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5.3L Burning Oil

61K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  danneljohn 
#1 ·
Looking to see if anyone else is having the same problem, how bad it is for the truck, and what the required fix would be.

I have an 05 GMC Sierra with 106K. It has the 5.3L HO Motor. I have noticed a slight oil loss over the last year or so, but this winter it seems to have gotten worse. It is clear on start up that i am burning oil as i get a huge plume of grey smoke out the back (especially when the truck is cold).

In a 5,000 mile period inbetween oil changes i have had to put 2 quarts of oil in it, where as before i was going about 1 quart.

This is my daily driver, so I am looking to get an understanding of why it is burning oil, what would need to be fixed and if there is anything i need to be concerned about since it is buring oil. There doesn't seem to be any power loss or anything in the pan when changing the oil.

I still owe some money on the truck, so i don't want it to die on me especially since it is my Daily Driver. Any insight would be appriciated.

Thanks
 
#3 ·
I don't notice it while going down the road at all or even when i stomp on it. I will have to have a buddy follow me at some point to double check that theory though as its hard to tell from in the cab what it is doing going down the road.

The main time is durring startup, but i have a hard time believing that it would burn that much oil on startup alone. I guess it is possible though.
 
#4 ·
I do agree that, that is a lot of oil to burn on just start up alone. I am willing to bet that you are burning oil while driving but that the trail of smoke is hard to see at speed. There is a good possibility too that you might need piston rings as well. Good luck with your ride, I hope you get it figured out soon.
 
#6 ·
2 quarts in 5K miles is not bad... That is only one quart evey 2500 miles. If this was my truck and it was not externally leaking I wouldn't worry about it.

My 05 F150 would lose 2 quarts every 5K miles too. I never seen any indication that it was burning it, it never smoked, not even on start up but it was going somewhere. Engine was clean and this was found when I had maybe 50K miles on it after an injector failed.

It's really not that uncommon for some vehicle's to burn or lose some oil between changes
 
#7 ·
I did a little more research on it last night and one of the recomendations is to increast to a heavier weight of oil something like a 10W-30 or 10W-40 rather than the recomended 5W-30. Another said that going to a high mileage oil may help as well.

I have been running synthetic in it so i may just continue to run the synthetic, but just go to a heavier weight. Have to do an oil change this weekend anyhow, so I will keep an update on how the heavier weight works out.

Thanks everyone for the input and advice.
 
#8 ·
I don't know much about high mileage oils but for me I would rather add oil than take any chance of causing another issue from some kind of "fix it in a can" product. jmo

heaver weight oil shouldn't hurt anything though :)
 
#10 ·
EX-F150 owner
I'm not to sure about the high mileage oils either. They say that they have additives that help to swell things up and prevent leaks. Not to sure about it though. Think I will just try the heavier weight.

themutt101
I imagine it probably is the valve guides as I know that it is burning oil on startup. I can clearly see the gray smoke out the tail pipes when it first turns over. Not sure what is involved in replacing the valve seals and what it would cost to do so.

I don't have a problem with adding oil just want to make sure that it's not going to hurt the truck in the near future
 
#11 ·
My truck leaks a lil bit. All motors will use a lil oil. They absorb oil, and do burn. I know on my saturn, i hardly need to give it an oil change, i put so much oil in it lol....basically just need to change the filter..its the nature of the motor. Just keep an eye on it. It doesnt hurt to be proactive
 
#12 ·
I worked for an engine shop for a while and did alot of head rebuilds, The rebuild it's self is pretty easy if you know what your doing. You would need to take the heads off to do it right. Once they are both off you might as well clean everything up. But it's still a job that you should have a professional shop do just to be safe. I'm not sure what the total cost would be, cause I never made out the bills. But you could save a good amount of money by taking them off yourself and putting them back on if your comfortable doing that.
 
#14 ·
I have been using Valvoline MaxLife oils in my old Dodge, and I like the results. It is supposed to condition the seals, and clean sludge. It seems to work well. But if you have been using a quality synthetic already, you may not see many benefits. May be worth a try, though.
 
#15 ·
I just left the dealer with My 2008 Sierra. A few weeks back my check engine light came on and it said no oil pressure shut off engine. I was 4 1/2 quarts low at about 3000 miles since my last oil change. The dealer wanted to do an oil consumption test (take it up every 1000 miles). So I just got back. It was 975 miles and I went through just over 1/4 of a quart. They say this is normal (not in any newer vehicle I have ever owned). I have a copy of the paper work from GMC. It states that it is considered NORMAL for my truck to use up to 1 quart every 2000 miles. Do any of you feel that it is normal???
 
#16 ·
Yes,it is normal for an engine to consume some oil between changes. and only a little over 1/4 quart loss in 1,000 miles is nothing at all to worry about.
 
#17 ·
I used to get some decent smoke for about 30sec on start up on my toyota. I ran auto-rx through it, following the directions on their site. I switched to a high mileage after the rinse stage and it was almost non existant at start up, and usage went away down. U may try that first. Good stuff
 
#18 ·
Update:

Well recently my oil consumption has continued to increase. Probably about (1) quart every 700 miles or so, and burning on start up has gotten rediculous. To the point that i hated starting it up when other people were around. It ensued a 20 min conversation as to why the thing was smoking, and it got old real fast.

I was searching on the forum and the internet and couldn't find much more info on how to treat the problem without rebuilding the heads. Then I was searching the AMSOIL website looking at what they had to offer and came across their engine/trans flush. I figured I would give it a shot in a last ditch effort before looking into the cost of rebuilding the heads.

I ordered the engine flush, filter and oil to do a full oil change. First of all I ordered on a Thursday and everything was delivered the next day, so heck yeah on the fast shipping.

I went through the directions for the engine flush and continued changing the oil. It was super easy and took a half hour to change the oil instead of 15min. So over the weekend anytime I would start it up, I would stare through the mirrors looking for the huge plume of smoke that tends to follow.... but NOTHING. I even had my fiance start it one morning while I stood behind it, and still NOTHING.

Granted it has only been a few days, but not seeing the huge plume of smoke on start up has me excited that maybe my issue wasn't as severe as I thought and sludge build up in the heads was the cause of me burning oil.

I plan on keeping an eye on it and will difinitely keep an update going.
 
#19 ·
Funny that you just updated this, my '07 with 55k just threw a warning at me that my oil was low. It's been about 3500 miles since my oil change. I've NEVER had a vehicle burn oil like this. I put a quart in it and the warning still comes on. I'm wondering if this is something worth taking to the dealer for warranty on the power train, right?
 
#20 ·
Well as far as it burning oil. Unless you are burning more than a quart within 1,000 GM considers it to be normal oil consumption and they won't do anything.

As far as the low oil light staying on when there is sufficient oil in it, than yeah I would take that to the dealer and have them fix that.
 
#21 ·
Btw-I recently sold a case of the engine cleaner to the local GMC dealer and he claims he has had good luck using it on some 5.3L that are having oil problems. I had given his tech whom I know a sample bottle and it worked on the truck they tried it on, guy was giving them all kinds of grief. Seems the problem is the oil rings are sticking on the deactivated cylinders and if cleaning does not work, they have to re-ring the pistons.
 
#22 ·
I to have an 05 sierra that uses a quart of oil every 2500 miles. There is a very noticable puff of smoke when I start it after its been sitting a while. From past experience over the years I feel its the valve seals. There is trick I have used in the past to eliminate the smoke. A very old and wise mechanic instructed me to add a quart of tranny fluid instead of oil the next time I am a quart down and this will help seal the seals and help clean everything internally. He recommended I do this for every oil change on my vehicles that have this problem.
 
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