic oil. I tightened it down and it still leaks a little. I guess we'll find out with the next oil change if anything changes. My only complaint with the full synthetic oil is the valvetrain is much more noisy than it was when I ran the synthetic blend. So in my experience, oil seems to make a difference, at least with my engine. I've ran Pennzoil in the past with my previous vehicles and never had a consumption problem, but it seems to be a factor with this one.

FC, That's what I keep telling myself. I could tell when he was checking the oil level after 1500 miles that the oil level was below the 2nd hole from the bottom, he just got lucky the 5th time that some oil dripped on the dipstick filling the 2nd hole. I did not watch them fill and measure after 2000 mi., but I measured the oil level when I got home from the stealership and it was still almost 0.25 qt. low. But, they still agreed to do the pistons and the rings so I'm not going to get too wrapped up over it.. Here is a link to TSB 01-06-01-011H that they gave me that covers trucks up to 2014: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5Gd5Q4oI4g5NENpVkdHck00Xzg/edit?usp=sharing It doesn't say this replaces TSB 10-06-01-008G where it mentions a rough running engine and if the customer feels the oil consumption is excessive. My truck would run a little rough when I ran 87 octane but smooth as glass when I ran 89. Now it is still rough when I run 89 which I am guessing is caused by fouled spark plugs from the excessive oil consumption. Someone in this thread on silveradosierra said they were handed the same TSB and were told 1 qt. per 1000 mi. was ok. I am not sure where this 1 qt. per 1000 is coming from. As you can see in the TSB I was given, it says 1 qt. per 2000 mi. http://www.silveradosierra.com/vortec-5-3l-v8/undergoing-testing-about-oil-consumption-issue-t191065.html How many miles have you put on now since the work was done? I saw back in January you reported your truck is consuming 1/4 qt. per 5000 after 40,000 mi. Has it gotten worse since then? I am worried, as someone else has stated, that this is just a bandage to get past the warranty. But, I haven't seen complaints from owners of trucks that came with the deflector and valve cover upgrade from the factory that they were having excessive oil consumption issues. Is anyone aware of 2012+ trucks consuming an excessive amount of oil?

Been a member here since last year just browsing from time to time. So here is my first post and (long) story. Bought an 09 Silverado last May. Had 43,200 miles on it when I drove it off the lot. It has the iron block LY5 in it. I was aware of the oil consumption issues with the aluminum blocks and figured I was in the clear with the iron block. One time my dad's 05 Silverado had a check oil level warning pop up when he was leaking oil because the filter was loose. He was 2 quarts low when the warning came on. I figured if there was an issue with a low oil level, I would get a warning. No, I didn't monitor my oil level on a regular basis. I typically change my oil around 5k with conventional Penzoil and I do it while the engine is still warm to get as much oil out as I can in a timely manner. I changed it at around 48k at the end of July and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. No check oil level warning and the amount of oil that drained out seemed about right. When I changed my oil again at 53k in October, it seemed like there was significantly less oil that drained out this time. I have a 15 quart drain pan that I don't always empty out after I do an oil change. Fortunately, it was empty this time before doing the oil change. So I measured it out. I had just above 4 quarts of oil, just enough to not get the check oil level warning. I did some research and after a lot of digging and only finding that GM was only recognizing an oil consumption issue with the aluminum block 5.3s, I finally found the thread on silveradosierra.com with the updated TSB including the iron block and the acceptable rate stated was in excess of one quart per 2-3000 miles. At this point I figured I am over 1 quart per 3000 and stopped by the dealership and discussed it with them. They said to bring the truck in when it needs an oil change and they will do the oil change and start the oil consumption test. I had read some posts saying the dealer acknowledged the problem and did the work without doing the oil consumption test, so I was kind of disappointed that they wanted to do the test but whatever. I went along with it. Brought it to them in January and had them do the oil change so they can start the oil consumption test. They said bring it back after 500-1k miles to check the oil level. Brought it back in February after roughly 1k miles and it was down 1/2 a quart. They told me the acceptable rate by GM is 1 qt for 2k miles and said I was right on the line. It sounded like they were going to try to weasel their way out of servicing this under warranty and I was kind of getting pissed. I think he could tell I wasn't happy and said to schedule a de-carb soon because my warranty expired in April. And if it was still consuming oil, at least the process was started on it so it would still be covered after April. I had the de-carb done back in the middle of March. I figured the AFM deflector and valve cover would be the next step after the de-carb. When I got the truck back they told me they installed the deflector and valve cover and bring it back after 500-1k miles. Great. Because of work, it wasn't until about 1500 miles I was able to get back to the dealership to have the oil level checked. The service manager was the one that checked the oil level after letting it sit for 15 minutes. I was there when he checked it. He checked it 5 times before the second hole up was filled with oil. The first four times I bet he was thinking "crap.. crap... crap.. crap..." and then the 5th time when the second hole from the bottom on the dipstick was filled he was like "see here, that hole is filled so you haven't used up quite 3/4 of a quart yet." I'm not happy thinking he was going to try to weasel out of having to do more work to fix the problem. Then he says the next step would be to do the rings but he didn't want to do it if he didn't have to. They had done it on several trucks in the past and he estimated about 10% of the trucks stopped burning oil. I think he could tell I wasn't satisfied so he said to bring it back at 2k miles and they would refill and measure exactly how much oil it would take. Picture of dipstick for reference: So a week later its about 2k miles after the decarb/deflector/valve cover service and I go back. They said it took a quart of oil, it's right on the line, blah, blah, blah. I thought they were going to tell me I was in the accepted range and leave it at that. They entered the note in the system it took a quart after 2k miles and started printing stuff out. I figured they were closing it out and giving me the documentation. Apparently he printed out an updated TSB from this past June. It didn't have the 2-3000 mile window. It was a firm 1 qt per 2000 miles was acceptable and it covers trucks up to the 2014 model year. It also said it doesn't cover trucks subjected to hard driving (high revving) or heavy towing because oil consumption would increase under those conditions. He started neatening up the desk to avoid eye contact hoping I would just go away. He didn't say anything after handing over the TSB to me. I figured this was it. I would have to learn to deal with this oil consumption issue. Couldn't even say sorry or nothing. I was about to turn around and leave in disgust when he says I guess the next step would be to do the rings if you want to. I tell him yea, I do if there's a chance it will fix the problem. He tells me he'll have to order the parts and he'll let me know when they're in so we can schedule an appointment. I got the call last Monday the parts were in and it went in this morning. They said this morning when I dropped it off that they are doing the pistons too. So we'll see. Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday it will be done. Now I'm reading there could be a lifter issue?