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Check Eng Oil Level Light

bowtie-racing

Charter Member
Full Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2002
Messages
800
Location
Northeast PA
Okay,
I might be the only one but here it goes.

I was washing the he!! out of the truck on sunday and way I went into the inside I turned on the truck to hear some toons...
about 5 min. later the light came on telling me to check my eng. oil level. so I shut off the truck and checked it.. NO oil on the dip stick. I let it cool down and recheck it about 3 hours later. it read ADD 1 QT. so I took it to th edealer today and had the oil changed.(1000 miles to soon.) and they have th etruck under a 500 mile check to see if I am burning oil.. I was told if the truck is burning oil I would be getting a new ENG. ( maybe They can put the 8.1 eng in and they can keep the 5.3).....LOL but I only have 8887miles on it right now.. way to sioon to be burning oil I think..

any help please.

pete
 
Pete,
I think GM says it is normal to burn 1 quart per oil change. Don't quote me on that but I think I read that on one of the boards. I know when I changed my oil at 6100 miles it was about 3/4-1 quart low. On the last oil change I forgot to check before I drained the oil out. I have not seen a add oil light.

Just keep a eye out for the blue smoke. I have not seen any smoke so I am not too worried. If you do have the blue smoke install the new PCV vavle. That has fixed some of the blue smoke problems. Again some not all.

Good Luck,

FYI- I am from E.P.T. My parents still live there and we make a couple of trips down there every year. Hope to meet you one of these times I am down there. ;D
 
Thank you ....
I feel alot better now...
By the way I might be dumb but E.P.T is what El Paso ???????? I can not think of the t word..lol

And you better make sure you call me .. i will give you my cell and home phone.. we can BBQ at the house and swim... We can sit back and drink a beer or two or three.. what ever..... it would be great to drink a beer and look at 2 avalanches ....... what in the world could be better.......

Pete
 
Acceptable rate of oil consumption is up to 1 qt. in 2000 miles. This comes from GM Bulletin #01-06-01-011

The bad news is that my Av used oil (and smoked as everyone knows) just like yours, Pete. The good news is that after they replaced the PCV valve and sealed a gap in the baffle beneath the valve cover all is well. See the post "Pics of My Smoking Av".

Whatever GM did during the production of some 5.3 and 6.0's causes the valve train to flood with oil and it eventually gets so filled, oil starts getting sucked in through the PCV valve and into the intake, then burned.
 
Yes Pete EPT is El Paso Texas ;D Not early prego test.

I think my wife is planing a trip in late July. I will send you a PM when we get all the plans ironed out.

bowtie-racing said:
Thank you ....
I feel alot better now...
By the way I might be dumb but E.P.T is what El Paso ???????? ?I can not think of the t word..lol

And you better make sure you call me .. i will give you my cell and home phone.. we can BBQ at the house and swim... We can sit back and drink a beer or two or three.. what ever..... it would be great to drink a beer and look at 2 avalanches ....... what in the world could be better.......

Pete
 
I too had my check engine oil light come on at 2000 miles, right after returning home from a 400 mile trip. I noticed on the trip, a couple of times when starting it, a large blue cloud of smoke exiting the exhaust. It is not smoking any where near what it did on the trip. Needless to say, it is on the way to the dealer in a couple of weeks for a PCV valve replacement. I have also heard the the TSB says if the PCV valve does not solve the problem, they have to put in new lifters.
 
Well my check eng oil light came on on Sunday. When I got home and check the oil it was 1.5 quart low. I just turned 3000 miles since my last oil change. I change my oil when the light comes on around 4-5000 miles. I have also been seeing blue smoke at start up. This morning I had to tow a trailer full of used cable about 3500 lbs. It was about 20 miles each way. When I got out to go to lunch I noticed blue smoke at start up. Looks like I need to make a stop at the dealer. Has the new pcv valve fixed this problem completly ? I hate going to the dealer :8:
 
My "check engine oil level" light has come on three times if I remember right. Each time has been right around 3000 miles from the previous change. The first time I asked the dealer and he said "let us know if it keeps happening and we'll check it out." Thanks a lot. :8: I've also had the blue smoke off and on ever since I bought it. At least now I have an idea of what to tell the dealer. (I mean the PCV valve - not where to go)
 
It goes in to my dealer on the 12th of August. When I called the service department to make the appointment, I asked the service manager about the PCV valve and the TSB, and he said that yes, that is what they would do, and to mark and hour out of my day for them to replace it. I also asked about replacing the lifters, he told me that is the "next step" if the PCV valve replacement doesn't fix the problem.

Driving around town, it doesn't seem to smoke nearly as bad. I am leaving on another 400 mile trip tomorrow, so I am interested to see if it smokes as bad on this trip as the first one.
 
To many of the posters here, please take timcosco up on his suggestion and read the thread 'pictures of my smoking av'. I wish I had sooner. I thought it was some guy real proud of his cool truck, wrong! :2:

It is a great thread on this topic. I have one of the earliest av's and did not notice the problem for a long time. The reason for this is
a) I was changing the oil pretty fast, 2500km, then 5000km, then 9000km 1 mi = 1.6 km
b) I did not do a lot of highway driving until the spring of this year.

It is highway driving of say 50 miles and more when this will really show up.
A got a bit of a run around with the old test thing. Took one trip that was about 200 miles each way. Oil was full when I left, down 2 notches on the stick afterward.

Went in armed with the info from this site.
They borrowed a pcv valve off one of the units on the lot. Have made the same trip twice since the last change. THe oil stick as of Saturday is just below the full mark, if at all. So the simple pcv valve swap out seems to have done the trick.

But, go armed. There is SO MUCH info here they will have a hard time fighting with you.
 
REPLACED PVC,STILL SMOKES ON STARTUP.GOING TO DEALER
WILL NOT PICK UP TILL SATISFIED .USED 3 QUARTS NOW DRIVING AROUND CITY 3610 MILES.
 
Well, we are back from the dealer, dropped it off on the 12th, and got it back on the 13th. New PCV valve, 16 new lifters, gasket kit, coolant, oil filter and 6 quarts of Mobil One Synthetic (warranty would pay for the Syn Oil, but I tried) So far, no smoke.

The funny thing, and this is quoting straight from the ticket:
" CUST STATES USING OIL BLUE SMOKE OUT EXHAUST ONE QUART IN 2,000 MILES
ROCKER COVERS FLOODING WITH OIL BURNING THROUGH PCV REPLACED LIFTERS WITH NEW DESIGN"

New design???

I don't even think they looked it over, after sitting in the waiting room for an hour, the service manager came in, told me they would get me a rental, and they were going to replace the lifters. So off I went, in a Silverado 1500 Z71.....Boy, I sure missed my Av after driving that thing 10 miles.
 
:3:Could it be possible that 5w30 oil is too thin under the high temps conditions??

Mobil 1 syn oil would be the next option!!
 
tallelk said:
My "check engine oil level" light has come on three times if I remember right. ?Each time has been right around 3000 miles from the previous change. ?The first time I asked the dealer and he said "let us know if it keeps happening and we'll check it out." ?Thanks a lot. :8: I've also had the blue smoke off and on ever since I bought it. ?At least now I have an idea of what to tell the dealer. (I mean the PCV valve - not where to go)

I don't know if someone has already pointed this out (have not finished the thread yet) but if you go to the thread 'pictures of my smoking Av and read through you will be armed to the TEETH when you go to dealer. I had to do this but it worked. The problem was taken seriously and a new pcv valve was borrowed from a newer unit.

 
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