GM 2.0 Turbo LTG oil consumption (2015 Malibu 2.0 LTZ)

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by metroplex
I think the rings are shot because the oil is just really really black in a short period of time. She can't afford any serious expenses on the engine (like new rings/pistons/etc...)

I still need to change her spark plugs, apparently GM wants these changed every 60k miles even though the AC Delcos (rebranded NGK fine wire iridium with platinum on ground electrode) plugs are rated for 100k on other applications including GM's own LNF GTDI. I have the spark plugs on hand, but just need a day to change them and maybe throw in a borescope to check the cylinders.

I was about to retrofit the Mishimoto Camaro oil separator system, but then I thought, she is probably not going to drain those containers periodically... and the engine will just suck in a gulp of vapor/water/oil mixture and hydrolock the engine. Scratch that. I think for the time being I'll just keep pouring synthetic 5W-30 in there until the next oil change, and then have her check the oil level every 1,000 miles.

The engine idles like silk, sounds great, holds boost and produces lots of power, gets great mileage (22-23 mpg in city driving, 25 mpg mixed, and 30 mpg freeway), and I can't see any visible signs of smoke or smell anything odd. This is what makes me wonder if it truly is worn out rings or cracked/damaged pistons. The engine is almost at 98k miles.


If it is burning oil , first check the PCV system . If that is OK , then do both a wet and a dry compression test .

 

[silversport]

metroplex...okay it seems you have tried everything you could do and it is burning oil...the recommendations I made may have little to do with fixing it then...

some tools for the tool box...

the 2.0 Turbo (LHU) in earlier Buick Regals was a different engine than the 2.0 Turbo (LTG) in the Chevrolet Malibu/Cadillac ATS-comparing the two yields nothing useful

the earlier LTG used 41-116 plugs and the switch was to the 41-125 plug, same as your 2015 spec plug...the GF's car had this performed under warranty very early in it's life

the Turbo runs hot normally...I noticed this after the short trip home and checking the dip stick...even clad in plastic the beauty cover and stick are hot...the gray (GF's 2013) or black handle is normal (the yellow like my SS sedan would have been better but really...no big deal

the oil that the Cadillac dealer used was most likely whatever 5W30 that met the Dexos standard at the time and was either a synthetic blend or the current full synthetic oil that is by many accounts a Mobil product (possibly Mobil Super Synthetic) as GM again has a licensing agreement with Exon Mobil

if using 93 octane and the stock tune didn't help previously, I doubt it will help now

if the PF64 e-core is still the recommended oil filter, I doubt that will change anything trying it again either good or bad...I wouldn't worry about that then...my earlier concert was I had read that it was substituted for the UPF64R filter...my information could be wrong

perhaps a high mileage oil would help as I still think the common denominator in this is losing 2-3 quarts when the engine only holds 5 quarts fully filled...

as always, good luck with this...

Bill

 

[metroplex]

Engine now has 101,200 miles. Last oil change was 5 qt of Castrol Edge 0W-40 as an experiment, and I wanted to run it for 5000 miles but ended up being about 6500 miles. This was racked up in about 1 month, so I wasn't expecting to have to change the oil again in the freezing cold. I noticed it consumed about 2 qt overall this go around. Some cold starts yielded a puff of blue smoke, or black smoke, but never blue smoke on the throttle. One time I was behind this Malibu and when it went WOT (after having not been driven hard for a week or so) a lot of grey smoke came out and it smelled like sulfur and maybe gunpowder (I've seen plenty of LTG powered cars do this) usually leftover gunk in the intercooler that gets pushed out. For the last 1100 miles of this interval, I decided to fill it up beyond the top cross-hatch (5 qt w/ oil filter change puts it dab smack in the middle of the cross-hatch) at 6 qt and didn't notice any oil consumption or blue smoke during startup.

For this oil change, I used 5+ qt of Kirkland Signature 5W-30 plus another PF64 filter. This is probably the cheapest oil change I've done in awhile!
Between the 0W-40 and the 5W-30, I didn't notice anything unusual during startup (sound, smoke, etc...)

