6liter using oil

bullyus · July 10, 2006

ll of a sudden this season it uses a liter of oil every 600 kilometers..There is no smoke from the tailpipe and the engine is not leaking. This has me quite concerned. Anyone run into this? The only thing i changed this year is a tuned pcm from Jesse.. I cant see this affecting oil consumption.. I park the truck in the winter.. Last year when i parked it this problem wast there. Any ideas?? Thank you..

Bullyus

Mark_in_Tulsa · July 10, 2006

600 or 6000 Kilometers?

ken1mod · July 10, 2006

It has always been said of mechanical things that the quickest way to destroy them is to not use them.

If indeed it is a quart of oil every 500 or so miles, it is likely stuck rings. There certainly would be lots of smoke though.

I have also seen huge oil consumption in older engines from clogged oil returns in the valve chamber filling the rocker chamber and forcing oil down the valves. but there was lots of smoke. I doubt this in a modern engine.

If it is a quart every 6000 km, get over it, it is ok to use reasonable amounts of oil.

Ken

hcvone · July 10, 2006

I have 30k on my Escalade, I use Amsoil series 2000 0-30 oil, I change it at 5k miles, it has never used a drop between changes.

bullyus · July 10, 2006

600 or 6000 Kilometers?

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it was 600 kilometers.. The truck only has 46000 kilometers on it..

ken1mod · July 10, 2006

Many modern engines use zero to little oil. Isn't that amazing with all the activity that goes on in the crankcase?

My 2000 5.3 with 110000 miles uses about 1 qt per 10,000 miles ie. none between changes.

I would conside an engine that uses 1 qt per 2000 miles in perfect shape. Aircraft engines that are routinely operated at either idle, on the ground, or dead full throttle for hours on end use a qt or so every 3 or 4 hours and they use 50 wt oil. The old radial aircraft engines were specifically designed to burn a controlled amount of oil for "upper cylinder lubrication" these engines carried 200 gallons of oil in a tank behind the motor. The "upper cylinder thing" is not considered good anymore though.

A buddy of mine that has an old toyota 4wd had a cam chain break. I advised him to install a new cam chain. It used a qt every 2000 miles and he said it "burned oil" so he had it rebuilt completely. He has had nothing but trouble with it since and it still uses 1 qt every 2000.

While it is great to have an engine that uses no oil, reasonable consumption is not cause for alarm.

Ken

Machine · July 10, 2006

Many modern engines use zero to little oil. Isn't that amazing with all the activity that goes on in the crankcase?

My 2000 5.3 with 110000 miles uses about 1 qt per 10,000 miles ie. none between changes.

I would conside an engine that uses 1 qt per 2000 miles in perfect shape. Aircraft engines that are routinely operated at either idle, on the ground, or dead full throttle for hours on end use a qt or so every 3 or 4 hours and they use 50 wt oil. The old radial aircraft engines were specifically designed to burn a controlled amount of oil for "upper cylinder lubrication" these engines carried 200 gallons of oil in a tank behind the motor. The "upper cylinder thing" is not considered good anymore though.

A buddy of mine that has an old toyota 4wd had a cam chain break. I advised him to install a new cam chain. It used a qt every 2000 miles and he said it "burned oil" so he had it rebuilt completely. He has had nothing but trouble with it since and it still uses 1 qt every 2000.

While it is great to have an engine that uses no oil, reasonable consumption is not cause for alarm.

Ken

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Aircraft engines and car engines are two different animals; air-cooled, constant high rpm’s throughout their service, cylinder head temps that can exceed 450*, exhaust gas temps over 1600*, etc. Oil consumption is an important part of the design.

For cars - A quart every 500 or even 2K in a modern engine is not normal by today’s standards. I’ve driven too many gas and diesel trucks, cars, and SUV’s that haven’t required a drop of oil between 3-5K oil changes to know the difference. I can’t even access the oil (dipstick or cap) in one of my cars. The dealer has to do it, and not until an additional 6K has been driven. Imagine a 604HP car that consumes 3 Quarts of oil in that timeframe…

Anyway, and IMO, oil consumption to that degree is unacceptable, and just tells me that if my engine is doing it and your engine isn’t– I’ve got a problem.

