04 silverado 5.3 engine oil recommendations

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I have an 04 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3 it has 156k miles and has a little blue smoke on start up. My guess is valve seals but I can't replace them right now so I'm looking at trying a different oil. I've tried pp and Castrol edge 5w30 and it's still done it. No noticeable increase or decrease. I was going to try a HM oil due to the mileage on the truck. But was also thinking maybe a thicker oil would help? What would you recommend
 
Originally Posted By: 02s4audi
I have an 04 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3 it has 156k miles and has a little blue smoke on start up. My guess is valve seals but I can't replace them right now so I'm looking at trying a different oil. I've tried pp and Castrol edge 5w30 and it's still done it. No noticeable increase or decrease. I was going to try a HM oil due to the mileage on the truck. But was also thinking maybe a thicker oil would help? What would you recommend


They have moly engine treatments to minimize or reduce that blue smoke. But changing oil brands of near / or the same grade isn't going to noticeably help it.

If you must try thicker, I think Castrol Magnetec has a HM in 10W-40. See if that reduces the blue a little. Hopefully you are near NYC and not all the way north in New York. The weather difference is always colder to the north and mountain regions. So 10-40 HMs would be start-touchy - perhaps momentarily chattery, on real cold mornings.
 
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My vote would be to try Valvoline Maxlife HM. Since you are in NY I'd stick with the 5W-30 and see what happened. If it still was puffing I MIGHT go up a grade. I'm a firm believer in sticking with what the engineers say. Anyway great truck and the LS series 5.3 is one tough motor. She's got many miles left in her.
 
If it were mine I'd try one slighty shorter OCI of PUP 5-30, or even delvac to gently clean it up a bit inside which could make it a bit worse on that run, but should get as much gunk as feasible away from the seals - then move a grade up to 40 with someones HM blend and hope the seal conditioners can help you out.

Curious what kind of duty cycle it may have had in its lifetime, do you tow or haul with it or is it strictly a people carrier?
According to many here at BITOG it should (or should have) and will last "forever" W 0w20 and "forever-er with 0w30" with nothing but standard (read cheap) OEM parts and interval care.
Not my experience personally. If one does any research at all many guys with Chevy small blocks start losing them at this age and mileage.

Good luck and keep us updated.

UD
 
I have no problem using a 10w30 for all of my GM stuff. Lower NOACK than the 5w30 stuff. For an older application, even a 10w30 HDEO would be a good choice. Every thing that an HM oil could offer and more.
 
Originally Posted By: 02s4audi
I have an 04 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3 it has 156k miles and has a little blue smoke on start up. My guess is valve seals but I can't replace them right now so I'm looking at trying a different oil. I've tried pp and Castrol edge 5w30 and it's still done it. No noticeable increase or decrease. I was going to try a HM oil due to the mileage on the truck. But was also thinking maybe a thicker oil would help? What would you recommend

I had the same problem with my 05 Silverado in October. The breather on mine is inside of 1 of the valve covers, & was "gunked up." I took it to a good friend's shop & that's what he told me. He cleaned it, & told me to drive it for a week or so & let him know if that remedied it. He said there is also a valve cover replacement for the 5.3 to fix this problem, but mine was not 1 that it was listed for. If mine does it again, I'm going to change the valve cover. He also said my valves were cleaner than he was expecting, & I should keep doing what I am doing with oil changes.
 
I still haven't decided what to do yet. I haven't tried a different oil or anything yet. But it's definitely not going away. Maybe getting worse.
 
Are you actually interested in addressing the issue, or are you just wanting to dump a different oil in there and keep your fingers crossed?
 
Honestly I'd rather try and remedy it without actually digging in there and replacing the seals. I was wondering about Rotella t6. But idk about gm dexos spec and why it's specd. It says 5w30 or 10w30 if above 0 degrees. Idk what a 40 weight would do. And Rotella apparently cleans rather well.
 
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
Shell Rotella T6 5W40


Good stuff; thin enough at start up and thick enough when running at normal temperature.
 
Anyone else have any opinions. I'm thinking of tying Rotella but I'm afraid that will clean to well and cause more issues.
 
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