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6.0L oil consumption

lefty

Addict
Aug 23, 2015
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426
So I have an 08 hybrid Tahoe that I love but it started to drink oil like I drink long islands. I know GM has issues with the AFM. It just rolled 104k miles and I really don't want to trade it in for a new car as I don't want payments again. I know there have been TSB's put out with an updated valve cover, some kind of oil deflector, replacing the lifters and piston rings and in come cases they replace the engine. Its out of warranty and I have no problem doing the work, I just don't want to waste time throwing parts at it that wont fix it. Anyone else have any fixes that actually work?
 

1quick

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Jan 29, 2008
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The valve cover worked on my friends 5.3, I had that issue on my 5.3 as well, It was before the valve cover fix came out, I did a top end clean soaking the pistons/rings through the spark plug hole and let it sit over night, seemed to help a little, I ended up trading it off it had sub 100k miles and was still worth decent money
 

1quick

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Jan 29, 2008
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coal city
I see alot of consumption on my 2010 escalade with the 6.2 and AFM. Literally I'll put 6 qts in and only get 3 qts out when it comes time for oil change. Nothing is leaking but I attribute it to the AFM issue as it seems to be rather common. No issues with the truck and it's got right under 140k miles.

That’s how my 5.3 in my trailblazer was, except that one time I was at a toll booth and was like damn that diesel truck next to me is loud, it pulled away and the sound stayed, it was my lifters clacking the thing couldn’t have had more than like 2 quarts left in it, I put 2 in it and it wasn’t even touching the dip stick yet
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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May 24, 2007
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i was glancing at this the other day, and i really think it comes down to AFM...

my 6.0 in my truck is a 2013, with 145k miles, and it uses about a quart between DIC oil changes which are typically around 7-8k miles... i use synthetic.

my 2007 4.8 sierra used about that much as well. but also, like my 3500, does not have AFM.

nothing like what you guys are experiencing.
 

boostedguy05

not well known
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Dec 18, 2010
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GTFO... and here i thought it was DOD(shutting down lifters) and then AFM(variable cam timing)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_fuel_management

Active Fuel Management (formerly known as displacement on demand (DoD)) is a trademarked name for the automobile variable displacement technology from General Motors. It allows a V6 or V8 engine to "turn off" half of the cylinders under light-load conditions to improve fuel economy. Estimated performance on EPA tests show a 5.5%-7.5% improvement in fuel economy.[1]

GM's current Active Fuel Management technology uses a solenoid to deactivate the lifters on selected cylinders of a pushrod V-layout engine
 

lefty

Addict
Aug 23, 2015
569
426
Well apparently none of the handheld tuners work on the hybrid to turn the AFM off, nor does some other thing that plugs into the OBD port that turns it off. I'm going to pull the intake and clean it, replace the stupid oil pressure filter, mod the left valve cover to move the hole for the PCV system and throw a catch can on this weekend and see if that helps with the consumption.
 

Ti28

Cupcake
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Jan 23, 2013
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GM, won't do a thing until it burns so much in a time frame. Pretty simple, as explained by owners manual. Check all fluids at fuel up.

I got 85k on my 5.3 DOD and I burn next to nothing, I use a dyno 10w30 and change it at 3k miles. Stop listening to the OE when you're supposed to change your oil. 10k on a oil change is bullshit! They care nothing about how long your engine lasts, to them it's all about meeting EPA standards.
 

lefty

Addict
Aug 23, 2015
569
426
GM, won't do a thing until it burns so much in a time frame. Pretty simple, as explained by owners manual. Check all fluids at fuel up.

I got 85k on my 5.3 DOD and I burn next to nothing, I use a dyno 10w30 and change it at 3k miles. Stop listening to the OE when you're supposed to change your oil. 10k on a oil change is bullshit!

I'm not expecting GM to do anything as its an 08 and I'm way past the 5yr powertrain warranty. I never had any problems with it until 93k miles and the oil gets changed at least every 3k miles on all my vehicles, or 1 time a year if I cant put on 3k miles in a year on it. I'm debating leaving out the oil pressure sending unit filter and looking into just putting the regular lifters in it if I have to replace any of the AFM lifters. I'm also looking into other ways I can disable it without a tune considering everything I'm finding says no one tunes them.
 

lefty

Addict
Aug 23, 2015
569
426
So after pulling the engine apart I found about a half of quart of oil in the intake. The drivers side valve cover and everything under it had a layer of shit all over everything. The passenger side was clean. Pulled driver side head off, had a bent pushrod on Cyl 1, (Piston face has no marks so I think it was just because the lifter locked up) and it had a thick layer of carbon/oil all over in it and in the exhaust port and manifold.
I'm surprised it wasn't throwing a code earlier with all the buildup in it. Ordered new lifters, lifter trays and pushrods for that side, new valves and seals for Cyl 1 and a new valve cover(according to the TSB it had a bad baffle that was letting oil through) and all gaskets to put it back together. Cleaned the intake, head and piston faces and now I'm waiting on the valve stem seals to put it back together. All together I'm into this repair for about $350 in parts and it will be about 14ish hours of time.
 
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