My LS1 is burning a little oil and I was wondering if anyone knew if changing oil viscosity would help. The previous owner installed a high volume oil pump and I believe it is currently running 5w-30. I read that changing to 10w-30 may help because it�s thicker. I also read that 0w-30 (Castrol-German) works. I don�t really understand how a thinner oil would make a difference but lots of people on this forum have recommended it. I also don�t want to ruin my engine with those thick seal restoring additives. Does anyone have any opinions or advice for which oil to use to prevent oil burning?

 

I will say that 5W30 or 10W30 is the recommended oil for the LS engines. If your burning oil then you have an issue and changing oils is not going to correct this. Have you checked the plugs to identify what cylinder is burning the oil? If no indicator then perform other tests to determine if the oils is getting past the rings or the seals in the cylinder heads. Once you've determine the root cause of the problem then you'll know the next course of action.

 

Beat me to it. Band-Aids are not recommended. There's only a couple reasons that they would burn oil and none of them are good. May be time for new rings and such which in the grand scheme of things isn't that big of a job and is much cheaper than replacing an entire engine.

 

thanks for the info, do you think it could mitigate the oil consumption problem until I have the chance to fix it?

 

I doubt changing the oil viscosity will make much difference.

Did this start recently; or been going on a long time and just now getting worse? Or has it always been about the same and you're just getting tired of it? Different answers for the 2 kinds of scenario.

If it's changing, it probably needs rings. If it's always done it and you just want it to quit, try a catch can.

 

Is it noticeably burning( smoking from exhaust), or are you just losing oil between changes?
If it's the first, could be rings, valve guides or seals. If the latter change the pcv and add an oil catch can.

 

This above.

 

You can learn a lot from some simple tests and of course start with the easiest. Keep in mind that the PCV system does a pretty good job of sucking the oil back into the engines combustion chambers via the intake and throttle body. Perhaps this IS where your oil consumption issue. Oil burning issues are quite visible as blue smoke will be blowing out the tailpipe.

 

How much oil is it burning between oil changes? How many miles on the motor? Some oil loss is expected.
no, going to a thicker oil would not help the issue.
I would check your pcv system first. Do a catch can/ls6 valley cover. If it is still burning around the same amount, I'd say it would be valves or piston rings.

 

we talk to alot of customers flooding their vent system with oil, from the oil pump mod.
there are push rods available with restrictors inside to counter act this
otherwise it is just normal oil consumption down the valves, up from around the pistons, or the 'normal' amount through the pcv