5.3 Gen IV a bad engine?

[dwhitton]

I have the L5Y 5.3L AFM with 225,000km (140,000mi) and have just started burning oil at the rate of 1 L per 15,000km (10,000mi). I tow a 7500lb trailer 40% of the time. I know the main seal "seeps" due to seeing a thin film on the flywheel access plate. I use Pennzoil 5W30 High Milage. I am quite happy with this arrangement

[brownie152]

In my own experience, I have 4 good friends with the crew cab 5.3 nnbs trucks. The years are 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011. 3 of the 4 trucks have had the oil consumption problem show up before 50,000miles. You will never convince me that 1 quart for every 3000 miles is normal. Even if you believe that, these trucks got as bad as a quart every 500 miles before the engines were replaced. Is that to say that every truck out there will have the same problem, no. But 3 out of 4 is pretty bad. It could just be coincidence, but I wouldn't take my chances on it again. I'm glad that some of you have no problems and profess that this is the best motor ever. Nobody should have to go through what 3 of us had to go through with their "new" trucks. So as an answer to the original question, yes, I think some of these motors are bad. Just wish they would figure out why and would have fixed it sooner and not put the owners through it anymore. Maybe the guy with the 2011 wont have probems, but he also only has 25,000 on the truck, so i guess we will see.

[joshw1303]

 

In my own experience, I have 4 good friends with the crew cab 5.3 nnbs trucks. The years are 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011. 3 of the 4 trucks have had the oil consumption problem show up before 50,000miles. You will never convince me that 1 quart for every 3000 miles is normal. Even if you believe that, these trucks got as bad as a quart every 500 miles before the engines were replaced. Is that to say that every truck out there will have the same problem, no. But 3 out of 4 is pretty bad. It could just be coincidence, but I wouldn't take my chances on it again. I'm glad that some of you have no problems and profess that this is the best motor ever. Nobody should have to go through what 3 of us had to go through with their "new" trucks. So as an answer to the original question, yes, I think some of these motors are bad. Just wish they would figure out why and would have fixed it sooner and not put the owners through it anymore. Maybe the guy with the 2011 wont have probems, but he also only has 25,000 on the truck, so i guess we will see.

Had to replace top end lifters, piston rings, etc and re flash ecu. Was at 40,000km. Was getting burn on pistons and heard it knocking good in colder weather. Noticed it 40min from us/can. Border. Just returned from trip from florida. Been driving good since replacement. I follow the book but generally replace oil around 40%mark.

Edited April 1, 2013 by GMMan1303

[tonyghkbve]

Too many rumors and facts that the Gen IV 5.3s with AFM are worthless. They do more harm than save gas. I heard they burn oil like crazy. Since I am really into Chevy trucks, I want to get all the facts straight about this AFM system on Gen IV Vortec V8 engines. If they REALLY did do that, would GM just get sued by thousands and thousands of owners a long time ago? Wouldn't the Chevy Silverado lose its 2nd place ranking in best selling vehicles in USA? If all this were true about these engines, then something is really fishy. I have a neighbor who owns a 2012 Silverado Texas edition crew cab with a 5.3. I haven't asked her about any problems she'd had with it yet, but I will find out. Oh yeah and whats up with the "piston slap" issue? Is that true or another myth? My pops have a Vortec 4.3 and that thing never burned any oil when I change its oil after the 3,000 mile interval. It does tick at idle, but that's probably the exhaust, IDK.

[AzDragonLord]

65000 miles so far and not a single issue here....knock on wood.

[Prokopchuk_9]

Troll alarm is strong with this one...

[foghorn23]

If any new or prospective owners is stressed out by the AFM and oil burning issue it would seem to me there is a fairly inexpensive way to turn off the AFM. Just buy one of the Range AFM units (site sponsor) a Diablosport Intune (site sponsor), buy any other handheld programmer, or get a Blackbear Tune (site sponsor) With AFM off the new 5.3 should be no more likely, in my opinion, to burn oil than any previous gen 5.3. I know some will say you shouldn't have to spend $$$ to do this, but by comparison invest in the latest and greatest technology, say the Ford Ecoboost, and see how you feel about replacing turbos for an added expense of ownership a few years down the road. Will all Ecoboost owners have to do this, no, but will some, yes. No one builds a perfect truck. No one. But if the AFM oil burning issue was as widespread as some believe, RenCenter in Detroit would have long ago been burnt to the ground by the angry masses of the owners of inferior GM 5.3 motors. For those who have experienced the oil burning problem, of course it is real and I'm not trying to diminish your frustrations. But the OP makes this sound like the dawning of the Apocolypse; in the grand scheme of things it just isn't.

 

BTW: If the 5.3 still scares anyone, they still have the option of the 4.8 or 6.2 until the new trucks come out.

