5.3l vortec question

Motodox · April 19, 2015

Ok I have a compression gauge I'll check them all this week. When cleaning this motor to help verify where the leak is,is it ok to power was the motor? Use a degreaser and power wash all around the valve covers and motor. Do I need to worry about water getting in to connectors or damaging anything ? Thanks

mymaggiebell · April 20, 2015

Just use degreaser with soapy water with hose......u can use pressure washer but careful where u r spraying!!

Nanotech Environmental · April 20, 2015

My wife has nearly 230K miles on her car with nothing but bulk dealership oil changes.......... M1 and Royal Purple belief is proof you can't separate marketing from quality. Especially Royal Purple, at one point the running joke by those who actually value data was "it shears out of grade pouring from the bottle" it has gotten a little better but still nothing even vaguely special any maybe worth half the price.

The high mileage oils have seal conditioners and tend towards the thicker end of their viscosity range, nothing wrong with either of those things though the seal conditioners are more likely not needed and the thicker end of the range can be accomplished other ways.

I've used Mobil 1 oils exclusively for many years in all my highway vehicles & it has nothing to do with marketing blather. Simply put, Mobil 1 and Amsoil always placed at the highest in all the independent tests I could find; ie shear strength, heat tests, wear tests, etc., etc. I could go either way with Mobil 1 or Amsoil, but always used Mobil 1 because I can get it cheaper and more consistently. Also, because they both are synthetic, they don't suffer the base stock breakdown issues many pure dino oils have.

DwayneJ · April 21, 2015

BLEACH does will in some of those machine tests, I am not using it in the crankcase though.

Used Oil Analysis tells us more that the tests you place your faith in.

BlackZ71Silverado · April 21, 2015

I don't trust any of those "special" oils - is the high mileage oil higher viscosity? Are the additives different?

I've run nothing but straight synthetic in my vehicles - Mobil 1 (just Mobil 1, not "high mileage," not "extended performance," not "advanced fuel economy," just plain vanilla Mobil 1) , and I'm currently using Royal Purple in both my trucks.

Very contradicting post you have there.

You claim to not trust "special oils" and additives but then you say you use Royal Purple which is very gimmicky and is considered a "special oil".

Their 'man made' additives and dye they use to make the purple color, you don't trust stuff like that but yet you use it?? Go to their website and read about their 'special' additives they put in their oil, that should really concern you since you don't use oil with additives.

That straight Mobil 1 you use is a lower mileage change interval oil. The mobil 1 extended performance is a much better full syntheitc oil that lasts much longer and is the same price per quart, you are throwing money away because you feel the better oils can't be trusted.

I run Mobil 1 Extended Performance in both my trucks (2008 V-Max, 2010 5.3L) and use the Mobil 1 oil filters. Out of curiosity I have had it tested and also had sent out plain old Mobil 1 syntheitc from my brothers truck, trucks are nearly identical. Both oil samples were collected and sent out at the same time, both had Mobil 1 filters.

I changed my oil at 12000 miles and there was 20% oil life left according to the DIC. His oil had 6000 miles on it and his DIC was at 3% (huge difference before even getting results back).

The Blackstone results were impressive and showed that the regular oil was broken down far more than my ext. perf. was with only half the mileage, so what's not to trust about the extended performance??? The GM oil life monitor is also very accurate, guess you don't trust that either..

I have tried Royal Purple in my 2008 V-Max with a Royal Purple oul filter and was surprised that the engine would tick on cold starts and the oil pressure was a little low. Replaced it with Mobil 1 Extended Performance that I always run, no more ticking and my oil pressure was back where it belongs. Not sure why this happened but I will never use it again. If I didn't get 5 of the 6 quarts for free, I would have never tried RP. Fact is, Royal Purple is a gimmick and a marketing joke. There is nothing better about it.

It's your vehicle so do with it as you please. I am just curious as to why you hold a negative opinion of the better quality oils and say they can't be trusted, please explain.

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Motodox · April 21, 2015

I agree with the last comment, anything mobile 1 makes I trust and have no concern about. I've read to many good things about it. And I've had great results with it, including my sportbikes even shifting smoothing from switching to mobil 1. Mobil 1 is great oil and so easy to find!

DwayneJ · April 22, 2015

I run Mobil 1 Extended Performance in both my trucks (2008 V-Max, 2010 5.3L) and use the Mobil 1 oil filters. Out of curiosity I have had it tested and also had sent out plain old Mobil 1 syntheitc from my brothers truck, trucks are nearly identical. Both oil samples were collected and sent out at the same time, both had Mobil 1 filters.

I changed my oil at 12000 miles and there was 20% oil life left according to the DIC. His oil had 6000 miles on it and his DIC was at 3% (huge difference before even getting results back).

The Blackstone results were impressive and showed that the regular oil was broken down far more than my ext. perf. was with only half the mileage, so what's not to trust about the extended performance??? The GM oil life monitor is also very accurate, guess you don't trust that either..

The OLM has NOTHING to MEASURE oil condition so your "evidence" of oil performance based on mileage and OLM% is nothing but proof the two vehicles were driven VERY differently. The OLM is triggered on conditions, temp, rpm, cold starts those sorts of things.

M1 is fine, but the koolaid drinking belief in it is not......

BlackZ71Silverado · April 22, 2015

I'll have to let Blackstone Labs know they are wrong. Thanks for clearing that up.

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DwayneJ · April 22, 2015

I'll have to let Blackstone Labs know they are wrong. Thanks for clearing that up.

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You are too eager to be offended and ignore reason to read what I wrote.

The OLM monitor difference proves how vastly differently the trucks were used, trying to compare the oil quality when the trucks were used completely differently is not valid.

Blackstone is a reputable company and I am sure if you asked they would tell you the OML doesn't measure anything and the discrepancy you saw in mileage vs.OLM percentage is proof of how differently the engines were treated.

Motodox · April 23, 2015

Does anyone else carry 60psi of oil pressure when on the accelerator?? Just seems weird such high mileage having such high oil pressure when driving. Idles at 40psi. Never got any good feedback on this ?

Changed the pcv valve no change.

Pressure went up to 60 after changing oil mobile 1 ac delco filter.

00Silverado4x4 · April 24, 2015

My previous '06 had good oil pressure and would hit 60 psi easily when accelerating. My current truck I don't trust what the gage is telling me so I can't comment on that.