OnyxMAX · July 11, 2006

according to gm on the LS2/1/6/7 1 quart used every tank-1kmiles is normal. i doubt the truck 5.3 6.0 are anydifferent.

while lots of ls2 gto owners are complainin GM hasen't realy listened. we all know it's to much but it is what it is not like gm will pass out a bunch of free engines. think the count is around 3 engines down because of it just sneaking up on people not consuming any then sucking the pan dry.

ken1mod · July 11, 2006

Mercedes Benz has a similar oil consumption spec. Thank gosh all vehicles actually do much better.

ken

Wingnut · July 11, 2006

If my 6.0 liter starts burning 1 qt per tank, or even per 1000 miles, I'll be getting a brand spankin' new motor out of GM. Because if I follow their oil life monitor, using Mobil 1 (as is recommended)...I'm going to run out of oil LOOONG before it's time to change it, and my engine will make a mess out of itself at a socially crippling time.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. 1 qt per 1000 miles is too much consumption, get it checked.

Frozen001 · July 11, 2006

My 6.0l used absolutely no oil between changes.... (I have just over 18k on the clock). I use 10w30 dino oil changed every 3k. My previous GMC (2000 Sierra w 5.3l) used no oil between changes... again 3k 10w30 dino oil... had about 90k when I traded it in and still used no oil.

Machine · July 11, 2006

Mercedes Benz has a similar oil consumption spec. Thank gosh all vehicles actually do much better.

ken

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The car that I spoke of in my post is a Mercedes. Imagine if it really did consume that amount of oil - and I can't even add any on my own to it to compensate...

C & A s Dad · July 12, 2006

Have you recently changed the PCV valve? I have read a lot of info where if a engine had a fixed orfice PCV and it was changed to the check valve design, the engine will begin using oil.

Just a thought!!

pm26 · July 12, 2006

Many modern engines use zero to little oil. Isn't that amazing with all the activity that goes on in the crankcase?

My 2000 5.3 with 110000 miles uses about 1 qt per 10,000 miles ie. none between changes.

I would conside an engine that uses 1 qt per 2000 miles in perfect shape. Aircraft engines that are routinely operated at either idle, on the ground, or dead full throttle for hours on end use a qt or so every 3 or 4 hours and they use 50 wt oil. The old radial aircraft engines were specifically designed to burn a controlled amount of oil for "upper cylinder lubrication" these engines carried 200 gallons of oil in a tank behind the motor. The "upper cylinder thing" is not considered good anymore though.

A buddy of mine that has an old toyota 4wd had a cam chain break. I advised him to install a new cam chain. It used a qt every 2000 miles and he said it "burned oil" so he had it rebuilt completely. He has had nothing but trouble with it since and it still uses 1 qt every 2000.

While it is great to have an engine that uses no oil, reasonable consumption is not cause for alarm.

Ken

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I had a 95 Nissan V6 4X4 pickup that used absolutely no oil. The oil level on the dipstick always indicated full between the oil changes every 3K miles. On the other hand, my '99 Mazda 626 V6 uses about 1/2 to 3/4 quarts of oil every 3k miles. It has been doing this since new. The engine runs great, it now has 150k miles with zero problems. So I agree, mild oil consumption like this is probably characteristic of some engines and should not be considered a problem.

bullyus · July 13, 2006

Have you recently changed the PCV valve? I have read a lot of info where if a engine had a fixed orfice PCV and it was changed to the check valve design, the engine will begin using oil.

Just a thought!!

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I changed the pcv valve 3 years ago to the gm changeup type..I have now changed it again. Ive topped up the oil right to the full mark and will check again after towing this weekend. Good thought tho. I appreciate all your input.. Bullyus