Oil Consumption

[diyer2]

You could try this.

Silverado Firefighter and 2010 Silverado.

If it was me I would drive them with the trans in M5 to keep the engine out of V4 mode and see if oil consumption changes.

If it helps get a Range.

[20L8TSierra24]

30k on mine with no consumption issues. I go the full 7-8k miles between changes. I do have a Range device as well

[Britt Lifsey]

Only up to 8k on mine but no oil used before first change or since.

[UplandPa]

Two oil changes and not a drop! Everyone I talk to has no issues.

[Thomcat]

Just adding my 2 cents opinion on the aluminum 5.3l v4/8 and AFM oil consumption issues. Followed it closely on the Avalanche forum because I had those engines in my '11 Tahoe and '07, '12 and '13 Avys.

 

The redesigned V4/8 AFM introduced in the '07 gen2 Avys and sister chassis had two major design defects causing oil consumption that would begin after 40K miles. The first involved a poorly placed PCV pickup that would suck oil from the valve cover.....it was redesigned in '09 with two different versions for the '07 & '08 and vehicles were retrofitted with the new covers based on oil consumption complaints. The second major defect was the location of the AFM oil discharge valve in the crankcase. The location of the discharged oil would overload the rings on the AFM cylinders (#1 cyl in particular) which were inactive in V4 operation, there being no pressure on the piston during the power stroke and its effect on the oil film on their cylinder wall of the "dead" cylinder. This was addressed with production beginning after 1/11 by the retrofitting of a shield over the AFM discharge valve that blocked the four horizontal discharge ports, directing all oil directly downward into the sump instead of being sprayed against the AFM cylinders. The oil consumption resulted because the excess oil would buildup and gum up the lower oil control rings which could not flex and properly remove oil from the cylinder walls which would burn up. Solutions under warranty included installation of the AFM valve baffle and chemical cleaning of the pistons, failing that, the next step was replacement of the piston set.

 

My '07s unmodified engine had 40K+ and never needed oil between changes. BUT, I changed oil and filter every 3K so can't say if it would have with the recommended 9K change if I was to follow the engine killing Oil Life Meter. I assumed that the post 1/11 production and later engines with redesigned valve lifters for the AFM cylinders had adequately addressed the problem so I traded the '11 Tahoe and '07 Avy for '12 and '13s which came with all the AFM correcting mods. Never had an oil burning problem with them but again 3K changes and not over 40K miles. And I live in a mountain area where very few roads are flat and the engine operates in V8 most of the time. Also I used the Range device as a precaution to keep the the engine in V8 when on long trips out of State on flat roads because otherwise under those conditions it would run almost exclusively in V4.

 

I have no doubt that had I followed that engine killing oil life meter and changed the oil when indicated at every 10% at 9K miles on a 6 qt. crankcase that dirty oil would have gummed up the rings on my '07. Hopefully GM has also changed the operating algorithm on the OLMs of Silverado/Sierra to compensate for prolonged V4 operation (the 25% oil increase in the crankcase should also help) for a more realistic oil change schedule to prevent piston problems on the new AFM engine's pistons.

[Silverado Steve]

40K on my odometer. Truck is complete stock, oil changed everytime the DIC warning comes on. I use 0W20 synthetic and change my own oil. Has yet to be low on oil everytime i check and when i change.

[HondaHawkGT]

20k miles on mine. No consumption between oil changes. AFM has been disabled since 1500 miles.

[KARNUT]

Back in the seventies you were happy to get 100k miles out of the engine@ oil changes every 3k.before oil consumption. Now 200k an a small block is normal at extended drains. I don't think GM figured out a magic way to kill an engine just after warrant with the ( engine killing oil life monitor). There was a problem with V8-V4 in some of the early 5.3s most people egnored it and added oil,some people used different mods to keep it in V8 mode to stop oil consumption. Oil change intervals had no effect unless you never changed it.

[Thomcat]

My recent purchase of the '16 Malibu 1.5T confirmed that the OLM is an engine killer or at best an easily fooled POS because it's magical algorithm doesn't properly anticipate or integrate all real world conditions.

 

Vehicle came off the showroom floor with 286 miles on the odometer and the OLM read only 60% of oil life remaining. The oil on the dipstick was so clean you felt you cook fries in it! Compare that with the 3K oil change on my Traverse where the OLM indicated 80% oil life still remaining. Dealer claimed that since the keyless start fob remained in the vehicle so customers could work the features/accessories, the OLM counted that as vehicle operating time. And I didn't coin the term engine killer for the OLM, a Chevy mechanic did.

[KARNUT]

I had a few vehicles with the olm, they never would trigger at the same time, must be another trick they came up with that makes us think they really work. Can't be they really monitor the way drive, idle mantain near constant RPMs like hwy driving etc. After all the have to do is get pass the warranty than all is clear. The guy at the dealer is saying change more often because he's tying to sell service.... Naa.

[TxTruckMan]

I just traded in my wife's 2003 Yukon with 208,000 miles. I always waited for the OLM to go off before changing the oil - never had any engine problems. It did burn a little oil - maybe a quart between changes (~7k miles).

 

I'll be doing the same with my current trucks after the free dealer changes.

[OldBlue61]

3600 miles and changed out the original oil/filter for 0W20 Mobil 1 and a Mobil 1 filter.

[Snoringbear]

There's an interesting article in the last Truck Trend magazine about oil consumption in the new trucks (all new trucks). Gives a lot of insight into use of 20 - 0 weight oil, new engine designs, etc. if you can find this article I recommend reading it. I would post it but I subscribe to the paper version.

[ct2ncmike]

Same problem here. I was a quart and a half low 4000 miles into a 5000 mile oil change. GM told me that is normal oil consumption. So basically I paid a lot of money for a truck that consumes oil. Should've gone with a Tundra.....

[Donstar]

Same problem here. I was a quart and a half low 4000 miles into a 5000 mile oil change. GM told me that is normal oil consumption. So basically I paid a lot of money for a truck that consumes oil. Should've gone with a Tundra.....

Is your truck new and under warranty? You should not need to top up between oil changes. Keep a log and receipts of your oil purchases. I had an oil consumption issue with my last truck. It took time and effort to get beyond GM's definition of normal but they eventually fixed the problem. Keep on good terms with your service adviser and hopefully he or she will speed you through the hoops!