I changed my oil at 1000 miles and again at 5000 miles. Could not detect any oil consumtion.

 

A new engine will often use more oil initially. The rings need to properly seat. GM has changed their "maximum" oil usage a couple of times but I believe it's now 1-quart per 1,000 miles? Yes, it's a hedge due to the wide variety of driver conditions.

Try switching to Mobil-1 10-30 from 5-30, particularly in the summer months. This tends to help with the oil consumption issue, helps seat the rings, and wouldn't violate any warranties.

When consumption is severe, getting on the dealer's evaluation program is essential. If they determine the consumption is beyond 'normal', and can document the condition, the fix is to pull the engine/heads and replace the rings and wipers. Same as with the LS1 engines. If this condition exists it explains why owners do not see oil leaks in their garage. It's basically "blow-by", or blow through.

Bruce Miller
c5bruce@adelphia

 

Yep, that's what happens when you build a motor in Canada.

 

Same here, dealer is going to start an oil consumption test.

 

I just happend to be over here and thought I would comment.

I have an ls2 powered GTO and a ls1 powered vette.

I have not really noticed any oil consumption on the ls2, but I did install a catch can in the PCV line and it seems to be catching a lot of oil.

The ls2 seems worse than the ls1 about sucking in oil via the PCV. That could very well be the source of some of your oil consumption. I doubt it would account for full quart, but you never know.

Also. I would not be too worried about a little oil consumption. It is somewhat the nature of the way these motors are designed. The rings are low tension. It all comes down to how much is too much.

 

For those that weren't around for the C5, this was a hot issue. GM fought it for a long time, then ultimately issued a TSB and started changing the top ring on each piston.

My car at 18,000 miles was using a quart per about 2,000 miles under soft driving. If I drove it above 3k rpms with any kind of regularity, it went way up. The issue was only a problem with 6-speed cars, not the auto trannies, and there was plenty of discussion about why they differ. IMHO, the obvious answer was that 6-speeds by their very nature spend more time at higher RPMs than autos, and I'll add that I thought this car was supposed to be drivable at that range. I'm not talking red-line by any stretch of the imagination, just the upper half of the RPM band. Anyhow, after the arguments, insults by forum members, blame game, and fanfare, I had the fix done. The leakage was then completely gone. Thereafter, I supercharged the car and it ran fine, with no consumption and being driven much harder, for at least 20,000 miles. This included some 1/4 mile racing and roadcourses.

I can't imagine GM would make the same mistake again, but I'd be disappointed with a C6 to know I have to add oil like my buddies used to have to do to their late 60's blue-smoke-blowing Fords.

I'd be curious, for those posting hereafter with or without consumption, please state whether you have an auto tranny or a 6-speed.

 

Hi@!

I have 1095 miles on my car and the oil low message came up the thing ate a quart and could take another.

What was the cause in your case. I am a little worried with this kind of consumption and thoughts?

Thanks,

Mr. clean

 

Hi Steve
I had a '01 Vert A4 and never had an oil problem. In Jan I took delivery of my C6 Z51 Vert with 6speed. Had to add 1 qt at 2k and 1qt at
4k the car now has almost 5k and is down 1/2 qt so far. I like to shift
1-2 and 2-3 around 3.5k and seldom get much above 5k rpm.
I am planning a trip in July, which should add 1.5 to 2k miles
if the the oil usage remains the same I plan to take it to the dealer, so I will be following this subject closely......

 

I have a Z51 6spd with about 3200 miles on it.
So far I've had to add 2 quarts of Mobile 1. At my
next service, I'm going to request the dealer start
an oil consumption test.

Pat

 

I have 6400 miles on my C6 with AT, most of it put on when I did the 4000 mile round trip to Bowling Green. It hasn't used any oil to speak of, and the oil life monitor says I still have over 50% oil life, even though I've had the car more than 6 months.

 

Has anyone switch brands of oil. I know from friends who have used Mobile1 in their cobras and had oil comsumption then switched to Castrol or amsoil and no consumption! Seems Mobile 1 evaporates!!

 

I was having a similar thought.

I just did an oil change (@4K miles) with Castrol Syntec and a K&N Filter. In GM's defense, I am somewhat of a leadfoot (have to get past the CAGS, don't'cha know ), so slightly higher than "normal" consumption isn't something I'm going to be "too concerned" about. 1 quart every thousand miles is unacceptable though...

