Oil Consumption

[nickschramm]

I’m not sure if this was previously discussed in here or not. I have a 22 Zr2, bought new in March of 23’. I wanna start this off with saying I love everything about the truck. Although it eats through oil. Every service has been done through my local GM dealer. The first time I got the low oil light, I thought maybe they didn’t fill it up enough. So I made them aware of the issue, and topped it off. Then it happened again. I started an oil consumption test, nothing came of it. Then it happened again, did the same thing. It was low, but not low enough for GM to do anything. Besides another consumption test, which I did. Mind you to do a consumption test, you have to get a fresh oil change, & come back every 500 miles for them to check. More or less a pain in the a**. This has been a back and forth issue since purchasing the truck, this past time it was around 4 quarts low. (The stick was dry when I got the low oil light). I am about at 25,000 miles. Bumper to bumper is over in about 10 thousand. & I’m pretty sure it has power train until 50 something thousand? Starting to think about trading for a Duramax HD of some sort. Just was curious if this has happened to anyone else & what their solution was. Sorry for the long read!

 

[laibal]

GM's V8 oil consumption spec has been 1 qt in 2K miles is normal for some time. For them to do anything in warranty you'll need to have the pain of a test done. I came from an 09 that would drink 1qt in 750 miles. It ended up eating the cam and lifters, When I rebuilt it the oil rings on 6/8 pistons were totally stuck and carboned up.

Fingers crossed the test is beneficial for you!

 

[AXE]

I've determined mine uses about 1/2 quart per 3k thousand miles. At one time I thought it was 1 quart, but I've captured the oil at the drain and measured it to be sure. Also, my dipstick doesn't read right or consistently. I park right next to my wife's 6.2L Tahoe and hers is spot on, but mine never seems to look full right after a change.

Service Advisor I've known for 27 years said that the new 6.2L motors would be in spec at 1 quart per 2 k miles. It used to be 1 quart per 3k.

If I was you, I'd change my oil earlier and don't worry about adding. If your doing 6-7k intervals following the DIC, I'd assume adding 2 quarts might be right.

I drive mine harder than some, so I expect a little blow by to be normal. If my wife drove it, probably be the same as her rig.

 

[Busa Dave]

I guess I have been lucky. Have had many diesels from the big 3 and several 6.2 engines from trucks, Tahoe, a very modified ZO6 even my 2024 Colorado Bison that never used any oil knock on wood! Your situation would just drive me crazy as OCD as I am about my vehicles! It is just completely unacceptable to me that GM or even the other manufacturers allow excessive oil consumption. It is nothing short of a get out of jail free card for them to allow flawed products to be deemed "normal"!

 

[scubatech]

I agree with you Busa Dave. I've never added oil to any of my vehicles. I change it at 3K, but even my F-150 with the 5.0, from 2018, when Ford first used a spray on coating. 2018 was supposed to be the worst V8 in the F-150 because of this. Hell, the Japanese motorcycles have been using this method for quite a while and they rev up to 9-10K. These engines seem to really last a long time. Maybe I have been lucky, but I believe a lot of this is internet generated BS. Modern engines should not use oil in my opinion.

 

[bobo57]

I've determined mine uses about 1/2 quart per 3k thousand miles. At one time I thought it was 1 quart, but I've captured the oil at the drain and measured it to be sure. Also, my dipstick doesn't read right or consistently. I park right next to my wife's 6.2L Tahoe and hers is spot on, but mine never seems to look full right after a change.

Service Advisor I've known for 27 years said that the new 6.2L motors would be in spec at 1 quart per 2 k miles. It used to be 1 quart per 3k.

If I was you, I'd change my oil earlier and don't worry about adding. If your doing 6-7k intervals following the DIC, I'd assume adding 2 quarts might be right.

I drive mine harder than some, so I expect a little blow by to be normal. If my wife drove it, probably be the same as her rig.

One quart per 2000 miles is not right, that's a defective engine...............might be GM's default spec but that's BS.

 

[AXE]

One quart per 2000 miles is not right, that's a defective engine...............might be GM's default spec but that's BS.

Take that up with GM, they have 0 fucks to give about customer's thoughts or feelings in the last 5 year. You chunked down $75k and they own your ass until you sell!

