6.0 oil consumption

[MTChevy]

guy I work with is having a new shortblock put in, due to oil consumption and fouling #1 cyl repeatedly. The service bulletin was done, they replaced a valve cover???? and the problem persisted since new (07) he has over 100K on it now, and they are replacing the shortblock in it under warranty.

Im pretty sure the newer stuff the pcv is part of the valve cover.

I already replaced my valve with the update, no change

 

[Teck]

My wife's 07 5.3 suburban uses a qt. about every 3k also. It only has 73k on it, it's been doing the for several years.

 

[63chevyll]

Honda says 0w20 is for fuel economy, that's why they use it

 

[Fordum]

Most of the factory recommendations went to the lighter oils for fuel economy. Part of the reason it worked was due to the improvements in oils.
Running that light an oil using oil from 20 years ago would be causing scrubbed cylinders and scarred bearings.

I have only ever had one vehicle that used oil when new. It was my '79 F150. I bought it new, checked the oil at the first fillup and found it a quart low.

I was a little ticked that the dealer had let it out the door a quart down, but poured in a quart and went on.
Couple hundred miles later, it was a quart down again. I took it back, they checked everything, finally just said the rings were probably not seated yet.

It would use a quart between fill ups! They kept insisting that it was OK, so I decided to call their bluff.
It had less than 5K on it, so I just quit checking the oil. Figured it would seize by the second or third tankfull and I would make them put in a new one.

Finally could not stand it any longer, and pulled the stick. It was a quart low...........

Put 200K on that engine, it would blow out the first quart in 100 miles, then never used another drop between changes.

About 100K in, I happened to see a factory recall for that truck up to 1978. It said that up until then, some engines had shipped with the wrong or mismarked dipstick.
The factory procedure was to change the oil and filter, put in the correct amount, run the engine briefly and then check the level.

If it read a quart low, replace the dipstick.
Apparently one made it over into my year.
I did the test, and it showed the wrong stick. I never changed it, just made sure to not put in that last quart.
I made sure the guy who got it after me, and the guy after him knew that. Have not seen it in a few years, so not sure now.

 

[Duntz00]

My 00 Sierra with a 5.3 uses about 1.5 quarts in 6,000 miles. I run plain ol pennz 10w30 since I bought it with 72k on it and it has 143k on it now. It does have piston slap but it holds 40-45psi at idle, 60-65psi warmed up, and 80psi when cold.

I'm going to install a catch can for the pcv so that it's not pumping it into the intake and I'm deleting the egr since I don't have cats anymore.

 

[chulisohombre]

Because the tolerances are tighter and these are a night and day better assembled and thought out engine than the old 5.7 etc.

We run 15W40 in the race car and see nearly 70 PSI warm on a hard pull with a factory bottom end. Engine had 17,000 on it when we installed it in 2010. Probably has 21,000 miles on it now. I would guess the 4,000 race and test miles would have to equal three to four times that?

Tighter tolerances and better oiling adds up to thinner oils.

Mines a 94 with 180000 on it. So I'm guessing at this point it won't hurt to put in the thicker oil? I get the tighter tolerance. Just used to the old stuff I guess.

 

[6.2Blazer]

As mentioned above the main reason for the "thinner" oil is for fuel economy. It takes less power to pump the oil around, and besides for just the thinner oil the design of the new engines reduces the volume of the oil it is pumping around.