2008 Avalanche with serious problems!

[jlayne9]

In November of 2008 I purchased a brand new 2008 Chevrolet Avalanche. It is a black LT3 package Z71. I got a great deal on it as that was the time GM was offering the 8,000 cash rebates. I really like most everything about this vehicle. However, while this story is long I really need some help as to what my Avalanche’s problem could be. About 4-6 weeks ago I began noticing a smoky hue in my garage shortly after starting my Avalanche for the first time in the morning. Initially I didn’t think much about it. However, on one occasion I remember thinking that I must have cracked a hose or a hose clamp came off…or something like that. When this happened a couple of days in a row, I backed my Avalanche from the garage and raised the hood. There was no smoke or steam whatsoever coming from anywhere! Finally I decided that it must be a bad tank of gas or just the normal start up conditions that I have not noticed before. I wanted to think that the smoky hue had to be condensation that was occurring overnight, since at the time I only notice this smoky hue after the first start of the day. Several days later I began utilizing my remote start to try and witness where the smoke was coming from. I began noticing that on most cold starts, whether the truck had sat overnight or had sat for several hours during the day, that there is a white, grayish smoke that comes out of the exhaust pipe for approximately 30 seconds to a minute. The smoke always dissipated and at that time I had never seen it on accelerating or decelerating. However, since I could not get this to occur on EVERY start, I took my iPhone and recorded it so that I would have proof of the potential problem. Around the same time I began noticing thewhite/grayish exhaust, I too began noticing that periodically I was sensing a bogged down response from the truck on accelerating from a stop position…sometimes to the point of wondering if it was going to accelerate at all and certainly making me weary about pulling out into a busy intersection where acceleration was mandatory. At that time I took it to the dealer to get serviced. This was last Monday morning 10/5/2009 to be exact. Of course they could not find anything wrong with the truck as it had thrown no trouble codes whatsoever. All of the pressures were correct and the fluids were adequate. However, I was asked by the service manager when I had the oil changed last. I responded by telling him that I routinely have the oil changed at 5-7K miles, and since the truck only has 18,500 miles on it, I have had it changed three times. At that time he informed me that the truck had an undetectable amount of oil. So they replaced the oil and oil filter and told me to watch my oil and to check in with them in a month so they could follow the oil consumption. The following day I drove my truck about 120 miles on the freeway on a business trip. It did GREAT during the highway portion of the trip. However, while I was stopped at a red-light in the town at which I was travelling to, I began to accelerate. I felt a couple of lunges and my truck didn’t seem to want to go. My service engine soon light came on at that point…and I knew something was bad wrong. I finally got my truck to go and I drove it about 2 more miles to my office. I called the dealer and set up a time for me to drop it off. About 2 hours later I got back in my truck to take it to the dealer. Upon starting, a HUGE amount of white/grayish smoke was coming from my exhaust pipe. In fact, this went on for about 2 minutes or so of idling. People who witnessed this thought that either my truck was on fire or I had recently been hired to spray for mosquitoes. J I knew I had to get it to the dealer…which was a couple of miles away…so I backed out and began driving. For about 2 miles, I noticed that, for the first time, white/grayish smoke was coming out of my exhaust while I was driving and accelerating. However, by the time I arrived at the dealership the truck was no longer having the white/grayish smoke coming out of my exhaust pipe. So, I left it at the dealer, they tested everything again…said the SES code came up as PO174 which is a rich/lean bank one code. They serviced the area that the code directed them to and said everything was ok. They turned the SES code off, drove it and could not get it to act up or bog down on accelerating. So, I picked up my truck and drove it the rest of the week, hoping that the SES code would again come on. However, the truck did pretty well the rest of the week. I drove another 120 miles back home on the following Friday 10/9/2009. The truck seemed to do fine. I arrived home and let it sit overnight. On Saturday morning 10/10/2009 I went out and tried a cold start to see if I could witness any further smoke in the exhaust. There was very little smoke exiting the exhaust pipe. I was and am quite perplexed as to what the white/grayish smoke was that was coming from the exhaust on cold starts, what the huge plume of smoke was that morning after I drove my truck for 120 miles, why the SES light didn’t give the dealer any clues as to the problems, why the light hasn’t come on again, and just what was going on entirely. That Saturday morning I checked my oil. I could not believe what I was seeing…I had just a little oil on the very tip of the dipstick and that was it. I rechecked it several times because I was sure I was wrong. Unfortunately I was not wrong. I am taking it back in tomorrow so that I can show the dealerships service manager that I have little oil left in my vehicle, after he changed my oil one week ago. I certainly know and understand that something is seriously wrong and I need it fixed. I am not a mechanic so I am looking for any specific ideas as to why I had been smoking white/grayish smoke primarily on cold starts, why I experienced that huge plume of smoke for about 2 minutes a day after my oil change, why the SES light didn’t tell the service department any helpful codes, and why I might have burned through so much oil in 4-5 days. Thanks guys and I look forward to hearing your ideas!

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[DeeZ]

Please, for future reference you only have to post your problem once, and this would is the right section to post this.

Deez