And again, I pose the question (or ponder the thought) - just WHAT did Exxon/Mobil actually DO for Chevrolet, in order to put all those nice Oil Filler caps on thier cars?

Regards,

Rick

 

That's a long reach, my 02 used 5 W 30 and used 1/2 quart to 12K miles which is when I changed oil. I just traded it in on my C6 and it had 85K on it with the above consumption.

 

2005 C6 , 6 speed. Has 4000 miles on it. Got it in January. Not a daily driver. At 2000 miles the add oil light came on. 1 qt. down. At 4000 miles down .5 qt. I will mention it to the dealer. I have a 04 escalade , I have 30,000 miles on it. Has not used a drop. It bothers me to see a new car use oil. And yes I do get on it. It was broken in properly. We use the escalade to tow our Jeep (4000 lbs). We towed it to Utah , 16 hours. 80 mph. No oil usage. Seems Chevy has a problem.

 

You would think they would get it right by now

Happy Independence Day All.... Be Safe

 

The reason the oil consumption in the C5's was only on the 6 speeds was because it was only an issue on the LS6 motor's (read Zo6) and it was pretty much limited to 2001 and some 2002's. As you know the Zo6 only comes with a manual transmission, explaining why it did not affect the autos, or manual LS1's

My 04 Zo6 is not a daily driver but gets some rather high rpms rides on the weekends, so far it has not used a drop.

This issue is why alot of folks shyed away from the 2001 Zo6. To my knowlegde it was not an issue for the ls1 (read coupe or vert C5s).

I really hope its not an issue in the LS2, I don't care what GM says about oil consumption, I don't like the idea of paying alot of money for a NEW car and having it eat oil like I've been racing it for 150,000 miles. Although it some oil consumption is normal a quart per 1,000 miles is not a realistic number. IMHO if you change your oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles you should never have to add oil. I check mine regularly to watch just this issue, I start burning a quart evry 1,000 miles and GM will be doing a rering, but to my knowlegde the oil consumption issue on the LS6 was fixed in 2002

 

SickRick, are you sure your oil usage is not something simple like blow-by caused from over-filling the sump? Check and see if the oil level drops and then maintains itself at a stable level. A few years ago a well-known engine manufacturer miss-marked the oil level on their sumps and owners were experiencing sever oil blow-by. They remarked the sumps and the problem stopped.

If you think you have a ring seal problem you should run a compression and leak-down test. The Dealer should be able to do this for you.

With the flexible ring packs used today, ring seal should occur fairly quickly in the C6. The long break-in period recommended by the manual is for the various bearings, shafts and gears used in the engine, transmission and rear end.

The factory is supposed to apply enough wall loading to seat the rings properly during dyno testing (rings stop rotating and seat against the cylinder wall). This is one of the reasons they run the car under controlled loading before it is delivered to you. However, to be absolutely sure the rings are seated, you should load the engine carefully during the first 20 to 30 miles and NOT “baby” it (and it reads like you did it right from your post). Several owner surveys of high performance cars and motorcycles have shown that people who babied the engine during the first 100 miles had more engine problems later than those that ran it harder.

Little additional ring break-in is needed after the initial 30-mile run-in. If your engine is using oil after a few hundred miles (and not just blowing it out the breather system because you are over-filling the sump) there is a problem. In my experience, ring seal usually will not improve significantly with additional use after initial break-in. Good luck!

 

2001 LS1's were most definitely affected. Even some 2000 model LS1's had the re-ring procedure done. Oil consumption was not limited to 2001 LS6's. And even with the LS1's, the problem most often showed up on MN6 cars which led to the theory that it was due to driving style - high rpm, light load, engine braking, etc. (which is still no excuse - they shouldn't be using oil like that)


The oil consumption on LS1's and LS6's was due to ring flutter under high rpm / light load conditions. A compression check or leakdown test will not do any good.

Please provide copies of these owner surveys. Corvettes are not "run under controlled loading" at the factory. Now the engines may be, I don't know. And rings are supposed to rotate on the piston. That's not what "seating" is.

No offense, but ignore people who say to break it in hard. Read the owner's manual and follow the advice of the engineers who designed and built the car.

 

Having the same problem. Losing about 2 quarts every 3000 miles! Don`t believe this to be normal! Noticed it on the first oil change, but now I`m getting concerned.

 

Is your car an A4 or MN6 ?