Originally Posted By: mokeman
Actually, and to the stethoscope comment, I "may" have been to quick to dismiss this idea, and assuming that the hot tick is actually lifter related.
To that point, I did the "pipe to ear" thing yesterday to see if I could isolate the ticking noise. It was fruitless, at least looking for the noise in the engine compartment.
Later on I decided to climb under the truck while t was running. Interestingly enough, it "seems" to me that it is coming from the transmission area, - specifically the front half near the torque converter. Maybe my imagination, but it seems louder just behind the torque converter, - near the transmission front pump area.
But I'll do some more investigation. I seem to be second guessing the whole idea that this is a lifter issue. But with the lifters being deep inside the engine (under the heads), it might be tad difficult to conclude that it is lifter related.
Originally Posted By: 09silverado
New to the forums, but i joined to discuss this issue also.
2009 5.3L Aluminum block 4spd silverado
46,000 miles and I had about 300mi on it since last oil change prior to the trip
M1 5w-30 PF48 filter
I'm not sure what is going on, but on long trips it burns a lot of oil (300+ miles) 1/2 quart maybe more.
I normally drive 60 miles a day 10mi at 20-30mph and 50mi at 65+, no oil burn, about 1qt every 5,000 mi but sometimes i get the bad lifter noise, especially if it's cold....
long drive circumstance:
CT to PA - hills, traffic, etc took 7hrs
Used engine braking on hills and slow traffic
stopped twice (for the dog)
truck sat for 2 days after trip, started it up and it smoked like 200,000+ mile small block in a boat.
fwiw, i have had the best luck calming lifter collapse/oil drain down by using M1 and the ac delco filter. I would like to try a K&N oil filter but nobody has them in stock for the PF48 equivalent... had good luck with K&N preventing drain down.
Update...I now have 1k miles on the European M1 0w-40, with a 700 mile interstate trip coming in 2 days - this should prove interesting.
Weather in Ohio has been from 70 down to 20F. I am now very happy with my truck. Oil pressure is very stable cold and hot, still have no noises when cold, and hot I can go thru McD's drive thru without dreading hearing my engine against the brick wall. MPG is exactly the same as the factory fill (probably PP) 5w-30, and the oil pressure is MUCH more stable.
Yes, sometimes it's dead quiet, and other times I hear a single, faint tick...but I can live with that. And it's getting better every day. I'm sticking with this oil for the life of the truck.
mokeman,
Yes, those lifters are DEEP in the engine - I'm not surprised yours is noisiest below. Mine is too. I've used the 'pipe' thing for years and mine made noise where yours does. Driver's side, correct?
09silverado,
I believe (99% sure) there's a TSB on your lifters. GM had them redesigned in late '10, which is what I have.
The oil burning is what concerns me....You're at that 'magical' mileage when they do this. So far, I'm good. But, there's a ton of them out there that burn it like gasoline, and GM doesn't know why. Even if the dealer changes the pistons and rings, it doesn't last for many people. I guess we don't hear from those that it does. Google brings up a bunch that it didn't.
One buddy of mine has a '08 or '09 with iron block and 65k and it's dead silent and uses no oil, but he changes it every 5k and uses AC filter and Valvoline 5w-30 Synpower. I'd love to see the internals of this AFM 5.3L to get an idea of what's going on.