Hi everyone,

I have a largely stock 2000 C5. I bought about two years ago with 8k miles on it. Since I first got it, it has used about 1 quart of oil every 2-3k miles. This is annoying of course, but I have been worried that something more problematic is happening. I took the car to the Chevy dealer in June. That had it for a month and returned it to me with a new valve cover gasket and a bill for $1000 and pronounced it fixed. Well, it is 2500 miles later and it needs another quart.

I took it back to the dealer. I called after they had it for two days. They said that Chevy had issued a bulletin on excessive oil use with the LS1 and that the fix required a "ring kit." I don't even want to think what it will cost to have them install it. Thus far, I have been hesistant to cut into my baby. But, if she needs rings, then I will put them in myself.

First question, is this common? Should I even bother replacing them or should I just feed it a quart of oil every now and then?

Second, if I tear the bottom end out to change the rings, other things are getting changed too. The heads are getting ported, new cam, Z06 intake, a thin head gasket, new clutch, long tubes, and possibly a 100 shot. Does this seem like a reasonable approach? Is 450 hp reasonable to hope for before NOS?

 

2500 miles per quart isn't all that bad for a C5. Do a search for PCV catch can, and LS6 PCV mod. That will help some what with oil getting into your intake.

I'd leave it alone, unless you are wanting to do some serious mods. There are plenty of C5's with high miles that have been burning more oil than yours.

 

Guess I should have mentioned...it only has 20k miles on it. I will take a look at the catch can mod. Thanks.

 

2500 miles per quart is good for any make of car. All engines use some oil. If they didn't they would self destruct. Your car isn't broken so don't fix it.

The ring kit was for cars that had rings that permitted excessive oil consumption in engines that were driven at high rpms at low loads (mostly due to driver buzzing the engine). Most of the cars with this problem were 01s and people were getting around 1000 miles per quart. Only one of the rings was replaced and the cylinders were not honed.

Bill

 

If this is the general wisdom, then I accept it. But I've owned several cars and none of them used oil to this degree. My Ford ZX2 has 165,000 miles on it and it makes it 5000 miles without needing a quart.

Still, perhaps you all can help me decide if pulling the motor and doing the mods I outlined are worth the trouble and I can use the rings as an excuse. Thanks for the insight.

 

I've had the ring job done and it was covered by GM at the time my vette had 21,000 miles. I'm the second owner and I'm not sure why the first guy didn't care and/or notice. First you should understand GM isn't going to blink unless your around 1000 miles per quart or less. I was getting 700 miles per quart.

The story as I understand it is somewhere around the late 2000 to 2001model year the stock rings were changed to reduce cylinder wall drag. In some cases this allowed oil to blow by the rings during low load high rpm conditions. The kit only replaces two of the three rings. I believe the oil control ring and the second compression ring.

I had Steve Spencer at Bryner Chevy do my job, when he opened the motor he also found that the ring gaps on three cylinders lined up, which for those that don't know is a big no-no. Now it's been a couple years and 7000 miles since the work was done and I have no problems. I change the oil yearly, about 3,500 miles, with mobile1 5W-30 and I've never had to add a quart. It uses some but I think it could go 5000 miles without needing a quart.

I've had lots of cars over the years and the only engine that has NEVER used a drop of oil was our Audi turbo. I've had GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda and all of them are about the same I would consider 2500-3000 miles to be pretty good. Just my thoughts do as you wish with them.