The oil always come out dark as soon as I fire up the engine after an oil change. Noticeable difference between my newer Ford engines (3.5 N/A V6 and 2.7 EcoBoost). Those Ford engines have under 20k miles on them, and even with oil that has seen 5k+ miles of use they are clearer/lighter color than a fresh fill in this Malibu's LTG.

 

[silversport]

so if it is drinking this amount of oil, where do you think it is going???...I think it odd that fresh oil turns immediately dark but perhaps because the new oil is leaning some of the oil that is still inside the passages of the motor???...

are you or the vehicle's owner doing anything about the 2 quarts missing in that one month/6500 mile interval???...is any oil being added???...going down a couple quarts when all the engine has is 5 quarts or the 6 you put in it is a 40% loss of oil and is bound to cause issues with that motor...

the Kirkland 5W30 full synthetic that actually meets or exceeds and has paid the licensing fee for Dexos 1 Generation 2 and the OEM type PF64e filter should be sufficient for the needs of the engine...I look forward to reading how this combination performs in the engine this oil change...

Good luck,

Bill

 

[metroplex]

A couple of things come to mind regarding the engine but they are out of the budget of the owner (not me) like worn rings or damaged piston causing excessive blowby. But I'm curious how well this GTDI engine runs with 101k miles. I've never been able to rack up this many miles in under 6 years of ownership.

I've been adding the make up oil as I see it dropping down on the LTG.
I used the Kirkland because the Amsoil SS 5W-30 I was using didn't meet D1G2. I also rarely ever got a bad product from Costco (there are a few...) so I'll give it a whirl.

 

[xyxptlx]

Without reading every post I'd guess that the turbo seals are a bit worn and the oil is slipping past them. Unless there is either an after running oil pump or coolant pump, most drivers are clueless as to how to cool a heat soaked turbo.

 

[adamsoil]

Flush it, twice, Liqui Moly, haters are gonna hate. Need it to clean all turbo lines and filter, plus the rings. Then run a high end oil in spec. If it doesnt have a system to cool turbo after shut down. Run it (idle) for at least 2 minutes before shut down.

 

[metroplex]

I've used Liqui Moly flush in a past oil change, it didn't seem to do much. The LTG is a newer GTDI engine, so the turbo is water cooled. I asked whether I needed to do the 30 sec to 2 min cool down on the GM LNF (2.0 GTDI from 2006) and was told no because the Borg Warner K04 is water cooled and there's some kind of coolant flow that takes place automatically after engine shut down. This latest fill with Kirkland 5W-30 seems to be good - engine is running seemingly smoother and quieter, and the oil on the dipstick may look darker than out of the bottle, but it remains clear and not pitch black.

BTW I noticed Kirkland's no longer on the D1G2 licensed oil list. Did they get pulled?

 

[silversport]

Kirkland 5W30 full synthetic has the Dexos 1 Generation 2 right on the label...is that the oil you put in this last fill???...where did you see it was no longer on the list and is it possible that the list hasn't been updated to include the Dexos spec licensing???

Good luck with your car

Bill

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I wonder if the GM recommendation to change the plugs at 60kmiles could be due to LSPI damage...I know a lot of severely damaged plugs were found when the Subaru 2.0l DIT engines were recalled around 2016ish. The techs told me my plugs looked OK but that it made sense to replace them at 40kmiles while they were already in there, so I paid them the inflated dealer part cost to do it with no labor charge. They were dirty but not horrendous, but I did notice that one had cracked/missing ceramic and assumed at the time that the damage happened while they were being removed....read later that it could have also been a sign of LSPI occurrence.

 

[metroplex]

I was thinking the plugs would be fouled at 60k due to all the carbon that comes out of the exhaust... But Kirkland no longer shows up on the Dexos list:

https://www.gmdexos.com/brands/dexos1/index.html

And when I do a search with the Dexos license #s on the back of the Kirkland bottle, they don't show up. I recall when I did the search myself a few months ago, Kirkland was on the list.

And yes that is what I am currently running in the LTG.

 

[Ram02]

Wasn't there a recall on that motor 2.0LTG Version? Something with bad Pistons or piston rings . I would take it to the dealership