Oil for High Mileage GMC Yukon XL with 6.2

[Bryce]

Hi, I'd like to try a different oil to see if it could help with some issues. Here is the information: 1. What kind of vehicle you have: 2007 GMC Yukon XL, Denali version with 6.2 liter V8. 170,000 miles. 2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well: Manual says use 5w-30 meeting GM Standard GM6094M. Change per oil life monitor system. 3. Where you live: Central Illinois. Vehicle is stored in garage at night that never drops below freezing. 4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?): Suburban family truckster. Wife does have a lead foot. 5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?): Lots of errands around town, and some family road trips. 6. Whether your car has any known problems: Yes. Nice puff of white smoke from tailpipe on cold startup. Drips oil from back of engine somewhere when parked (not a constant drip, enough to leave a silver-dollar sized spot on cardboard if parked overnight). I have to add around 1 quart every 2000 miles. No carbon or soot around tailpipe. I've been using Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5w-30 for sometime. I know it is a good oil, but I'd like to try something else to see if it would help with the white puff of smoke on startup and the dripping. My father-in-law mentioned using 10w-30 or 10w-40. Thoughts? Would a high-mileage 5w-30 be worth it? Thanks!

 

[Chris142]

The 5.3 in my wifes tahoe drinks 5w30. 10w30 cuts consumption 1/2!

 

[ammolab]

Try the high mileage Mobil 1...or Maxlife. Can't hurt and you are EXACLY the guy they had in mind when they thunk This stuff up!

 

[beanoil]

10w30 and Chevy V8's go together. MaxLife comes to mind. Rotella 10w30 is a very good conventional that would work as well.

 

[Nick1994]

Mobil 1 HM 5w30 since it's still cold out. If you can wait until it warms up I'd use Mobil 1 HM 10w30, I'm using that in my Jeep currently. Stopped a small leak.

 

[FCD]

How about Valvoline Maxlife 5W-40.

 

[userfriendly]

How about a HD SAE30 to clean up what the multi-grades left behind for the last 170K?

 

[LeakySeals]

It seems as if it could be the defective PCV TSB ( TSB# 10-06-01-008G Engine oil consumption. I would try replacing valve cover with defective PCV valve before switching to HM oil. If not the known PCV issue, sounds like a perfect candidate for Mobil 1 High Mileage 5w30. Worked well on my old Camry with bad valve seals (startup blue smoke) and stopped a rear main leak to just some surface wetness.

 

[FCD]

Originally Posted By: userfriendly

How about a HD SAE30 to clean up what the multi-grades left behind for the last 170K?

What is this the early 60s? Multigrade oils don't cause any more deposits than monogrades.

 

[North to Alaska]

A high mileage oil might be a reasonable thing to do anyway. Pennzoil, Valvoline, or Mobile 1 etc. However, my first thought went along the lines of LeakySeals. Oil can't solve a mechanical problem. Just help to prevent the problems. Especially if you have oil dripping out? Sure it isn't just heavy carbon filled water? When it is cold out, the moisture filled exhaust gases will condense in your cold exhaust system. If you only drive short trips, the exhaust system will not have time to heat up enough to evaporate that moisture. It will leak out the tail pipe and a drain hole in the muffler. It will be black, like oil from the carbon inside the exhaust. Just my thoughts

 

[North to Alaska]

You may also try a piston soak. Remove the spark plugs (and negative battery cable) Fill piston with Mopar combustion chamber cleaner, replace spark plugs, and let sit for a few hours. Remove spark plugs, suck out fluid, (drill pump or turkey baster) Maybe put some b12 chetool on top of piston to soak down. Let soak again and suck out any fluids left. Replace spark plugs and run.

 

[steve20]

The TSB is a great find by LeakySeals-- Besides the atrocious grammar in the TSB, found an interesting note, below: Note: After the piston/ring replacement, it will take 2000­ to 3000 miles for the new rings to seat. Adequate break time is necessary prior to rechecking the oil consumption level. It seems GM considers 2-3 K miles the break-in period for engines Steve

 

[nascarnation]

Lets just say your LS engine has some design margin for sub optimum lubrication and operating conditions.... http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-1109-stock-gm-ls-engine-big-bang-theory/

 

[Bryce]

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals

It seems as if it could be the defective PCV TSB ( TSB# 10-06-01-008G Engine oil consumption. I would try replacing valve cover with defective PCV valve before switching to HM oil. If not the known PCV issue, sounds like a perfect candidate for Mobil 1 High Mileage 5w30. Worked well on my old Camry with bad valve seals (startup blue smoke) and stopped a rear main leak to just some surface wetness.

Thanks for the info, although that TSB applies only to trucks with active fuel management. The 2007 6.2 doesn't have active fuel management

 

[Bryce]

Originally Posted By: Iowegian

A high mileage oil might be a reasonable thing to do anyway. Pennzoil, Valvoline, or Mobile 1 etc. However, my first thought went along the lines of LeakySeals. Oil can't solve a mechanical problem. Just help to prevent the problems. Especially if you have oil dripping out? Sure it isn't just heavy carbon filled water? When it is cold out, the moisture filled exhaust gases will condense in your cold exhaust system. If you only drive short trips, the exhaust system will not have time to heat up enough to evaporate that moisture. It will leak out the tail pipe and a drain hole in the muffler. It will be black, like oil from the carbon inside the exhaust. Just my thoughts

It's definitely oil dripping from somewhere on the block. Maybe the oil pan gasket or possibly the rear main seal. I'm thinking I will try a 10w-30 high mileage oil on my next change. The slow drip from the block doesn't bother me (although I'd love to see it decrease or stop), I'd rather see the oil consumption and puff of white smoke on startup go away.

 

[2000Trooper]

GM for whatever reason doesn't know how to seal engines. Most of their engines leak. The only ones that i havnt seen leak are their newer 4 cylinder. It's probably the oil pan on that 6.2

 

[SteveSRT8]

^^^^Absolute nonsense. A bunch of GM V-8's in our driveway and zero oil leaks, even at 185k miles. When the V8's went modular (4.8/5.3/6.0/6.2) the leaking stopped...

 

[4WD]

+1 ... M1 10w30 HM in my 5.3L now ...

 

[GenaFishbeck]

We first recommend keeping the original viscosity from GM (5W-30). The dripping may be caused by normal wear and tear; things aren’t as tight as they once were. The smoke should be coming from burning of the oil, so another leak through the combustion chambers. We recommend a high mileage formula to help fix the issues such as Pennzoil High Mileage 5W-30 or Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage 5W-30 (Full Synthetic). Hope this help! - The Pennzoil Team

 

[Bryce]

Originally Posted By: Bryce

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals

It seems as if it could be the defective PCV TSB ( TSB# 10-06-01-008G Engine oil consumption. I would try replacing valve cover with defective PCV valve before switching to HM oil. If not the known PCV issue, sounds like a perfect candidate for Mobil 1 High Mileage 5w30. Worked well on my old Camry with bad valve seals (startup blue smoke) and stopped a rear main leak to just some surface wetness.

Thanks for the info, although that TSB applies only to trucks with active fuel management. The 2007 6.2 doesn't have active fuel management

Did a bit more reading and it turns out that 2007-09 Denalis and Escalades do have the active fuel management hardware, but the software to enable AFM is not present. However, I think at least the valve cover in the TSB might be a good idea to try.