I have a 2011 Silverado. Yesterday I noticed the oil pressure gauge was being erratic. This morning, I had a code for P0521 - engine oil pressure sensor.
I got home today and checked the oil level, it’s not even showing on the dipstick.
Some quick searching shows that oil consumption is a common issue on the AFM engines; but is that much normal?
I have HP tuners, will disabling the displacement on demand fix the consumption?
How long has it been between oil changes? I normally lose a quart on my 08 in 5-6k miles. I would say that losing that much is definitely not normal.
It’s probably been about 8-9k. I usually change it when it gets to 15ish% on the indicator, and I’m there now.
I just read somewhere that GM stated that 1 quart every 2,000-3,000 miles is normal…so I suppose that if I’m at 8000 I might not be that far off, but that just sounds fucking insane. And I would think I would have seen this in the past, I’ve always noticed a loss, but certainly never to this extent.
Generally speaking, vehicles using 1 qt in 1000 is still considered normal usage, even for new vehicles. Just keep an eye on it and keep it full. In my experience engines using oil will use synthetic a bit faster than conventional. There is nothing wrong with your engine, don’t sweat it, it’s not a cause for concern.
That’s still a lot of oil in a short time period being that it wouldn’t even register on the dipstick after 8,000 miles
Tune out AFM. I’ll be doing it on my 16 next week. They say the newer motors don’t have the same problems. But it’s kinda to early to tell.
To fall off the dipstick after 8-9k miles doesn’t seem that out of whack to me. How much oil did it take? 2 Quarts? I’ve seen plenty of engines run fine for years losing a quart every 1000-2000 miles. I would track it but I’d say you’re totally fine.
I guess I’m stuck in the 90s and change my oil every 3k miles still
If you are using full synthetic and driving normally (not racing or towing heavy loads etc etc) changing it at 3000 miles is a waste.
Changing at 10k feels weird, but i’ve been doing that lately based on mfgr oil and intervals. I’m with you… used to do 3k religiously.
if you are going to do 10k oil changes I would still recommend doing a filter at 5k between. Keep in mind the manufacture has EPA shit to think about when they do durability testing. So earlier intervals are great + it looks good to the original purchaser because of the low cost of ownership. I usually run my diesels at 10k and my cars at 5k. my track car usually gets changed at 1k which is excessive but 1000-1500 track miles is a bit rough on a car. Oil always comes out like new though. the oil always looks like shit on a diesel.
I think any engine that does not have a iron block tends to consume oil at a higher rate than what was normal to us back in the day.
I don’t change my filter halfway between changes but i do think a quality oil filter is a big deal when going extended change intervals. My personal preference is WIX/Napa gold. I avoid no name filters/fram etc like the plague. The quality difference is pretty big and worth the few bux on a vehicle you care about.
There is no reason to change the filter at 5K miles. What are you trying to filter out? If you have debris, your engine isn’t going to last very long anyways. Honestly, you can probably keep your oil filter on for 20K miles and just change the oil 3x.
This is true, the OEM are much better than the cheap no names. Even big name companies like FRAM make cheaper ones so watch out.
Agreed, you can easily get 8500 miles out of a good synthetic oil and normal driving.
Bingo, newer engines do consume some oil. LSx engine are known to use oil stock at a somewhat higher rate as well. One thing I would do if I were you is get ready to physically removed the DOD. Tuning it out will do nothing, short of giving you worse fuel economy. The DOD lifters are shit and you will have one fail eventually which will take out the cam at a minimum. Be preventive and get a good set of non-DOD lifters (ls7 or the like), a stock z06 cam is cheap and should work nice (or something larger if you want a chop and more hp), valley cover and some good push rods. Shouldn’t take too long and you’ll have a way better truck. Alternatively just keep oil in it and drive it forever!
@ultradriver10000 so any of the new silverado with DOD suck? I figured eventually I’d buy a 2014 or newer.
14+ is the LT1 style 5.3L l83, totally different, they seem to be better with the DOD… plus they have higher compression, more power/torque, etc.
Even honda considers 1 quart every 1000 miles normal. People get pretty bent out of shape when you tell them that tho. They assume they are a due a new motor lol.
I will agree to disagree on this one. Working at swiderski motorworks for years I work primarily with cartridge filters rather than the screw in ones, and by 5 k you can already see the filter media somewhat crushed by 5K if it a a cheap filter and the people that run factory recommended intervals from vw and bmw… lets just say I am not going to run a filter more than 5K. We change too many engines for timing chain guide failures and cam problems for me to risk a $10 filter every 5k. Hell most of the filters are on top anyway. It is just too easy and cheap for me to personally overlook.
On the debris comment. In a sense you are correct. If you are seeing a lot of metal particles she is donzo, but a good amount of what gets filtered out is combustion byproduct from blow by. Tiny bits of carbon and such, You don’t want that being pumped through your bearings so the larger particles get filtered and eventually the filter is able to filter less and less so the bypass valve (if equiped) opens more and more as it ages.
Get a catch can on it.
I change mine at 50% but my turbo beats up oil a little more than reg trucks. Oils cheap. Motors aren’t.