2003 Suburban observations - Chevy 5.3L

[TNBurban]

I have an '03 'Burb now at 56K. I've never really been concerned with the whole piston slap thing. Every now and then I think it may be happening but I take into consideration that it is a V8, whereas the last 4 vehicles I owned and the other 2 vehicles I currently own are V6 engines and I would expect more noise from a V8.

It saw dino for first 30K, then switched to Mobil 1 for 8K or so intervals. Switched again to GC green flavor after 2 M1 changes because of this darn site

.
Then, 600 miles ago I switched to PP 5w-20 because
1) no more GC green in my area
2) PP deal at Advance Auto, blows M1 out of the water price wise
3) vehicle is not driven daily, often sitting for 5 days, and when driven a lot of the times it is used to transport hordes of kids to-from practice/school/etc. where the engine barely gets up to temp, therefore I thought a 5w-20 oil would be a good idea


Needless to say it was a bad idea.

Piston slap at startup is the most noticeable it has ever been, almost scary. I will be going to PP 5w-30 this weekend, weather permitting.

Should I change the filter (Mobil 1 filter with 600 miles of 5w-20) or am I okay to leave it on?

 

[IndyFan]

I've got an 03 Tahoe 5.3, and it runs well with Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum 5w30. It doesn't make any unusual noises. I usually run a Supertec oil filter (E-Core) or Purolator Pure One. I ran the same in my 04 Suburban and sold it with 50,000 miles, and I had a 99 Silverado 5.3 and ran it to 125,000 miles on M1. None of them had the noise. All 5w30.

It is mostly used on a 35 minute, 18-mile commute, so it always gets up to temp. I'm at about 62,000 miles.

 

[coffee]

I agree that PP 5w30 would be a great move.

 

[jorton]

I hope it's ok to keep the same filter because I did that tonight when I changed from 10w-30 to 5w-20 in my 2005 Ford Focus. More old oil did drain out for about 10 minutes after I loosened the filter.

 

[coffee]

It should be okay as long as the filter was fairly new and you drained the oil hot to get as much as possible out of the engine.

 

[jorton]

800 miles on the 10w-30 oc.

 

[mrsilv04]

5w-20 was probably not the best choice. IMHO, that was a tad bit on the thin side.

I'd take the filter off, drain out of it what you can, then spin it back on.

I ran one batch of Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30 through my '04 Silverado 5.3 (40k) before switching over to Amsoil, and am currently using PP 5w-30 in Dad's 2000 Sierra 5.3 (71k).

I hear just a hint of a couple of seconds of slap on Dad's Sierra on start up, with the PP 5w-30. Will be switching it to PP 10w-30 for summer here in the next few weeks, due to the higher temps, and due to the fact that he pulls a 27' travel trailer as well.

I may not run 5w-30 in the Sierra ever again, since the truck sits in a garage that doesn't get any colder than 40 degrees in the winter, and he's getting ready to retire in a couple months, so it won't be sitting outside every day during the winter, while he's at work.

I love the Amsoil in the Goldwing, but will probably switch the Silverado back to PP when the Amsoil is gone. $17.34 for 6 quarts of synthetic is just too good of a deal to pass up.... and unlike milk and bread, it doesn't go bad.

 

[Texas Aggie]

I forget who it was, but I believe someone tried RedLine 5W-20 in a 5.3L due to the high HT/HS of the oil. I think that's the oil I would try if I were to do it.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I believe site administrator G-Man stated that Castrol works best at muffing the piston slap sound.

 

[cfromc]

I too have a Suburban 5.3L (2001 130K) however I've never run 5W-20 in it I have been experimenting with some xW-30s to see what it likes. I will say that it was quieter on XL 5W-30 but not on TSO 0W-30. I'm using ASL 5W-30 now and it is quieter than the 0W-30 but louder than the XL. Next I'm going a little thicker, probably with some HDD 5W-30 or even GC. I did try a mix of about half 5W-20 and 5W-30 in my 2004 Grand Prix and have been much less than satisfied with the results. It is a short trip vehicle and the only benefit is a very, very slightly faster warm-up time. I have actually LOST gas mileage so far (about 3,000 miles) into this OCI, compared to this time last year when I was running straight ASL 5W-30. Of course, this is a different brand of oil (QS Torque Power) but still, I've lost >1MPG.