Edited April 3, 2013 by sylvester13

[SLong]

68K miles on my 2011. No issues. After hearing all this burning oil talk, I figured I'd start to monitor the dipstick level between oil changes a little more closely to see for myself. I changed my oil 1000 miles ago, and checked the oil level yesterday. It's on the same spot on the dipstick as when I changed it. I'm sure there are some issues out there, but you'd be hard pressed to find a manufacturer that doesn't have some issues, because they all do.

[foghorn23]

68K miles on my 2011. No issues. After hearing all this burning oil talk, I figured I'd start to monitor the dipstick level between oil changes a little more closely to see for myself. I changed my oil 1000 miles ago, and checked the oil level yesterday. It's on the same spot on the dipstick as when I changed it. I'm sure there are some issues out there, but you'd be hard pressed to find a manufacturer that doesn't have some issues, because they all do.

 

 

+1. Yeah, for anyone that thinks the grass is greener on the other side, just remember the reason it is, is because they use more manure.

[brownie152]

If anyone doubts what I'm saying, that's fine. Just wanted to post my personal experience. You can contact me for any additional info on it. The one thing that is hard to dispute is the poll at the top of this forum that has over half of the people responding that their truck uses oil. Of the people that responded, 78% have the 5.3.

I have read the arguement that most people only look for this forum when they have a complaint. I think that is a very valid arguement and what brought me to this website originally. I also think that is counter balanced by the people that came here because they love their trucks so much, to imply that there may be problem with them is near blasphemy.

One final note though, all of my friends bought their trucks despite my problems thinking that it was an isolated incident. I had to go through all of the "that's normal" talk from the dealer until it was so blatantly obvious that they had no option but to act. At least I was able to help them through the process. Good luck and I hope the problem is fixed now.

[music]

If anyone doubts what I'm saying, that's fine. Just wanted to post my personal experience. You can contact me for any additional info on it. The one thing that is hard to dispute is the poll at the top of this forum that has over half of the people responding that their truck uses oil. Of the people that responded, 78% have the 5.3.

I have read the arguement that most people only look for this forum when they have a complaint. I think that is a very valid arguement and what brought me to this website originally. I also think that is counter balanced by the people that came here because they love their trucks so much, to imply that there may be problem with them is near blasphemy.

One final note though, all of my friends bought their trucks despite my problems thinking that it was an isolated incident. I had to go through all of the "that's normal" talk from the dealer until it was so blatantly obvious that they had no option but to act. At least I was able to help them through the process. Good luck and I hope the problem is fixed now.

 

Before quoting the "poll", go through every message and and tally up the number of actual posts w/ oil consumption... and how many total posts each "user" has made on the site. I did that sometime back, and found the "poll" stats to be useless. Very few voters posted a single word about their truck/motor, and many that did were first time visitors/posters.

[brownie152]

Before quoting the "poll", go through every message and and tally up the number of actual posts w/ oil consumption... and how many total posts each "user" has made on the site. I did that sometime back, and found the "poll" stats to be useless. Very few voters posted a single word about their truck/motor, and many that did were first time visitors/posters.

 

Sorry to offend, didn't realize the "poll" pinned at the top of the page was innacurate. Figured it was more accurate than comments like mine that only show my specific bad experience, or comments that only show their specific good experience. If you have had problems, these motors are not so good. If you haven't had problems, these motors are great. Seems like it just keeps going back and forth between the two, so I was just trying to find some way to measure it better.

[scz71864]

i have had zero problems with my 5.3 i just hit 25k yesterday and changed the oil. I also have my AFM turned off. No issues with me

[music]

Sorry to offend, didn't realize the "poll" pinned at the top of the page was innacurate. Figured it was more accurate than comments like mine that only show my specific bad experience, or comments that only show their specific good experience. If you have had problems, these motors are not so good. If you haven't had problems, these motors are great. Seems like it just keeps going back and forth between the two, so I was just trying to find some way to measure it better.

 

No offense, and I'm certainly not trying to minimize your issues. Just pointing out the poor accuracy of "problem polls" on enthusiast sites. In reality, specific posts like yours are more trustworthy. If you read through that whole thread, you find a few folks who take the time to "talk" about it... while most are just blind "votes" from people who never post anything, and many of the folks that do post, only have a few total (i.e., they only joined to vote / post about their recently discovered problem). That's typical of forum polls, and not specific to this one.

 

I'm not a big Consumer Reports type, but their blind statistics show the 07+ 1500 engines to be very reliable overall. A large portion of 1500's have the 5.3, so their grouped data forms somewhat of a proxy statistic for the 5.3.

[STINSAN3]

My 5.3 is doing great. Almost with 155K on it. AFM turned off with my tune at 125K & I go 5K between oil changes, Mobil-1 Synthetic.
Mine doesn't burn any oil at. I guess I'm just lucky.