 

[bobo57]

Take that up with GM, they have 0 fucks to give about customer's thoughts or feelings.in the last 5 year. You chunked down $75k and they own your ass until you sell!

Totally agree but that don’t make it right……

 

[nickschramm]

I guess I have been lucky. Have had many diesels from the big 3 and several 6.2 engines from trucks, Tahoe, a very modified ZO6 even my 2024 Colorado Bison that never used any oil knock on wood! Your situation would just drive me crazy as OCD as I am about my vehicles! It is just completely unacceptable to me that GM or even the other manufacturers allow excessive oil consumption. It is nothing short of a get out of jail free card for them to allow flawed products to be deemed "normal"!

Totally agree. It is v e r y aggravating. Love the truck but I’m over it. I have been chomping at the bit to do accessories. But I’m not gonna dump money into something that is eventually going to be an unreliable issue!

 

[AXE]

Great news if your a GM shareholders, but no mention of quality or customer satisfaction. They are assuming financial metrics alone assure them their product is perfect.

Now's good time to remind everyone that a publicly traded company is only responsible for returning cash to shareholders. The customer is just a detail with too few competitors and plenty of demand.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-just-did-more-makes-151500706.html

It's safe to say that General Motors (NYSE: GM) had a pretty great 2024. GM grew its total market share and also doubled its electric vehicle (EV) market shar...

 

[Los Angeles PI]

I’m not sure if this was previously discussed in here or not. I have a 22 Zr2, bought new in March of 23’. I wanna start this off with saying I love everything about the truck. Although it eats through oil. Every service has been done through my local GM dealer. The first time I got the low oil light, I thought maybe they didn’t fill it up enough. So I made them aware of the issue, and topped it off. Then it happened again. I started an oil consumption test, nothing came of it. Then it happened again, did the same thing. It was low, but not low enough for GM to do anything. Besides another consumption test, which I did. Mind you to do a consumption test, you have to get a fresh oil change, & come back every 500 miles for them to check. More or less a pain in the a**. This has been a back and forth issue since purchasing the truck, this past time it was around 4 quarts low. (The stick was dry when I got the low oil light). I am about at 25,000 miles. Bumper to bumper is over in about 10 thousand. & I’m pretty sure it has power train until 50 something thousand? Starting to think about trading for a Duramax HD of some sort. Just was curious if this has happened to anyone else & what their solution was. Sorry for the long read!

I have owned many GM vehicles with the same 6.2 liter, two of which were corvettes. In every new vehicle I have purchased, I always run it out in 2nd gear, up to red line and let it rev down to 2500 then repeat maybe a dozen times. This 'hones' the cylinders. You can only do this in the first 100 miles of the motor, before everything seats. Every new vehicle I have ever purchased, has never burned oil, performance is peaked and always get a squeak better MPG. Unfortunately, we are all cautioned to baby an engine in the beginning and people who do, burn oil.

 

[AXE]

I run mine pretty good right out of the box and I get some oil consumption. I didn't run my wife's Tahoe quite the same out of the box, but her's doesn't use oil.

While it's a good concept, there's no real way to know how a motor was treated the first 1-2 hours of its life. It might have been idling a lot during transport or at the dealer for a long time.

Piston rings are designed differently nowadays too. Oftentimes, the top ring will have a special coating to aid in break in during the first miles. If you watch some of the Motor Oil Geek videos he discusses this in a couple of them for break in. So for every day drivers it works the same. He also mentions most of the break in occurs early in the motor life. I always distinguish between break in and wear in, where wear in occurs over a much longer time frame.

For everyday drivers, it's probably fine for normal driving to aid break in. I don't know if I've ever been able to tell a significant difference on daily driver rigs. However I do know it makes a difference on motorcycles where 1-2 horsepower is noticeable on a 280 lb dirtbike putting out 50 HP.

 

[Los Angeles PI]

One more item to note about breaking/wearing in a new motor. I would rather find a bad lifter, valve spring or a main bearing issue early, while it is clearly under warranty. Never had one yet go kaboom, I have even done this on brand new Italian ponies as well. Drive it like you stole it !