GM 5.3 liter V8/6.2 liter burning oil

[Navi]

My buddy told me his mechanic told him the 2021+ Suburbans burn a lot of oil. My first thought was no way! He must be talking about the diesel. I became aware recently he really meant the gas engine! After Googleing I found even the dealers are telling owners that up to 2.5 quarts of oil burnt is nornal. I went outside to my Yukon and found it low!

Ive had a lot of engines in my lifetime and havent seen where a gas engine burns off 2 quarts between oil changes. Ive never had this issue with Ford Ecoboost. In some internet posts owners are saying trouble lights are going off as a result of low oil.

 

[burbguy82]

yep, stay on top of the oil level, change it often, and use PEA fuel additive.

 

[Navi]

My take is on a new model low miles truck it simply shouldnt happen.

 

[Propflux01]

What's that do to the Cat converters...?

 

[Bighorn2500]

My buddy told me his mechanic told him the 2021+ Suburbans burn a lot of oil. My first thought was no way! He must be talking about the diesel. I became aware recently he really meant the gas engine! After Googleing I found even the dealers are telling owners that up to 2.5 quarts of oil burnt is nornal. I went outside to my Yukon and found it low!

Ive had a lot of engines in my lifetime and havent seen where a gas engine burns off 2 quarts between oil changes. Ive never had this issue with Ford Ecoboost. In some internet posts owners are saying trouble lights are going off as a result of low oil.

Co-workers 4 cylinder turbo pickup burns about a quart a month, drives around with several extra quarts in the back seat area.

 

[JavierH19]

I own a 2021 escalade and it started to burn a quart at the end of the oil life monitor interval and display a low oil level message before the 15% mark with the junk 0w-20 that legitimately does not belong in any gm v8 period by the 3rd oil change around the 13-14k mark. The dealer won't warranty a burning engine until it's a borderline bug fogger burning more than a quart every thousand miles which would be almost the entire sump capacity from start to finish of the olm interval.

I switched to 5w-40 which is two grades up and the engines is better than new. It no longer burns anything and it's dead silent at hot idle when you could hear the internals with 0w-20 before and I only lost 0.2 mpg's tank average and it's now at 41k miles, been using 0/5w-40 for 27k miles so far and I'm not stopping. Tell him to stop using that thin oil, it doesn't belong in that engine. I don't give 1 darn what the oil cap or owners manual says.

 

[bullwinkle]

What's that do to the Cat converters...?

It’ll kill them eventually, at least it did on my ‘18 Transit 250 company van-1 quart burned every 2000 or so took out a cat at 110K miles.

 

[THORROMIG]

My take is on a new model low miles truck it simply shouldnt happen.

What weight oil are you presently running in your truck?

 

[Navi]

What weight oil are you presently running in your truck?

On these GM trucks with cylinder deactivation (AFM or DFM) you can only use Dexos1Gen3 0W20. The collapsible lifters are designed based on 0W20. Basically it uses oil pressure to collapse and expand. There are a few videos on YouTube which explain it.

The owners manual only lists 0W20. No others.

 

[burbguy82]

My take is on a new model low miles truck it simply shouldnt happen.

100% agree

 

[daves87rs]

Only run 5w30 or higher in these engines, and the engine issues go away.

The same also works for the 1.5 Ecotec as well. You just lose 1-1.5 MPG, lol……….

 

[4WD]

On these GM trucks with cylinder deactivation (AFM or DFM) you can only use Dexos1Gen3 0W20. The collapsible lifters are designed based on 0W20. Basically it uses oil pressure to collapse and expand. There are a few videos on YouTube which explain it.

The owners manual only lists 0W20. No others.

@clinebarger - I don’t think the hardware changed at the L83 going to 0W20 - not sure when going from AFM to DFM …
I have both L83 and L84 engines and neither consume oil …
Everything in my signature spec’d 0W20 LoL …

 

[Glenda W.]

Railroad has hundreds of these in the fleet all running 5w30.

 

[OVERKILL]

@clinebarger - I don’t think the hardware changed at the L83 going to 0W20 - not sure when going from AFM to DFM …
I have both L83 and L84 engines and neither consume oil …
Everything in my signature spec’d 0W20 LoL …

No, and if the system was this sensitive to viscosity, God help you if you lived in the prairies or Alaska.

 

[Navi]

Im going to look into this and see if there is a service bulletin. Here is a video which demonstrates how oil pressure collapses the lifter. The person doing the demonstration says it takes 22 psi of oil pressure.

 

[OVERKILL]

Im going to look into this and see if there is a service bulletin. Here is a video which demonstrates how oil pressure collapses the lifter. The person doing the demonstration says it takes 22 psi of oil pressure.

So that looks the same as the FCA activation mechanism, oil pressure deactivates the lifter, and the removal of pressure allows the pin to re-lock the lifter when it gets on base circle. That shouldn't be sensitive to viscosity in any way.

 

[Navi]

I found the official word from GM. They state 0W20 is the only oil that can be used and that if another viscosity is added to the engine the oil should be changed "as soon as practical".
Beyond that bulletin I see internet posts suggesting that 0W20 should only be used.

Dodge uses a similar cylinder deactivation system and I found bulletins where they insist on you using the viscosity they state to use. In one bulletin they stated to use 5W20 and stated that if another viscosity is used it will negatively impact that system.

Keep in mind I do not work for GM or Dodge so I have no free access to their bulletins. All I have is Google. I suspect there is probably more bulletins down at the dealership and this is a frequent question over there.

Mr OverKill if you disagree with this information feel free to call GM and make your case. I am simply posting information I found on the internet. There is no debate with me sir.

Link to bulletin:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2013/MC-10246634-9999.pdf

 

[Glenda W.]

There is no debate with me sir.

That’s fine but don’t expect to not experience oil consumption or any other negative attributes associated with using 0w20 in these vehicles. Keep a couple extra quarts with you.

 

[redhat]

FWIW I’ve done about 4 OCIs

500 miles, 2.5k, 5k and 8.3k miles and have not burned a drop. On M1 EP 0W-20.

I tried M1 0W-40 Euro in it around the 500 mile mark and it did not seem right. The DFM system did not seem to go in and out of modes properly.

I now have a Range that disables DFM at all times except no throttle decel (coast). It’ll collapse all lifters and shut the cylinders down. Then re-enable them. Haven’t tried anything else again but I haven't burned any.

 

[Navi]

That’s fine but don’t expect to not experience oil consumption or any other negative attributes associated with using 0w20 in these vehicles. Keep a couple extra quarts with you.

My expectation is not to buy a GM vehicle again. Ford has its issues but not like this. The GM vehicle starts burning oil new off the lot. In addition there is this lifter system which seems to have a lot of issues.