[quote]Originally posted by WS6-ed:
<strong>the dealer is stating that 1qt/100mi is the expected oil consumption rate for the LS1. </strong><hr></blockquote>

I hope this is a typo. If I had a motor burning 1 quart of oil in 100 miles I would most certainly re-assign it to a new duty...BOAT ANCHOR!!

 

I recommend that you contact at Scoggin-Dickey Chevrolet. He's the moderator in the Texas forum, and he'll at least be able to tell you what GM has listed on the books as "normal". I remember hearing the 1 qt./2,000 mi. limit as well. A quart every thousand miles is ridiculous IMO.

 

I always read about this oil consumption issue.
My car has never used any amount of noticeable oil. I fill it to the line, and at a change 3,000 mi, or a few months later, it is always still at the line. If they are telling you 1qt./ 1000 is normal, then what is 'wrong' with my car that does not consume oil? I do not notice oil laying in the intake manifold.

The only oil issue I have is that in the beginning, 5 1/2 qts. would fill it. For the past 2 years I have to use 6 quarts to bring it to full. ?

I'm sorry I can't help you, but I am going to call a friend who works in the service dept. and see if he can give me some written information

 

I'm currently going through this with my car and I'm not real happy with the way the dealer is handling the situation.

Whether they say its "normal" or not is irrelevant. Let's say you buy a phone which has a bad battery. It lasts a week then dies. You go to return it and they say, "Sorry, that's normal." Its normal because a fair percentage of their phones have bad batteries.

Its my car. I determine what is acceptable oil consumption. Not GM. They have every right to publish internal guidelines and what not but it still doesn't free them of responsibility of satisfying the customer. They have my money and I have a car with an intact warranty.

1000 miles per quart is not even open for discussion. Its a problem and they need to fix it. 2000 is still unacceptable IMO. 3000 and you begin to at least sound somewhat reasonable if you argue that it's normal.

--Mark

 

Also, here's a link to another thread about oil consumption. The second post has the text of 2 tech service bulletins. The second one states 1 quart per 2000 miles.

http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread...threadid=46156

 

Specs call for 1 quart per 2000 miles being normal, 1 quart per 1999 miles would be excessive <img src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" border="0">
The old specs before the GEN III engines was 1 quart per 1000 miles.
Most of the engines I see are either drinking oil (600 miles per quart, etc) or aren't using enough to justify repairs. Of another note is that the new pistons made for piston slap concerns will not be replaced unless that is a customer complaint. If they don't know current GM guidelines on oil consumption I wouldn't want them touching my vehicle...

 

[quote]Originally posted by Joseph:
<strong>Specs call for 1 quart per 2000 miles being normal, 1 quart per 1999 miles would be excessive <img src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" border="0">
The old specs before the GEN III engines was 1 quart per 1000 miles.
Most of the engines I see are either drinking oil (600 miles per quart, etc) or aren't using enough to justify repairs. Of another note is that the new pistons made for piston slap concerns will not be replaced unless that is a customer complaint. If they don't know current GM guidelines on oil consumption I wouldn't want them touching my vehicle...</strong><hr></blockquote>

my motor was replaced at 9300 miles it was drinking a quart every 600 miles! and the oil pump failed right before i took it in too haha.

 

No oil use is the rule of thumb. <img src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" border="0"> The dealer will wait untill ur out of warrentee. <img src="graemlins/gr_cry.gif" border="0" alt="[whiner]" /> I've been asking them the same thing and nothing. Going to try the PVC mod to see if that works <img src="gr_stretch.gif" border="0">

 

If you have oily gook behind the throttle blade; then it is usually oil coming thru the PCV. There has been about a jillion posts about this.
I did the PCV Mod on my 98' about 2 yrs ago and NO oil burning.
I can email an attachment of the mod.

 

Bingo, highgear. Oil trail big time. Plez email me also. Thanks <img src="graemlins/gr_cheers.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

 

All,
After polling a few message boards and picking the brains of a few people I know, it turns out that this issue has been seen by a lot of LS1 owners. The general consensus is that the oil consumption is due to bad/faulty rings. Some of the people who have gone through the re-ring have said that the oil consumption lessened, but not very much. Those same LS1 owners switched to Castrol Dyno or Royal Purple and saw a significant decrease in the amount of oil loss.

I noticed that I was burning about 1 quart every 1000 miles. I reported it to the dealer who put the car on an oil consumption test. We just completed it and turned it back over to the dealer. The dealer called this morning and said that this oil loss was normal/within spec.

I could swear that in all the checking around I’ve done, I saw “in writing” something saying that normal oil consumption for the LS1 is 1 qt per 2000 miles. However, after looking at my logs and the test results (shows 1qt/1000mi), the dealer is stating that 1qt/100mi is the expected oil consumption rate for the LS1. I’ll be getting a copy of the bulletin that shows the 1qt/1000mi statement tonight. If I can find the one that states 2000mi again, I’ll update this post.

My take on the whole deal is that GM has incurred a major expense in replacing blocks and piston rings (right thing to do) and are know steadily adjusting “the bar” down, until they get the answers that fit best with their budget for the year. If they say it’s normal and I can’t prove otherwise, I’ll guess I’ll just have to deal with it until I can fix the problem myself. Or switch to high-grade racing oil. <img src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" border="0">

If anyone has any factual information about the “normal” rates of fluid loss, or anything related to this issue, please send it on. There appears to be a few people trying to get some answers on this. It seems everyone has a common idea on what is causing it, but we need ammunition for the dealer. As I mentioned above, GM seems to be lowering the expectations to the point that they don’t have to own up to anything.

All that being said, I guess the real question is…what’s the true problem anyway? Is 1qt/1000mi really all that bad or damaging to the components of the combustion chamber? Am I really losing a measurable amount of compression or HP from the bad/faulty rings? If it’s not that big of a deal, then it just comes down to GM being a little crappy in the way they address issues.

Eddie