2002 chevy tahoe 5.3 oil selection

[Zahndkile]

Originally Posted by thunderchild
Originally Posted by super20dan
those heater conectors can break with no warning. mine let go and I didn't smell any antifreeze and the temp gauge didn't even rise. the messege center flashed low coolant. and I stopped and checked. lucky I carry a gallon of water and got home ok. it would be easy to cook your engine because of this stupid desigh that is there only to speed up the assembly line



Yessir!!! And they don't even make the part anymore for it!!! So he just plugged the line for me. I have another indy that said he could just go to Loew's and get some plumbing parts and fix it back. I just may let him do just that. He said T fittings and some hose is all that is needed.



My coolant T started leaking a couple weeks ago and I was able to get Dorman replacements for reasonable so I replaced them all. 2 T fittings and 2 quick connectors. All identical to the original. It made it 18 years so I won't complain.

 

[dogememe]

I'm late to this thread but I have an 01 Suburban with the 5.3 and about 291k miles.

Currently running Valvoline Maxlife 10w-30. No weird noises.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by Zahndkile
As to the oil consumption I am 92% shure that at least 75% of the 2 qt's in 5000 miles is the timing cover seal. I plan to replace it and harmonic balancer soon when I replace the intake manifold gasket. Lots of repairs on back log right now. So much time so little money. ...€


My 05 Silverado 4.8 work truck uses about the same amount of oil and it seems to be a combination of valve seals (occasional puff of blue smoke on startup plus white deposits on a couple spark plugs) and rear main seal looks to be leaking slightly. 200k miles 8400 engine hours. The engine runs great and according to my torque pro app everything seems to be in spec. It's down to 21% oil life after 2500 miles (cold weather, quite a few short trips doing local jobs and idle time to clear the windshield while working in the truck).

I've never had a uoa done but it seems like a lot of these engines show a bit higher wear numbers despite that they usually last forever. I'm probably going to switch back to synthetic next oil change since the truck belongs to me now (bought from my employer) and I need it to keep making me money for another few years at least.

Btw mine has zero piston slap or lifter noise (unless it's well below zero you can hear a very faint bit of piston slap about 30 seconds after startup that lasts another minute or two). One of the quietest engines I've heard. The 5.3 I have pulled to put in my Caprice was the same. My friend however has a 4.8 with less miles than mine and it slaps pretty noisily on every cold start.

 

[Zahndkile]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by Zahndkile
As to the oil consumption I am 92% shure that at least 75% of the 2 qt's in 5000 miles is the timing cover seal. I plan to replace it and harmonic balancer soon when I replace the intake manifold gasket. Lots of repairs on back log right now. So much time so little money. ...€


My 05 Silverado 4.8 work truck uses about the same amount of oil and it seems to be a combination of valve seals (occasional puff of blue smoke on startup plus white deposits on a couple spark plugs) and rear main seal looks to be leaking slightly. 200k miles 8400 engine hours. The engine runs great and according to my torque pro app everything seems to be in spec. It's down to 21% oil life after 2500 miles (cold weather, quite a few short trips doing local jobs and idle time to clear the windshield while working in the truck).

I've never had a uoa done but it seems like a lot of these engines show a bit higher wear numbers despite that they usually last forever. I'm probably going to switch back to synthetic next oil change since the truck belongs to me now (bought from my employer) and I need it to keep making me money for another few years at least.

Btw mine has zero piston slap or lifter noise (unless it's well below zero you can hear a very faint bit of piston slap about 30 seconds after startup that lasts another minute or two). One of the quietest engines I've heard. The 5.3 I have pulled to put in my Caprice was the same. My friend however has a 4.8 with less miles than mine and it slaps pretty noisily on every cold start.

Mine was 5 qt's between oil changes before I swapped the transmission and changed the rear seal.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by Zahndkile
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by Zahndkile
As to the oil consumption I am 92% shure that at least 75% of the 2 qt's in 5000 miles is the timing cover seal. I plan to replace it and harmonic balancer soon when I replace the intake manifold gasket. Lots of repairs on back log right now. So much time so little money. ...€


My 05 Silverado 4.8 work truck uses about the same amount of oil and it seems to be a combination of valve seals (occasional puff of blue smoke on startup plus white deposits on a couple spark plugs) and rear main seal looks to be leaking slightly. 200k miles 8400 engine hours. The engine runs great and according to my torque pro app everything seems to be in spec. It's down to 21% oil life after 2500 miles (cold weather, quite a few short trips doing local jobs and idle time to clear the windshield while working in the truck).

I've never had a uoa done but it seems like a lot of these engines show a bit higher wear numbers despite that they usually last forever. I'm probably going to switch back to synthetic next oil change since the truck belongs to me now (bought from my employer) and I need it to keep making me money for another few years at least.

Btw mine has zero piston slap or lifter noise (unless it's well below zero you can hear a very faint bit of piston slap about 30 seconds after startup that lasts another minute or two). One of the quietest engines I've heard. The 5.3 I have pulled to put in my Caprice was the same. My friend however has a 4.8 with less miles than mine and it slaps pretty noisily on every cold start.

Mine was 5 qt's between oil changes before I swapped the transmission and changed the rear seal.


I may have to do that at some point if oil consumption gets that much worse.

 

[Zahndkile]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by Zahndkile
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by Zahndkile
As to the oil consumption I am 92% shure that at least 75% of the 2 qt's in 5000 miles is the timing cover seal. I plan to replace it and harmonic balancer soon when I replace the intake manifold gasket. Lots of repairs on back log right now. So much time so little money. ...€


My 05 Silverado 4.8 work truck uses about the same amount of oil and it seems to be a combination of valve seals (occasional puff of blue smoke on startup plus white deposits on a couple spark plugs) and rear main seal looks to be leaking slightly. 200k miles 8400 engine hours. The engine runs great and according to my torque pro app everything seems to be in spec. It's down to 21% oil life after 2500 miles (cold weather, quite a few short trips doing local jobs and idle time to clear the windshield while working in the truck).

I've never had a uoa done but it seems like a lot of these engines show a bit higher wear numbers despite that they usually last forever. I'm probably going to switch back to synthetic next oil change since the truck belongs to me now (bought from my employer) and I need it to keep making me money for another few years at least.

Btw mine has zero piston slap or lifter noise (unless it's well below zero you can hear a very faint bit of piston slap about 30 seconds after startup that lasts another minute or two). One of the quietest engines I've heard. The 5.3 I have pulled to put in my Caprice was the same. My friend however has a 4.8 with less miles than mine and it slaps pretty noisily on every cold start.

Mine was 5 qt's between oil changes before I swapped the transmission and changed the rear seal.


I may have to do that at some point if oil consumption gets that much worse.


If you ever have the transmission out I would recommend changing it eaven if it doesn't leak because it is such a cheap part that a few quarts of oil prevented from leaking would pay for the part.

 

[RPMster]

It's totally normal for some engines to use a quart per 1,000 miles after they surpass the 200,000 milestone, especially if you stick with the original recommended grade (20 or 30).

Using a 40 or 50 weight synthetic or syn-blend will not hurt a high mileage engine. It will help minimize consumption, and can often improve compression as well on a tired engine.