2020 GM 5.3L Oil

[redhat]

To be honest I wouldn't even be afraid of 15W-40 in a 5.3. Then again, AFM/DoD always gets turned off in my vehicles.

These engines just really don't care. They just prefer to have oil in the sump.

 

[astm467]

If chevy calls for 0w20 then that’s what you use . The motor was designed for that weight of oil . Don’t you dare try to out think the engineers who designed this motor oh no .

Never been impressed with engineers anyways

 

[xmanjeff]

what part of the country are you in? , i would run something different if i lived in florida or texas vs northern wisconson , and also if they do alot of idleing

 

[astm467]

what part of the country are you in? , i would run something different if i lived in florida or texas vs northern wisconson , and also if they do alot of idleing

Michigan. And yes, they idle a lot being PPV’s. Half engine hours are idle.

 

[levi]

Retired from a company that has a HUGE fleet of vehicles ranging from semis, to straight trucks, to pickups of all sizes, to SUVs, to compact hybrids. Diesel and gas of course. cold Midwest winters, hot summers. Everything got 15w40. Everything. Never any oil related issues. Was with them almost 2 decades. They never used any other viscosity grade.

Not necessarily advising you to do the same. But if you choose to go to a different viscosity range of oil to simplify your inventory, I think you will be just fine.

Others on here will vehemently disagree. Your choice.

 

[sohccammer427]

Police vehicles. Extended idle times, longer OCI's, driven pretty hard. I'd probably go 5w-30 if given a choice, but 0w-20 will work too.

 

[Tahoe4Life]

To be honest I wouldn't even be afraid of 15W-40 in a 5.3. Then again, AFM/DoD always gets turned off in my vehicles.

These engines just really don't care. They just prefer to have oil in the sump.

By mistake the dealer put in 5w30 Mobil 1 in my 2016 5.3 Tahoe. Upon start up when cold it made loud lifter noise for just for a few short seconds. But only when cold. Did not realize until a week later when I finally looked at my service receipt they used 5w30. The tech who worked on it later said he was used to working on the older Tahoe's [2007-2014] which used 5w30.

I took out the 5w30 and put in 0w20 Mobil 1. All was quiet again on cold start ups. There is one independent mechanic near me makes you sign off on the paperwork that you specified different grade oil if you do not put in what is written on the oil cap. Most places really don't care. I am thinking someone tried to sue the independent mechanic for a engine issue.

The dealer can void your bumper to bumper warranty if you do not use 0w20. Probably does not happen often but that is not a chance I would want to take..

With that said 0w20 Mobil 1 and 0w20 AC Delco do well in Miami jungle heat and gridlock traffic [plus idling here and there to keep the a/c on] plus on constant long distance highway runs from Miami-NYC.

That way my situation. To each their own.

 

[haggler]

Use what the factory specs. The afm/dfm AFAIK uses oil pressure to regulate action. I wouldn't mess with with the expected viscosity there. Unless you're in a cold climate there would be no real difference between 0w20 and 5w20 but again I would follow the spec for warranty purposes. I personally have used M1 EP 0W20 with great results.

 

[4WD]

By mistake the dealer put in 5w30 Mobil 1 in my 2016 5.3 Tahoe. Upon start up when cold it made loud lifter noise for just for a few short seconds. But only when cold. Did not realize until a week later when I finally looked at my service receipt they used 5w30. The tech who worked on it later said he was used to working on the older Tahoe's [2007-2014] which used 5w30.

I took out the 5w30 and put in 0w20 Mobil 1. All was quiet again on cold start ups. There is one independent mechanic near me makes you sign off on the paperwork that you specified different grade oil if you do not put in what is written on the oil cap. Most places really don't care. I am thinking someone tried to sue the independent mechanic for a engine issue.

The dealer can void your bumper to bumper warranty if you do not use 0w20. Probably does not happen often but that is not a chance I would want to take..

With that said 0w20 Mobil 1 and 0w20 AC Delco do well in Miami jungle heat and gridlock traffic [plus idling here and there to keep the a/c on] plus on constant long distance highway runs from Miami-NYC.

That way my situation. To each their own.

This is Mobil 1 AFE 0w20 with 5K … I’d say it‘s been working hard keeping things clean … so me and the Fumoto sprang for a “spike” quart to finish out the 30% OLM left on the L83 5.3L … (HD30 in case of dilution)

 

[RooflessVW]

5W-30 good to go.

If it were my personal car, I'd probably run a Dexos2 0W-40.

 

[dmac_73]

By mistake the dealer put in 5w30 Mobil 1 in my 2016 5.3 Tahoe. Upon start up when cold it made loud lifter noise for just for a few short seconds. But only when cold. Did not realize until a week later when I finally looked at my service receipt they used 5w30. The tech who worked on it later said he was used to working on the older Tahoe's [2007-2014] which used 5w30.

I took out the 5w30 and put in 0w20 Mobil 1. All was quiet again on cold start ups. There is one independent mechanic near me makes you sign off on the paperwork that you specified different grade oil if you do not put in what is written on the oil cap. Most places really don't care. I am thinking someone tried to sue the independent mechanic for a engine issue.

The dealer can void your bumper to bumper warranty if you do not use 0w20. Probably does not happen often but that is not a chance I would want to take..

With that said 0w20 Mobil 1 and 0w20 AC Delco do well in Miami jungle heat and gridlock traffic [plus idling here and there to keep the a/c on] plus on constant long distance highway runs from Miami-NYC.

That way my situation. To each their own.

Did you change filters when you changed the oil ?

 

[Tahoe4Life]

Did you change filters when you changed the oil ?

I always change filters. AC Delco only from day 1. Bought it brand new. Now have 108K miles.

 

[Tahoe4Life]

This is Mobil 1 AFE 0w20 with 5K … I’d say it‘s been working hard keeping things clean … so me and the Fumoto sprang for a “spike” quart to finish out the 30% OLM left on the L83 5.3L … (HD30 in case of dilution)

View attachment 59503View attachment 59504

Out of curiosity is your AFM still enabled? Mine still is at 108K miles.

 

[RooflessVW]

The dealer can void your bumper to bumper warranty if you do not use 0w20.

No, they can't.

 

[4WD]

Out of curiosity is your AFM still enabled? Mine still is at 108K miles.

Yes … I’m nearing 50k so might just wait until after 60k to even consider a Range plug in …

 

[CKN]

Never been impressed with engineers anyways

The "arm chair" ones on here or real ones with college degrees?

 

[barkingspider]

I would order 5w30 in bulk and use that for the fleet vehicles

 

[Snagglefoot]

Agree 10x over

Actually, the 5.3 and 6.2 engines were Gen 5 engines newly designed and released in 2014, with a revised oiling system. Since the initial release the owners manual has only specified one viscosity, and that is 0w20. Was the engine designed with 0w20 in mind? It looks that way. For the OP, they are spec’ing 0w20 Dexos 1 Gen 2 (which is synthetic).

 

[Snagglefoot]

Has anyone ever posted language out of the owner's manual or warranty booklet that says that?

There is semantics at play here but this is what the 2021 Silverado manual says. Not planning on arguing on it.

 

[Snagglefoot]

In 2017 GM came out with Dexos 1 Gen 2 which they claim is full synthetic.