Backstory: Bought an 08 Silverado about a month ago. Have already put 3k miles on it, and wanted to get synthetic oil in it. Noticed the oil pressure gauge dipping ...

Backstory:

Bought an 08 Silverado about a month ago. Have already put 3k miles on it, and wanted to get synthetic oil in it.

Noticed the oil pressure gauge dipping low on acceleration today, but figured I'd change it and see if it went away.

Drained the oil and two quarts of oil came out.

This means one of two things:

1. My truck burns 4 quarts of oil every 3k miles.
2. The tech at the dealership only put two quarts of oil in.

Neither of which am I excitrd about.

The truck has run great with no issues experienced until todays oil gauge issue. The oil light never came on (which surprises me). Temp gauge never went above 210, and the truck has maintained an average of 18.1 mpg in mixed driving conditions. Coolant still looks good.

I have a call in to the dealership to see what they plan to do about this. I am concerned this may have caused permanent damage to the engine.

What are your guys' thoughts?

I have never heard of a newer truck burning that much oil in only 3k miles. So my guess is that the dealer sold it to you with only 2 quarts. Not pointing figures or anything but you would have noticed a oil leak of that size so im sure it aint leaking. With you truck being newer and the 5.3's being a awesome motor you really shouldnt have any damage to it as long as it didnt run hot and your engine was still running normaly.
Congrats on the new truck though hope you get this issue worked out!!

When you go to the dealer, they will probably do an oil consumption test. Generally speaking, it is always a good idea to check your fluid levels, especially after you first purchace a used vehicle. How many total miles on the vehicle?

I checked the oil before I test drove it, and they claimed they did a change before I picked it up. I didnt check it again as I assumed they had it all taken care of (lesson learned).

Im very surprised no oil light came on. I know I shouldnt rely on the idiot lights, but even my old beat up 1998 Cherokee with 190k on the clock throws an oil light when its a quart low.

Truck had 31k when I bought it, has just over 34k right now.

TFin04 wrote:Im very surprised no oil light came on. I know I shouldnt rely on the idiot lights, but even my old beat up 1998 Cherokee with 190k on the clock throws an oil light when its a quart low.

I think you are looking at it the wrong way. If a Jeep has low oil pressure (your oil light is on) at one quart low, then why would that give you better faith in a product? When that light comes on, it MEANS low oil pressure and engine damamge could occur!

If your GM truck can be real low on oil and still maintain some oil pressure (keeping your engine alive) isn't that a better indicator of quality Engineering? Just my .02 cents.

I'm thinking that if you burnt that much oil in 3k miles, you'd look like Spy Hunter going down the road. If you see no leaks underneath, I vote that the service tech screwed up. Oil just doesn't disappear that fast without leaving evidence.

Once in a blue moon I have seen one leave our dealership with no oil at all which happened to a jet leaving Miami on all 3 engines too which is why they now change jet engine oil 1 engine at a time.

When the 5.3 first came out they drove one from NY to CA with no oil at all. That's right they pulled the plug and filter and let it run dry and took off to see how far they could get. It was still running fine in CA. Broke down the engine and it looked fine too. You tell me.

Spoke to the sales guy today, he was unhelpful (as expected).

Claimed there was no way my new(ish) truck with low miles on it would burn that much oil (agreed.....hopefully).
Also said there is no way his tech only put 2 quarts in.

One of them has to be the case....

The truck is under warranty so I'm going to take it to a different GM dealership for an inspection. What items should I have them look at, specifically? I did notice a clicking/knocking noise today that I haven't picked up on before, but it's entirely possible that I'm only noticing it because I'm looking for problems from this oil incident.

The truck is still running well and the DIC mileage calculator (which has been spot on so far) is showing improved MPG as I expected from fresh oil and a fresh air filter. I'm hoping that this is something I can just forget about and do my own changes from here on out.

Thanks for the info, guys.

If you're anything like me when it comes to your truck I'm sure this oil thing is really going to bother you and be in the back of your mind from now on but to be honest I wouldn't worry about it. I would do the same thing and take it to another dealer just to get a second opinion but the most they're probably going to do is check the oil level, check for any leaks and scan for codes. If those 3 things check out ok there's not much more they can do and odds are your truck will be fine. As far as the noises go, you will notice more noises when you suspect a problem and a normal noise will become more pronounced because you're listening for them so I wouldn't worry about any ticking or clicking noises either. After reading your story and speaking from a dealership service dept background it sounds to me like the lube tech didn't put in enough oil (good luck trying to get them to admit that). As long as your engine didn't run hot and the check engine light didn't come on you caught it early enough and your truck should be fine.

I just have to ask. You say only 2 qts came out, but did you actually measure 2 qts Or are you estimating 2 qts? Also, when you remove the oil filter about a qt is trapped above that in the lifer galley's and inside the filter and is that included in the 2 qts mentioned in the op.

When the 5.3 first came out they drove one from NY to CA with no oil at all.

That's unbelievable. I know of someone who only made it about 7 miles before the 5.3L engine seized on her Yukon after the quick lube placed forgot to put oil in.