Twayne

Wife and I purchased a 2007 5.3 Tahoe back in the spring 2012. It had 86,600 at time of purchase. Had and oil change from the dealership, and so only had like 800 miles when we made the purchase. I ran it for the normal 3,000 miles and changed it myself. I run all my vehicles with the Mobile 5000 mile oil, NAPA Gold oil filters, and trade one quart of oil for the Lucas Pure Synthetic. We drive a lot and so 5,000 miles comes pretty quick. I changed the above mentioned oil at 89,500 and applied all the products I just mentioned. I had my Tahoe in for a tire rotation and nitro fill at around 92,000, which had me around 1,500 miles on my oil change. My auto shop asked me about my oil change status when I picked up my ride. He said we checked your level and your a quart low. I advised him that I was only 1,500 miles into an oil change. He told me they did not find anything leaking and that I should watch this close. He has another 2007 Tahoe from another customer that burns about 3 quarts between oil changes. He also stated that they have noticed on her Tahoe, it consumes more oil if she goes on long trips and runs hours at a time on the interstate. I added a quart of oil to mine that very night. We have been making trips to St. Louis on a regular basis with heart surgery issues on our six year old daughter. I am due an oil change in about 250 miles on the above mentioned plan, so close to 4,750 miles. I don't want to speak out of line, but in the back of my mind I may have added another quart after that first one at around 2,600 and 2,800 miles? Anyway, I have been so crazy busy I have not checked after our last round of St. Louis hospital runs. My wife called me on her way to work this Friday 12/07/12. "Hey, honey, I am almost to work and I just noticed a light and a message that the car is low on oil?" Long story short, two full quarts low this time!!! That is now for sure 3 quarts in 5,000 miles and I am 96% positive I added the other one so really we are at 4 quarts in 5,000 miles????

My auto shop told me that rings are covered with carbon on the piston. They tried several old school treatment ideas on the above mentioned customers Tahoe and were NOT able to correct her problem either. He advised me of a chemical treatment product that is made by BK or B & K I can not remember for sure, but will ask him again next time I am in there.

If this is so common, what is GM doing or going to do to help correct this problem for the public???? Since they were so quick to take a bail out from the government.....oh wait.....ALL of us hard working americans really paid for that!!!! Then I guess they could help donate some of that back and help us get or rides in good working order.

tech2

i'm betting you have active fuel management.

in2pro

Twayne Welcome to the forum...

I think the products of which you refer to are "BG" Welcome to BG Products, Inc.

You might want to also have the PCV system checked as this can also contribute to oil consumption.

Chevrolet Customer Service

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I’m sorry you are experiencing this issue with your vehicle. “in2pro” offers a good suggestion regarding having the PCV system checked. Another possibility is oil spray that is discharged from the AFM pressure valve within the crankcase. This is just a suggestion, it is not meant as a diagnosis.

I recommend having the vehicle inspected by a certified technician for an official diagnosis.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me privately.

Please keep us posted.

Louis
GM Customer Service

Twayne

Just want to give a THANK YOU to all that have posted to my issues. I will keep you all informed as to what I have done and if anything appears to have worked!

tig763

Hello, you are not alone. I worked for Gm for about 5 years in service, when these generation motors came out. I have seen numerous cases of varying oil consumtion on the 4.8-6.0L engines.

I personally own a 04 suburban with the 5.3L flex fuel motor. I run Mobil 1 high mileage synthetic oil and I use the Fram tough guard oil filters. We change the oil every 5k like you and depending on the driving and fuel grade we use around 1-2 quarts of oil each oil change. We have owned it since 28k, it now has 80k. I will say this, if you run the E85 fuel in it, it will use more oil. Also, if you do a lot of full throttle accelerations it will use more oil (ie. alot of heavy towing, climbing hills, or interstate merging).

After several concerns I was part of, there were a number of things the shop I was at tried to satisfy customers. Some simple, some elaborate. I can not comment more on their cases, but in none of the cases did the vehicle drive different nore did we ever replace an engine. Some of the clients learned that it was a part of the vehicle. I did notice that alot of them noticed less usage after the vehicle had 50,000 + miles (break in?)

Hope that helps or eases the mind.

tech2

the latest from gm engineering reguarding this issue is what Louis has posted. Start there. The non active fuel management engines do not consume oil like this.

Twayne

Hello Everyone, hope you all had a Merry Christmas...

For an update, I did speak with my auto shop again. On the other 2007 Tahoe, they tried Seafoam treatments, and the old school idea of transmission fluid, but they did not work. Still under the idea that carbon build up on the lower piston ring causes the oil consumption. The only thing that made a difference on this vehicle was the BG kit. I am not yet ready to give that plan a try, I think the kit alone is over $250 and then what ever labor to apply the products. I think you have to remove all 8 plugs and put one of the chemicals inside the cylinder on top of each piston to set over night?
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Going to see what happens with the most recent oil change:
12/18/12 I changed oil and filter on my 2007 Tahoe. The odometer reading was 95,326, which put me at 5,726 miles on the previous oil change. This would also be the number of miles in which it used 4 quarts of oil. The DIC still had me a 28% on the oil life, so not really sure how that works, with that many miles? I filled with 5 quarts of Mobile 5000 5w-30 and 1 quart of Lucas Pure Synthetic, will a NAPA Gold 7060 filter. I reset DIC to 100% and I will be due for a change at 100,326 miles. I will update as I check to see if we are using the same amount of oil again. I did try to photo my dip stick with my phone to attach a pic of the level this date, but the new oil being so clean, not able to see it on the phone camera.

carmjohnson129

I had the same issue and took to my chevy dealer. Dealer said they are aware of issue and changed manifold? Covered under warranty

tech2

manifold or driver side valve cover?