• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

Oil Consumption/Smoke Poll

Have you notified your dealer about oil use or smoke?

  • Yes

    Votes: 140 97.9%

  • No

    Votes: 3 2.1%
  • Total voters
    143
timcosco

timcosco

Charter Member
SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2002
Messages
559
Location
Larkspur, CO
Thanks for participating!

Anyone voting "Yes", please tell me who you are in a private message.

Tim
 
I do not have smoke so I voted no.
 
I have had my AV since the beginning of November, and haven't seen the smoke thing at all...Also, I haven't noticed any excessive use of oil. ;D
 
Never had this problem, and hopefully I never will....I voted No :)
 
I have 7000 mi. on mine (5.3l) and I am down a half quart of oil since my 3000 mi. oil change.

I will be telling the dealer
 
Is this a 5.3L thing or are the 8.1L susceptable to this too?
 
The answer is "no".

But the question is phrased kinda like, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" :p

ed
 
ehahn said:
But the question is phrased kinda like, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" ?:p
Click to expand...
Hmmm... I thought it was phrased OK. Sorry, I just tried to present the question in a way that only people who are seeking a remedy for this problem could answer yes.

Since there's only three of us so far, we can take the problem and dealer solution discussion off-line, but I don't think that's a good idea either.
 
I'M A NEW MEMBER, BEEN READING THE BOARD FOR ABOUT 2 MONTHS NOW. GOT MY AV THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. I'VE ONLY NOTICED THE SMOKE ABOUT 5 TIMES, AND THAT WAS ON REALLY COLD DAYS. SO IT REALLY DIDN'T CONCERN ME. MY CHANGE OIL LIGHT JUST CAME ON THIS WEEK @ 4150 MILES. I'LL MONITOR THE OIL LEVEL A LITTLE CLOSER.
 
timcosco said:
Hmmm... I thought it was phrased OK. ?Sorry, I just tried to present the question in a way that only people who are seeking a remedy for this problem could answer yes.

Since there's only three of us so far, we can take the problem and dealer solution discussion off-line, but I don't think that's a good idea either.
Click to expand...

No - don't take it off the discussion list - I want to see what's going on with this issue even if I don't have a problem *yet*.

You have to understand that part of my job deals with interviewing people, and not asking them "leading" questions. The poll might have been structured like:

Do you have an oil consumption issue?

(_) Yes - and I am working with the dealer on it
(_) Yes - but I haven't spoken to the dealer about it.
(_) Yes - and the dealer isn't giving me the time of day.
(_) No - no problems here.

That's all I was getting at - hence the smiley.

ed
 
Yup, see your point... I had something similar but couldn't come up with the right questions. When the time comes, I'm stealin' yours, buddy. :) Thanks, ed.

Tim
 
A qualified YES here."Only" 2 occurrences in about 5,000 miles.But my driving has been almost all city(little freeway).

No appreciable oil use.I switched to Mobil 1 @ 3,000.
 
My answer is no smoke so far, but I just completed my first change. I will keep an eye out for smoke & consumption.
 
yah i've seen it. originally thought it to be exhaust on the cold days here. but it was 52degrees out the other day and i saw it. only occurs for a bit at a stop and right after i've started the car. but after a couple minutes of driving i don't notice at the stops anymore.
 
I voted yes - it was smoking real bad at 5000k- dealer fixed it BAD PCV valve (alot of these are comming thru)-But :(using 2qts of oil every 3000k- they said its the valve cover gasket near the PCV valve.Gonna fix it next week they say -when the part comes in. :)
 
never had a problem with that. We had a talk and my Avalanche promised me it wouldn't ;D fingers crossed
 
I had not experienced a smoke or oil problem until last month.

I left Edmonton, Alberta, driving to Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. The drive there was uneventful but on the return trip, I was about to leave Ohio on I-80 when the 'Check Engine Oil Level' indicator turned on. I pulled into the nearest truckstop, found the location of a GM dealership in Bryon, OH and told them of my situation. They took the truck in for a brief check and indicated to me that everything was alright but that the truck was experiencing a sensor malfunction and that I should have it replaced when I returned home. Satisfied, I continued my drive home until I arrived in Chicago. Using OnStar, I located another dealership, which they guided me to, turn by turn. Upon my arrival, they examined the truck quickly and repeated what the other dealership stated, that it was a sensor malfunction. They offered to book me in for next week Wednesday, but I declined. (It was Tuesday, and my sister's wedding was the coming Saturday.) I continued for several more hours, then stopped and decided to check the oil myself. (Something I should have done in the first place, but I thought I would take advantage of my warranty situation.) Imagine my surprise when I found the oil level was so low that it didn't even register on the dipstick! I was at a Mobil station and purchased one quart of oil and added it. This brought the oil up to where it barely registered on the dipstick, so I purchased another quart and added it, bringing it to the safe level.

Upon my return home, I immediately had my oil changed. The 'Change Engine Oil' indicator had not come on yet, but I feel the oil was probably burned quite badly. My dealership took it in next week and replaced the PCV valve as well as the valve cover gasket, very similar to what chevacc indicated. The shop foreman told me that an engine has to burn two quarts every 3,000 miles before GM considers it an oil consumption problem, but they took mine in anyway and found the problem with the PCV valve.

In addition, I am preparing a letter to produce to GM and my dealership, outlining the issue I had with the dealerships in Ohio and Illinois. Hopefully, something positive can come from this. At least the engine is operating fine, with no issues.

Just my two cents.

P.S. The engine no longer burns oil. (That was the first and only time.)
 
So far, my Av's a non-smoker. Also no significant oil consumption. I'm at about 6500 miles. Time for the second oil change and a switch to Mobil 1.

 
(y)So far so good, a non-smoker and non oil user. switched to the M-1 at 3000 and now have 18100 on it and changing oil at 7500 mile interval, (95% highway driving for me). Has not used a drop on the 7500 mile oil change interval.
zeeya
 
Our AV is a smoker, but only at high altitude. Virtually every cold start at 10,000 feet results in a blue puff of smoke. I've NEVER seen it down here in Denver so it doesn't quite seem like the dealer will do anything about it. We got the same old "bring it in for an examination and we'll see if we can duplicate the problem" business when we brought it up to the service department. That was because we got the change oil light at about 3000 miles after the last oil change. It seems to be a little soon to be getting that sort of warning.
 
I voted yes
Im in the same situation as Boar-Ral on the highway my oil is disapearing. I am keeping tabs on this. last month with holidays I added 2 liter of oil in aprox. 3000kms and the truck is going in next week Ill be in touch with you guys on the situation.

Ron
 
Starting with a pathetic whine:

FIX THE POLLS SO MACS CAN VOTE!!!

Now back to our regularly scheduled post.

As I understand it, the PCV valve issue is on early production units. I have the problem and have been blown off by my dealer on a couple of occasions. Armed with the TSB title that I found here, I am going in next week for a visit with the service manager. I'll report back after I put his feet over the fire.
 
Mine smoked, I told the dealer. They found nothing wrong, but changed the PCV valve "just because the new one's different." I haven't seen it smoke since, so I'm satisfied.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top